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City Cast Portland

People often overlook Vancouver as little more than a suburb of Portland. There’s no disputing it; more than a quarter of the people living in Clark County crossed the state line for work before the pandemic hit. But some traffic is heading the other way, at least for recreation.


The 'Couv has been shaking off its dreary, lesser-city rap 

 and began attracting dining and drinking spots from out of town. (It’s more fashionable to 

 these days.) Here’s some spots to check out the next time you visit:


 offering of adobe-roasted pork and nopal tacos or brisket and oyster-mushroom tortas. Try their take on fruit margaritas. Full yum at 114 W 6 St.



Like much of the new waterfront spots, it’s a chain, in this case one featured on reality TV. It makes up for that with extra sugar, specializing in decadent milkshakes and sundaes. Buyer beware, prepare to spend close $15 for a sundae that is called the Unicorn, and does indeed look like one. It costs even more for some milkshakes. 656 Waterfront Way,


 of the Land Bridge, designed by architect Johnpaul Jones and Vietnam War memorial designer Maya Lin, guides you from the waterfront to Fort Vancouver, an old hub of the fur trade. Learn about the life of Indigenous peoples and the arrival of settlers. See the native plants planted along the way. Old Apple Tree Park, along S/Southeast Columbia Way.

Get to Know Vancouver

Neighborhood Guides

That guy who still has blue hair — you see him around, but don’t know his name — he’s a little like Kerns, a central eastside neighborhood almost everyone has been to, but few know by name.

It’s not one thing. From an industrial section of the neighborhood wafts the fresh smells of baked bread, thanks to Franz Bakery, while 

a giant bread loaf twirls on top of the factory

. The neighborhood, which runs from the Willamette River up to Laurelhurst, mostly north of Burnside, is an urban mix of industrial blocks and new apartment towers along with residential homes and some of the best food and drink options in the city.

Here’s where to go when you visit (again):

For a reliably tasty meal that never fails 

 has spicy rotisserie chicken, with fresh corn tortillas and sides including a potato salad and a vinegary coleslaw.


Kerns has two of the most distinctive buildings on the east side’s newer skyline — you’ve seen them. Critics call the 

 at the end of the Burnside Bridgethe “Death Star.” Next door is the shorter bright red-, blue- and yellow-splashed art project of a commercial space officially christened the 

Visit the resident free-ranging dove at 

. Shop for potted plants and sundries. The store offers classes on making your own perfume and on building a terrarium.


It’s getting to be that season. If you’re up for a clothing-optional Old Portland hippie adventure, stop in at 

 for a soak, a steam, a sauna. It’s like Central Oregon’s Breitenbush Hot Springs, only in the city.

Get to Know Kerns (the Neighborhood)

It’s easy to drive through Portland or walk neighborhood streets and, quite frankly, despair.

There. Are. So. Many. Tents.

Portland and

 have done their part to pay for building housing and paying for 

. What more is there to do?

Maybe it helps to keep in mind it’s somebody’s daughter out there, somebody’s brother. Maybe it would help to try to help, as many do already. 

Here are two established nonprofits that lend a hand. The first step for each is registering as a volunteer with each: 


 a nonprofit based in Old Town, serves people experiencing homelessness, and asks for help carrying out its mission.

, which includes reading a handbook and watching training videos. After that, you can sign up for shifts.

 make meals, make your own care kits and sack lunches to donate, plus more 

 a nonprofit who serves the most vulnerable people across Oregon, also has a robust volunteer program.

 by creating a profile, passing a background check ($30-50, though there are fee waivers), and going through an online orientation. Then you can sign up for specific posts.

serve food, help out in a food pantry, buy supplies for a welcome basket for women moving into and out the Kenton Women’s village, among 

How to Help Neighbors Experiencing Homelessness

Help Your Neighbors

California raises tons more strawberries, but Oregon berries still pack a punch with their extraordinary flavor.

Chomp into a Hood, and you’ll notice the deep red coloring all the way through. And get ready for a mouthful of intense flavor.

like “strawberry candy,” one pastry chef said,

 when compared with all-year-round grocery-store varieties mostly grown in California.

Introduced in 1965, and named after Mount Hood

, Hoods are often made into jams, preserves, or frozen for longevity.

To be sure, this famous variety is quite small. Its season is a short two to three weeks. But don’t miss out!

