The Worst of Portland

I'm not feeling very negative today. Just thought it would be fun to put together this list. Any ideas?

Worst Intersection

11th and Sandy and Burnside

Or 37 corners. As if it's not dangerous enough, it has the disappearing lane when you're going west on Burnside and the parked car in your lane when you're going East.

Worst Asian Food

Anything that advertises their Chinese-American food

Most Overrated Restaurant

Pizza Ascholl's

Or Pizza AHoles as I like to call it. I still haven't quite figure out why 1/2 of Beaverton waits around the block for pizza that doesn't have enough cheese and is burned on the bottom. Maybe it's a Beavertron thang.

Worst Restaurant Period

The Mummy

I talked about this on one of my first posts (oh, memories...). I think its badness actually warrants a visit (just get drinks though)

Worst Suburb

A tough one, since as incredible as I think Portland is, I am not fond of the 'Burbs (Where I make my livelihood). Any thoughts?

Worst Parking Lot

The New Seasons on 2oth and Division

They seem to have put a lot of thought and energy into that store, you'd think they would've done their measurements correctly.

Worst Parking Garage

Powell's

That place scares me.

Worst Tourist Attraction

The Chinese Gardens

OK fine, I haven't been there. But even mentioning it makes me yawn.

Worst Annual Event

The Rose Parade or Cinco de Mayo

I might need to attend one of them to determine the loser.

Worst Rated Bar on City Search

Dr. Feelgood's Pub

Not sure why I find that fun to find (it actually takes some time to get to the bottom).

Worst Rated Restaurant on City Search

Holman's

Holman's! I totally disagree.

Iron Cage Match: Hippies versus Hipsters

I'm not sure why I've been so obsessed w/ hippies lately. Perhaps b/c they are starting to feel like a dying breed in my beloved Portland. And who is replacing them you ask? Yes, the hipsters. So riders, what I'm curious about, is whom would you prefer your city dominated by: hippies or hipsters?

Advantages to Hippies

Travel more

More liberal

More open-minded

Friendlier

Advantages to Hipsters

Funnier

Better dressers

Smell Better

More realistic

Less likely to try to get you to sign their petition

In the end though, I think I'm going to have to go w/ hippies since pretty much everything I like about Portland has more to do w/ them (community oriented, knee-jerk liberals, mellow). But who do you guys seeing winning this iron cage match?

Hippies: 3 1/2

Hipsters: 1 1/2

Types of Hippies

This week, I've had lunch at 2 different Portland establishments, The Lonely Planet and It's a Beautiful Pizza. Both are very hippyish, but as I sat down in Lonely Planet I couldn't help but notice it was giving off a totally different hippie atmosphere. Below is my attempt to detail some of the different types of hippies in Portland.

Old School Hippie
This is the It's a Beautiful Pizza type. Tends to have pony tails, still loves everything 60's, and likes to play guitar on their porches. Very nice, if at times in a fake kind of vacant way. One should steer conversations to travel, which they tend to have done a lot of.

Edgy Hippie
This is the vibe I get at Lonely Planet. Still based in the 60's, but more of that weird but a little bit scary side of an acid trip. Robert Crumb would be their be patron saint. Tend to be more interesting then Old School Hippies, but at times act as if they were the first to think of something.

Evil Hippie
Boooo. I hate evil hippies. They never create one group, instead they infiltrate other hippie groups. They have all the accouterments and even talk about the same things, but they either get competitive and try to outhippie you or just give off I hate you vibes. Tend to be the drug dealers of their group.

Burning Man Hippie
Sort of a hippie 2.0 for the 21st century. At first they don't seem like hippies, since they like modern music and definitely would never sport a pony tail But once you get into a conversation about Burning Man it all becomes clear. "It's all about community." "We set up a giant maze and when you reached the end there's an ice cream station." "It's kind of tribal."

Subtle Hippie
This probably describes 70% of Portland. President elections represent a choice between Nader and the Democrat. They shop at Fred Meyers, but get their meat at New Seasons. They bike when they can and either own (or are planning) to get a hybrid.

Between attending Lewis and Clark College and living in Southeast Portland for ten years, my knowledge is pretty extensive. But did I miss any?

Portland Meiers Briggs' Type

So, since I am a little obsessed w/ Meiers Briggs personality typing (I'm an ENTP if you were wondering), I've always liked the idea of trying to come up w/ one specific to a city. Below is my one for Portland. I've come up with 4 categories, and for each you determine whether you are low, medium, or high in it. My hope is that this could be used to classify all Portlanders.

Outdoorsiness

High: You Heart Kayaking

Medium: You camp about once a year and like to go on the occasional hike

Low: You don't understand why anyone would like to sleep on a rock

Hipsterness

High: You take your thrift store shopping, your music taste, and your cynicism very seriously
Medium: You do see the value of dive bars and Pabst
Low: You wear J Crew

Alcoholicism

High: You get drunk twice a week
Medium: You like to drink
Low: You might have a beer with a dinner, or a couple at a social occasion, but then you (inexplicably) just stop.

Intelectuality

High: You make references to New Yorker articles during dinner conversations
Medium: You like artsy movies and know what's going on in politics
Low: Your favorite TV channel is the WB

So what do people think? Any changes? What about the 4 categories for a different city?