It's both a cliche and an injustice to compare Portland with Seattle and
Vancouver, but people do it all the time - the three cities are, after
all, the crown jewels of the Pacific Northwest. Portland stands very
much on its own, however, and despite its considerable growth in recent
years, it retains a surprisingly intimate scale and low-keyed
personality. Gay and lesbian visitors will discover a city with no
predominantly alternative neighborhood, but a progressive, welcoming
attitude that permeates every inch of the city.
The city's strengths include a plethora of classy, gay-friendly,
boutique-style hotels (many of them within walking distance of the
city's best gay bars); a pedestrian-friendly downtown with lively
cultural venues and engaging retail strips; and one of the most exciting
restaurant scenes around. Even better, accommodations and meals cost
considerably less here than in other West Coast cities of comparable
acclaim. If it seems odd that you haven't heard more about Portland,
keep in mind that locals are fiercely intent on keeping it from growing
too big and too crowded - the city is, by design, a well-guarded secret.
Portland lies just below the confluence of the Columbia and the
Willamette rivers. The Columbia forms the border between Washington and
Oregon; from it, the Willamette twists in a southerly direction,
bisecting the city and its attractive skyline. In this eclectic city
center, high-end boutiques border funky pawn shops, dapper bistros sit
beside humble burger joints, and postmodern office towers rise above
cast-iron Victorians. Along the river, Tom McCall Waterfront Park
stretches for more than a mile, providing a scenic venue for cycling,
jogging, and sunning.
Brown baggers congregate at Pioneer Square, a tidy redbrick plaza at
Yamhill Street and Broadway. Many high-end chain stores are clustered
here, including NikeTown, the unabashedly commercial tribute to the
Portland-based maker of athletic wear, and Nordstrom. South of Pioneer
Square the impressive Portland Center for the Performing Arts presents
ballet, opera, and classical music, and the Portland Art Museum
specializes in Native American, regional contemporary, and graphic arts.
A few blocks northwest lies the city's compact gay entertainment
district, mostly along bar-studded Stark Street. Vintage-clothing, book,
and used-record shops line Burnside and Oak streets, including one of
the nation's most famous bookstores, Powell's, which has an enormous
GLBT section. Across Burnside is Portland's hottest neighborhood, the
swank Pearl District, where massive warehouse buildings have been
converted into trendy loft-style condos and hip eateries. The Pearl
District's Bluehour is well-regarded for its inventive seafood, such as
semolina-encrusted halibut with fava beans and an herb-risotto cake. The
same culinary team is behind Saucebox, a self-consciously hip cafe
delivering tasty multinational fare.
Budget time to explore Portland's Northwest neighborhood, along 23rd and
21st avenues, where upscale boutiques and restaurants proliferate,
including one of Portland's hottest purveyors of Pacific Northwest
cuisine, Wildwood. The menu here changes often but might feature, for
example, clay-oven roasted leg of lamb with summer squash gratin. From
Northwest you're a short drive from Metro Washington Park Zoo, which
anchors 322-acre, densely wooded Washington Park, opposite which sits
the International Rose Test Garden; 10,000 bushes with more than 500
varieties are displayed within its 4 acres. Just up the hill is a serene
Japanese garden. The wooded grounds abut the 5,000-acre Forest Park,
great for hiking and biking. Continue to page
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The Hunk
