Scoop: Gossip Perfecting the Quadruple Axel.

By WW Culture Staff
  1. TONYA TIME: Get ready for lots and lots of Tonya. With the 20th anniversary of “the whack heard ’round the world” coinciding with next year’s Winter Olympics, infamous local gal Tonya Harding—who, according to tonyaharding.com, today “spends much of her time alone”—will be back in the limelight with a pair of competing documentaries. The films, from NBC and ESPN, tackle the sordid tale of how Harding’s inner circle conspired to club rival figure skater Nancy Kerrigan on the knee before the 1994 Lillehammer games. NBC’s documentary will air as part of its 2014 Winter Olympics coverage and includes an interview with the notoriously camera-shy Kerrigan. The ESPN documentary, set to air in November, features just Harding.
  1. SMUDGED LENS: The current issue of London-based Monocle magazine ranks Portland as No. 23 on its list of 25 most-livable cities in the world (second in the U.S., behind Honolulu). The posh glossy also listed Portland as the capital of “Orgeon,” chided us for the high crime rate that “weighs heavily on this pleasant oasis” and congratulated us on our current “openly gay mayor.” The magazine cited, in addition, the success of our new streetcar line in giving Portland access to “an eclectic mix of neighbourhoods with superb dining and drinking options.” It perplexingly calls these ’hoods “ripe for new builds.” We’re not sure whether our cheeks are blushing from pride or sympathetic embarrassment. 
  1. PLAIN AWESOME: A massive consortium of people will be opening a new dance and cocktail spot called The Plains at 304 SE 2nd Ave., in the Central Eastside Industrial District. The space will be part-owned and managed by cocktail slinger Daniel Osborne, currently at Teardrop Lounge and formerly of Central. Part-owners R. Jared White of Clinton Street Record & Stereo and Michael McKinnon of Potato Champion will be booking an array of out-of-town electronic, disco and hip-hop DJs into a “hugely modern DJ booth” with “all-vintage speakers.” >> Speaking of Potato Champion: The six carts of adjoining food cart pod The Row—also home to Koi Fusion and Big-Ass Sandwiches—will be “contractually obligated under lease to provide food service during bar hours.” 
  1. CORRECTION: Last week’s Best of Portland issue mistakenly referred to Rocky the Raccoon, who begs for peanuts on the patio outside the Little Red Shed at Edgefield in Troutdale, with a masculine pronoun. Rocky is female, according to Paul Vanveen, a former Edgefield employee, who says he befriended her when she was a kit: “She never saw a vet; I just gave her food and she would follow me around. She likes to hang out on the front porch at night and sleep, and beg for cat food when I could give it to her. I was talked to about feeding wild animals on the grounds and was told not to give her food anymore. So I gave her peanuts from the Red Shed.” Scoop regrets this sexist error.

WWeek 2015

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