Deisnor, Your Local Guide for portland
Member For 3 years, 11 months // 2861 Places Added // 400 Maps Created // Deisnor's Profile Page
Ask me about:
general questions, meeting up, introductions
My Mission:
To make everyone feel at home in Portland. I am often trying to convince people from elsewhere to move.
About Me:
Since I have only lived in Portland for 3 years, I don't think I'm the perfect local guide. But as the co-founder of Platial, I want to do everything I can to help people find their way in my home city, meet people, make new connections. I have tremendous pride in my new city- it is a rare urban gem that suits idealists- small enough to make things happen and large enough to make them great.
My Work Includes:
Geographer, Entrepreneur
Books I Like:
Fiction by author usually, Hiruki Murakami, Jonathan Letham, Umberto Eco and lots of childrens fiction due to family reading evenings, my favorite of the year: The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Non-fiction by topic-recently, In Defense of Food, Anything World-is-Flatish.
Movies I Like:
Documentaries and Kid-friendly Anime with some Hollywood from time to time to round it out.
Other Interests:
sailing, reading, hosting, DJing Old School Hip Hop, making things
My Gender:
Female
My Age:
36
My Other Favorite Cities:
I fall in love with cities easily. The ones I've lived in...Portland, Amsterdam, Brooklyn.
Check out my website:
About My City:
On the surface, people see one of two sides of Portland; the one rich in lush gardens and greenscapes for hiking or the charmingly gritty city of gutter punks, skaters, gleaners and all manner of awesome display of independent living.
What takes longer to confront is the overwhelming sense of community that is embedded in everything we do-- the amount of time parents spend in the schools, how crowded city council meetings are, how much your average local knows about new developments in the City and how easy it is to start chatting with people in any random cafe. We bike, we support open source, all things local (especially food) coffee, beer and green tech/green living. And in each of those areas, its easy to find the groups that are creating community to get initiatives off the ground. We don't have great access to capital or even many direct flights to most world-wide destinations so we do what we can to support each other.
I found this video with highlights from a bike festival and has some good Portland characters like The Sprockettes.
My Other Maps for portland:
Other People's Maps I Like for portland:
Some Other Resources for portland:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland
http:// www.livepdx.com/Home/
http:// www.barflymag.com/
On the Ground with Di-Ann Eisnor
Community Spaces For Meeting, Making, Mischief
Despite the fact that Portland doesn't offer dense crowds for people watching, the possibilities for immersing yourself in the Community are vast. Portland doesn't mean to be "catchy", in fact its far too humble to be hip. So, forget about definitions of the term Community and its overuse and focus on the feeling/the experience of said term and it might go something like this...
- Sit at Community Tables. From dive bars to gourmet restaurants you'll find a higher communal table per capita than in other cities and a higher likelihood of chatting up your neighbors too. Some of my favorite community tables are Clyde Commons and Backspace.
- Eat at Farmers Markets. In the summer, spring and fall you'll find farmers markets on most days. The Saturday farmers market at PSU usually has fresh food to order, live music, kid crafts and tons of kids playing together. When you cant, grab food from local food spots like Proper Eats and The Farm.
- Meetup at Micro-Venues. There is a meeting space associated with all kinds of places from a DIY Lounge a craft store to a mini music venue at VooDoo donuts.
- U-Pick. Forage in the abundance of fruit trees or go to Sauvie Island and pick away! Pumpkins blueberries, apples, flowers- the entire island is for farming so there is always something being harvested.
- Go By Bike. Check out Community Cycling Center for any gear you need. There are also Bike Happy Hours and Free Food for bike commuters like Breakfast on the Bridges (Steel & Hawthorne Bridges 7:00am - 9:00am Last Friday of every month). All inclusive themed rides happen nearly once a week; buddha ride, ice-cream rides, holiday rides and more.
- Heck, you can even get communal acupuncture at Working Class Acupuncture and soak like a local at McMenamins Kennedy School. (Only $5 if you don't live in the hood and free if you do).
- Geek out at Lucky Lab home to many monthly tech meetups like music, sport and swimming. Most offer free playtimes and drop-ins are welcome for classes. Community gardens, libraries, parks and the standby institutions like OMSI, Children's Museum and Zoo all offer a daily dose of socialization.
- Do Your Part To Keep Portland Weird. Portland has a healthy dose of anarchist in just about every neighborhood. In the Pearl district you might find more than average number of young professionals and high priced dining experiences but we couldn't be a growing city without that now could we? Portland is big on all things local, DIY and artisans abound from chocolate to cheese to cabinetry.
- Get out of Town. Hot-springs, Columbia Gorge, Hiking.
- Be Green at Hawthorne Hostel and visit the icons of reuse like Scrap and the Rebuilding center. We're even home to a sustainable VC with big plans. Dave Chen, formerly of OVP is blazing a much needed trail for Portland's entrepreneurs. So if you're visiting because your thinking of moving your bold sustainable venture to Portland, he's your guy.
- Be Cheap. $3 movies at many theaters (all McMenamins theaters) and Good happy hours at most restaurants from 4-6 and after 11pm.
