WHAT MAKES PORTLAND WEIRD

Years ago, when my wife and I first visited Portland, I saw a sign on a store window that read: “Keep Portland Weird.” The word weird means strange, odd, fantastic and often has a negative connotation. Browsing the web, I learned about one of the reasons they call Portland this way. “Portland has been affectionately referred to as “weird” for decades perhaps because it has the most strip clubs per capita in the nation.” https://www.goseewrite.com/2016/03/7-reasons-and-more-why-portland-is-weird/

Of course, there are other reasons Portland is on the list of weird cities, which also includes San Francisco. During our recent visit to Oregon, I encountered some weirdly positive changes. A year and a half ago, downtown Portland was filthy, and had a very large homeless population living in tents. Now, it was nice to see it clean. There were still “stoned” people sleeping on benches, but for that I could stay in San Francisco. The streets were crowded with locals and tourists. Restaurants were filled with diners. There were a lot readers at the famous Powell’s book store…

…When we entered a Whole Foods store, a female guard greeted us with a smile. Suddenly, some commotion forced us to turn around. The same woman and another uniformed guard had their hands on their handguns, and without a smile, escorted an unwelcome visitor out of the store. These actions probably would be considered weird in San Francisco. If not our tolerance to the bad behavior, Whole Foods and other stores would still be open. For me, another weird thing was to see a number of people, especially young women covered with tattoos. As another weird city, San Francisco has its own share, however Portland beats us in many categories.

 

These three images show some of my experience.

Enjoy and Share!