Portland

[WarmUpZone]

I skated QSide on July 4th. At 4th and Flanders in Chinatown. Right across from the Lan Su Chinese Garden. It is another crusty collection of concrete and wooden DIY obstacles and it is wonderful. The session was a solid mix of abilities, styles, and genders - which is always good to see and makes for good vibes.

https://www.instagram.com/qside_pdx/

The neighborhood can get grimey, but if you can handle that, I highly recommend stopping by.

Also, I heard the Berrydale park should be open later this summer, a bit ahead of schedule.

[Too Frank To Fred]

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Gonna skate later. Any skate related places to eat/get coffee? Staying in se. Little late on the post since I leave in the morning but many thanks

[close]

The most skate coffee experience is here. They have a little spot next to the shop. https://maps.app.goo.gl/otNkTCzYu25kjpt69?g_st=ipc

Or go to One Moto coffee and see if Willis Kimble’s shop in back is open.


Scroll up in the thread for curb spots and such.

Travis who owns Jet Black is a good dude. I skate curbs with him, often. I have shamefully not tried his coffee yet but I'd say he's worthy of suppport. He's roasting his own beans these days.

[sharkjumper]

Can confirm Jet Black and Travis are worth supporting.


According to the city’s project page, Berrydale should be open by the end of the month. Guess I need to cruise by and check the fence status.

https://www.portland.gov/parks/construction/berrydale-park-improvement-project

Maybe that’ll mean Parklane will chill out a little.

[Too Frank To Fred]

I skated Parklane on Saturday. Was very chill. Only old men skating the bowl and the curb sections, which is mostly what I want to skate anyway... But it was 10am....

Hyped for Berrydale. Only 2 miles from my house.

[dusterfan]

About once a year for the last few years I've felt the urge to move from LA to PDX.  Last year me and my gf got really close to moving, was looking at places and applying to jobs, but I ended up getting a really good job here so it halted the move.

I'm originally from the bay area and have been missing the weather/ proximity to nature, also the cost of living here in LA is really overwhelming.
I'm a graphic designer so I think finding a job up there wouldn't be too hard.

Anyways does anyone have any advice on neighborhoods to look into/ insight on the music scenes/ other shit to do besides the obvious drinking and strip clubs? Or any general insight to the pros/ cons of living there?
I know its not like it used to be price wise and culture wise but it's still a drastic enough change from LA that its still enticing. 

[sharkjumper]

About once a year for the last few years I've felt the urge to move from LA to PDX.  Last year me and my gf got really close to moving, was looking at places and applying to jobs, but I ended up getting a really good job here so it halted the move.

I'm originally from the bay area and have been missing the weather/ proximity to nature, also the cost of living here in LA is really overwhelming.
I'm a graphic designer so I think finding a job up there wouldn't be too hard.

Anyways does anyone have any advice on neighborhoods to look into/ insight on the music scenes/ other shit to do besides the obvious drinking and strip clubs? Or any general insight to the pros/ cons of living there?
I know its not like it used to be price wise and culture wise but it's still a drastic enough change from LA that its still enticing.

Neighborhoods, there's a lot to get into. But generally my advice for new folks is to live close to a strip of shops and restaurants that you can walk to (if that's important to you). Kenton, St Johns, Mississippi, Alberta, Hollywood, Belmont, Hawthorne, NW 23rd Ave, Multnomah Village, etc.. Barring that, living near a Max train station is really helpful for getting around. But it's also a really great biking city.
I think the music scene is great. Lots of tours come through, but there are local bands playing all the time. Venues like Turn, Turn, Turn; Lollipop Shoppe; Swan Dive; No Fun Bar; and many more host local shows all week. This site is run by the local weekly paper and covers a lot of things to do. https://everout.com/portland/
Tons of hiking nearby- Forest Park, more trails than I can list up through the gorge. The beach is a little over an hour away if you want to surf. Great biking infrastructure with some trails in the city if you like some jumping and mountain bike trails nearby.
Great food scene. https://bridgetownbites.com and https://pdx.eater.com both cover it pretty well.
Good skate scene too.

