My desire was to ride the beautiful Oregon coast but Portland is situated on the Washington state border and lies 100 miles from the coast. It is the furthest navigable point inland along the Columbia River. Thus, it's location is not practical for what is probably one of the most stunning pieces of riding in the whole of the US. Ideally one would ride the Pacific coastline from Vancouver south to Tijuana as one has a prevailing tail-wind as well as the advantage of being on the right side of the road to overlook the ocean. Unfortunately for me It's a whole separate trip.
Regardless, Portland has always been on my radar. It was the hipsters in Portland who spawned the now global bike-messaging scene. These bike-couriers have added beautiful swathes of colour to many drab cities around the world as they cruise down-town aboard their colourful bikes wearing outlandish fashions. They are the flashes of counter-culture which light up the gloomy shadows of towering financial districts. They are daring Davids among the monied Goliaths with their care-free insistence on stumbling into their thirties living from pay-cheque to pay-cheque. The unfortunate reality is that it is the deadline-kings in rich deal-making firms that allow these hipsters to eke out a living in the first place.
Anyone who has seen Gus van Sant's 1991 road movie 'My Own Private Idaho' would have seen some snap-shots of Portland. This movie documents a journey of self-discovery by two friends (Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix) who hustle on the streets of Portland as rent-boys before embarking on a trip to Idaho and then Italy to find Mike's (River Phoenix) mother. Portland maintains a somewhat seedy edge boasting the most strip-clubs per capita of any US city, however, you have to be looking for them to notice them.
There is very definitely a cool vibe to the place. Everybody has plenty of time to give you the time of day and it seems like the last thing anybody wants to have to deal with is stress. Car stickers encourage people to 'Keep Portland Weird', a slogan which they robbed from Austin - another cool city but all the way over in the shopping mall state of Texas - not so cool. The down-town area is pretty small but nicely sandwiched between water and bridges on one side and beautiful forest parks on the other. It is not a big city by any stretch and the chilled out vibe can almost put you to sleep; wandering the streets after 9pm looking for food is a chore to say the least as most places are shut. Still, the small down-town hub of Portland is surrounded by nice inner-suburbs populated by hipsters and decent folk. Independent retailers, cafes, book-stores and bars bubbling with personality dominate the scene in this part of the world. Franchise supermarkets and eateries are not at all welcome in such precincts. To experience the normal hum-drum existence of regular American life one needs to drift to the outer-burbs to see the bland strip-malls that are now synonymous with US culture.
However, while Portland aspires to being the antithesis of modern day American living, the reality is that it is still just an aspiration. To be fair to them they realise this themselves. The economics involved in maintaining a chilled-out middle-class stress-free lifestyle is such that if no-one wants to work too hard or chase profit then there is not enough of an economy to support all the more expensive hip indie retailers, cafes and bars. A thriving social scene and a vibrant economy go hand in hand. While it is admirable that they seek to halt the damage that is being done to the identity of communities by the dominant chain-stores, the reality is that most people in Portland can't afford to support the indies 100% of the time. It is more likely closer to 15% of the time and the only reason that these stores continue to stay in business is that there is net immigration to Portland as creative types and anarchists seek to move here. The local economy has only been marginally affected by the national downturn. Indeed, the property market has held its own such is the reaction of people across the US who desire to free themselves of the money-culture that was so pervasive during the foiled boom.
I enjoyed Portland a lot. It's a cool hipster town and there is a very healthy local bike scene. Oregon is a great state with the Cascade Range inland and prime surfing on the coast. Unfortunately I spent a lot of time in Portland in bike stores as opposed to on the bike exploring as my tank was destroyed by plane travel. I operated on her in ICU and thankfully she managed to pull through in the end. It was a shame that I was a little stressed worrying about my horse in such a chilled out place. While I didn't get much of a chance to play with the camera I did manage to sample the highlights at least. One of which was (what must be) the biggest and best book store in the world. Powell's takes up a whole city block and encourages people to buy the used books instead of the new ones. Incredibly both are on the same shelf. I have never seen a store with so many classics and that includes the Greco-Roman kind. I managed to procure Douglas Coupland's 'Generation X', Hesse's 'Demien' and Hemingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' all for only 16 bucks second-hand. I am only familiar with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Salinger, Steinbeck and Kerouac in terms of American novelists so Hemingway should broaden that horizon a little.
Portland is cool although a little sleepy. It's a little strange being amongst so many hipsters. If I stayed any longer I'd be walking around in skinny denim cut-offs and waxing the tips of my moustache. The craziest thing I saw was a dude cruising around town on a double-decker bike. He had managed to weld one frame on top of the other such that he was riding 8 feet off the ground.
Still, one question remains; in a city like Portland are the 'suits' the new counter-culture cool?
Be good
Marco
Mount Hood overlooks the city