As a born and bred Portlander whose family came in the early 1900's, much local lore was absorbed by osmosis. Later, I researched and wrote about my city of roses and rain, parks and bridges, joggers and walkers, runners and bicyclists, elephants, carousels, public art, blues, jazz, world beat ... And some years ago I waxed eloquent about the music scene in The First Book of Oregon Jazz, Rock & All Sorts of Music and later assembled a Portland guidebook but could not get it published. So now, here, web-ready, with music especially chosen to complement my words and photos and with links to more amazements, is the essence of my town …  

The eloquent "Tabledance" by Tangier, who I wrote

had an ability to slink or drive hard and deep.

The city became Portland (and not Boston) when Asa Lovejoy, a lawyer from Massachusetts, lost a coin toss to Maine-born merchant Francis Pettygrove, to whom William Overton had sold his half of the 1844 ”tomahawk” land claim. That coin is still on view at the Oregon Historical Society.

The place is a sprawling hundred or so square miles stretching from the wide banks of the mighty Columbia, straddling the calmer Willamette, encompassing a singular downtown skyline, enveloping the largest urban wilderness in the country, dotted with tree-studded residential hills, east and west. With an extraordinary sightline east to five sentinels of the Cascades, those volcanic peaks slicing down the center of Washington and Oregon: the tiny triangle tip of Jefferson, the low-slung double hump of Adams, the craggy white-on-white Hood, the stunted blown-away St. Helens and the snowcone silhouette of Seattle's Rainier.

She’s snugged into a sheltered inland evergreen pocket, yet   unquestionably under the influence of the Pacific Ocean some 90 miles west -- among few major international seaports located so far inland. Indeed, it was the rather preposterous notion of some of the founding fathers to begin scooping out a shipping channel in the Willamette that helped turn Portland into the hub city and not Vancouver, with its historic Fort Vancouver and Hudson's Bay Company easily accessible on the Columbia.

The most prominent vista on the horizon is Mt. Hood, towering at 11,235 feet. You can get hundreds of individualized glimpses, from the Pittock Mansion in northwest to Rocky Butte in northeast but …

• The quintessential view and best photo op of Mt. Hood with downtown highrises in the foreground is in Washington Park, at the top of the ancient stone staircase at the amphitheater.

On crystal clear days the pearly peak literally floats above shadowy foothills like a gleaming gemstone in a swirl of robin's-egg-blue sky. Ah but those crystal clear days are rare, with rain or clouds often obscuring the mountains. Yes, it's true.  In Portland sun is fleeting, unexpected and altogether glorified. 

And so the combination of the lure of ethereal mountain views, the majesty of forested lands, the eternal flow of rivers, the reliability of rain has a profound affect imbuing Portland a distinct sense of place like nowhere else. 

• The giant clock high atop Union Station is one of the last major mechanical devices in the world not electrically powered.  Every Monday morning it is wound by human hand.

• The more than 700 decorative old world light poles frequently publicize community events by flying colorful flags or banners such as this one near the Downtown Portland theater and Performing Arts Center.

• Downtown's iconic Pioneer Courthouse Square was paved when 50,000 citizens contributed $15 each for the personalized bricks.

• The weather vane at Pioneer Courthouse Square exemplifies Portland's whimsy.
  

Every day at noon the animated oddity blares a clarion call and ushers up from its innards either a glorious sun or a snarling gargoyle, depending on the day's forecast.

• Council Crest as the highest point in town, about 1000 ft., offers incredible 180 degree views. And, as Doug Rennie of the Oregonian says:

"Name another U.S. city where you can sit sipping a latte downtown and three minutes later be walking through old-growth forest on your way to a five-mountain view.

"Can't, huh? So now you know why showing off Portland .. is a slam dunk."

First, Starbucks at heart-of-Portland Pioneer Courthouse Square. Then a quick drive up Southwest Broadway to Southwest Terwilliger, swing onto Southwest Sam Jackson Park Road and take the first right past the Carnival restaurant to Marquam Nature Park's base camp one ... "OK, it's a parking lot, " he admits.

• For more infor on many things Portland, consult this website: