Portland is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Within Oregon it is the county seat of Multnomah County, the largest county in Oregon by population. It is also the twenty-sixth largest city by population in the United States. It is a port city in the Willamette Valley region of the Pacific Northwest, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in Northwestern Oregon. As of 2020, Portland had a population of 652,503, making it the 26th-most populated city in the United States, the sixth-most populous on the West Coast, and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest, after Seattle. Approximately 2.5 million people live in the Portland metropolitan statistical area (MSA), making it the 25th most populous in the United States. Its combined statistical area (CSA) ranks 19th-largest with a population of around 3.2 million. Approximately 47% of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metropolitan area.
The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) is a contemporary performance and visual arts organization in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. PICA was founded in 1995 by Kristy Edmunds. Since 2003, it has presented the annual Time-Based Art Festival (TBA) every September in Portland, featuring contemporary and experimental visual art, dance, theatre, film/video, music, and educational and public programs from local, national, and international artists. As of November 2017, it is led by Executive Director Victoria Frey and Artistic Directors Roya Amirsoleymani, Erin Boberg Doughton, and Kristan Kennedy.
The music of Oregon reflects the diverse array of styles present in the music of the United States, from Native American music to the contemporary genres of rock and roll, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, pop, electronic music, and hip hop. However, throughout most of its history, the state has been relatively isolated from the cultural forces shaping American music. Much of modern popular music traces its roots to the emergence in the late 19th century of African American blues and the growth of gospel music in the 1920s. African American musicians borrowed elements of European and Indigenous musics to create new American forms. As Oregon's population was more homogeneous and more white than the United States as a whole, the state did not play a significant role in this history.
The Pearl District is an area of Portland, Oregon, formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significant urban renewal since the mid-1980s when it was reclassified as mixed use from industrial, including the arrival of artists, the removal of a viaduct and construction of the Portland Streetcar. It now consists of industrial building conversion to offices, high-rise condominiums and warehouse-to-loft conversions.
Floater is an American rock band currently based in Portland, Oregon. The band was started in 1993 by Robert Wynia, along with Peter Cornett and David Amador. They are known for their progressive concept albums, stylized storytelling, intense live performances, and devoted fanbase. Floater routinely sells out local venues in Oregon and periodically plays shows in the neighboring states of Washington, California, Nevada, and Idaho. Floater has played a variety of venues, including CBGB in New York and the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles. The band was also a musical guest for Live Wire Radio on OPB radio. The band was voted the "Best Band" in the Willamette Week "Best of Portland" reader's poll for 2009 and 2010.
The X-Ray Cafe was a small music venue in Portland, Oregon, United States from 1990 to 1994. An all-ages and community-oriented club, the X-Ray played a "heavyweight role in shaping Portland's underground culture," fostering such musical acts as Elliott Smith, Team Dresch, and Quasi, and hosted national acts like Bikini Kill and Green Day and was described by Details as one of the best rock and roll clubs in the country. Located at 214 W. Burnside St., it was characterized by a surreal environment and performers; owners Tres Shannon and Benjamin Arthur Ellis, who took over the U.F.O Cafe to establish the X-Ray and were in the band The Kurtz Project, encouraged acts that featured instruments that aren't typically associated with rock music, like Big Daddy Meatstraw, who performed on stage in clown costumes. As grunge and alternative music were emerging in Portland and Seattle under a national spotlight, the X-Ray served as an important stage for smaller acts in the genre, and along with nearby Satyricon nightclub, established Portland as an important regional performing destination for touring bands.
Mark Zusman is the editor and publisher of Willamette Week, an alternative newspaper and media company based in Portland, Oregon. He has been the paper's editor since 1983, and became its publisher in 2015, when Richard Meeker stepped down from that position.
Portlandia is an American sketch comedy television series starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, set in and around Portland, Oregon, and spoofing the city's reputation as a haven for eccentric hipsters. The show was produced by Broadway Video Television and IFC Original Productions. It was created by Armisen and Brownstein, along with Jonathan Krisel, who directs it. It debuted on IFC on January 21, 2011.
Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) is a four-day craft beer festival held annually from 1988 to 2019 and since 2022 at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland, Oregon, except in 2020-21 when the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to be cancelled. OBF has become the most popular outdoor beer festival in North America, based on attendance. Each brewery brings one beer. The attendance peaked in 2014, then it has been declining since. There is a Root Beer Garden for those who are under 21 or loathe alcohol.