Hoods taste best when eaten within a day of being picked. That means they can’t be shipped, but that also means they’re found fresh almost solely on Oregon farms, in local groceries, and at farmers markets.

are the not-so-secret ingredient in Häagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream

Urban Almanac: Hood Strawberries

Urban Almanac

Willie Levenson from the Human Access Project has been working to advocate for a cleaner river and more people swimming in it. 

asked him for some guidance on where to go to swim this summer:

“I like swimming from docks myself. So number one, 

. That's on the floating section of the Esplanade. That dock used to be restricted to motorized boats, so it wasn't legal to swim off it or fish off of it. So it took us six years of work with PBOT and Oregon State Marine Board to get permission to add eight swimming ladders that took less than four hours to install. So that is the grind of activism.

“This summer, we're gonna be doing a Duckworth Wednesday concert series. You'll be able to ride your bike, 

check out an awesome sunset, and hear disco music every Wednesday

“It is an incredibly used park. I mean, you go there, and every day it's a river beach party. And there's no material difference in the water quality between that site, which is about three miles from downtown. That is a vision of what the future of Portland's gonna be.”

“That's where our River Hugger swim team swims, which is right off the Hawthorne Bridge on the north side. Human Access Project added two ladders to that dock, effectively making it a new public access point.

“Our River Hugger swim team swims across the Willamette and back every morning Monday through Saturday. If you're an intermediate level swimmer and you're into open water swimming, check out the river swim team, too.”

Other tips from Willie about getting in the water:

Not convinced to go for a swim? Maybe you want to learn more about the

 progress Portland has made in cleaning the Willamette River

Splish, Splash 

Summer Guide: Willamette River Swimming Spots

Summer Guide

In Portland, when the rain stops coming down, tourists, family, and friends flood into town. It’s that time of year. 

 team picked out spots for the best impression of town — where to take your visitors right after leaving the airport:

“It's like a very old-school butcher shop that has cases and cases of everything. You can get a cooked sausage. My sister did this for me once when she picked me up. We got out of the airport and within like six minutes we were at Gartner's Country Meat Market. It's fun to go in and you're like, ‘Whoa, I'm somewhere different now.’ And then you get this delicious snack to eat on the way home.” — City Cast Portland lead producer John Notarianni

“If it was an evening flight, I'm assuming they got in late. My first spot would be to take them to My Father's Place. I think it's a really funky, cozy Portland-y opening to the trip. They're open late. They have great diner food. The environment's not too rowdy in any way.”  — City Cast Portland audio producer Giulia Fiaoni

“If it was a morning flight and I really wanted to wow them, I would take them to Tōv Coffee on Southeast Hawthorne. It's a double-decker bus, a traditional Egyptian and Turkish-style coffee shop. It's by far my favorite place to get coffee in the city. The coffee's incredible. The environment's very calming. So it'd be a nice post-flight place to unwind. There's so much to do in that area, even if you wanted to go for a walk right after.” — Giulia Fiaoni

We’ve got even more recommendations for the best spots for 

day trips, restaurants and bars, and the top overall Portland places

Best Places to Take Portland Visitors

The Best Places to Take Portland Visitors

The Best

The Oregon swallowtail (aka Papilio oregonius) isn’t a bird; it’s the state’s official insect. And it’s an attractive one — with black and yellow coloring and bright red-orange spots. The Oregon swallowtail became the state insect in 1979. The rain beetle had been 

 for state insect, but lacked political support because it preys on orchard fruit.

You could be forgiven for expecting a bird: Oregon swallowtails get their common name from the fact that the end of their wings look like a swallow’s tail. 

And both the scientific and common name include the state’s name.

 These butterflies, with a wingspan up to 4 inches wide, flutter through Oregon, Idaho, and parts of British Columbia. In Oregon they live east of the Cascades.

Their caterpillars are also brightly colored and eat tarragon sagebrush. The adult butterflies eat the nectar of wildflowers, including thistles, phlox, daisies, asters, and milkweed.

Their predators include birds, wasps, spiders, and praying mantis. Fun fact: The Oregon swallowtail 

was on a 13 cent U.S. postage stamp, in 1979

Urban Almanac: Oregon Swallowtail

At least 10% of the ingredients for Salt & Straw’s new June flavors are made with food that would otherwise be thrown out. That’s with help from the nonprofit Urban Gleaners, which works to end hunger and promote sustainability. 

 include lemon curd & whey, day-old bread pudding & chocolate ganache, malted chocolate barley milk (vegan), and salted caramel and okara cupcakes (vegan). [Oregonian]

Downtown Portland food cart Stretch the Noodle is for sale. The beloved cart has a fan base for its Northwest Chinese hand-pulled noodles. The Craigslist ad says they take in $1,000-1,500 each day for lunch hours and 

Oregon growers first cultivated some of the tastiest fruits out there: Bing cherries, marionberries, Hermiston watermelons, and Hood strawberries. Bing cherries, which date from 1875, were named for a Chinese orchard foreman who returned to China to visit family and never made it back to Oregon, likely because of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Definitely try Hood strawberries next month, which are delicate and delicious. 