Cons always includes the weather. It's grey and wet in the winter. I try to get away to sunshine a couple times during the winter months and that helps me.
There's a pretty large homeless population here. The city officials have yet to put in place an effective strategy to get people into housing and help for whatever else they are dealing with. You will encounter it around the city. Camps are cleared constantly so these folks are constantly pushed around the city. We got a new city council this year and a new mayor who ran on a platform of addressing homelessness, but I have yet to see much headway, and that sucks. Car break ins do happen, but don't leave stuff visible in your car and you should be ok.
Freeway traffic sucks. Our freeways are stuck in the 1970s. So if you need to travel over a bridge, through a tunnel, or on a super curvy part of the interstate around rush hour, be ready for some gridlock.

[j....soy.....]

Short of eggs Benedict, did Portland ever get another good outdoor park? 

[Benicio El Toro]

As of last weekend berrydale was still not open. But it looked pretty friendly from the passenger side of my best friend's ride

[Too Frank To Fred]

Short of eggs Benedict, did Portland ever get another good outdoor park?

Ed Benny the only park you like?

Parkdale is new and very fun. Giant bowl and some sick bank to curbs.

Creston should have more of a plaza type layout.

[j....soy.....]

I haven’t been to Portland in years and my park knowledge is poor which is why I was asking…my impression was that most of what they had was all bowls.  ‘Good’ was extremely subjective on my part….. I was more so wondering if they had a large street based park to balance things out. 

[sharkjumper]

I haven’t been to Portland in years and my park knowledge is poor which is why I was asking…my impression was that most of what they had was all bowls.  ‘Good’ was extremely subjective on my part….. I was more so wondering if they had a large street based park to balance things out.

This year we are starting to get new full size parks. After Ed Benedict, we only saw a few skate dot sized parks. They’re fun, but are truly one at a time mini parks.
Parklane opened a couple months ago with a basic and fun street section, big bowl, and some bank to curbs on the park path. Berrydale is opening this month with a streetish style park. Creston is supposed to begin construction next year. It has a big foot print and more street stuff and is partially covered. Berrydale and Creston were designed by a non skater local architect who has helped dreamland with their architectural drawings. He knows specs but not layout. Giving feedback on those 2 was a nightmare to wrangle his shitty designs.
So nothing as good as a new line design.
In the works is steel bridge, if it still happens with our city’s budget shortfalls. I know a few people on the advisory committee and they’re advocating for a true plaza/shared public space. But design by committee will probably squash that.
We have the courts 2.0 coming on the PSU campus. Should be more plaza focused. Yet to see though.
Plus all the suburb and other nearby parks.

[Too Frank To Fred]

I went to Burnside this morning. It felt like street skating.

[j....soy.....]

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I haven’t been to Portland in years and my park knowledge is poor which is why I was asking…my impression was that most of what they had was all bowls.  ‘Good’ was extremely subjective on my part….. I was more so wondering if they had a large street based park to balance things out.

[close]

This year we are starting to get new full size parks. After Ed Benedict, we only saw a few skate dot sized parks. They’re fun, but are truly one at a time mini parks.
Parklane opened a couple months ago with a basic and fun street section, big bowl, and some bank to curbs on the park path. Berrydale is opening this month with a streetish style park. Creston is supposed to begin construction next year. It has a big foot print and more street stuff and is partially covered. Berrydale and Creston were designed by a non skater local architect who has helped dreamland with their architectural drawings. He knows specs but not layout. Giving feedback on those 2 was a nightmare to wrangle his shitty designs.
So nothing as good as a new line design.
In the works is steel bridge, if it still happens with our city’s budget shortfalls. I know a few people on the advisory committee and they’re advocating for a true plaza/shared public space. But design by committee will probably squash that.
We have the courts 2.0 coming on the PSU campus. Should be more plaza focused. Yet to see though.
Plus all the suburb and other nearby parks.

