Skip to main contentBest Place to Figure It All Out
Hipbone Studio (1847 E Burnside St., 503-231-3994, www.hipbonestudio.com), unlike an artist's model, has moved: Its new location is six blocks away from its old home and twice the size. Come for the elbow room, stay for the drawing—or sculpture or painting. Work by prior students lines the walls at Hipbone, and owner-instructor Jeff Burke hopes to hold events in the space eventually. That is, when Hipbone's not holding artist classes like "A Field Guide to the Figure," or "Model Marathons" (nine models, nine hours, bring sustenance). Drop-in life-drawing sessions court the dabbler. But don't just show up and drop trou—Jeff insists he's all set for models.
Best Futuristic Flora
If there were gay florists on Mars, they would trade floral design secrets with the botanical masterminds behind Flower Lab (917 NW 19th Ave., Suite E, 901-0729, myspace.com/flowerlab). You've probably seen these otherworldly creations budding all over P-town. From Apotheke and Masu Sushi to St. Cupcake and WW's own front desk, these modern flower arrangements-cum-science projects are a fantastically curious approach to the everyday bouquet: living terrariums enveloped in clear space globes, rare orchids springing from white circular orbits coexisting with tufts of moss, and electric fuchsia and turquoise gourd shells encompassing Tillandsia air plants—each one an abstract piece of intergalactic splendor.
Best Under-Age, All-GrrlPunk Band
Emmy plays the drums. Leila rocks the bass. Maya shreds on guitar. And singer Chiney, with mohawk-high hair, barks lyrics through a megaphone. Plasmic Stallion (www.myspace.com/plasmicstallion) is good in that classic punk way. But what really sets this all-girl band apart from the other punks in the Doc Martens and Manic Panic crowd is the fact that these tween-ragers are all under the age of 16. It doesn't stop thirtysomething indie fans from crowding the pit at their shows, as the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls graduates open for big-sister bands like Swan Island and Take the Blame. Sure, they can hold their own in Portland's girl-rock pantheon, but will they survive high school? Stay tuned to find out.
Best Silver-Haired Songbirds
Let's face it: Life in an old-folks home can be pretty harsh. And most of us are heading there eventually. So we should all hope that, when it's our turn, we'll still have a chance to join a group like the Melodeers. Donning black and white formal wear and piano-key vests, singers in the elder chorus (most members are in their 70s and 80s) head out to retirement homes and assisted-living centers to entertain the senior masses with standards like "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and waltzes that inspire residents to brush off the dancing shoes. Then, it's back to practice at the Hollywood Senior Center (1820 NE 40th Ave., 288-8303), where anyone can check out the Melodeers and stuff themselves silly at the center's monthly pancake breakfast. And why not? You don't get to see a male opera soloist in a wheelchair every day.
Best Place to Hide Your Tracks
This could well be the very first "Best of Portland" winner that we in no way endorse or condone: freight-hopping. Regardless of its propensity for inflicting death, injury or jail time, we still sit at one of the ground zeroes for "catching out" in the lower 48. Our winner this year is Union Pacific and Waste Management, joint operators of the "trash train." The standard-looking freight is a once-daily ride between Seattle and WM's monster landfill in Eastern Oregon, inconspicuously hauling that city's refuse through Portland in the dead of night with a guaranteed stop that we're sure as hell going to keep under wraps: If you're down with this, you already know where it is. If not, consider yourself lucky: This is one stank-ass train.
Best Way to Break It Down
If there's a right way to build something, then there's a right way to take it apart. That's the philosophy behind the ReBuilding Center's (3625 N Mississippi Ave., 331-1877) deconstruction project. Typical demolition sends most material straight to the landfill, but deconstruction disassembles structures so that 98 percent of the wood, glass and fixtures can be resold or recycled with a minimum of added energy. And they do get reused. The ReBuilding Center has more than doubled in size since opening in 1998. Rick Denhart, a project manager for deconstruction, says the business has grown from about 50 jobs in the first year to a pace for well over 200 this year.
Best Gatekeeper to the Bridge of the Gods
Everybody has a friend who can tell you about the ultimate Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area destination—but doesn't have a clue as to how to get there. Blame the mushrooms. Jerry Brawley has a solution. Brawley hands out free, detailed Columbia River Gorge maps at his Troutdale Chevron station (1260 NW Frontage Road, 666-1182). Brawley's hand-drawn, mimeographed-looking maps include 26 points of interest along the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway, from standards like Crown Point and Bridal Veil Falls to the more elusive splendor of Oneonta Gorge and Beacon Rock in Washington. It also includes rustic foodie mecca Tad's Chicken 'n Dumplins (1325 E Historic Columbia River Highway, Troutdale, 666-5337) for some post-adventure sustenance and carb-loading. Now, that's what we call service.
Best Way to Cash in on Your Internet Obsession
Online role-playing game addicts, take note: Portlander Marcus Eikenberry plays games and keeps his wife happy. "My wife said I was spending too much time playing goddamn games, and I should make some money," Eikenberry says. "So I decided to get the games to make me money." Last year, Eikenberry launched Markee Dragon LLC (markeedragon.com), an online broker of virtual goods. Now Eikenberry makes his living buying and selling weapons and gold for online role-playing games. Business is so good that he's taken on three employees and expects to hire more soon—a boon for Portland nerds. But only gamers need apply: "If they don't play MMORPGs [massively multiplayer online role-playing games] they don't get an interview," Eikenberry says.
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WWeek 2015