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| City of Portland | |||
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| Nickname(s): "Rose City," "Stumptown," "Bridgetown," "P-town," "Rip City," "PDX", and "Little Beirut"[1] | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | United States | ||
| State | Oregon | ||
| Counties | Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas | ||
| Incorporated | February 8, 1851 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Type | Commission | ||
| - Mayor | Tom Potter[2] | ||
| - Commissioners | Sam Adams Randy Leonard Dan Saltzman Nick Fish |
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| - Auditor | Gary Blackmer | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 145.4 sq mi (376.5 km²) | ||
| - Land | 134.3 sq mi (347.9 km²) | ||
| - Water | 11.1 sq mi (28.6 km²) | ||
| Elevation | 50 ft (15.2 m) | ||
| Population (2007) | |||
| - City | 568,380 (30th) | ||
| - Density | 4,199.17/sq mi (1,640.30/km²) | ||
| - Metro | 2,159,720 | ||
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) | ||
| ZIP codes | 97086-97299 | ||
| Area code(s) | 503/971 | ||
| FIPS code | 41-59000[3] | ||
| GNIS feature ID | 1136645[4] | ||
| Website: http://www.portlandonline.com/ | |||
Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. It has an estimated population of 568,380,[5] and has been referred to as the greenest city in the United States.[6] Portland is Oregon's most populous city, and the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest, after Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle, Washington. Approximately two million people live in the Portland metropolitan area (MSA), the 23rd most populous in the United States as of July 2006.[7]
Portland was incorporated in 1851 and is the county seat of Multnomah County.[8] The city extends slightly into Washington County to the west and Clackamas County to the south. It is governed by a commission-based government headed by a mayor and four other commissioners.
The city and region are noted for strong land-use planning[9] and investment in public transit, supported by Metro, a distinctive regional-government scheme. Portland is also known for its large number of microbreweries and microdistilleries, and as the home of the Trail Blazers NBA basketball team.
Portland lies in the Marine west coast climate region, marked by warm summers and rainy but temperate winters. This climate is ideal for growing roses, and for more than a century, Portland has been known as "The City of Roses" [10] [11] with many rose gardens — most prominently the International Rose Test Garden.
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History
Portland started as a spot known as "the clearing,"[12] which was on the banks of the Willamette about halfway between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver. In 1843, William Overton saw great commercial potential for this land but lacked the funds required to file a land claim. He struck a bargain with his partner Asa Lovejoy of Boston, Massachusetts: for 25¢, Overton would share his claim to the 640 acre (2.6 km²) site. Overton later sold his half of the claim to Francis W. Pettygrove of Portland, Maine. Pettygrove and Lovejoy each wished to name the new city after his respective home town; this was decided with a coin toss, which Pettygrove won in a series of two out of three tosses.[13] The coin used for this decision, now known as the Portland Penny, is on display in the headquarters of the Oregon Historical Society.
At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851 Portland had over 800 inhabitants,[14] a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel, and a newspaper, the Weekly Oregonian. By 1879, the population had grown to 17,500.[15]
Portland's location, with access both to the Pacific Ocean via the Willamette and the Columbia rivers and to the agricultural Tualatin Valley via the "Great Plank Road" through a canyon in the West Hills (the route of current-day U.S. Route 26), gave it an advantage over nearby ports, and it grew quickly.[16] It remained the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th century, until the 1890s, when Seattle's deepwater harbor was connected to the rest of the mainland by rail, affording an inland route without the treacherous navigation of the Columbia River.
The most common nickname for Portland is "The City of Roses".[17] The first known reference to Portland as "The City of Roses" was made by visitors to an 1888 Episcopal Church convention, the nickname growing in popularity after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition where Mayor Harry Lane suggested that the city needed a "festival of roses."[17] The first Portland Rose Festival was held two years later and remains the city's major annual festival a century later.
Other nicknames for Portland include "Stumptown" (because of early logging to clear land for development[18]), and "Bridgetown" (because of its numerous bridges[19]). City officials are promoting Portland's thriving microbrewery industry with the nicknames "Beervana" and "Brewtopia".[20][21] Many Portlanders and Oregonians also refer to Portland synecdochically by the Airport code of Portland International Airport, "PDX".
