Late last year, I took a mini tour around Downtown Portland, snapping some highlights of my home town. While a few of the resulting images were shared on another site, many were left out due to length constraints. Since so many of you have asked me about Portland over the years, I thought I’d share some little glimpses of our downtown area. I’ve actually lived in S.E. Portland for many years and maybe I’ll show you of my favorite spots and hangouts sometime — it’s definitely much more quirky!

Portland is one of the most bike friendly cities in the country. Everyone including Joey rides bikes everywhere. Everyone that is, except me.

The famous Portland sign. Classic.

If you happen to get lost, make your way to Pioneer Square (also known as Portland’s living room) for some helpful directions. Hey, Times Square is only 2,443 miles away!

Powell’s City of Books claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. If you’re visiting, it should definitely make your top 10 list of places to check out.

About a block from Powell’s is Reading Frenzy, my favorite little shop for independent zines, books and other trinkets. Cute overload.

I love the old-timey look of Kenny and Zuke’s. Most of their sandwiches have meat in them but I had a pretty amazing grilled cheese here one time. It’s on a block of great establishments including Ace Hotel, Stumptown Coffee and Clyde Common, a European-style restaurant (with great mimosas).

I never get tired of stopping into the lobby of The Ace. The lobby has a photo booth and an entrance to Stumptown (complete with big windows for some of the best people watching in the city).

For the most part, though I’ve had many extended stays in New York and traveled through a big chunk of the U.S., I’ve always called Portland home. Come visit us sometime!

When I first stepped inside North a few months ago, it was easily one of the coolest spaces I’d ever been in so I asked who’d designed the interior. Turns out that the honor goes to Portland’s Skylab Architecture. Here are some of my favorite projects of theirs:

Departure

Departure Restaurant & Lounge, Portland, Oregon

North

North Ad Agency, Portland, Oregon

Sugar Laboratories

Sugar Laboratories Salon & Spa, Portland, Oregon

Flavor Paper

Flavor Paper Wallpapers, Brooklyn, New York

East

East Chinatown Lounge, Portland, Oregon

Doug Fir

Doug Fir Lounge Restaurant & Bar, Portland, Oregon

Weekend Date at Saint Cupcake

This weekend, I met my friend girl Joey for coffee and after awhile, we realized that the holy grail of sweet treats, Saint Cupcake was just a few doors down. One is never enough. Ever. They also do vegan versions of a few varieties if you’re interested!

Office Overhaul Continued

I’m still not quite done with my office – I just ordered a zinc colored Eames Aeron chair (worth every penny when you sit all day) and still need to find a suitable rug. But! I stole the desk we had in the white room and now I have three times the space to work! So unbelievably nice. I especially like the storage inside of the ‘legs.’

Goggles!

The guys at Smith Optics kindly sent me samples of the goggles I designed, along with one of the helmets. I’m spreading the love and sending two of my best friends a pair so they can get some use – though I’m keeping the super cute, thin strapped girl’s ones for myself!

Rush Hour

The road home from Nike any time near 5 PM is a long one.

Cozy Breakfast

On Sunday, Auntie Nubs joined Joey and I for a delightful vegan breakfast at Paradox. Of course, she always packs along her camera and snaps away, for better or worse. Let’s just say that she’s got a pile of doozies that shall remain locked in the secret family photo album forever. I hope.

Cool Cover

When I was freelancing this week, I discovered this super awesome cover on one of the agency’s shelves and had to share. So good!

Enjoy your weekend (and stay out of trouble!)

View from the floor: Sunshine.

It’s about time. Often, I buy beverages solely based on their packaging. Surely I’m not alone in this?

Weekend Stop at Stumptown.

I know that everyone likes Stumptown coffee, but I think their hot chocolate is the best.

Spotted: Gremlin!

I have a total soft spot for Gremlins – they’re little, awkward and the gas tank in the back cracks me up. There’s this middle-aged hispanic woman in my neighborhood that burns out of the Plaid Pantry parking lot sometimes in the most amazing Gremlin of all-time: sparkly green paint job, monsterous racing slick tires and massive flames painted along the sides. I totally wish she’d take me for a spin sometime.

Project status: Complete.

I spent pretty much every waking hour this week working on a book for Downtown Portland with the North team, complete with custom embossed covers – I’m super happy with how it turned out.

Cutest sign ever.

I am in love with the logo for Breken Kitchen, a cafe in N.W. The walls inside are perfectly matched to that same green – I love it when businesses go the extra mile with those little details.

