(145 posts)

45 Portland inventions and patents from the 1900s live like you live here

45 Portland💡Inventions and Patents Everyone Should Know – 😺 How Curious!

Squeegees! Zipper pulls! Interactive vibrators! The latter part of last century, before digital patents like the one for Generation node-B (GNB), (UE) and (MIMO) arrangements began to crowd out the entries for bottle cap removers, field cookers and vibrators (!), and when pagers and personal computers were still a hot commodity, Portland inventors applied for […]

History / January 23, 2022

Call for 🎨 Artists, Call to 🗣️ Take Action, a Beloved ☕ Café Reopens, Be At One with 🌱 Nature photo credit: Portland Nursery

Call for 🎨 Artists, Call to 🗣️ Take Action, a Beloved ☕ Café Reopens, Be At One with 🌱 Nature

Happy Friday, friends, and a shout-out to all our Portland shops, museums, nature organizations, creatives, scientists, researchers – all you good people who make Portland the amazing city it is. Today we have an important read for you regarding parking lots and heat islands, a couple of Calls for Creatives, a sweet reopen, some plant […]

Uncategorized / January 20, 2022

Ways to celebrate Martin Luther King Day in Portland Oregon 2022

Run the “I Have a Dream” 🏅 Virtual Race, See The Blackonteurs Comedy Troupe 🎭, Restore Terwilliger Blvd Forest 🌲 and more on MLK Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is this coming Monday, and the civil rights icon was no stranger to Portland. In 1961, he delivered a speech entitled: “The Future of Integration,” at Portland State College. A quote from that speech is as important today as it was then: ““We have come a long way toward making […]

Uncategorized / January 12, 2022

Photographer Lisa Yount facts about ducks in portland oregon and facts about rubber ducks national rubber ducky day

Facts About Ducks (real and rubbery 🐤) in Portland

We have some answers to those ever important questions: What do you do when you spot a duck leading a string of ducklings across a busy road? Can rubber ducks actually help the environment? How far can a rubber duck travel in the ocean? Who was Moby-Duck? What’s the difference between a dabbler and a […]

Spotlight / January 12, 2022

Sheryl Crow sings her Portland song Crash and Burn

Crash and Burn: a journey from our sun

Sheryl Crow isn’t from Portland. Nor is her song “Crash and Burn” about Portland. It’s about leaving Portland, in fact. But we just think it’s a metaphor about leaving somewhere else to go to L.A., but she started the song’s journey in Portland because, after all, we do have the best sunrises and sunsets. It’s […]

Music / January 11, 2022

history of the pearl district facts about the pearl district portland photographer Kevin Butz

Did you know this secret about the Pearl Neighborhood?

The Neighborhood: The Pearl District The Place: In the early ‘90s, the Pearl District (then known as the River District) was a sparsely populated neighborhood “as rugged as any in the Pacific Northwest.” But why is it called the Pearl? What’s the real secret behind the name? It’s been quoted many places that a gallery […]

History / January 11, 2022

Beth Orton Tucker Martine Portland music Something More Beautiful with Lyrics.jpg

Hey Portland! Who knows 🤔 about this relationship between Elvis and our city?

Here’s a question. Which Grammy nominated producer, engineer, musician and composer lives in Portland and has worked with Beth Orton, R.E.M., Spoon, and k.d. lang, just to name a few? Tucker Martine. He isn’t from Portland. He was born in Nashville, grew up and moved to Boulder, Colorado, and then to Seattle, before finally landing […]

Music / January 10, 2022

9 surefire ways to find love and friendship in Portland Oregon

9 surefire ways to find love ❤️ and friends 😊 in Portland

If you’re new to town and don’t know many people – or you’ve just been traveling solo way too long – there’s still hope for you if you want to meet new friends and find love in Portland. In fact, there’s a lot of stuff to do in this town that doesn’t involve swiping left […]

How to / January 6, 2022

The Resolectrics, because Yes!

What do you get when you cross a self taught kit drummer with a piano player who formed a skate-punk meets garage-funk group as a teenager, and another musician who formed an acid jazz, funk, soul and hip hop band that toured extensively across the United States (he also played in bands with Nate Query […]

Music / January 5, 2022

Portland Musicians Kingsley and Haley Johnsen singing All Me lyrics video

Want to know what happens when an American Idol contestant meets a TedX in Portland ?

