Ascend

13836 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-432-8937, ascenddispensary.com. 10 am-8 pm daily.

Ascend is hidden in the corner of a nondescript strip mall along Portland's Green Mile, and thus easy to miss. It's not a spot for tourists and looky-loos—it's popular with neighbors and the blue-collar workers in the nearby industrial zone. Ascend's longtime partner Toke Joints teams with it to sponsor locally run cannabis-industry events and, naturally, provides the shop with among the best joint selections in town. High-CBD strains and clones are available, but the latter tend to disappear quickly. Credit cards are accepted without transaction fees.

Willamette Week

Tyler Hurst

An alleged Twitter legend, Tyler Hurst is trying to figure out if he’s most like the blue, red, or green shell. He's worked with Seth Godin on the Domino Project, written for contact/kontakt, hosted the podcast StorytellersAZ, given a TEDxPhoenixSalon speech, produced CenPhoCamp, co-produced PodCamp and TechPhx, served as founding editor for the Downtown Phoenix Journal and Scottsdale Downtowner, and wrote a book called HipCider. He currently writes for WW, Potlander, and Thrillist.

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