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few very lucky AALL members (and their families) will arrive in A st before the 101 AALL Annual Meeting programs begin and stay afterward to explore the city. For the rest, this visit to Portland will zoom by like a thrilling, and fatiguing, long weekend, with too much to see and too little time to see it all. You can, however, still savor the best of Portland’s local treats with an hour here, a couple hours there, or that rare free evening (in July, spicy but not heat-hot) or morning (cool and sweet), even if you’re a short-term, fly-in and fly-out visitor. It is for you, the quick- trippers, for whom I write about Portland “in small bites.” Here you don’t need a 12-course, six-hour meal to dine upon the city’s warm and nourishing fare.

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rtland in small bites by Laura J. Orr

Quick tips to see the best of Portland in your rare free time during the AALL Annual Meeting

Starters contests, reading circles, and writer critique Awaken your taste buds with these 3 groups, who season each other’s creations delectable Portland umami tidbits and and graze upon local delicacies. Beverly hors d’oeuvres. Cleary, Ursula LeGuin, Philip Margolin, The bright, colorful Portland Airport Chuck “Fight Club” Palahniuk, and Gus will whet and please your appetite. If your Van Sant, are only a few of the tangy or friends and flights are delayed, do not salty wordsmiths who have graced this city despair. Visit Powell’s airport bookstore and of bridges. Portland also has beer historians other enticing shops outside and inside the (e.g., Paul Pintarich, author of History by the security gates. The airport is fun, clean, and Glass), zillions of zinesters (see The Zinester’s has lots of good food and drink. It also has Guide to Portland), and everything in free wireless. between. Dine with gusto—and with Stone Soup, a syndicated comic-strip whose creator, Jan Eliot, lives in Eugene (home of the University of ). Portland is, or was, home to many talented folks, including Bobby Fischer, Allen Ginsburg, Woody Guthrie, Linus Pauling, Pink Martini enlightened progressive founders China Forbes and Thomas thought...that... Lauderdale, radio host Thom Hartmann, Portland was known and renaissance men Matt “The Simpsons” throughout the country as Groening and wiki founder Ward a Mecca of vice and sin.” Cunningham (who lives in Beaverton, Or, read Michael Munk’s, to be precise—almost Portland). Portland Red Guide. Stew on this: Portland has a long menu Nourish your mind: of nicknames, including City of Bridges, Portland only appears to Rip City, Rivercity, Rose City, Stumptown, be a city full of wispy, or simply PDX, Portland Airport’s call fuzzy hippies and letters. buff, sweaty runners, Taste new sounds for familiar words. bicyclists, hikers, Couch (Street) is pronounced KOOCH hunters, and and Glisan (Street) is pronounced GLEE- campers. The truth is son. Willamette, as in Willamette River and readers and writers Willamette Valley, is pronounced wil-LAM- rule in Rivercity ette (rhymes with damn-it). 2 (though admittedly Sneak a taste of Portland’s city-wide a lot of them write free wireless. Granted, service can be about running, erratic, and lots of people complain about bicycling, and it, but it’s free! hiking). Sample these books for Sniff the bouquet of a place (Multnomah some unusual flavors and Portland voices: County, which includes Portland) where City of Readers: The Book Lover’s Guide to there are more dogs than children (really!). Relish the absence of sales tax Portland, by Gabriel H. Boehmer, and Dip your nose into the froth of a city in Oregon. Reading Portland: The City in Prose, edited known as the epicenter of America’s craft Feast on Portland’s wickedly, spicy by John Trombold and Peter Donahue. brewing renaissance and the home of the past. Phil Stanford says in his book, Portland’s literary buffet is a Oregon Brewers Festival, the largest Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and smorgasbord of poets, novelists, screen gathering of independent brewers in North Corruption in the Rose City, “[It] may come writers, cartoonists, bloggers, animators, and America. Portland has the highest number as a shock, especially for anyone who has illustrators, all of whom contribute to a rich in the world of microbreweries within city come to regard Portland as a haven for broth of zines, graphic novels, blogs, writing limits—cheers! © 2008 Laura J. Orr AALL Spectrum April 2008 27 AALLSpectrum_Apr2008:AALLSpectrum_Nov 3/17/08 11:20 AM Page 28

Partake of the fact that Portland, innocence, its sometimes childlike or Oregon, came within a (literal) coin’s adolescent and self-conscious weirdness, toss of being named, Boston, Oregon. you need to visit its neighborhoods (95 Portland is a walker’s city, with feet- of them, as of today). There you will find friendly, half-size city blocks. Graze at the hundreds of small, sometimes experimental, numerous downtown street vendor carts restaurants and cozy cafes; small businesses; and window shop. unusual museums and art studios; Satiate yourself with Portland’s excellent tiny libraries; and stores galore. The food, wine, and coffee selections, purchased neighborhoods: Alberta, Albina, Belmont, from locally-owned businesses, which buy Fremont, Hawthorne, Irvington, their own ingredients locally when possible. Laurelhurst, Lloyd, Montevilla, Multnomah You’ve heard of carnivores, vegetarians, Village, The Pearl, Sellwood, St. Johns, vegans, herbivores, and omnivores. Now and dozens more. there are locavores. In Portland you can buy vegan dental floss at the local grocery store, First Course nosh on excellent gluten-free fish and chips, All of the following will appear on visit a vegan strip club, and find a tattooist downtown Portland maps and are fast- who uses non-animal-based inks. Wowsers! acting remedies for cabin (or conference Last, before putting aside your forks room) fever. and mugs, to see and breathe Portland, Pioneer Courthouse Square, also to taste its grit, its sexiness and sleaziness, known as “Portland’s Living Room.” It its curiosities, its vamp and camp, its provides people-watching of the highest order. As a bonus, it’s surrounded by excellent stores, which will take much more time to savor. The Square is also where you 4 will find POVA, the Portland Oregon Visitors Association, with its buffet of guides—both human and paper—to all the Oregon sites you might want to see. Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe is located in Pioneer Place, a downtown shopping

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mall. The mocha is bliss in a cup. Multnomah County Library: the 5 At 452 square inches (24” diameter), central library is a lovely place to explore. Mill Ends Park is the smallest city park Visit the Children’s and Rare Book Rooms in the world and just a quick walk toward and the Collins Gallery, where exhibits the waterfront. never fail to charm. The Multnomah The bridges over the Willamette River County Library is the oldest public library are a fabulous destination for those in west of the Mississippi, but have no fear, the need of fresh air and lovely views. And central library was recently renovated and the sings! earthquake proofed. Tom McCall Waterfront Park can be Classical Chinese Garden is about a a quick jog or a long stroll. It’s a place to 10-minute walk from central downtown walk, people-watch, and see the Portland (and about five minutes from Powell’s). Spirit, which docks here. The Chinese Garden should be on your Portlandia is the second-largest must-see list. You can spend 30 minutes hammered-copper statue in the world here, or three hours. (the Statue of Liberty is the first), atop (officially Vera the Portland Building, a block away from Katz Eastbank Esplanade, after a Portland 6 City Hall. mayor): Lovely views of the Willamette Second Course River and the city from the east bank of the river. These sites are fast and easy to sample, but you Tom McCall Waterfront Park. More may want more time to indulge and imbibe. lovely views of the Willamette, from the Powell’s City of Books is the one thing west bank of the river. you must see, even if you do or see nothing Park Blocks, along which you will else in Portland. If you can, allow yourself find the Portland Art Museum and a lot of time for this experience, but it will return 10-fold whatever time you have to Oregon Historical Society (and their give. Powell’s has a coffee shop, restrooms, respective museum shops and libraries). and books, lovely books, miles and miles Pearl District—restaurants, galleries, of books. And they offer tours! Powell’s is Art Institute, and Museum of the world’s largest independent bookstore. Contemporary Craft. The Portland graphic The flagship store is downtown, at Burnside and fine arts community is large, varied, and NW 10th, but Powell’s has many and supports hundreds of small galleries, satellite stores around the Portland metro art supply stores, and art classes. area: Powell’s Technical Books, the Airport Saturday Market (and Sunday too!) is 7 Powell’s, Powell’s Books for Cooks and the largest continuously-operating open- Gardeners, and additional neighborhood air crafts market in the United States. stores. Portlanders love Powell’s so much This market may be in a new location by that they put their names on a list to be July—the AALL hospitality team will know. buried somewhere in the store. A Powell’s Portland’s International Rose Test fan’s ashes have been poured into the pillar Garden (steps away from the Japanese at the entrance on Couch; someone else’s Garden) is the oldest in the nation. ashes are sealed under a tile in the rare Velveteria, the Velvet Paintings Museum books room. (on East Burnside). What else can I say?

From “The blessed, bountiful, horrible rains”

A recent Oregonian article, by one of my favorite Oregon authors, Sallie Tisdale, begins: “A man died and went to heaven. Right inside the gate, he was surprised to see someone chained to a post. ‘Do you usually punish people like that in heaven?’ he asked St. Peter.

“‘Oh, he’s from Oregon,’ St. Peter replied. ‘We always have to chain them up for a while; they keep trying to go back’.”

From Sally Tisdale article, “The blessed, bountiful, horrible rains,” Sunday Oregonian, Living section, print version dated December 16, 2007, online versions sometimes dated December 17, 2007.

