The ten-dollar bill boasts a delightfully round denomination and a portrait of founding hottie Alexander Hamilton. But despite its charms, the tenner has largely fallen out of use in Portland.

"There's no real reason for tens," says "Big" Brian Coffelt, a downtown pizza vendor. "We only carry fives, ones, and quarters."

Coffelt adds that handsome Hamilton's proto-corporate financial policies were "not very good for the country."

Kristy Nicholas, waitress at downtown's Virginia Café, handles very few tens. "I always end up with more fives and ones," she says, and exhibits an apron-pocketful of cash containing only one ten.

Faced with ten-poor merchants, and the twenties-only policy of most ATMs, many Portlanders are making extra effort to get ten-dollar bills.

Richard Perry, a teller at Albina Community Bank, says that tens' relative rarity lends mystique. "They're a nice-looking bill," he adds. "Some people ask for only tens."

Cost of living may be the real culprit in the disappearance of the ten-spot. As one savvy consumer pointed out, "you can't buy a dime bag anymore."--ANNA BOND