PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland travel guide published in the Toronto Sun claims we're a city filled with nudity, graffiti and vegetarian food at every bar.
The article, which was published Tuesday and inexplicably taken off the Internet the next day, was written by Kim Pemberton.
Toronto Sun erroneously gives Portland travel advice
We wanted to Verify: Are any of the claims in this travel piece true?
1. "Portland is so easy to get around, it won't be long before you not only will be navigating the downtown core but also crossing some of its 14 bridges to visit nearby locales."
Fourteen bridges?? When did we get those?? At our count, there's only 12 you'll be crossing within city limits... and as a tourist, you'll be crossing even fewer (St. Johns, Fremont, Broadway, Burnside, Hawthorne, Morrison, Tilikum Crossing, Steel, Marquam, Ross Island, Sellwood and Sauvie Island).
2. “The Hawthorne Bridge used scrap metal from Second World War planes when its deck was changed from wood to steel in 1945.”
We couldn't confirm this claim at all, despite exhaustive Googling. According to a document registering the Hawthorne Bridge as a National Register of Historic Places, the county replaced Hawthorne's "wood-and-asphalt deck with a steel grate, despite the wartime restrictions on the unnecessary use of steel." No mention of WWII planes.
3. "Public nudity is legal throughout the year."
OK this claim is true. Public nudity is legal state-wide as long as you're not doing it to perform "an act of sexual intercourse" or to "arouse" another person.
4. "... also legal is graffiti."
No, graffiti is not legal, so you shouldn't literally go out there and paint the town red.
5. "Restaurants and bars are legally required to provide vegetarian options."
Not quite. Every Portland bar is required by OLCC law to serve a handful of food or snacks - period. Doesn't matter if it's vegetarian or vegan or keto.
6. "Portland bans strip malls ... there are no large box stores like Walmart."
This just... isn't true. There's two Wal-marts, four Targets, one Ikea and... clearly the writer hasn't experienced our beloved Freddy's.
7. "Locals don't hang out downtown."
Bars and restaurants like Departure, Bailey's Taproom, Tasty and Sons, THE DOZENS OF FOOD CART PODS, would all like a word. So would Powell's.
8. "Portlanders" are born and bred here; "Portlandians" are Portland immigrants.
... we'll just stick with "Portlanders," thanks.
We have reached out to two Toronto Sun editors, and as of Wednesday afternoon, haven't heard back.
We also spoke with Skyler Lanning, the owner of Wildwood Adventures, the company that took Pemberton on a tour of Portland a few months ago. Here's what he had to say in response to the article:
"A number of 'facts' she cited are rooted in kernels of truth that we discuss on our tours, but she condensed the points down so far that they sound absurd and don’t take into account the complex nature of Portland’s history. Being a Portlander myself, I’d like to go through and rebut as many of the incorrect points as I can remember.
“Bars are required to serve vegetarian and vegan dishes”
- This must have been (hopefully) sarcasm. Portland is regularly ranked as one of the top vegetarian and vegan friendly cities in the world (as well as a city that is tolerant and thrives with other dietary restrictions). My understanding through the OLCC is that bars are required to serve food if they serve liquor (or allow food if just beer/wine). The plethora of vegan/veg food at bars is a way to appeal to the greater population by having vegetarian and vegan dishes on their menu.
“Graffiti is Legal in Portland”
- I don’t know where this one comes from, but want to assume it is in reference to Portland’s mural culture. Murals and “Street Art” are encouraged in our city, but you are still supposed to do it legally.
- Graffiti is not a legal activity in Portland, however, Street Art is a large part of Portland’s development over the last 75 years. The Portland Police Bureau DID have areas of the city that WERE legal, or at least not enforced, to tag in the 1970s and 1980s, but those no longer exist. In Portland, like most places, random graffiti or tagging on public and/or private property is illegal, however, many neighborhoods and businesses opt to have street art, whether painted roads, sidewalks or buildings a part of their identity. According to the Portland Street Art alliance – the idea behind Portland’s “Mural” boom is to beautify the city AND dissuade illegal tagging. The Portland Street Art alliance has walking tour maps available as well.
“Portlandian/Portlander”
- The quote about this and the distinction seems like something the writer came up with, maybe derived from the “Portlandia” show, but I’m not sure.
“Strip Malls are outlawed in Portland”
- There are many strip malls in Portland, many of them look different, are focused on certain products/lifestyles, or may not be viewed as such by the general population. Strip malls in SW Portland, N. Portland & out around 82nd are likely one of the most common type of retail experiences. In the hub of downtown and inner Eastside, there is a focus on smaller, perhaps locally owned businesses. Residents are vocal in certain neighborhoods about the type of business development that happens there. Compared to other cities of similar size, Portland does seem to have less mega and multi-national companies in the hub of their city limits. We do have Starbucks, we do have McDonalds and Subway and we do have Wal-Mart.
The items above are just a few of the plethora of items we discuss and communicate on our tours. This article appears to be devoid of simple fact-checking and incorrectly attributes a number of wrong statement to our guide."