Oh that’s good to hear there is at least new stuff coming….i always think of plazas as being cheap because you aren’t digging or forming concrete.  In Vancouver they’ve replaced the granite a few times, the basic design holds up so it’s a good investment. It’s a tough sell though to the masses , 10 skaters who all want different things, they just let each person pick an obstacle and call it a day…..it’s usually a mess…

[sharkjumper]

For you locals- Berrydale is officially open.

[sharkjumper]

Weekend long skate event in Portland this weekend.

https://adjacencybias.com/journal/adjacent-a-new-nw-skate-event-coming-this-summer

[FrAnKenFrEd]

Berrydale smells like old man.

[cornman]

Anyone know what happened to all the ledges and stuff set up at the Davinci school? I saw there were ledges and ramps set up there a few weeks ago but I stopped by yesterday and everything was more or less gone.

Visiting Portland for the week and wondering if there are other DIY spots going right now aside from Q Side and the one under the Broadway Bridge. Looking for a spot with good ledges thats a little closer in than the new parks out east.

[sharkjumper]

Anyone know what happened to all the ledges and stuff set up at the Davinci school? I saw there were ledges and ramps set up there a few weeks ago but I stopped by yesterday and everything was more or less gone.

Visiting Portland for the week and wondering if there are other DIY spots going right now aside from Q Side and the one under the Broadway Bridge. Looking for a spot with good ledges thats a little closer in than the new parks out east.

The da Vinci stuff is gone and trashed unfortunately. The school wanted to give skaters a chance to clear them before school started. But some enterprising maintenance guy just showed up before someone could move them and trashed them and hauled them off.
It’s a bummer because there was a good relationship building with the school itself. The principal seemed bummed it went down like that.

Chrome has a good box in their parking lot. There’s a hole in the fence if the gate is closed. NW 15th and NW Thurman. Street-wise eastbank esplanade has some good ledges going. SE water Ave and SE salmon and go towards the river.
If you want wild diy, give Creston a try. Creston park, next to the pool. There’s some fun stuff at the school next door too.

[cornman]

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Anyone know what happened to all the ledges and stuff set up at the Davinci school? I saw there were ledges and ramps set up there a few weeks ago but I stopped by yesterday and everything was more or less gone.

Visiting Portland for the week and wondering if there are other DIY spots going right now aside from Q Side and the one under the Broadway Bridge. Looking for a spot with good ledges thats a little closer in than the new parks out east.

[close]

The da Vinci stuff is gone and trashed unfortunately. The school wanted to give skaters a chance to clear them before school started. But some enterprising maintenance guy just showed up before someone could move them and trashed them and hauled them off.
It’s a bummer because there was a good relationship building with the school itself. The principal seemed bummed it went down like that.

Chrome has a good box in their parking lot. There’s a hole in the fence if the gate is closed. NW 15th and NW Thurman. Street-wise eastbank esplanade has some good ledges going. SE water Ave and SE salmon and go towards the river.
If you want wild diy, give Creston a try. Creston park, next to the pool. There’s some fun stuff at the school next door too.

Damn, that's such a bummer. Last summer when I was here I had some fun sessions at DaVinci. Really fun crew skating there.

Thanks for the advice! I wanted to check out Creston but was unsure if they started clearing it out to build the permanent park. Going to check those spots this week.

[Pushing 4D]

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Anyone know what happened to all the ledges and stuff set up at the Davinci school? I saw there were ledges and ramps set up there a few weeks ago but I stopped by yesterday and everything was more or less gone.

Visiting Portland for the week and wondering if there are other DIY spots going right now aside from Q Side and the one under the Broadway Bridge. Looking for a spot with good ledges thats a little closer in than the new parks out east.

[close]

The da Vinci stuff is gone and trashed unfortunately. The school wanted to give skaters a chance to clear them before school started. But some enterprising maintenance guy just showed up before someone could move them and trashed them and hauled them off.
It’s a bummer because there was a good relationship building with the school itself. The principal seemed bummed it went down like that.

Chrome has a good box in their parking lot. There’s a hole in the fence if the gate is closed. NW 15th and NW Thurman. Street-wise eastbank esplanade has some good ledges going. SE water Ave and SE salmon and go towards the river.
If you want wild diy, give Creston a try. Creston park, next to the pool. There’s some fun stuff at the school next door too.

