Navigate: Introduction CHARTS The Battle of the Lattes Portland and Seattle: A Selective History ESSAYS Vanity Blemishes Rose City's Charm; Ambition Tarnishes Emerald What's in a Song? Torn Between Two Cities: An I-5 Love Story If Seattle is a Scorpio, Portland Is a... You Say Monorail; I say Oregon Trail

SEATTLE PORT- LAND DEFINING FACTORS BONUS POINTS EDGE Pike Place Saturday Market PP: Rugged men practicing their salmon toss SM: Aging hippies practicing capitalism PP: has view of Puget Sound SM: has view of underside of Burnside Bridge SEA Starbucks Coffee People SB: They're everywhere! CP: Free refills CP: now owned by Canadians SEA Space Needle Portlandia SN: West Coast's best phallic symbol P: Angry woman with pitchfork Both are ugly, but at least no one can see Portlandia PDX Elliot Bay Books Powell's City of Books EB: Doesn't sell sweatshirts or used books. PCOB: Coolest bookstore in the world. Everyone who comes to Portland stops at Powell's   PDX University of Washington Portland State University UW: 35,108 students; keggers; the Huskies! PSU: 15,230 students; Tri-Met passes; the Vikings?   PSU's urban-planning program rocks! SEA Sub Pop Records   Tim/Kerr Records SP: Introduced us to Nirvana; cut $20 million deal with Elektra T/K: Introduced us to Everclear; cut ill-fated deal with Mercury Neither is looking too strong, but Sub Pop still kind of matters SEA Tom Robbins Gus Van Sant TR: Writes wildly popular cult novels GVS: Directs wildly popular cult films After Cowgirls collab. flopped, Gus came back with To Die For and got Oscar nod for Good Will Hunting PDX Microsoft Nike MS: Dominates computer industry; run by geeky figurehead; accused of stifling competition N: Dominates sneaker industry; run by introverted figurehead; accused of exploiting Asian workers Both HQs called a "campus" draw Sonics Trail Blazers SS: Had bearded coach who choked in playoffs TB: Had bearded coach who was choked by player Sonics star Detlef Schrempf comes from Germany with bad haircutBlazers star Arvydas Sabonis comes from Lithuania with bad English draw Sleepless in Seattle   Body of Evidence SIS: Successful Tom Hanks flick; led to lots of "___ in Seattle" headlines BOE: Madonna vehicle that crashed; helped make Portland a taboo town for Hollywood Singles! SEA Woodland Park Zoo Oregon Zoo WPZ: Long-running elephant-breeding program recently moved to Missouri OZ: Belle gave birth to Packy, the first elephant born in captivity OZ: concerts keep yuppies off streets during hot summer nights PDX   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published October 28, 1998