Portland is American Eden

In this month's Travel and Leisure Magazine, Portland was called American Eden. I never really thought of it like that. But now that they mention it, it does sound nice. It's funny that they have to make comparisons like: "Northwest 23rd Street, the local equivalent of Rodeo Drive" and "the West Hills, the Portland equivalent of Beverly Hills". Mostly because I don't think of anything in Portland as the equivalent of Rodeo Drive or Beverly Hills. But okay.

The article sings the praises of our environmentally friendly city, discussing the music scene, the bookstore scene, the food scene and the general people-are-friendly-to-strangers kind of attitude. The author uses phrases like "Leave-it-to-Beaver charm", "dreamy" and "thoughtful".

I did learn about a couple of things that I now want to check out: Alma Chocolate that specializes "in organic, fair-trade chocolate molded into religious icons" and " ...and the Black Rose Collective Bookstore & Community Resource Center in the North Mississippi section of town, a fantastic power-to-the-people commune-thrift operation (everything in the shop is free) with an anarchist bent: 'Not one yuppie vehicle should be safe....'"

This article also made me remember that I want to read Chuck Palahniuk's books and listen to the Dandy Warhols more. No one will ever be able to convince me that Portland is NOT the greatest city that is not New York. It simply rocks.