Portland’s Alternative Point of View

Christopher
January 6, 2017

Oregon is known for many things – the beautiful area, lush forest, and gorgeous coastline, our liberal lifestyle, and great food, but there are a lot of hidden gems the locals of Portland, Oregon like to keep to themselves. Where is the best place to get all, you can eat refills of blueberry pancakes every Tuesday morning?

Where is the most outrageous dance club where everyone knows everyone, but few will admit it? Where is the best visual reality studio? When your house needs a complete overhaul due to all the messes that have accumulated over the winter months, who is the best residential cleaner Hamilton ON to call? Having the inside track takes time and eludes the weekend visitor. Knowing your community like a local can’t be beat – it makes home a home.

Portland has a reputation for catering to alternative lifestyles. “Keep Portland Weird” is our motto, whether we like it or not. As far as alternative – that can be anything from the socially modified tiny house community in the northern neighborhood of Cascade or the Farmers’ markets that always have organic goods to offer no matter what time of year. (Speaking of which the alpaca home-knit scarves and sweaters at The Ranch’s Booth are awesome this year.)

Independent business owners are our chief suppliers for much of the food we eat daily. Large out of state suppliers often take a back seat to the goods locally grown and produced by the people of Oregon. We like it that way so give special tax considerations to the Mom and Pop shops that line the streets from downtown Portland out to Hillsboro.

Portland State University is a great breeding ground for the out of the box thinker that Portland is so proud of. Hippie-esc is a word that has been coined when referring to the general population, but certainly the school’s environment. Great folks who you might see with head to toe tatts and whizzing by on a unicycle could also be your career counselor.

Civic pride is prevalent in Portland. The streets are kept free of litter and it’s not unusual to see someone pick up the renegade bit of trash they’ve spotted while out walking. It seems that as a result of the number of folks who prefer to travel by bike, there is a more intimate sense of the roads we travel, we are not insulated by the metal frame of a vehicle that tends to keep debris as someone else’s problem.

There is an attitude of we are all in this together that works to unify a cause. We love events, parades and any reason to celebrate. We have a parade if the sun shines for more than 3 weeks straight. We have a parade for every holiday and made-up holidays in-between holidays. Portlanders celebrate Life!

You can count on our authenticity. We aren’t in your business if you drive a 20-year old Mercury Cougar or 2017 Tesla. We don’t care if you shop the high-end shops or the vintage shops. We don’t tend to judge folks on their acquisitions as much as their character. It’s this free to be attitude that permeates the area in general. Being laid back and tolerant of differences is part of our accepted lifestyle.

Thoughts? Check out the next post or Leave comments below.