Portland. The City of Roses. Bridgetown. Stumptown. Rip City. Portland has more coffeeshops and breweries than rain clouds. Portland is also known for what I affectionately call “Ironic Facial Hair.”
The ironic facial hair is amusing. I love it. I think it’s funny. I saw a guy recently on the street with a handle-bar mustache and he walked around with confidence. A few days later I saw a 70’s porn mustache. I dated a guy who had a fu-manchu and he could most definitely pull it off. Yes, Portland is where a guy can have huge Wolverine-style muttton chops and barely get any looks. I keep trying to get Michael to shave down to an ironic mustache but he refuses (boo).
You can find hipsters in a number of places here in Portland. A good place to spot them would be a brew pub in the Pearl District, Voodoo Donuts downtown, the Doug Fir and apparently The Wood’s Bourbon & Bingo Night!
I have never in my life seen so many Hipsters in one place. It was an invasion. Full of flannel sweaters, mountain man beards and ladies in pretty hipster dresses. It was awesome.
I went to The Woods with my friend Kat for a little lady’s night with bingo. I’ve never been to The Woods before and I’ve been wanting to check it out for ages. It’s an old house (it was an old funeral home). Very cool and trendy.
The doors opened at 8 and supposedly Bingo started at 8:30pm (it really started about 9). It was free to get in but each Bingo sheet was $1 (cheap!). We each bought two sheets to do two rounds.
The place was absolutely packed! I was shocked there were so many people out on a Monday night that late. Eventually the place was standing room only. Kat and I snagged two seats at the bar and got caught up over drinks.
Eventually the game started. We were so excited! There was definitely an air of excitement in the room, the crowd was pretty rowdy. I was surprised. I guess I pictured a bunch of old ladies with blue hair.
The guy running it was hilarious and fun. I had an absolute blast. We did not win, but it was fun. It’s every Monday night at The Woods. If you’re in Portland and looking for a cheap date and tons of fun I really recommend this place. I will most definitely be back.
Don’t forget your ironic facial hair and hipster glasses!
QUESTION: Have you ever played Bingo? What’s your city known for?
Eleah
There’s a little cafe in the basement at PSU that serves all organic and mostly vegan food…. It is about 90% hipsters all the time. I thought there were a lot of them roaming around campus but that little cafe has the highest concentration I’ve seen in town!
Lisa Eirene
Yes! PSU is a good place to spot Hipsters. I forgot about that. LOL
Brie
Every year at Christmas, everyone picks up one “household product” (usually toilet paper, laundry detergent, sponges, Windex–stuff everyone can use) and wraps it up. Then we play bingo and the winner gets to pick a prize. We get super competitive about it. It’s a lot of fun!
Lisa Eirene
That’s a cool tradition. I like that idea!
Lori
Funny – those hipsters are just like the people in boulder, Colorado when I used to live there LOL!
Our town is famous for a not so good thing. One of the largest superfund clean up sites in the US- thanks to GE dumping PCBs into the river.
Lisa Eirene
I knew I’d like Colorado!!
Yeah that wouldn’t be the best thing to be known for. Living in Washington there was Hanford. FUN! Luckily Seattle was pretty far from that.
Cheryle
Ah, hipsters! 🙂 Those cartoons remind me of something I saw years ago about a special collection of Portland Barbie dolls. Found it again here:
http://evilqueendenise.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-barbie-collection.html
As an L.O. resident who frequents the neighborhood Starbucks, I have to say the L.O. Barbie does actually exist in the wild. 🙂
Lisa Eirene
Oh yes! I remember the new Barbie collection well. It’s so true too. 🙂
julie
Hmmm, your hipsters look like ours, but with fewer facial piercings and tattoos! I had a pretty fun middle of the night trip to Voodoo Donuts once when I visited, my first meeting with a bacon donut. Can’t remember if I ate it or not.
My city used to be known for hippies and gay people, now the claim to fame is insane housing prices and cold gray summers. And, of course, hipsters and foodies.
julie
Also, our hipster would be on a fixie bike.
Lisa Eirene
How could I forget the fixed speed bike? Of course all the hipsters arrived to Bingo night on their bikes! LOL
Lisa Eirene
Voodoo Donuts is pretty epic. Insane housing and cold summers? Do you live in San Francisco?