75+ Quirky, Cool, Perfectly Weird Reasons We LOVE Portland

Every year, a slew of articles pop up, local and national, that include all the weird and wonderful reasons we Portlanders love Portland.

Cool Factor

• All the cool kids live here.
• Linus Torvalds lives here.
• We live here.
• Everyone’s moving here.
• Seattle envies us.
• Portlandia! Duh…

Culture

• Weird is the local mantra and mindset.
• Tango dancing capital of the universe.
• Tattoo capital of the world. Well, not quite. We rank #8 in America.
• Burnside Skatepark, anarchist architecture and global icon of skater culture.
• World-class athletes.
• World-class bike culture.
• Bikes rule!
• Outdoor adventurer wonderland: walking, hiking, biking, kayaking, rock climbing, snowboarding.

Celebration

• No holiday left uncelebrated. We even invent holidays.
• Nudity has its own special day, Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride.

Livability

• Portland’s city core is actually LIVABLE.
• Portland’s city core and most of its neighborhoods are imminently WALKABLE.
• One of America’s top cities with highest walkable urbanism.

Climate

• Portland ranks high on Sperling’s Comfort Index. Mild winters, fabulous summers.
• Rain is good for your skin.
• Umbrellas are weird.

Topography

• A river runs through it. Actually three rivers.
• America’s premier urban forest.
• One of the largest urban forests in the United States, with 5000 acres and 80 miles of soft-surface trails.
• Timberline Trail No. 600, the only hiking trail (40 miles) around Mount Hood is now open.
• Life on the fiery edge, surrounded by four volcanoes, all within view of downtown.

Bridges

• Tillicum Crossing: Only bridge in the country that carries trains, buses, bikes, and pedestrians but no personal cars. It’s beautiful too.
• Portland’s 14 bridges, ranked.
• Designing Portland’s 5 greatest bridges.

Neighborhoods

• Each of Portland’s 92 neighborhoods is unique.

Taxes

• No sales tax!

Gas

• No one pumps their own gas. It’s not even legal in the city.

Makers

• Everyone is an artist, craftsmen, and/or maker of some sort. In fact, Portland leads the maker movement in America.
• Fabulous fine craft schools: Oregon College of Art & Craft and Pacific College of Art & Craft

Shakers

• Green buildings rule.

Twisters

• Everyone does yoga. Or pretends they do.

Dress Code

• Dress code? Forget about it! Five-star dining and a pair of skinny jeans are just fine together. Not a golf shirt though, because the hipsters will mock you.
• No clothing style. Unless unique, unconventional and/or urban trek is a style.

Proximity

• Fabulous day and weekend road trips in all directions, including wine country, farm country, fruit loop, snow-capped mountains, hot springs, Columbia Gorge, Oregon Coast and Eastern Oregon. Never a dull moment.
• Columbia River Gorge is an easy day trip.
• Oregon Coast is only one hour away (if you drive like a bat-out-of-hell).
• Wine Country is only 30 minutes from downtown and makes a perfect weekend getaway
• Mount Hood is only an hour away.

  

 

Farmers Markets

• 101 Best Farmers Markets in America for 2017. Portland is #2!
• The Best Farmers’ Markets in the U.S.
• America’s Best Farmers’ Markets.
• 10 of America’s Best Farmers Markets.

Coffee

• Long history of coffee culture.
• Coffee as a religious experience. (coffee + cocktails, coffee + laundry, coffee + nonprofit, coffee + lighting)
• Weird and wired coffee shops.
• Some of the best coffee roasters in the country.
• Cat café. Where humans drink coffee and watch cats. For real!

Food & Drink

• Food lover’s paradise!
• Farm-to-table is the norm, not the exception.
• Food cart heaven.
• Grocery stores as thought leaders and neighborhood builders.
• World-class bartenders (drink artisans) with cult-like followings.
• Nation’s first state distiller guild.
• Nirvana? More like Beervana. And yes, there’s a tour.

Ice Cream | Gelato

• Ice cream as a religious experience!

Donuts

• New style, serious cred donuts.

Literary Arts

• Everyone reads.
• Reading and writing are holy ground.
• Powell’s City of Books.
• Our own Wordstock Book Festival.
• Annual, wildly popular Literary Arts’ Portland Arts & Lectures Series.
• Strong independent publishing resources.

