Travel back in time on Hawthorne Blvd. located in Portland’s Southeast neighborhood. The street is lined with unique vintage clothing and furniture stores sure to drive any vintage lover wild! Spots like House of Vintage and Vintage Pink offer a wide variety of fashion choices from dozens of vendors, while furniture stores like Hawthorne Vintage and Lounge Lizard specialize in midcentury-modern finds.
Farms, nurseries, bakeries, butchers, fish merchants and cheese makers, oh my! There are six different farmer’s markets held in and around Portland throughout the week with over 200 vendors. The Portland State University farmer’s market is the largest by far, and our personal favorite! The PSU farmer’s market is held year-round, every Saturday on the Portland State University campus with farmers and artisan food producers filling 140 stalls. Enjoy fresh food, chef demonstrations, live music and a lineup of food education events that make this market a must see!
Revel in an elevated dining experience (literally!). Departure Lounge sits atop the iconic Meier & Frank Building, surrounding its guests with comfort, elegance and sky-high views. This downtown Pan Asian kitchen presents an ambitious menu that embraces Oregon sourced ingredients to deliver bold flavors of the far east. Chef Gregory Gourdet, LGBTQ+ tastemaker and the culinary mastermind behind Departure, was a semi-finalist for the James Beard “Best Chefs in America” Awards in 2018 and 2015. Departure’s happy hour views, breathtaking design, and inventive menu – offering gluten-free, vegan and paleo options as well – is bound to captivate any Portland traveler.
If you’re looking to add a little – or a lot – of sparkle to your evening, look no further than the Darcelle XV Showplace. Located two blocks from the Willamette River in Downtown Portland, this dazzling cabaret drag show has been slaying audiences for over 50 years. Darcelle XV was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the “Oldest Performing Female Impersonator in the World.” Put on the wigs and the heels and the lashes and head to the longest-running drag revue in the country for a night of entertainment you will never forget!
A little bit of naughty is a little bit nice. Xtina puns aside – you must check out the Burlesque S’il Vous Plait, a classic burlesque show with “a contemporary variety twist.” Portland’s longest running Burlesque show is held every first Friday of the month at Crush Bar, located in Portland’s Southeast neighborhood.
For the love of hip-hop, we indulge you to dance the night away at CAKE, a queer hip-hop dance night focused on inclusion within the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. This all-are-welcome dance party is held every second Saturday of the month at local cocktail bar, Killingsworth Dynasty – located in Portland’s Piedmont neighborhood. Join the diverse and energetic crowd that ignores labels for a night of dancing and celebration with expertly mixed hip-hop by Portland’s own DJ Automaton.