"Rip City" is a nickname coined by Blazer's broadcaster Bill Schonely when referring to the basketball team and its surrounding culture.
Staffers of former US President George H. W. Bush used to refer to Portland as "Little Beirut" because of the protesters he encountered during his visits.[1]
Geography
Topography
Portland lies at the northern end of Oregon's most populated region, the Willamette Valley. However, as the metropolitan area is culturally and politically distinct from the rest of the valley, local usage often excludes Portland from the valley proper. Although almost all of Portland lies within Multnomah County, small portions of the city lie within Clackamas and Washington counties with mid-2005 populations estimated at 785 and 1,455, respectively. The Willamette River runs north through the city center, separating the east and west sections of the city before veering slightly northwest to join with the Columbia River (which separates the state of Washington from the state of Oregon) a short distance north of the city.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 145.4 sq mi (376.5 km²). 134.3 sq mi (347.9 km²) of it is land and 11.1 sq mi (28.6 km²), or 7.6%, is water.citation needed
Portland lies on top of an extinct Plio-Pleistocene volcanic field known as the Boring Lava Field.[22] The Boring Lava Field includes at least 32 cinder cones such as Mount Tabor,[23], and its center lies in Southeast Portland. The dormant but potentially active volcano Mount Hood to the east of Portland is easily visible from much of the city. The active volcano Mount Saint Helens to the north in Washington is visible in the distance from high-elevation locations in the city and is close enough to have dusted the city with volcanic ash after an eruption on June 12, 1980.citation needed
Climate
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Portland lies within the Marine west coast climate zone, with some distinct characteristics of the Mediterranean climate as well. Summers in Portland are warm and relatively dry, with July averaging a high of 27 °C (81 °F) and a low of 14 °C (58 °F). Winters can be mild to chilly, and very moist, with January averaging a high of 8 °C (46 °F) and a low of 3 °C (37 °F). The rainfall averages 42.7 inches (1,080 mm) per year in downtown Portland. Portland averages 155 days with measurable precipitation a year. Snowfall occurs no more than a few times per year, although the city has been known to see major snow and ice storms thanks to cold air outflow from the Columbia River Gorge. The city's winter snowfall totals have ranged from just a trace on many occasions, to 154.7 cm (60.9 inches) in 1892-93. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Portland was −19 °C (−3 °F), set on February 2, 1950. The highest temperature ever recorded was 42 °C (107 °F), set on July 30, 1965 as well as August 8, 1981 and August 10, 1981. Temperatures of 38 °C (100 °F) have been recorded in each of the months from May through September.
| Climate chart for Portland, Oregon | |||||||||||
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| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
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5.4
45
34
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4.1
50
36
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3.7
56
39
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2.5
61
42
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2
68
48
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1.6
73
53
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0.5
80
57
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0.9
79
57
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1.6
74
52
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3.1
64
46
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5.5
52
40
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6.5
46
36
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| temperatures in °F precipitation totals in inches source: Weatherbase |
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Metric conversion
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Cityscape
- See also: Architecture of Portland, Oregon, List of tallest buildings in Portland, Oregon, Downtown Portland, and Portland, Oregon neighborhoods
Portland straddles the Willamette River near its confluence with the Columbia River. The denser and earlier-developed west side is mostly hemmed in by the nearby West Hills (Tualatin Mountains), though it extends over them to the border with Washington County. The flatter east side fans out for about 180 blocks, until it meets the suburb of Gresham. Rural Multnomah County lies farther east.
In 1891 the cities of Portland, Albina, and East Portland were consolidated, and duplicate street names were given new names. The "great renumbering" on September 2, 1931 standardized street naming patterns, and changed house numbers from 20 per block to 100 per block. It divided Portland into five sections: Southwest, Southeast, Northwest, North, and Northeast. Burnside St. divides north and south, and the Willamette River divides east and west. The river curves west five blocks north of Burnside and in place of it, Williams Ave. is used as a divider. The North section lies between Williams Ave. and the Willamette River to the west.