You can’t be serious.

When I was sitting at Stumptown this weekend, this bike rider’s getup totally caught my eye. Skin tight? Check? Hearts? Check. Outfit matches your wife’s? Check. Golden.

ART

Hand-painted advertising.

Someone’s a barfly.

When we go to the coffee shop in the morning and walk Rocky, we always pass a trashy restaurant / bar on the corner. The side door is usually open and Rocky for some reason loves to try and wander in. I don’t blame him – the dart boards, collection of 3 foot tall trophies and Ozzy blaring are all pretty hard to resist. Nice sign, too:

Until next week,

Just a quick note that I am NORTHbound for the week and I won’t have a chance to blog until after Thursday. Yes, that really is what their offices look like. AMAZING.

Okay, time for a little shameless self promotion. I just put this poster together for Joey’s art show. Please join us this Thursday night at Branch Whiskey Bar for drinks and rock portraits!

2926 N.E. Alberta St. Portland, OR 97211
Opens: Thursday, May 27, 5 – 10 pm

Better late than never, methinks. I’ve been working on a campaign this week and I am pretty much running behind on everything in life. Also, note that I am planning on switching servers and upgrading the blog over the weekend so my site may be down very temporarily. Now, onto The Week in Pictures!

Cutting through the nastiest strip of Portland is 82nd (a.k.a. The Avenue of Roses). Run down motels line the street and their signs are all pretty amazing. One of my favorites is the Del Rancho. A perfect slice of Americana!

One of Joey’s newest paintings, a portrait of Morrissey has taken up residence in the white room. My dad stopped by yesterday and kept saying “Who is that again? What did he do? What’s his name?” Hahaha.

The living room at Wolfgang Manor makes me think of a ski lodge that hosts meetings for the Black Arts. Let’s just say that Motley Crue would feel at home here. My brother just built this coffee table and of course, it’s black which matches the black floors and nearly black walls…and the black bear in the corner.

Sometimes, pit stops at IKEA for pillows, cutting boards, steel table tops and other domestic necessities is absolutely necessary.

I’m still enamored with the Oyster Bar. I love how every time I walk in, it feels like I’m in the bottom of a 100 year old ship.

This is way too funny. Remember how I showed you the Mystery Machine that’s parked in my neighborhood a few weeks back? Well, I took a closer look and realized that there’s a sticker on the back which reads, “Don’t Laugh. Your daughter may be inside.” I decided not to peek in the windows….

I noticed this sign at least a month after I finished the design for Semiospectacle but love the similar style. Eat a vegan breakfast here – it’s goooood.

Okay, back to work for me! Enjoy your weekend!

This last week has been so good! One of my best friends in the entire universe, Star was in town over the weekend for Stumptown Comics Fest and we did our best to make up for lost time. We try to get together at least once a year and have zig-zagged the U.S. between New York, LA and Portland to make it happen.

When we’re together, the running joke is that we turn into a two-headed monster known as Stubby. Our mutual friend Kaebel of Sequential Art took us on a mini tour of Portland and we discovered a photo booth at Backspace.

Last Friday when I was staying at the Jupiter, Star stopped by and we proceeded to have a late night dinner (1 AM, holla!) at the Doug Fir. It was her first time there and is still one of my favorite places to take visitors.

Some seemingly innocent snapshots of Rocky came out more like modeling head shots. Time to put that boy to work! Dog food and designer sweaters aren’t cheap!

I was pretty excited to go to Portland’s outpost of the Beauty Bar with my friend Pam this week. I’ve been to some of the others that are scattered across the U.S. but this one was the best by far. The paint colors, decor and cute drinks merged perfectly. So cute!

I’m not much of a comics buff myself but a lot of my friends are so I try to make it to Stumptown every year to support them. I ended up spending a few hours on Saturday snuggled up next to Star and John C. Worsley. Notice how we all had grumpy faces at first and had to put on a little show for the camera. Really, we only play friends on the interwebz!

My favorite discovery at Stumptown was a comic about homeless dinosaurs. The dinosaurs themselves put on a pretty convincing act, holding signs that read “THE END IS NEAR. I WAS RIGHT 65 MILLION YEARS AGO, TOO” and “LOST MY JOB. IT TAKES 7 GALLONS OF BOOZE TO GET ME DRUNK. PLEASE HELP.” I was sold.

