I lived here twice many years ago and of course this coincided with the rise of "Portlandia" and the general sense that PDX was a playground for adult children everywhere, something of a modern-day civic utopia of urban living, a Brooklyn-like fixation on indie bands, beards and artisanal leather goods.
Then the pandemic hit and the narrative shifted to describe a place of anarchists, "woke aesthetics" (???) and people fleeing what had become a wasteland of homeless tents, boarded-up shops and general unease about even doing something as simple as going downtown to shop.
Well I'm here to tell you that PORTLAND IS BACK BABY -- we went to an indie-label showcase of strictly psych-doom bands last night (think: Black Angels on even more LSD than you imagined), restaurants still flourish here (just different ones than you remember) and it remains one of the most gorgeous places on the planet, even if the sidewalks are wet with cold rain for about four months per year.
I love this town and never stopped.