On the west side, the RiverPlace, John's Landing and South Waterfront Districts lie in a "sixth quadrant" where addresses go higher from west to east toward the river. This "sixth quadrant" is roughly bounded by Naito Parkway and Barbur Boulevard to the west, Montgomery Street to the north and Nevada Street to the south.
Southwest
Downtown Portland lies in the Southwest section between the I-405 freeway loop and the Willamette River, centered around Pioneer Courthouse Square ("Portland's living room"). Downtown and many other parts of inner Portland have compact square blocks (200 ft [60 m] on a side) and narrow streets (64 ft [20 m] wide), a pedestrian-friendly combination.
Many of Portland's recreational, cultural, educational, governmental, business, and retail resources are concentrated downtown, including:
- South Park Blocks, Pettygrove and Lovejoy Parks, and Tom McCall Waterfront Park
- Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland Art Museum, and Oregon Historical Society Museum
- Portland City Hall, Multnomah County Courthouse, the Portland Building, Pioneer Courthouse, and Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse
- Portland State University, with the largest student body of any in Oregon
- The Meier & Frank Building and Pioneer Place mall
- Wells Fargo Center, the tallest building in Oregon (546 feet [166 m])
Beyond downtown, the Southwest section also includes:
- The campuses of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Lewis & Clark College, and Portland Community College/Sylvania
- Neighborhoods like South Portland, South Burlingame, Hillsdale, and Multnomah, with unique residential houses and well defined commercial and retail districts
- Alpenrose Dairy in the Hayhurst neighborhood, the grounds of which host track cycling and Little League sports
- Washington Park, site of North America's deepest transit station, the Oregon Zoo, Hoyt Arboretum, the International Rose Test Garden, the Portland Japanese Garden, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and many hiking trails.
- The south Willamette riverfront along SW Macadam Ave., over 100 acres (0.4 km²) of former industrial land. This area is undergoing redevelopment as a mixed-use, high-density neighborhood, with an anticipated 2,700 residential units and 5,000 high-tech jobs after build-out.
Northwest
Northwest Portland includes the Pearl District, most of Old Town Chinatown, the Northwest District, and various residential and industrial neighborhoods. A range of streets in Northwest Portland is named alphabetically from Ankeny (actually one block South Of Burnside, which even though it is technically the divider between north and south, is the "B" street in the alphabetical sequence) north to Wilson. Several characters in Portland native Matt Groening's TV show The Simpsons have names based on these: Ned Flanders, the bully Kearney, Reverend Lovejoy, Mayor Quimby, Milhouse Van Houten (actually in North Portland), and possibly C. Montgomery (also named for the large Montgomery Park (Formerly Montgomery Ward) sign) Burns[ide]. Contrary to popular belief, the character Sideshow Bob Terwilliger is not named after SW Terwilliger Boulevard in Southwest Portland.[24]
The Pearl District is a recent name for a former warehouse and industrial area just north of downtown. Many of the warehouses have been converted into lofts, and new multistory condominiums have also been developed on previously vacant land. The increasing density has attracted a mix of restaurants, brewpubs, shops, and art galleries.citation needed
Between the Pearl District and the Willamette is the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood. It includes Portland's Chinatown, marked by a pair of lions at its entrance at NW 4th Ave. and W Burnside St. and home to the Portland Classical Chinese Garden. Before World War II, this area was known as Japan Town [25]; Chinatown was previously located just south of W. Burnside St. along the riverfront.
Further west is the compact but thriving NW 21st and 23rd Avenue restaurant and retail area, the core of the Northwest District. Parts of this area are also called Uptown and Nob Hill. The residential areas adjacent to the shopping district include the Alphabet Historic District (with large Victorian and Craftsman homes built in the years before and shortly after 1900) and a large district centered around Wallace Park. The neighborhood has a mix of Victorian-era houses, apartment buildings from throughout the 20th century, and various businesses centered around Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center. The Portland Streetcar connects Nob Hill to downtown, via the Pearl.
West of the developed areas is the northern portion of Portland's West Hills, including the majority of extensive Forest Park and the Willamette Heights, Hillside, Sylvan, Skyline and Forest Heights neighborhoods.
North
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North Portland is a diverse mixture of residential, commercial, and industrial areas. It includes the Portland International Raceway, the University of Portland, and massive cargo facilities of the Port of Portland. Slang-names for it include "NoPo" (shortened from North Portland) and "the Fifth Quadrant" (for being the odd-man out from the four-cornered logic of SE, NE, SW, and NW).
North Portland is connected to the industrial area of Northwest Portland by the St. Johns Bridge, a 2,067 ft (630.0 m) long suspension bridge completed in 1931 and extensively rehabilitated in 2003-05.
During World War II, a planned development named Vanport was constructed to the north of this section between the city limits and the Columbia River. It grew to be the second largest city in Oregon, but was wiped out by a disastrous flood in 1948. Columbia Villa, another wartime housing project in the Portsmouth Neighborhood, is being rebuilt; the new $150 million community is known as New Columbia and offers public housing, rental housing, and single family home ownership units.citation needed Since 2004, a light rail line runs along Interstate Avenue, which parallels I-5, stopping short of crossing the Columbia River.
Northeast
Northeast Portland contains a diverse collection of neighborhoods. For example, while Irvington and the Alameda Ridge feature some of the oldest and most expensive homes in Portland, nearby King is a more working-class neighborhood. Because it is so large, Northeast Portland can essentially be divided ethnically, culturally, and geographically into inner and outer sections. The inner Northeast neighborhoods that surround Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. were once predominantly African American, resembling typical urban inner-city environments found in most major U.S. cities. However, the demographics are now changing due to the process of gentrification. Inner Northeast includes several shopping areas, such as the Lloyd District, Alberta Arts District and Hollywood, and part of the affluent Irvington, Alameda, Grant Park and Laurelhurst neighborhoods and nearby developments. The city plan targets Lloyd District as another mixed-use area, with high-density residential development.
Straddling the base of the borders of North and Northeast is the Rose Quarter. It is named after the Rose Garden, home of the Portland Trail Blazers, and also includes the Blazers' former home, the Memorial Coliseum. The Coliseum is the home to Portland's hockey team, the Portland Winter Hawks, of the Western Hockey League, though they often play at the Rose Garden. The newest Rose Quarter tenants are the LumberJax of the National Lacrosse League. The city still holds the lease to the land and owns the Coliseum, but the Rose Garden and other buildings were owned by private business interests until they went into receivership. The area is quite active during the teams' home games, and the city hopes to extend the activity by promoting a major increase in residential units in the quarter using zoning and tax incentives.
At the base of Northeast where its border meets Southeast, an area near the Burnside Bridge has been redeveloped into a nightlife and entertainment district. The area features bars like The Chesterfield and music venues like The Doug Fir Lounge. In 2006 the area was established enough to get its own nickname: LoBU.[26]
Southeast
Southeast Portland stretches from the warehouses along the Willamette, through the historic Ladd's Addition to the Hawthorne and Belmont districts out to Gresham. Southeast Portland initially tended toward the blue-collar but, with its lower real-estate prices, has since evolved to encompass a wide mix of backgrounds; inner southeast is something of a haven for hippies, hipsters, and environmentalistscitation needed , while the outer edges remain populated by an increasingly diverse, largely working-class population constituted of significantly large immigrant communities from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.citation needed The Hawthorne district in particular is known for its hippie/radical crowd and small subculturally-oriented shops; not far away is Reed College, whose campus expands from Woodstock Boulevard to Sullivan Street, and from the 28th to the 39th Avenues.
Between the 1920s and the 1960s, Southeast was home to Lambert Gardens. Southeast Portland also features Mt. Tabor, a cinder cone volcano that has become one of Portland’s more scenic and popular parks.
Parks and gardens
Portland is proud of its parks and its legacy of preserving open spaces. Parks and Greenspace planning dates back to John Charles Olmsted's 1903 Report to the Portland Park Board, inspiring generations of urban greenspace advocates.citation needed In 1995, voters in the Portland metropolitan region passed a regional bond measure to acquire valuable natural areas for fish, wildlife, and people. Ten years later, more than 8,100 acres (33 km2) of ecologically valuable natural areas had been purchased and permanently protected from development.[27]
Portland is one of only two cities in the contiguous U.S. with extinct volcanoes within their boundaries (the other being Bend, Oregon). Mt. Tabor Park was inadvertently built on one of Portland's; it is known for its scenic views and historic reservoirs.[28]
Forest Park is among the largest wilderness parks within city limits in the United States, covering over 5,000 acres (20 km²). Portland is also home to Mill Ends Park, the world's smallest park (a two-foot-diameter circle, the park's area is only about 0.3 square m). Washington Park is just west of downtown, and is home to the Oregon Zoo, the Portland Japanese Garden, and the International Rose Test Garden. Nearby is Council Crest Park, the highest point in Portland.
Tom McCall Waterfront Park runs along the west bank of the Willamette for the length of downtown. The 37 acre (150,000 m²) park was built in 1974 after Harbor Drive was removed and now plays host to large events throughout the year. Portland's downtown also features two groups of contiguous city blocks dedicated for park space; they are referred to as the North and South Park Blocks.
The only state park in Portland is Tryon Creek State Natural Area; its creek still has a run of steelhead.
The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden, which immortalizes three of the award-winning author's best known characters with bronze sculptures, quote plaques, and a fountain, is located in Grant Park, just a few blocks from the real Klickitat Street of "Henry Huggins" fame.
Leach Botanical Garden is a 15.6-acre (63,000 m2) botanical garden in the Southeast section of the city, emphasizing plants of the Pacific Northwest.
Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden is a 9.49-acre (38,400 m2) garden in the Southeast section of the city, adjoining Reed College, featuring more than 2,500 rhododendron, azalea, and companion plants.
Hoyt Arboretum is a well used Portland open space, covering 185 acres (0.7 km2) of ridge-top about two miles (3 km) west of downtown. It is home to a collection of trees representing more than 1,100 species gathered from around the world.
Audubon Society of Portland, founded 1903, is one of the largest local Audubon chapters in the country with over 10,000 members.
Culture and contemporary life
- See also: List of fiction set in Oregon and List of Portlanders
Portland is well known as a hub of American youth culture. From the late 1980s through today, Portland has been a major center for movements such as zine-making, including hosting such events as the Portland Zine Symposium[29] and home to major zine distributors such as Microcosm. The DIY craft community has also seen a population explosion in Portland since the 1990s and now hosts such events as Crafty Wonderland[30] and regular Church of Craft[31] meetings, and is home to such stores as Knittn' Kitten,[32] SCRAP,[33] and many independently-owned stores such as Bolt, Yarn Garden,[34] and the downtown Fiber District. Portland is also home to radical feminist and lesbian activist movementscitation needed , and the city is also considered a haven for punk, hardcore, crust punk and anarchist movements and subgenres, including the self-reliant DIY culture movement that has been part of the aforementioned subcultures.
Entertainment and performing arts
Major performing arts institutions include the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Oregon Symphony, Portland Center Stage, and the Portland Opera.
The city's many theater companies include: Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, Miracle Theatre, Stark Raving Theatre, and Tears of Joy Theatre.
Portland hosts the world's only HP Lovecraft Film Festival[35] at the Hollywood Theatre.
It has been home to many performing artists and bands including The Kingsmen, The Wipers, Poison Idea, Gary Jarman from The Cribs, Jacob Golden, The Dandy Warhols, Everclear, Elliott Smith, Pink Martini, Floater, Quarterflash, Quasi, Sleater-Kinney, Stephen Malkmus, Lifesavas, The Decemberists, The Shins, The Thermals, Menomena, Viva Voce, Portugal. The Man, and M. Ward; animators Matt Groening, Will Vinton, and Bill Plympton; filmmakers Todd Field, Gus Van Sant and Todd Haynes; actors Sam Elliott and Lindsay Wagner and authors Beverly Cleary, Katherine Dunn, Ursula K. Le Guin, Phillip Margolin, Jean M. Auel, and Chuck Palahniuk.