Aladdin Theater is a theater in the Brooklyn neighborhood of southeast Portland, Oregon. It originally opened as a vaudeville house called Geller's Theatre on December 25, 1927. Its name was changed to Aladdin in 1934. Later the venue operated as a pornographic cinema for more than 30 years, screening the film Deep Throat for fourteen of them. It was revived as a classic movie and live music venue with a capacity of 620 in 1991.
CC Slaughters is a gay bar and nightclub located in Portland, Oregon, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The Portland bar is located in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, and the Puerto Vallarta bar is located in Zona Romántica.
The Roseland Theater, sometimes called the Roseland Theater and Grill, is a music venue located at 8 Northwest Sixth Avenue in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The building was originally a church, constructed by the Apostolic Faith Church in 1922. In 1982, Larry Hurwitz converted the building to a music venue called Starry Night. In 1990, the club's 21-year-old publicity agent was murdered in one of the theater's hallways; Hurwitz was convicted for this murder ten years later. Hurwitz sold the club in 1991, claiming he had lost support from the local music industry. The venue was given its current name during the 1991 ownership transfer. During the 1990s, Double Tee acquired control of the hall's operations, then purchased and renovated the building.
The Gypsy Restaurant and Velvet Lounge was a restaurant and nightclub established in 1947 and located along Northwest 21st Avenue in the Northwest District neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Popular with young adults, the restaurant was known for serving fishbowl alcoholic beverages, for its 1950s furnishings, and for hosting karaoke, trivia competitions and goldfish racing tournaments. The restaurant is said to have influenced local alcohol policies; noise complaints and signs of drunken behavior by patrons made the business a target for curfews and closure. Concept Entertainment owned the restaurant from 1992 until 2014, when it was closed unexpectedly.
Revolution Hall is a music venue in the Buckman neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. It is located within the former Washington High School, and was originally constructed as the school's auditorium. The auditorium was in use from the school's opening in 1924 to its closure in 1981, and was unused until February 2015. As part of a larger redevelopment that saw the school converted into office and retail space, the auditorium was renovated into a music venue. During construction, two bars and a roof deck were added, but the original wooden seats were preserved.
TechfestNW (TFNW) is an annual technology conference in Portland, Oregon that brings together innovators, startups, entrepreneurs, tech companies and investors from around the globe. The event features main stage speakers, workshops, a startup pitch competition, exhibitor booths, networking opportunities and parties. TechfestNW was founded by Mark Zusman in 2012, and is the sister festival to MusicfestNW, which ran from 2001 to 2018. In 2012, Fortune magazine called it the next South by Southwest (SXSW).
The Candlelight Cafe & Bar, also known as the Candlelight Room, was a blues bar and restaurant located at Southwest 5th and Lincoln in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States.
No Vacancy Lounge (NVL) was a short-lived nightclub in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, in the United States. "No Vacancy" began in 2014 as a party hosted at various local venues. NVL opened in a former McCormick & Schmick's restaurant December 2017, following an approximately $1 million renovation. The venue was named Willamette Week's 2018 Bar of the Year. The club hosted a variety of acts and events but was most known for electronic dance music (EDM). Conflict between NVL, a neighboring tenant, and the property manager began almost immediately. In February 2019, the bar closed as the result of the dispute and financial difficulties; some scheduled events were moved to other venues.
Holocene is a music venue and nightclub in the Buckman neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The venue, which opened in June 2003, is a former auto-parts warehouse with an industrial, modern interior. Holocene hosts a variety of events, and was named the city's "Best Place to Dance" by Willamette Week readers in 2017.
Spare Room Restaurant and Lounge, or simply The Spare Room, is a restaurant and entertainment venue in northeast Portland, Oregon, United States.
DJ Anjali & The Incredible Kid is an American DJ duo, formed in 2000 in Portland, Oregon. The duo consists of Anjali Hursh and Stephen Strausbaugh. In addition to appearing at various venues in Portland's nightclub scene, the act has performed in numerous music festivals and resident nights including Sasquatch! Music Festival and Basement Bhangra and is credited with helping to bring South Asian and Latin dance music to the club scene in Portland and the greater Pacific Northwest. Together they host Tropitaal, a "Desi-Latino Soundclash" and Andaz, the longest-running Bhangra and Bollywood dance party in the United States. The duo was awarded first place in the "Best DJ" category of "Best of Portland" by Willamette Week readers in 2016 and 2017.
