Are you here for World Domination?

When I was making plans for a second visit to Portland, Oregon I noticed a curious phenomenon. Every cheap hostel and hotel bed seemed to be booked out. One of the hostel staff told me that there's a big conference on the weekend I was in town. Yikes.

Two weeks later I arrived in the City of Roses and was on a walking tour of the local art galleries. One of the other tourists, a British lass named Tamsin, asked "So... are you here for World Domination?"

What? World domination? But I don't have a cat in my lap to stroke. And I'm not evil enough!

Portland, Oregon - Mt St Helens in the background.

Tamsin then explained that the conference that booked out all the beds in Portland was the World Domination Summit. It is meant to be a gathering of creative and not so creative types who aspire to an unconventional life in a conventional world.

Hearing my story of walking away from my previous life and funding a year-long trip around the world, she had thought that I may have been involved in the conference. The founder of the summit, the writer of the The Art of Non-Conformity blog, is closing in on an ambition to visit every country in the world - and teaches people how they too can "dominate the world" with their own "non-conformist" ambitions.

And of course, this fellow's home town is unorthodox Portland!

Portland, Oregon: Hawaiian food cart

Over that weekend as I walked around the city I realised conference attendees were everywhere. As I had lunch at a Hawaiian food cart, the people next to me were talking about their social plans over the summit. One was a charismatic Canadian woman, same age as me, who quit her corporate lawyer gig to travel around the world. She has now been on the road for years and funds the lifestyle with travel writing and speaking engagements. Naturally she was a speaker at the World Domination Summit.

It was heartening to hear of other folks around the world who had taken the chance to change up their lives. I knew almost everyone, at some stage of their lives, felt the way I did the end of last year - but to meet others who had actually taken action was gratifying. And in all places, Portland.

I ❤ Portland

Thursday July 5, 2012

Upon hearing my accent at a tram stop a local lady asked "Do you work for Nike?"

Even after visiting so many wonderful places around the world, for years I had always maintained that the only place I’d like to live in outside of Australia is New York City. But now please allow me to add to that exclusive list – Portland, Oregon.

Mt Hood watches over Portland.

Well, I would live in Portland if they’d let me. I’m likely not hip enough. I love that they have so many vegan burger joints, but I really like downing a Big Mac or two now and again.

Just like how I’ve always felt New York City should be a separate country to the rest of the United States, left wing Portland also has that feel. The place has a European ambience unmatched by other American cities. As this video from the sitcom Portlandia declares, the dream of the 90s is still alive in Portland.

Is it organic? Is it locally produced? These culinary questions are completely redundant in Portland, as they’ve already been answered. It’s actually more difficult to get non-organic food! May I please get some pesticides sprayed on that salad?

Portland food carts, yay!

Now a trendy fad around the world, the modern food cart concept began in Portland. Upon my first visit to the downtown cluster of carts (Alder and 10th) I was stunned by the number and variety of cuisine on offer, not to mention that almost every meal was less than $10. I could spend a month in Portland trying every cart! Just going around the block casually I found:

More Portland food carts, yay!

• Egyptian
• Hawaiian
• Thai
• Japanese
• Korean
• Mexican-Korean
• Indonesian
• German
• Cuban
• French
• Indian
• Argentine
• Vietnamese
• Greek

The Euro Trash food cart. You can even buy Foie Gras here.

• "Whole Bowl"
• "Euro Trash"
• Italian
• Chinese
• Mexican
• Scottish
• Southern USA
• USA BBQ
• Ethiopian
• Polish
• Lebanese
• Caribbean

Did you know bookshops still exist? Yes, a place where one can exchange money for bound printed paper! Apparently while the rest of the world moves online there are still small independent bookshops doing business in Portland.

Do you remember these?

Those who led the city in the 1960s and 1970s were visionaries. In an era when other cities were competing to build up their skyline and freeways Portland exercised planning restraint. Even downtown Portland now contains very few skyscrapers, and a traffic jam is seldom seen.

Downtown, riverside park.

Public transport is thorough for a city of two million people, again the result of forward thinking policies from decades ago. While the rest of the world was tearing down their trams Portland had them installed. Buses, light rail and streetcars now zip around frequently. The free zone within downtown is an ingenious idea for tourists, locals, and the environment alike.

But why catch a bus when you can cycle? Bicycles are everywhere. The only other city I’ve seen more bicycles is Beijing. As an outsider it’s extraordinary to see an American city with more bikes on the road than cars. But this is Portland. On the streets there are young ladies riding in sundresses, middle-aged couples pedalling for leisure, and even a semi-legal nudie ride takes place annually.

  

The city’s only major league team, the Portland Trailblazers basketball team, is the ultimate underdog. To basketball fans the number of misfortunes and mistakes the NBA franchise has made is infamous. To the layperson only one fact needs to be presented: Portland is the team which overlooked Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft.

If you’re a fan of The Simpsons, creator Matt Groening grew up in Portland and named many of the cartoon’s characters after city landmarks. My treasure hunt of those locations is blogged here.

Portland is arty farty.

There is a vibrant creative scene in Portland. Not only is Portland Art Museum impressive for a city its size, small art galleries abound – especially concentrated in the Pearl District. The first Thursday evening of each month is a “free day” for Portland galleries, and includes an open-air art market where local artists sell their work.

Portlandia, an anthropomorphic representation of the city, can be seen in downtown as the second largest statue of its kind in the United States, after the Statue of Liberty.

Portlandia statue.