Take One American Idol contestant and One TedX musician and what do you get? Two of Portland’s iconic singers: Kingsley and Haley Johnsen, making gorgeous music and a very funny video! Kingsley moved to Portland after college and landed an internship at The Old Church, and after that, she began work at The Roseland Theater.  […]

Music / January 5, 2022

Portland Hat Museum - turn of the century museum - curated collection of hats

🎩 A tip of the hat to the weirdness of the Portland Hat Museum

Have you ever taken a minute to think about how many different styles of hats and headwear human beings have created over the years?

Spotlight / January 4, 2022

Wynne portland rapper with Damian Liliard Vursatyl, Illmac, KayelaJ, Dame D.O.L.L.A. Trail blazer rapper musicans.jpg

What do Lake Oswego and a Trail Blazer have in common?

Wynne (born Sina Holwerda) is a rapper from Portland. Lake Oswego, to be exact. She’s so good, in fact, that she earned the rumor of being Eminem’s daughter. (Untrue.) And if that’s not enough to make you take notice, look who jumped on board to rap in her song, The Thesis. Damian Lillard. Yes, that […]

Music / January 4, 2022

Meaning of Missed the Boat by Portland band Modest Mouse with lyrics

Modest Mouse’s “Missed the Boat” – a reminder to give yourself a little love!

It’s a New Year and a new chance to be kind! Start with yourself and give a little love! Which starts with not being so hard on yourself. So we’ve combed through some of the best made-in-Portland songs and pulled out “Missed the Boat” by Modest Mouse, because the words so cleverly contradict themselves and, […]

Music / January 3, 2022

Photo of a beaver which is an Oregon keystone species

Oregon’s Keystone Species – what they do and why they need to be protected

Keystone species are animals that play such an essential role in their environment, that if they were no longer here, the ecosystem would drastically change for the worse. They have an enormous effect within an ecosystem, not necessarily through sheer size, number or biomass, but because of the pivotal roles they play. They are so […]

Spotlight / January 3, 2022

💖 What Portlanders love about our city’s weirdness

We asked, you answered: Here is what Portlanders love about our city’s weirdness, from lightbulb stores, to open mindedness, and beyond.

Spotlight / January 2, 2022

Have a Merry Christmas in Portland 10 fun things to do for the holidays in Portland

10 Fun Ways to Have a Very Merry Holiday in Portland

There’s so much to do in Portland all year long – and our winter season packs in even more must-dos. So we’ve scoured the lands, the lakes, the neighborhoods, the restaurants and bars, the shops and markets, the nooks and crannies to create a list of 10 Fun Ways to Have a Very Merry Holiday […]

Unique Portland / December 23, 2021

What is Festivus and do we celebrate it in Portland

Festivus: What is it and how does Portland celebrate it?

What do you know about the real Festivus festival? We have the scoop and how to do Festivus Portland-Style. What is Festivus? Is Festivus celebrated in Portland? How did Festivus originate? How is Festivus celebrated? What is Festivus Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the pressures and commercialism […]

Evergreen / December 22, 2021

Will it snow in Portland? Yes, it will snow on Christmas in Portland

If you’ve been asking will it snow this Christmas in Portland, the answer is: almost probably

If you’ve been asking will it snow this Christmas in Portland, the answer is: almost probably – and okay, there might be a wee bit of rain mixed with it (hey, this is Portland). But heads up for snow lovers… we’re looking at possibly eight more days of snow leading into and beyond the New […]

Wildlife / December 21, 2021

Portland Christmas weather , snow for Christmas Portland, forecast for snow for Portland Oregon

Portland-Born Chris Botti trumpets in the weather forecast: Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

If you’ve been asking will it snow this Christmas in Portland, the answer is: almost probably – and okay, there might be a wee bit of rain mixed with it (hey, this is Portland). But heads up for snow lovers… we’re looking at possibly eight more days of snow leading into and beyond the New […]

Music / December 21, 2021

Humboldt Marten Coastal Marten Pacific Marten photograper Mark Linnell US Forest Service

How (and why) you can help Coastal Martens this Holiday

Coastal martens (also known as Humboldt martens and pacific martens) were once thought to be extinct. But 50 years after the last one was spotted, they began to show up, little by little. Their numbers are still low – there might be 500 in all – but thanks to good science —especially the good science […]

Environment / December 20, 2021