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Dessert These sites are rich, playful, and not too sweet. Portland’s Japanese Garden: In 1988, His Excellency Nobuo Matsunaga, ambassador from Japan to the United States, visited the Japanese Garden of Portland and proclaimed it to be “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan.” Ten years later, His Excellency Ambassador Kunihiko Saito exclaimed over the beauty of the garden and also agreed to its authenticity, stating, “I believe this garden to be the most authentic Japanese garden, including those in Japan.” Portland Streetcar: Ride the entire loop if you have time, from downtown to the waterfront to NW 23rd and back downtown. Take the Portland Streetcar to the TRAM, Portland’s urban “ski-lift” (for the medical folks at the teaching hospital, OHSU) and enjoy a spectacular view. The TRAM is also known among local bloggers as Pill Hill Ariel Rapid Transit (PHART). Take Portland Streetcar, or number 15 bus, to NW 23rd Street, and 8 neighboring 21st, the Nob Hill neighborhood, a shopping, people watching, stroll-worthy, and tasty treat- filled mecca. , Portland Children’s Museum, and World Forestry Center: These are nestled inside one of the city’s several magnificent parks. There are 37,000 acres of parks in the Portland metro area, and Forest Park has the largest forested area within city limits in the United States (5,000 acres). Movie Madness (on SE Belmont) may really be the best and largest movie video store in the world, and it well deserves to be the tourist attraction it has become. Popcorn, anyone? Condiments: Finding Restaurants in Portland Restaurants abound in Portland, but some For More Information come and go faster than you can say, “smoked salmon.” I recommend you make reservations ahead of time if you plan to City of Readers Portland Visitor’s Center: POVA meet with a large group (four or more) for www.cityofreaders.com www.travelportland.com dinner on a Friday or Saturday night. Here are some restaurant-finder Web sites, but Japanese Garden Portlandia don’t hesitate using a search engine to find www.japanesegarden.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portlandia that perfect spot. Portland is divided into quadrants and neighborhoods, so limit your Movie Madness Powell’s City of Books search by specifying “Downtown,” “Nob www.moviemadnessvideo.com www.powells.com Hill,” “Hawthorne,” “Southeast,” or type of food. Oregon Brewers Festival Zinester’s Guide to Portland • Willamette Week Food Finder www.oregonbrewfest.com www.pdxguide.org Restaurant Search: http://foodfinder. wweek.com • Portland Food and Drink: www.portlandsaturdaymarket.com www.portlandfoodanddrink.com AALLSpectrum_Apr2008:AALLSpectrum_Nov 3/17/08 11:21 AM Page 31

• Portland City Guide: www.livepdx. The TRAM is sometimes included Laura J. Orr ([email protected]. com/Home when Trimet is mentioned, but the TRAM or.us) is the law library director at Washington • Portland Happy Hour Guidebook: has its own tickets, which you can purchase County Law Library in Hillsboro, Oregon. http://happyhourguidebook.com at the lower TRAM station. (You can ride • AALL Local Advisory Committee’s down, from the top of the TRAM for free.) Restaurant Guide: C-Tran is the system that Captions. http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/aall/ will take you 1. Downtown-Old ?page_id=39. town neighborhood. Do also phone the photo credit: restaurant Travel Portland/ directly. They Edward Nugent can confirm reservations and 2. Winery Driving answer questions 9 Loop in Washington about noise, County. smoking (sadly, photo credit: yes, still allowed, Travel Portland/ but thankfully not Janis Miglavs too prevalent), or anything else you 3. Downtown- care to ask. River Place As for restaurant District. reviews, they are no photo credit: different in Portland Travel Portland/ from reviews elsewhere. Edward Nugent The reviewers can be wrong, right, lucky, 4. Portland incompetent, silly, funny, Aerial TRAM. clueless, or your food- photo credit: Travel twin. Portland/Tim Jewett Photography

Designated Drivers: 5. Japanese Garden. Public Transportation from downtown Portland to photo credit: Travel Portland/Laryy Geddis Trimet (trimet.org) is the Vancouver, Washington (not Vancouver, Portland metro area’s transit system. British Columbia). Amtrak will take you 6. Portland Classical Chinese Garden. It has bus, light rail, streetcar, and (soon) wherever Amtrak goes, as is true for photo credit: Travel Portland/Basil Childers a commuter train. Greyhound (the station is next to the MAX is the name of Trimet’s light rail Amtrak station). 7. Beverly Cleary Sculpture subsystem that crisscrosses the metro area, Visit the AALL Local Hospitality Garden in Grant Park. with a rainbow of colors—the Red, Blue, booth for more information. photo credit: Travel Portland/ and Yellow lines now, and the Green line Bon appetit! David Falconer on its way. 8. Portland Art Museum. photo credit: Travel Portland 10 9. Portland Saturday Market. photo credit: Travel Portland/ Barbara McIntyre

10. Salty’s restaurant on the Columbia River. photo credit: Travel Portland/ Martin Bydalek

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