There are apparently no old people in Portland. The only folks of advanced age I saw were tourists, lesbians, or tourist lesbians. ­The city is disturbingly youthful, like as if a bouncer is monitoring the entrance.

Oregon has no sales tax. People from Washington state pop over to Portland to shop and dine.

The City of Roses has natural beauty too. Bike riders whiz by at Portland’s pretty riverside park and the mighty conical Mt Hood looms over the entire metropolis. And obviously the Rose Garden is a major attraction.

Harp player busking at the Rose Garden:
So Portland.

After we'd established that I didn't work for Nike nor Intel, the (Caucasian) Portlander lady told me about her adopted Native American daughter. She is grown up now, and after registering in her tribe she receives social benefits unheard of for the rest of the US population such as free healthcare. When her daughter expresses guilt for receiving the government assistance even though she has not had an indigenous upbringing and has no practical affinity with the Native American culture, the Portland lady responds "Don't you feel guilty - it's reparation for all the suffering endured by your parents, grandparents, and ancestors. No amount of welfare will ever make up for that. Your forebears would be proud that you're doing so well."

Perhaps it's the people I like the most in Portland.

Let's get nuts II

Saturday July 14, 2012

Part I of Let's Get Nuts is here.

It's 6am and I'm typing this on the train from Chicago to Boston! This train isn't supposed to have wifi but the snack/lounge car seems to have reception so I've setup camp on one of the tables.

Somewhere in Montana, as seen on the Empire Builder train

I'm really starting to regret investing so much in American overnight trains. It is IMPOSSIBLE to sleep properly in economy class. I so despised the idea of trying to get comfortable in my cramped seat that I reluctantly returned from the snack car at 4:30am. By which time the person next to me had annexed my seat to make herself more comfortable and my pillow was on the dirty floor! Arghghgh! After reclining for an hour I gave up trying to get some shut eye and decided to return to this table to watch the sunrise and be productive on the computer.

Fargo, Minnesota, as seen from the Empire Builder train

The Empire Builder, at the Twin Cities.

While I was reclining trying to get to sleep I thought: I've spent $750 to travel around coast to coast in the US. I could have spent that much in airfares and done the same - except I wouldn't be stuck in cramped quarters for days, trying to get some/any sleep. At the time of booking a USA Rail Pass the idea seemed very romantic - see the countryside, save on accommodation costs. But reality has hit hard. Hmmmmm, hindsight at 5am is lucid.

I complained of the discomfort on Chinese trains back in January, so it's only fair now to express my displeasure at American trains for a balanced world view!

The Simpsons in Portland

Friday July 6, 2012

When I arrived in Portland for my second visit I saw a street sign that said "Flanders St". As a long time fan of The Simpsons I chuckled to myself, as it reminded me of the do-gooder neighbour.

A few minutes later I encountered a sign indicating "Lovejoy St". Hmmm, could this be a coincidence? I hurried to the hostel to do some research.

To my delight I found that the creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, grew up in Portland, Oregon. And it was no coincidence – he named many of the characters after Portland landmarks. I then had little choice but to visit as many of those as I could. The pictures shown in this blog article were all taken by me during the “treasure hunt”.

MONTGOMERY BURNS

The wealthy owner of the Springfield nuclear power plant had his moniker derived from Montgomery Park and Burnside Road. The former is a massive office building and the latter is the main east-west thoroughfare that divides the city into northern and southern halves. Groening has mentioned in interviews that as a child he thought that the brightly lit Montgomery Park sign was what his prayers went to. And the sign really is huge – my photo was taken from five blocks away!

REVEREND LOVEJOY

The apathetic Christian leader of Springfield was named after Lovejoy St – my picture was taken in the northwest quarter of Portland (hence the “NW” prefix).

KEARNEY

Kearney, one of the bullies at Springfield Elementary, drew his name from Kearney St – again the NW prefix indicates my photo was snapped in the northwest quarter.

MAYOR QUIMBY

Groening was inspired to name the corrupt, horny, and perennially elected mayor of Springfield with the Kennedy-esque accent after Quimby St. The northwest quarter was again the site of the photographed sign.

NED FLANDERS

The NE Flanders St signs are the most vandalised and stolen public property in Portland. Many times a “D” is scribbled onto the end of “NE”. Although I was staying at a hostel metres away from NW Flanders St, I walked for an hour to a desolate industrial area to see the much sought after NE Flanders St sign. This was turning out to be a true Simpsons pilgrimage.

EVERGREEN TERRACE

Matt Groening’s childhood home was on Evergreen Terrace in a wealthy neighbourhood in the forests behind the Rose Garden and Japanese Garden, west of downtown. It took me an hour of hiking up the windy streets through the woods to get to Evergreen Terrace. The Simpsons live in house number 742 in Springfield, but in the Portland street there is no such number. The house that Groening was raised in by his mother Margaret, father Bart and sisters Patty is still there, but the family has long since moved away.

TERWILLIGER

Bart’s long time nemesis Sideshow Bob’s surname is seen in the university district, where 6th Avenue turns into Terwilliger Boulevard.

BART SIMPSON

Bart was not labelled after any Portland landmark – the name is an anagram of “brat”. However on the footpath outside Groening’s old high school, Lincoln High School, he has drawn a lovely picture of Bart in the wet concrete. The photo also shows my wristwatch, just to prove that I was present and it’s not a picture plucked from the Internet.

MILHOUSE VAN HOUTEN

Van Houten Avenue is in the northern suburbs of Portland. This was the only treasure I couldn’t reach, as it was over 10km from downtown – far too cumbersome for a tourist to commute to!