Portland: the friendly hipster place

This week we were in Portland and I thought you might appreciate my musings on the fashion scene up there.

First, the most noticeable thing about Portland is the hipsters. They are everywhere--funky hair, funky clothes, hippies, punk rockers, thrift kids, even a few pirates. And, it's really so common that you hardly notice it. I would say that where other big cities have noticeable fashionistas, Portland has noticeable hipsters. I'm sure there were fashionable people mucking about, but they really weren't as interesting.

That being said, Portland was almost a bit TOO hipster. The city is clean and modern, with the best public transportation system I have ever seen in the US (free in the downtown area, too!). For something so fancy, you'd expect people to be more uppity, but not so. Everyone in Portland seemed really nice and approachable and at the more hipster-like places (for example, Rogue Brewery) people were almost too chilled out. Very much men with beards saying in slow, Chong-like drawls, "That's cool man. " This juxtaposed with the outdoorsy types who just want to go hiking/climbing/biking/rafting/etc.

In addition, 2 people stopped me in the street in the one day I was there--one punk girl to tell me my earrings were "sick" and another hippy lady who twisted a blond dreadlock around her finger and gave me a baby rose for my baby. While on the train a few people talked to us, including 2 men stone cold wasted at 1pm in the afternoon. I can't remember the last time any non-homeless person talked to me on the street in San Francisco.

BTW, the weather in Portland sucked! I wonder if it gets any better and how cold it is in the winter? The east coast was having 70 and 80 degree weather and portland was in the 40s and rainy. Rude!