What’s a movement without some rhythm? The 100+ days of protests in Portland helped inspire creators to, well, create. Young artists and veteran music-makers alike took to the streets and their microphones—speaking out boldly about police violence, the movement, and a shackle-free vision for the future. As part of my joint-publication with the Portland Mercury, […]
c3Category — Arts & Culture
Posted inMusic
After 18 Years, Rontoms Bids Farewell to Their Sunday Sessions
The final show is an epic all-day mini-fest!
In this economy, a free weekly concert featuring local bands at a hip, centrally located bar is something special—even in artsy, indie music-loving Portland. Ever since the spring of 2007, popular East Burnside watering hole Rontoms has been providing one such opportunity with its Sunday Sessions showcase. “We had only been open for about four […]
Posted inEverOut
The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Portland This Memorial Day Weekend: May 23–26, 2025
VOID Street Fair and Car Show, Bloom Tour, and More Cheap & Easy Events Under $15
If you’re as eager as we are to start the long weekend, then save time planning with our trusty cheap and easy guide. We’re suggesting you head to events from the VOID Street Fair and Car Show to the Bloom Tour and from a Poetry for Palestine gathering to Return of the Dragon: Revitalizing Portland’s […]
Posted inPhoto Essay
The Truth Is… Somewhere?
Talking with the true believers at the McMinnville UFO Fest.
On May 11, 1950, Evelyn Trent saw a bronze and silver object floating in the sky over her Bellevue, Oregon, farm house. The object was quiet, but it kicked up a furious wind. She picked up her Kodak camera and snapped a picture. She and her husband kept the photo to themselves for a while, […]
Posted inFood Issue 2025
Food is Community
This issue is dedicated to those who feed each other—in myriad ways.
What immediately comes to mind when you think of Portland’s food scene? Is it the ubiquitous food carts, the nationally lauded restaurants, the abundance of craft beer and doughnuts? It’s all of those things, certainly, but when I think of our food culture, I think community. It’s the restaurant owners who have helped each other […]
Posted inFood Issue 2025
Home Away from Home
Lombard’s “Little Tri-State” brings the East Coast to North Portland.
Portland has a lot of transplants, but for whatever reason there aren’t a ton of transplant communities. Big cities like New York, Chicago, and LA have dozens of ethnic and cultural enclaves, a Little Italy here, a Little Ethiopia there. Historically Portland did have a few of those kinds of neighborhoods in the early 1900s, […]
Posted inFood Issue 2025
Q&A: Thuy Pham of Mama Đút Talks Gardening, Community, and Food Sovereignty
The former restaurateur steps into advocating for local farmers and growing your own food
Thuy Pham gained local and national fame as one of Portland’s standout pandemic restaurant success stories. The former hair stylist started making plant-based pork belly on Instagram Live when the COVID lockdown kept salon doors closed. With a hit product on her hands, she launched Mama Đút, a vegan Vietnamese restaurant that earned a James […]
Posted inFood Issue 2025
Welcome to Portland’s Kitchen
The James Beard Public Market will bring Oregon’s culinary communities together under one roof.
Counterintuitive to Portland’s food-centric culture, the city hasn’t had a public market since the closure of the Portland Public Market in 1942. Portlanders have access to a robust farmers market scene, but the city has been long devoid of a permanent public market in the vein of the Milwaukee Public Market or Philly’s Reading Terminal […]
Posted inFood Issue 2025
A Pod Grows in Brooklyn
Southeast’s new food cart destination is a prime example of next-generation, souped-up pods.
Food cart pods have a rich history here in Portland, popping up organically in the early-to-mid 2010s due to a combo platter of rising commercial rents, creative chefs looking to try something new, and the insatiable appetite of city dwellers. They’ve become a symbol of the city, and with dozens of pods scattered in every […]
Posted inFood Issue 2025
Breaking Bread
Portland-area bakers are flipping the script with bread subscriptions, pop-ups, and more.
Just like a sourdough starter under a cloth, some of the best baked goods in Portland are bubbling away behind the scenes, out of the spotlight. For many bakers, offering subscription or pop-up based carbs is the perfect way to balance work with having a life, and single-handedly reign over quality control. Word spreads via […]
Posted inFood Issue 2025
Strawberry Art Forever
Zuckercreme’s strawberry mania reaches a fever pitch at its themed festival.
For many Portlanders, strawberry season is the official kickoff to summer. Embracing the battle for flats of bright red Hoods at U-pick farms, they emerge with buckets out and gardening gloves on, ready to pluck berries fresh off the plant. But for cutesy Montavilla cafe Zuckercreme, the strawberry frenzy is a year-round state of mind. […]
Posted inFood Issue 2025
Stone Soup PDX Provides Food—and a Path Forward
The new Northeast Portland cafe trains those in need, to “help repair the world.”
In early June, a new cafe in the Montavilla neighborhood will start serving breakfast pastries and coffee in the mornings and grab-and-go soups, sandwiches, and salads in the afternoon. Its offerings all sound pretty standard, but this isn’t the average Portland cafe. Behind the counter, Stone Soup PDX is helping the next wave of food […]