Playing in Portland with Lauryn Kronick

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Playing in Portland with Lauryn Kronick

More : Blow Pony, Lauryn Kronick, Portland, QPDX, USA, Washington State

by Lauryn Kronick on October 19, 2011

Over in America’s Pacific Northwest among lush greenery lies a town full of fashionable cyclists, throngs of hipsters, a hotbed of a music scene, vegan food carts and a queer mecca. Writer, activist, and queer traveler Lauryn Kronick writes on her party-filled visit for 2Bmag…

Portland, a three-hour drive away from Seattle, Washington, is the darling of Oregon and also boasts one of the USA’s most vibrant queer scenes. This city is comparable to Montreal with affordable housing, a young and creative influx of individuals from all over the country, a bumping nightlife and delicious food on every block. If you don’t know how to ride a bike, learn fast – this is the best way to see the city. There are affordable bike rental shops all over but check out bikeportland.org for some recommendations.

Southeast is the city’s main area for the young, hip and queer folk. This is where you’ll find the majority of queer events and parties, which will quickly fill up your social calendar as there is something going on most nights of the week. Hawthorne Boulevard is the main drag. Tip: Bring an empty suitcase for the cheap vintage clothing – my favourite place is House of Vintage (3315 SE Hawthorne Blvd) – and you’ll be sure to find many dapper queers looking for their next retro ensemble.

Once nighttime falls on Southeast, you’ll find queer folks heading to a number of party places such as the Rotture for the sweaty dance party Blow Pony (every fourth Saturday), and Bearracuda (4-5 times a year), Holocene (1001 SE Morrison) for grinding at Gaycation (every third Saturday), Crush Bar (1400 SE Morrison St.) for the grrls and their friends party Crave (seems to be bi-monthly) and finally, every Sunday for something a little different at Devil’s Point (5305 SE Foster Rd) for some Stripparoke – you sing while a burlesque dancer does her thing.

Once you venture out of Southeast, head downtown to Powell’s City of Books (1005 W Burnside) – the USA’s largest independent new and used bookstore: it features an entire room of GLBTQ content (it’s in the Purple Room). Once you’ve spent the majority of your afternoon here, cross the street and turn left onto Oak St. for another block full of independent bookstores with Portland’s zine emporium (queer zines are plentiful) at Reading Frenzy (921 SW Oak St.), vintage erotica, indie pop culture books and smutty graphic novels at Counter Media (927 SW Oak St.). While downtown, be sure to stay well into the night to see the queer action going down at Red Cap Garage.

Head further north and visit the Q Centre (4115 N. Mississippi Ave), Portland’s GLBTQ community centre and pick up some local produce at the weekly ‘Market Q’ (Saturday Farmers’ Market) from May to September. Once you’re in North Portland, you cannot miss the monthly queer banger Bent (every second Friday) at The Foggy Notion.

If that’s not enough to pack your week, pick up a copy of QPDX (www.qpdx.com) or Just Out (www.justout.com) for the wheres, the whens and the hows. Portland’s waiting for you – go play.
Rotture (315 SE 3rd Ave) BLOW PONY party www.rotture.com
Red Cap Garage (1035 SW Stark St)
The Foggy Notion (3416 N Lombard) BENT party

Outgoing VP Communications for Capital Pride, Lauryn Kronick works for a major NGO in Ottawa and is a big supporter of all things queer and fabulous. Thanks to Alley Hector from QPDX for the fun photos!