You’re coming to Portland! Yay.

Oh boy! Excitements and informations. And pie!

Stuff we cover on this page:

» Packing for Portland
» Alberta Street neighborhood
» Best of the ‘hood
» Transportation
» Kennedy School Hotel
» Other hotels
» Foods!
» Other usefulnesses
» Internet access

Things to pack

• rain coat!
• warmnesses just in case
• warm socks for shavasana
• a bathing suit (if you want to use the pool at the Kennedy School)
• writing supplies: pens and notebooks

The best way to dress for Portland (and Dance of Shiva) is layers.

(I usually wear tights or sweatpants and a t-shirt for Shiva-ing it up and then throw a dress and a sweater on top.)

It does rain quite a bit in PDX but it’s usually more of a light misting or a drizzle than actual rain-rain.

The neighborhood.

The neighborhood where our Playground lives (the Alberta Arts district in Northeast Portland ) is an up-and-comer, blooming with all of the energy and creativity that makes Portland what it is.

Friendly, walkable, green, multi-cultural, food-centric — yeah, all that good stuff.

And the street erupts into a crazy outdoor art/food/music carnival the last Thursday of each month.

Here’s a little map PDF we made showing a few things you might like.

Best of …

Best coffee?

There’s great coffee all over Portland, so just about anywhere you go will be fine. But since my gentleman friend says that coffee is important, here are a few specific suggestions:

• Extracto (at Killingsworth and 30th)
• Caffe Vita (at Alberta and 29th)
• Random Order (at 18th)
• Barista (at 18th)
• Fuel (at 15th)

Best breakfast?

My vote is the Tin Shed. But lots of other people think that too, so get there early!

Best cafe to hang out in?

For home-y, living-room atmosphere I’d probably go with Fuel Cafe (they sell aprons!)

Transportation.

The Playground is totally walkable from the Kennedy School.

Portland also has excellent public transportation (buses and light rail) if you want to wander the city.

Parking on and near NE Alberta Street is plentiful and free.

The Kennedy School Hotel

The Kennedy School is a historic building (an abandoned elementary school) saved from the wrecking ball by Portland’s McMenamin brothers.

And now Portland’s most awesome hotel.

The rooms.

• Wonderfully high-ceilinged and spacious (room for non-sucky yoga).
• There’s a chalkboard in the room so you can scribble insights. Or throw a brainstorming party.
• Plenty of outlets and a big power strip.
• Yummy ginger-vanilla lotion.
• A great mix of vintage and modern furnishings, with a lovely wooden writing desk.
• Plus two pint glasses and a growler, to take the house-brewed beer back from one of the restaurants or bars.
• note: be sure to ask for one of the quieter rooms when you make your reservation!

The soaking pool.

It’s warm and salt-mineral-ey and brilliant. And open until 10 pm. Free if you’re staying at the hotel. For visitors it’s only $5 to get in, so I would say go for it. Bathing suits!

The movie theater.

In the school auditorium, with cozy couches. Plus if you order beer and pizza? They bring it to you. Ridiculously cheap admission: $3. Or nothing if you’re staying at the hotel.

The Boiler Room.

It’s a bar. In the actual boiler room.

Probably one of the cooler looking bars I’ve ever been in. Really, don’t miss this. Even if you don’t drink, grab someone from the program and go there to have a coffee or juice or something.

Hot tip: these are the quietest rooms:

It’s an old building, and some of the rooms are a little further away from the restaurants and bars than others! Here’s the super-seekrit list we got from a helpful person at the front desk:

• ABC room
• School Store room
• Old MacDonald’s Room
• Amo’s room
• Broom & Basket room
• Tea Party room
• Mr. Toad room
• Thumbelina room
• Mirror, Mirror room
• Rosella’s room
• Bird House room
• Toy Boat room Numbers room
• Ball Court room
• Blue’s room
• Marble & Hopscotch room
• Bird’s Nest room
• Sewing room
• Music room

Other places to stay in Portland.

Nothing else is in walking distance of the Playground (or as cool, in my opinion) but there are lots of great (and unusual) places to stay in Portland.

A by-no-means exhaustive list of (mostly) east-side-of-the-river possibilities:

• Bluebird Guesthouse
• Jupiter Hotel
• The Lion & the Rose Victorian B&B
• Northrup Station

Food stuff

Oh, you are in luck. Portland is full of amazing food. It’s also full of vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free-ers, what-have-you, so everywhere you can get food there will be alternatives. Even the local rib joint has veggie options.

Alberta Street alone (where the Playground is) has five six different Thai restaurants, three Mexican places, a donut shop and TWO vegan bakeries, not to mention a gazillion great cafes, bars, and other great places:

• Vita Cafe (lots of veggie/vegan)
• Bella Faccia Pizzeria (gorgeous pizza)
• Suzette (crepes!)
• Mash Tun Brewpub
• Back to Eden Bakery (vegan mania!)
• The Tin Shed (yum)
• Good grief, just walk down the street!

Note: Beware of Pie! You will eventually come across a colorful sign on Alberta St. that announces PIE. And you will think oh good, pie!

But it is not pie. It is a shoe store. I’m sorry. Luckily there is excellent pie (I’m told) at the Order of the Ostrich. Which is really called Random Order. They make it themselves from local ingredients and everyone says it’s spectacular. We will have some!

Food cart culture

The best food in Portland is found in the food carts.

They are EVERYWHERE. Cuban. Czech. Israeli. Ethiopian. New Mexican. You name it, it’s somewhere on the streets of Portland.

However, since the food cart scene on Alberta Street is currently in flux, the one must-eat here is the amazing The Grilled Cheese Grill at 11th Street.

Oh, and that awesome cart pod over on Mississippi Street (that some of you Rally veterans might remember) is right here.

For more about carts in the rest of town visit the site of a local food cart obsessive at foodcartsportland.com.

Mmm.

Grocery stores and other usefulnesses

• New Seasons is a terrific local grocery store chain — there’s one about two blocks from the Kennedy School.

  They also have tasty, inexpensive food — which you can order to go, or you can sit in their little self-serve cafe. This is a very affordable way to do the food thing.

• There’s a drugstore (Walgreens) right next door to New Seasons.
• Alberta Cooperative Grocery at the corner of NE 15th is a great little co-op.
• There’s even a lovely little art store — Collage at the corner of 17th.

Internet

Free wifi at the Kennedy School. And at pretty much every cafe in the neighborhood.

If you don’t have a laptop (and for whatever reason you don’t want to borrow someone’s) there are computers available for customers at the Star E Rose Cafe.