Visual Arts

• Portland Art Museum is Tapping into the Legacy of Arguably Oregon’s Greatest Artist.
• Top 100 Arts and Culture Museum Ranking.

Live Music

• One of the top 12 US cities for live music. (Roseland Theater, Wonder and Crystal ballrooms, Aladdin Theater, Hawthorne Theatre and Doug Fir Lounge)

Entrepreneurial Arts

• Everyone is an entrepreneur.
• Culture of small, locally owned, indie shops. Where business is as creative and soulful as any other art form.

Gardens

• International Rose Test Garden.
• Lan Su Chinese Garden.
• Peninsula Park Rose Garden.
• Portland Japanese Garden.
• Roses rule!

Parks

• Parks, parks, and more parks.
• World’s Smallest Park, the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland, a tiny, 452-square-inch urban patch at SW Naito Parkway and Taylor Street.
• Timberline Trail No. 600, the only hiking trail (40 miles) around Mount Hood is now open.

Zoo

• Oregon Zoo.

Museums

• Portland Children’s Museum.
• Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI).

Transportation

• Max Light Rail!
• Portland Streetcar!

Airport

• World-class international airport.

In Case You Need Even More Reasons to Love Portland

• 2 Reasons Businesses Are Making the Move to Portland, Oregon (That No One’s Been Talking About) | Inc.
• 5 Delicious Reasons to Visit Portland Oregon! | The Sophisticated Life
• 10 Foodie Reasons to Visit Portland, Oregon | The Culture Trip
• 10 Reasons I Love Portland So Far | The Simply Luxurious Life
• 10 Reasons I Love Portland, Oregon | Hayley on Holiday
• 10 Reasons to Love Portland | Hello Giggles
• 10 Reasons Why We Love Portland | Live Be Yoga
• 10 Reasons Why My Heart Will Always be In Portland | Only in Your State
• 10 Reasons Why Portland Is Our Next Food City | Feastly
• 10 Things We Love About Portland, Oregon| Huffington Post
• 12 Reasons I’m Still in Love with Portland After 6 Months of Living Here | Blooming Rock
• 13 Things Portlanders Do That Everyone Else Hates | Oregon Live
• 13 Reasons You’ll Love a Layover in Portland | Matador Network
• 14 Reasons We’re Packing for Portland Right Now | Travel Zoo
• 14 Reasons Why We Love Portland | 1859 Oregon’s Magazine
• 15 Things Never to Say to a Portlander | Orbitz
• 21 Things Portlanders Have to Explain to Out-Of-Towners | Matador Network
• 21 Ways You Can Tell You’re from Oregon | Oregon Live
• 26 Reasons to Love Portland Right Now | Willamette Week
• 27 Reasons to Love Portland Right Now | Willamette Week
• 28 Reasons to Love Portland Right Now: Part 1 | Willamette Week
• 30 Things Longtime Portlanders Know About the City That Newcomers Just Don’t Get | Oregon Live
• 37 Things to Consider Before Moving to Portland | Estately Blog
• 50 Things Every Portlander Must Do | Portland Monthly
• 100 Must-Try Summer Adventures in Portland | Red Tricycle
• 100 Reasons to Love Portland | Portland Monthly
• Five Reasons Why I Love Portland Right Now | Portland Sampler
• Makerspaces to Visit in Portland | Travel Portland
• Moving to Portland? Here’s What Living Here Is Like. | RubyHome
• Portland’s Five Best Spots for Bold New Coffee Cocktails | Portland Monthly
• Reasons A Gal Might Want to Visit Portland, Oregon This Winter | Violet Fog
• Reasons to Love Portland Right Now: Part II | Willamette Week
• Reasons to Love Portland Right Now: Part III | Willamette Week
• Reasons to Love Portland Right Now: Part IV | Willamette Week
• Reasons to Love Portland Right Now: Part V | Willamette Week
• Reasons to Love Portland Right Now: Part VI | Willamette Week
• Schoolhouse Electric and Ristretto Roasters Coffee in a Different Light | Sprudge
• The 15 Top Tattooed Cities in the US | Tattoo Removal That Works
• Things People in Portland Say, and What They Actually Mean | Thrillist
• Welcome to Our 2017 Reasons to Love Portland Issue | Willamette Week

Copyright 2018 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved,