Saturday, March 17, 2012

Thoughts on Portlandia by a Portlandian

310 Northeast Evans Street, McMinnville, OR
(503) 472-8427 · mcmenamins.com

70 reviews
rooftop bar · wine tasting · pinot noir · pacific northwest · beer and wine

"Although the rooftop is worth a visit, especially on a nice day, this is a typical McMenamin's. Same food, drink, and service you would receive at any location."  end quote.
 
I had eaten at Mcmenamins at the Hotel Oregon in McMinnville, Oregon after
 visiting Evergreen Air and 
Space Museum in the same general vicinity. So, after I returned from staying
 at the Timberline Lodge with 
my son and daughter and her boyfriend and skiing there, I returned to Portland
 to stay one night so I could 
catch my flight the next morning home to San Francisco. So, after I checked
 in we decided to go to the 
Mcmenamins in Portland at:

1716 NW 23rd Ave
Portland, Oregon 97210
(503) 653-8011
End quote.
So, when we got there the waitress was very friendly and told my son and
 I that she had come 
to the city of Portland from Bend, Oregon near Mt. Bachelor where she
 had learned to ski really good.
I asked her what she thought of Portlandia with Fred Armisen from 
Saturday Night live and she said 
a lot of people who worked at Mcmenamins loved it but that she 
hadn't seen it yet. I said that for me 
it was sort of nostalgic to watch as I had come to adulthood in the 
1960s when Portlandia ideas were
all the rage and had sort of morphed from there. She said, "In Portland
 being weird is sort of in."
Someone mentioned a Portland bumper sticker which reads
 "Portlandia is weird" and another bumper 
sticker in Portland says "Weird isn't working" which is sort of a play
 on words or an inside joke for 
the region. My wife was saying it is sort of like the way  "Weirding"
 was used in "Dune" the movie 
and book by Frank Herbert or something like that. So, Portlandia the
 TV series is interesting in that 
it is a caricature of a real thing culturally. For me, it is just nice to know
 that some people are still trying 
to live their "Alternate Dreams" unfettered by the panic of the rest
 of the world.

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