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Feature
Posted inDating

Strangers in the Nights

How two singles nights are changing the way Portlanders are finding love, friendship, and hookups.
Avatar photo Ben Coleman

“Have you ever fallen for someone you weren’t initially attracted to?” asks a large laminated flashcard in the center of a tastefully distressed wood table. The table is in the back corner of the “music room” of the SoHo House member’s club, itself located in a fashionably distressed brick building hidden away in Southeast Portland. […]

Posted inFood and Drink

Shaken, Stirred… and Make It Quick

Speed Rack is the femme-fronted, speed-bartending competition we’ve been thirsty for.
Avatar photo Ben Coleman

Portland has a lot of bars and a lot of bartenders. And a lot of those bartenders aren’t dudes, despite the somewhat bro-y atmosphere food service gets sometimes. Femme bartenders put up with a lot and don’t always have an opportunity to earn accolades beyond the after-shift tip pool. Enter Speed Rack, self-described as “an […]

Posted inFeature

Baseball Days, Pikachu Nights: Inside Portland’s Front Row Trading Card Show

Card collectors do commerce the fun, old-fashioned way.
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

An enormous stuffed Pikachu hanging from a pole—like Christ at Golgotha—lords over the Portland Ballroom at the Oregon Convention Center. With a small knowing smile on her face, she observes the action at the Front Row Card Show, a big traveling collectables show that is setting down in Portland for the first time.  What does […]

Posted inFeature

The 10 Weirdest Revelations from the FBI Files on D.B. Cooper for the 50th Anniversary of His Escape

Avatar photo Doug Kenck-Crispin

The mysterious “D.B. Cooper.” FBI Records / The Vault [This Wednesday, November 24, 2021, marks the 50th anniversary of skyjacker D.B. Cooper’s infamous crime and escape from authorities. Local historian Doug Kenck-Crispin has read all 22,277 pages (!!) of the FBI’s investigation on Cooper, and shares with Mercury readers his picks for the top ten […]

Posted inHorrors

Mercury Tales of Terror: Murder House (A Historic Tour of Portland’s Grisliest Murders—and the Homes Where They Took Place)

Avatar photo Mercury Staff

Tom Neely [Happy Halloween! All week long the Mercury has been publishing classic tales of local Halloween horror from our archives, as well as brand spankin’ new (and creeeeepy) pieces… in this one from 2013, Mercury writers recount some of Portland’s most infamous murders… that may have happened in a home near you. WARNING: These […]

Posted inHorrors

Mercury Tales of Terror: An Excellent Day for an Exorcism

Avatar photo Santi Elijah Holley

NATALIE BEHRING [Happy pre-Halloween! All week long the Mercury has been publishing classic tales of local Halloween horror from our archives, as well as brand spankin’ new (and creeeeepy) pieces… in this one, writer Santi Elijah Holley tags along on an actual local exorcism.—eds] On an unseasonably warm Saturday morning, Archbishop James Cloud and I […]

Posted inNews

In Bad Faith

Portland NAACP President E.D. Mondainé Accused of Sexual Abuse by Former Members of His Church
Avatar photo Alex Zielinski

Ebin Lee Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse. Because of the sensitive nature of their experiences, some sources for this story have requested anonymity. With their permission, we’ve replaced several sources’ names with pseudonyms. All pseudonyms have been marked with an asterisk on first reference. Ray* started shaking when […]

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