From what I hear, the Portland rose garden is supposed to kick some major bootay as well. As mentioned above, there is not the entire mall mania in the downtown area. There remain lots of actual storefronts and the shopping is supposed to be good. There is also a kick-@ss fountain downtown for kids to play in during the summer.
About the unemployment…is this true for most industries? What if you just wanted to work at a record store, or temp?
Very true. The rose garden is located in Washington Park, which in the west hills about .5 miles from downtown. There is also an excellent Japanese Garden right next to Washington Park.
I also should have mentioned the Mission Theater, which is a combination theater/microbrewery. (Technically they don’t brew the beer on the premises, but it sells great beers that are brewed locally.)
Oh, yeah. Beer-drinkin’ movie theaters are definately one of best parts of Portland life. There are actually a couple different options for such theaters: the Bagdad, the Laurelhurst, the Mission, and at least one or two others I’m not thinking of right now. Really, you’d be surprised how much a cheap ticket and about two pitchers of beer do for an otherwise-bad movie.
Oh, and for the employment picture, Gallows Fodder, I’d have to say that it’s pretty variable. Unless you’re too hip for words, you probably won’t land a job at a record store (you’re probably too personable, too…), but temporary work might pay off if you’re diligent. At the same time, I’ve been unemployed since May and I’m down to my last $20. So, I guess your results may vary.
Oh, and let me put in a plug for Oregon microbrews- the best in the goddamn country, if you ask me. Out of my top 5 brews of all time, 4 of them are from around here:
-“Fred”, Hair of the Dog Brewery, Portland (whoo- 10% alcohol by volume. Now that’s a beer.)
-“Shakespeare Stout”, Rogue Brewing Co., Newport
-“Black Butte Porter”, Deschutes Brewing, Bend
-Bridgeport India Pale Ale, Portland
(My all-time favorite beer would still have to be “Eye of the Hawk”, from Mendocino (CA) Brewing, though.)
Oregon: leading the beer revolution!
M.
Hmmm, maybe I could work at a microbrewery…