Other local varieties to sample include Mary’s Peak and Tillamook strawberries.

 episode on Portland’s best doughnuts next week. In the meantime, email me your personal doughnut reviews. What is your favorite shop or favorite doughnut? Are there any overrated ones out there?

Best Doughnut? Worst Doughnut? Email Me

Food & Drink: Righteous Ice Cream

Food & Drink

The Northeast Portland neighborhood of Woodlawn was first settled as a farming community in the 1860s and was outside the bounds of the city of Portland. Its streets, which can seem like a maze now, were oriented toward 

Today we are featuring the recommendations of 

“I'm from Detroit, and I'm very picky about Detroit-style pizza. I will go on record saying that Ranch has the best version of it in all of Portland. It definitely got me through the pandemic ordering carryout from the window at Ranch Pizza. Plus, as a native Midwesterner, their ranch dressing is absolutely amazing.”

 A local pizza expert named Ranch one of the top 10 places in town. Listen 

, particularly if Detroit isn't your thing. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

“Every little thing there is dialed in. They've got a tiny grocery section that has a bunch of staples. Their wine selection is small and curated, but reasonably priced. Every single thing that comes out of that kitchen is a perfect iteration of a sandwich or a salad. And they have an amazing backyard patio.”

“It’s a heavy metal bar on MLK with a huge side patio. It’s a place to see totally wild music if you want, and it has some of the cheapest draft beer in all of Portland.”

What are your favorite spots in Woodlawn? What are your favorite spots in your part of town? Email me.

What Are Your Favorite Places?

Get to Know Woodlawn

Monarch butterflies are not officially an endangered species, but shocking declines in their populations nationwide have led to a massive effort to save the butterfly and its habitat.

They’re easily the most recognizable butterfly to most of us, but here are some noteworthy facts about the species:

A monarch butterfly weighs about the same as a blade of grass or postage stamp.

 over the course of months to migrate south for the winter.

Western monarch butterflies winter in southern California, while East Coast monarchs head to Mexico.

Butterflies can taste and smell through r

eceptors in their antennae and their legs

The world is clearly better off for having a diversity of species to marvel at, but butterflies also help us as pollinators — by helping plants reproduce.

Urban Almanac: Monarch Butterflies

These answers are from a forum this week featuring Oregon State University professors with expertise related to fires. Questions were edited.

What's your biggest concern this fire season?

: “These kinds of fire seasons where we have a cooler, wetter spring, it really drives the fuel development [for example, grasses]. July and August are forecasted to be a little warmer than normal, and so the fuel and warmth toward the end of the fire season, that's what has most forecasters worried at this point.”

What’s our status going into fire season?

Associate professor & Oregon state climatologist 

: “About 52 percent of the state is still in moderate or worse drought conditions, even though we had really great snowpack and decent precipitation in parts of the state. One of the things that is most concerning, in both a drought perspective and a wildfire perspective, is the soil. Moisture estimates across a lot of the state are still historically dry.”

What’s different going into this year from last year?

O’Neill: “Last spring was the wettest in our state history from April, May, and June. And it was also cooler than normal. [This spring] is starting off much warmer, and a little or quite a lot drier, than last year.”

, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute:

“I think there's a natural tendency to think about 'How does this year compare with the last year or two?' [But] if one looks at the longer term trend, over the past couple decades wildfires are becoming more frequent. They're becoming larger, and that's across the west. It’s becoming warmer; it's effectively becoming drier. Even if precipitation increases, water availability is decreasing over the long term.”

3 Questions With Oregon State Wildlife Experts

3 Questions With

6th among the fastest-shrinking big cities

 in the U.S. in the two years between July 2020 and July 2022. Last year, Portland saw 

 behind only New York, Philadelphia, and Oakland. Even Detroit saw a (slightly) slower decline.

It only underlines the decline that Seattle, our bigger rival city to the north, was the 

 for the most recent year of data. But Seattle was the exception in some ways; the next 15 fastest-growing cities were all in the Sunbelt.

The possibly good news is that Portland’s decline slowed last year.

And, for better or worse, Portland has company: Gresham, West Linn, and Lake Oswego all shrank, and they did so faster last year. By contrast, the three fastest-growing cities in the region were farther afield: 

Ridgefield, Wash. (+32%), Estacada (+18%), and Cornelius (+13%).

Why do experts worry over population declines?

With population declines, businesses can start to 

struggle and close, meaning fewer amenities

. It also can mean less tax revenue for governments and therefore fewer services. The decline so far (

) is relatively small but could become more of an issue if the trend continues.