An unusual feature of Portland entertainment is the large number of movie theaters that serve beer, often with second-run or revival films. Examples of these "brew and view" theaters include the Academy Theater, Bagdad Theater, Clinton Street Theater, Edgefield, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst Theater, Mission Theater, and St. John's Theater.
Tourism
Portland is home to a diverse array of artists and arts organizations, and was named in 2006 by American Style magazine as the 10th best Big City Arts Destination in the U.S.
The Portland Art Museum owns the city's largest art collection and presents a variety of touring exhibitions each year and with the recent addition of the Modern and Contemporary Art wing it became one of the United States' 25 largest museums. Art galleries abound downtown and in the Pearl District, as well as in the Alberta Arts District and other neighborhoods throughout the city. Other organizations displaying visual arts include the Portland Art Center, Disjecta, and Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA).
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is located on the east bank of the Willamette River across from downtown Portland, and contains a variety of hands-on exhibits covering the physical sciences, life science, earth science, technology, astronomy, and early childhood education. OMSI also has an OMNIMAX Theater and is home to the USS Blueback (SS-581) submarine (which was featured in the film The Hunt for Red October).
Portland is also home to Portland Classical Chinese Garden, an authentic representation of a Suzhou-style walled garden.
Portlandia, a statue on the west side of the Portland Building, is the second-largest hammered-copper statue in the U.S. (after the Statue of Liberty). Portland's public art is managed by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.
Powell's City of Books claims to be the largest independent bookstore in the United States and the largest bookstore west of the Mississippi River.
Portland has five indoor skateparks and is home to the rather historically significant Burnside Skatepark. Gabriel Skatepark is the most recent, which opened on July 12, 2008. Another 14 are in the planning or development stage.[36]
Portland hosts a number of festivals throughout the year in celebration of beer, including the Oregon Brewers Festival. Held each July, it is the largest gathering of independent craft brewers in North America.citation needed Other major beer festivals throughout the calendar year are: the Spring Beer and Wine Festival in April, the Portland International Beerfest in July, and the Holiday Ale Festival in December.
Breweries
Portland is well-known for its microbrewery beer. It is often said that Portland is the home of the microbrew revolution in the United States, sometimes being called Beervana. Some illustrate Portlanders' interest in the beverage by an offer made in 1888, when local brewer Henry Weinhard volunteered to pump beer from his brewery into the newly dedicated Skidmore Fountain. However, the renown for quality beer dates to the 1980s, when state law was changed to allow consumption of beer on brewery premises. In short order, microbreweries and brewpubs began to pop up all over the city. Their growth was supported by the abundance of local ingredients, including two-row barley, over a dozen varieties of hops, and pure water from the Bull Run Watershed. The Wilamette Valley is one of the leading hop growing regions in the United States.
Today, with 28 breweries within the city, Portland is home to more breweries than any other city in the country.[37] The McMenamin brothers alone have over thirty brewpubs, distilleries, and wineries scattered throughout the metropolitan area, several in renovated theaters and other old buildings otherwise destined for demolition. Other notable Portland brewers include Widmer Brothers, BridgePort, and Hair of the Dog, as well as numerous smaller quality brewers. In 1999, author Michael "Beerhunter" Jackson called Portland a candidate for the beer capital of the world because the city boasted more breweries than Cologne, Germany. The Portland Oregon Visitors Association is promoting "Beervana" and "Brewtopia" as nicknames for the city.[20] In mid-January of 2006, Mayor Tom Potter officially gave the city a new nickname-- Beertown.[38]
Cuisine
Portland has a growing restaurant scene, and among three nominees, was recognized by the Food Network Awards as their "Delicious Destination of the Year: A rising city with a fast-growing food scene" for 2007.[39] The New York Times also spotlighted Portland for its burgeoning restaurant scene in the same year.[40] Travel + Leisure ranked Portland #9 among all national cities in 2007.[41] The city is also known for being the most vegetarian-friendly city in America.[42]