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Best of Amy Miller's Fresh Meat Column | Portland Transplants Vs. Portland Natives
Chef and owner of Smallwares, originally from Chicago, on Portland's friendly but slow service industry…
"Anybody who moves to Portland who moved from a big city is going to complain about the pace. I'm an impatient person. Go to the Asian market, Fubonn, and watch the checkout people. They are fast as shit, they don't care who you are, they don't wanna know how well your day is going, they don't care what the fuck you're making for dinner. And then go to New Seasons and it's like, 'Yep, I am making a steak tonight.' I know you're friendly, but please, talk and work."
Rock photographer, originally from London, on why he's become an advocate for stricter parking rules in his neighborhood…
"We live near a MAX station, and cheapskates park in our neighborhood for weeks at a time, take the MAX to the airport, and their cars remain here. It's not nice to have no parking near your house, especially around holidays when you'd like to invite people over. We'd like the city to just put up signs telling people it's illegal to park for more than 24 hours. We made our own signs, and it worked. But that's also illegal, so they have to come down. We obey the law. Mostly. We could just leave birdseed all over the offending cars."
Guitarist for the Smiths and Modest Mouse, originally from Manchester, England, on his decision to move from Portland back to the U.K. and his possible plans to move back to Portland…
"I needed to kind of get a little pissed off, which England is very, very good at providing—across all walks of life. In Portland, I was just playing too much acoustic guitar for what I wanted to do. I was there so much, I was really considering growing a beard, and no one needs that. I don't really think of anywhere as home at the moment, but I'm intending to move back."
Yelp's second employee, originally from Redding, Calif., on the difference between bars in Portland and San Francisco…
"I remember thinking early on in my engineering career in San Francisco, 'Wow, wouldn't it be cool if I could go to a bar and find other engineers I could relate to?' And now going to a San Francisco bar, I never want that to be the case ever again. There are plenty of smart, young engineers, but I don't want to talk about Python while I'm drinking a beer. It's a relief going to a coffee shop and seeing people reading books or actually talking to one another. People are actually very entrepreneurial here, although they seem to be more likely to start a fried-chicken-doughnut food truck than a Google."
Previous New Portlander Interviews: Slices from the Fresh Meat Column
Chart: Portland Transplants vs. Portland Natives
WWeek 2015