Correction: In Portland, plastic that can be recycled goes in the blue bin. You may have noticed that correctly illustrated in the photo last week, but it’s not what I said in the text. Thanks to readers who noted the misstatement, and my apologies for it.

What’s the Deal With Portland’s Shrinking?

Explainers

The nutria has a rat-like tail but, like beavers, lives in and around waterways. From afar, it’s a lookalike to that native species.

You’re probably wondering, how did they get here? The nutria, native to South America, arrived in Oregon in the 1930s 

. But by the 1940s, that nutria fur trade went bust; nobody wanted the furs. That meant thousands of animals were released into the Oregon wild.

They prospered and wreaked havoc on the environment and crops.

. They have been known to chow down on a long list of crops, including 

corn, beets, alfalfa, wheat, barley, oats, and various melons,

 according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Under Oregon’s administrative rules, no one can import nutria into the state. That hasn’t helped much, though, as the state’s nutria population has thrived.

For farmers and gardeners looking to get rid of the pests, the state recommends trapping and shooting them, though shooting a nutria within city limits is forbidden for obvious reasons. Relocating the rodents is also forbidden. And watch out: state officials say they can be aggressive when trapped.

Nonetheless, among Portland's many animal lovers, they have 

Some Think They’re Cute. You?

Urban Almanac: Nutria

We invited Mary Peveto, executive director of Neighbors for Clean Air, who was 

a guest on the City Cast Portland podcast earlier this week

, to share what she likes best in and around Old Town:

“We're on the brink of Old Town and the North Pearl along the water. I get to live on the Willamette River. They were the first residential places built right on the river, and it is so magical. I have the best of everything that Portland offers.”

], walk right down on a beach but still all the wonderful parts of just great restaurants close by.”


“The trail isn't right out my back door, but it's just about a mile, mile and a half away. But I still get to be up on the trails in 

“I love Old Town. The mix of all the good and bad right now that the city of Portland's. 

“I'm right under the Broadway Bridge and right across the street from the 

 which I think has been a fabulous addition to our community.” 


“Even with everything I know about diesel emissions and how bad Amtrak and our railyards, I love [that] I'm right across the street from the 

 and I walk over and I jump on a train. And I've gone to Glacier National Park, or I go to Seattle or go up to Bellingham.”

Why Portland Has Some of the Worst Air

Get to Know Old Town

I put out the call for the best doughnut shops and our inbox filled up! Thank you to everyone who shared their favorites:

“Delicious Donuts off East Burnside are the BEST! Independent shop with the nicest owner/employees. Fresh and beautiful. The options are amazing. Breakfast options are stellar as well!” — 

“Vegan, great inventive flavors, with a more light airy consistency, which I prefer to the more dense, cakey versions.” — 

“Donut Land is the very best of the BEST when comparing donut shops in the Portland area. I am a mother of four. We live in Nob Hill, downtown. I will drive all the way to Tualatin for these donuts. It's more than donuts — freshest bagels, muffins, bread! All baked in house.

What's our favorite donut? Raspberry filled, old fashioned buttermilk and the maple bars. And, the chocolate cake... Nevermind! Every donut at Donut Land is our favorite.” — 

“Great variety and flavors, and they'll often go into the back to get fresher versions of something.” — 

“While Voodoo Donuts feels a bit like the Joker movie before it came out (everyone loved it, and then everyone loved to hate it), one of my favorite donuts comes from their shop. It is the Cock and Balls donut. It is a boston cream donut that is bigger than most donuts, which is nice. In this case only, size matters.” — 

If you don’t see your favorite doughnuts here, 

email me: I’d love to hear your favorite

. We also conducted a (totally unscientific) taste test of four Portland doughnut heavy-hitters; see who 

came out on top in this City Cast Portland episode

Listen Here for ‘Doctor Doughnut’

The Best Doughnuts in Portland

With a spring full of flowers, it seems like the right time for a conversation about bees. The City Cast Portland podcast talked with 

Rich Hatfield, a senior conservation biologist with the Xerces Society, who’s studied native bees for 25 years

. Here’s an excerpt of that conversation:

What is the threat to our ecosystem if we don't take care of bees? What’s at stake?

“Ultimately, we're talking about food security: for us and also food for other wildlife that eats plants. It could have huge cascading effects, without question. One out of three bites of food that you eat comes from a plant that was pollinated by a bee.” 

What would you say to reassure people that when you see a bee, you don't need to freak out over a bee sting? Should people be afraid of bees?

“No, definitely not! The first thing is our native bees, for the most part, don't have a stinger that's even strong enough to pierce your skin. Our native bees are tiny. A lot of them are ant-sized or a little bit bigger.”

What can people in the Portland area do to protect bees?

Listen to our latest podcast