Wikipedia Three or four shades take place in Portland. E.L. James is gracing fans of her problematic sex books Fifty Shades of Grey et al with a book signing on Monday at Powell’s. Let’s not look down our noses at her just because she’s sold over 40 million copies of her disturbing erotic fan fiction. […]
Portland
Posted inFood and Drink
The American Made Awards
Martha Stewart has been the butt of many a joke, and I’m not even talking about her brush with white collar crime. Say what you will about boner-killing homemade Christmas decorations, but the woman has done an incredible amount to keep Americans engaged in the making of physical objects with their hands, bridging the gap […]
Posted inPortland
Should We Call It? Let’s Call It.
The Mercury hereby declares “Portland Tourist Season 2012” officially OVER. (Can somebody turn out the lights?) Scrappers Your fond memories of “Portland Tourist Season 2012” are welcome in the comments.
Posted inPortland
Five Things I Learned on the Dill Pickle Club’s Hidden Portland Walking Tour
This morning, I went on the first of a new series of walking tours that Portland arts non-profit the Dill Pickle Club is putting on this fall. Today’s tour was all about seeing and learning about so-called “hidden gems” in downtown Portland. The series itself, which runs through December, will delve into neighborhoods all throughout […]
Posted inPortland
Walmart’s Cloud of Inexorable Doom
Portland has a love/hate relationship with Walmart that’s mostly tilted (except when Fred Meyer’s and Safeway are closed and you own a car and don’t mind driving to Happy Valley) toward the hate side of the equation. And with neighbors talking about that new Walmart in North Portland (and our formerly anti-Walmart mayor’s softening stance), […]
Posted inFashion
Portland Garment Factory at The Curiosity Club
Last week’s Elizabeth Cline presentation really drove home the fact that, regardless of how repetitive I sometimes feel having been talking about it on the pages of the Mercury for so many years, domestic manufacturing in general, and in the apparel industry in particular, is crucial on many levels. (This is far from just a […]
Posted inArtsy
Seen Under the Hawthorne Bridge
This graffiti greeted me this morning as I rolled off my soiled mattress down by the river. Courtney Ferguson
Posted inPortland
What “Portland Institution” Turns Ten this Week?
A Portland group that pretty much nobody thought would stick around celebrates its tenth anniversary this week. What is it? Hint: Here’s a quote from Mayor Sam Adams describing why he likes the group. “I am supportive of ______ because they are well-organized, they care about and require safety considerations, they self-police and they’ve been […]
Posted inPortland
Mayor Pitches Plan to Give West Hayden Island to the Port
ANNA SHELTON If everything lines up as expected, the fate of West Hayden Island—800 acres of mostly untouched wilderness that’s been coveted for years by the Port of Portland—could be decided before the end of this year. After months and months of high-level discussions among insiders and wonks, a parade of public votes and hearings […]
Posted inPortland
This is Maybe Going Too Far.
I’m all for credit unions, but… As seen on NE 28th and Burnside.
Posted inEvents
TanQ and Year Two
TanQ is one among the rash of graphic design/philanthropic mash-ups that have grown in popularity over the past five years or so, wherein a monthly design (usually, as is the case here, a tee shirt) is sold to specifically benefit a rotating non-profit. These projects always seem as though they are difficult to retain momentum […]
Posted inPortland
Not Invited to Sauvie Island’s Nude Beach: Barbed Wire
Ah, Collins Beach on Sauvie Island. One of only two clothing-optional beaches in Oregon, in the summer Collins beach is always full of old dudes and their tiny dogs and… barbed wire? The state put up barbed wire fences on one end of Collins Beach in response to a lawsuit filed by neighboring homeowners in […]