Until next week,

When people write me and ask what they should do while visiting Portland, the inevitable question of where to stay usually arises. Since I live in the city and 15 minutes or less from most of the hotels I like, I’ve never really had a reason to stay overnight. Until now.

The Jupiter Hotel is a quaint boutique hotel with a mid-century modern feel. Formerly a motor inn, the Jupiter is next door to the Doug Fir, one of my favorite places in town to grab a drink and dinner. I’ve sat around the Doug Fir’s fire pit out back and watched massive parties go down at The Jupiter – it’s definitely earned a reputation of being the ‘rock and roll hotel’ of Portland.

Awhile back, the Jupiter kindly offered me a room for review – I knew the basics but before recommending it to my readers, I wanted to experience it firsthand for myself. On Friday night, we packed our bags, sent out invites to some of our closest Portland friends and drove over to our temporary digs.

The Jupiter provided us with their most popular room, The Metro. According to their site, “The Metro has space to spread out and get creative. These rooms feature 32” flat-screen TVs and modern Tomita Design desks in addition to our standard amenities: Chalkboard door, free WiFi, private bath with eco-bath amenities, queen pillow-top platform beds, down comforters and pillows, and speakers for your notebook or MP3 player.” Nice.

Perhaps the coolest part of the Jupiter rooms are the chalkboard-friendly doors. World famous artists Star and Joey helped us deck them out in some lewd finery.

Star poses in front of our handiwork. In case you were wondering, I’m responsible for the drippy boobs and drumstick.

Isn’t the desk and work area cute?

Erin and I met on our first day of high school in 1995. Still goin’ strong!

Brent, Katie and Erin joined us for the festivities.

Joey and Jason also stopped by….

Star and I compare legwear at 2 AM.

You may be asking yourself…what are some qualities that make the Jupiter unique?

• Each of the 81 rooms feature a unique theme / wall mural. Mine had a floor-to-ceiling portrait of Buddha.

• The Jupiter is very green and uses low-voltage lighting, provides guest room recycling and cleans with environmentally-friendly products.

• Besides having the Doug Fir next door, an on-site hair salon called Wack is perfect for a quick cut and massage.

• There are pet friendly rooms! Read more about the LexiDog Metro.

• The Jupiter is barely a few minutes from downtown and surrounded by a plethora of independent businesses and indie boutiques.

Overall, I was very satisfied with my stay. The room was larger than I’d expected; I loved the modern decor and huge window. And, the convenience is unparalleled since the entertainment is right next door at the Doug Fir, where you can grab breakfast, lunch, dinner and a show all in one stop! If you are hip, love to party and aren’t offended by obscenities scrawled across people’s doors in chalk, this is your place. If you’re old, stuffy and lack a sense of humor, there’s a dumpy Thriftlodge down the road.

To find out more about the Jupiter or to book a room, please visit the website. Last but not least, I should mention that there’s an after midnight $59.00 special if you’re needing a last minute place to crash!

Just in case you’re wondering, that’s not a Black AmEx…more like a Bank of America debit card. No Barney’s shopping sprees for you, Auntie Nubs! This week has consisted of errand running, photo booth fun and sorting through piles of tax receipts. I need to remind myself this year to sort the receipts by month as I go so I’m not up until 3 a.m. breaking a sweat. All those plane tickets and lattes do add up, though!

On my way to the coffee shop this weekend, I noticed this car parked in someone’s side yard. Pretty charming. Though, I’d hate to parallel park that baby.

After running errands, Joey and I usually end up at The Ace. With Clyde Common on one side and Stumptown on the other, I always recommend it to out-of-towners who are wanting to stay downtown.

Of course, a stop at The Ace isn’t complete without a few sittings in the photo booth. Since it takes debit cards, I always go a little overboard…and then wake up, log in to my checking account and wonder what multiple $4.00 charges are from.

This week, I had a total first. You may remember that I designed some custom racing numbers for my friend Jason’s son a few months ago. One day, I received a text from him, mentioning that he was going to get them tattooed across his chest. I just figured that he was drunk…but he was dead serious. He just invited me along to take photos. Go, Jason!

Auntie Nubs and I have been on a roll. I think it’s time for us to make another trip to New York to visit our ‘long lost relatives.’

One of Joey’s art shows just came down and as I was moving a stack of canvases, I decided that Shirley fit quite nicely in the corner of the black room.

I cannot believe that it’s already April! Do you have any big plans?

Until next week,