Oregon

Oregon

Portland

Oregon

Belmont seemed like a cool place around the 32nd to 35th street blocks. Several of the places to eat I've recommended are on Belmont.

There is a pdf tarbell trail map available. Here's a review of the trail. The trail is nearly 20 miles long, and is actually in Washington State, in Battleground, just across the border from Portland. Check out the Portland United Mountain Pedalers club fro group rides, swap meets, and more.

Everyone seems to be proud of Portlands dichotomy of superlatives: The most bookstores per capita, and the most titty bars per capita. Is it really the same people visiting both - showing a diversity of thought? For the most part, it seems like it.

Powell's City of Books is the largest bookstore in the world. They are open from 9-11 every day. Beyond their size, and the warmer plywood shelving in the colder concrete floor/warehouse atmosphere, what stands out most is that used and new books are organized together side-by-side. You may find a classic guide to Paris while looking for the Lonely Planet guide.

Damon and Martha stayed at the Mark Spencer Hotel on their last visit to Portland and told me I had to mention it on my website. They didn't give me any details, but said that they loved it, and they are cool people.

Music

Bossanova opened (re-opened?) in 2004, and is a great venue for independent bands. It's got a wonderful layout, and an old sprung dance floor that bounces when everyone gets into it. It's got a bar upstairs, with an nice, but awkward view of the stage, and another bar at the stage level, that can be separated for all-ages shows.

I will include the map and list of independent record stores.

Bike Shops

Film & Video

Portland has more Cinema Drafthouses than anyplace I know of.

• Laurelhurst
• Bagdad
• what were the others?

Movie Madness is the shit for video rental.

Places to Drink

Remember, this site is sometimes the best places to go, and other times, it's just where i went. The bars I went to fall more into the latter category. There are tons of bars in Partland, and any city, for that matter. After Jesse took us to the Magic Gardens, a dive strip bar that's been run by the same older lady for as long as anyone can remember, Jason and Deb took us to a perfectly dingy little bar in the back corner of an even scarier Chinese restaurant (where, they said, we should never eat) called Hung Far Low! It had absolutely no redeeming qualities, and that made it great. As a visitor to Portland, it gave me the perfect feel of being an insider.

Maps

FriendsofForestPark.org has the box of maplets.

The Adventure Maps series is definitely the best set of maps for the area. Available maps include:

• Greater Portland, Hood River, Mt. Hood
• Hood River, Oregon & south central Washington
• Central Oregon

There are free maps available from Portland office of Transportation GettingAroundPortland.org, available at most bike shops. Powell's has a free downtown walking map, and the independent record stores got together to make a guide to Portland Record & CD Stores

• 2004 Portland Guide to Independent Record & CD Stores
• Walking Map of Downtown Portland - Powell's Books
• Portland by Bicycle - Bike Map & Resources
• Northeast Portland Family-Friendly Bikeway Map
• Southeast Portland Family-Friendly Bikeway Map

Other Stuff

Tom recommended Gound Kontrol, a video arcade of just 80's upright games. Tom and Jesse agreed on Wonderland, a movie theater with arcade games.

Portland Organic Wrestling

I saw an ad for MacForce, an apple reseller in portland at 100 SE Salmon St. I'll have to check it out next time I'm there. macforce.com

to add:
indie record stores map
more on cinema drafthouses
ditch semantic question
Lincoln school
Ray's description of the different quandrants