[close]

Damn, that's such a bummer. Last summer when I was here I had some fun sessions at DaVinci. Really fun crew skating there.

Thanks for the advice! I wanted to check out Creston but was unsure if they started clearing it out to build the permanent park. Going to check those spots this week.

Bring soft wheels if you're going to Creston, that ground is practically unskateable. Old man smell or not, Berrydale is extremely fun. The bank to curbs outside the Parklane Park are really fun too... the skatepark itself is not for me.

[Highonangeldust]

I was recently in Astoria and made a mental note to stop in at Cypress skate supply if I happened to come across it while in town. It happened to be next to a coffee shop that was recommended to me. After getting my coffee I noticed the door was open and a dude was behind the counter on his laptop. I walked in and we started shooting the shit. I didn’t even realize the lights were off and he was t open. He was just there doing design work for shop merch. His name was Jeff and was stoked that I said I try and stop in at local shops and buy at least shop shirt or something to show support. We ended up talking for around 45 minutes while I browsed around. Like myself, he started skating around Public Domain and we talked all things 90’s, injuries, boards we loved and what we dig these days. I was on a coastal drive trip and the friends I were visiting don’t skate. So I didn’t have my board. He told me about a diy they have there that was pretty chill and low impact. I didn’t check it out and assumed it was crusty. But I peeped the shop IG snd if actually looked really smooth and fun to skate. I thanked him for his time and bought a beanie.Long winded post just to say Cypress is a cool little shop with a great owner. Stop in if you are in the area. Weather permitting , hit the DIY up. Wish I had. I’m not the most sociable person but it felt rad to just nerd out with a stranger over our love of a wooden toy.

[FrAnKenFrEd]

The Astoria DIY is really fun.

[brycickle]

I was recently in Astoria and made a mental note to stop in at Cypress skate supply if I happened to come across it while in town. It happened to be next to a coffee shop that was recommended to me. After getting my coffee I noticed the door was open and a dude was behind the counter on his laptop. I walked in and we started shooting the shit. I didn’t even realize the lights were off and he was t open. He was just there doing design work for shop merch. His name was Jeff and was stoked that I said I try and stop in at local shops and buy at least shop shirt or something to show support. We ended up talking for around 45 minutes while I browsed around. Like myself, he started skating around Public Domain and we talked all things 90’s, injuries, boards we loved and what we dig these days. I was on a coastal drive trip and the friends I were visiting don’t skate. So I didn’t have my board. He told me about a diy they have there that was pretty chill and low impact. I didn’t check it out and assumed it was crusty. But I peeped the shop IG snd if actually looked really smooth and fun to skate. I thanked him for his time and bought a beanie.Long winded post just to say Cypress is a cool little shop with a great owner. Stop in if you are in the area. Weather permitting , hit the DIY up. Wish I had. I’m not the most sociable person but it felt rad to just nerd out with a stranger over our love of a wooden toy.

Chase is a good guy. He built this spot in Bellevue, NE

[cant kickflip but can tre]

I was recently in Astoria and made a mental note to stop in at Cypress skate supply if I happened to come across it while in town. It happened to be next to a coffee shop that was recommended to me. After getting my coffee I noticed the door was open and a dude was behind the counter on his laptop. I walked in and we started shooting the shit. I didn’t even realize the lights were off and he was t open. He was just there doing design work for shop merch. His name was Jeff and was stoked that I said I try and stop in at local shops and buy at least shop shirt or something to show support. We ended up talking for around 45 minutes while I browsed around. Like myself, he started skating around Public Domain and we talked all things 90’s, injuries, boards we loved and what we dig these days. I was on a coastal drive trip and the friends I were visiting don’t skate. So I didn’t have my board. He told me about a diy they have there that was pretty chill and low impact. I didn’t check it out and assumed it was crusty. But I peeped the shop IG snd if actually looked really smooth and fun to skate. I thanked him for his time and bought a beanie.Long winded post just to say Cypress is a cool little shop with a great owner. Stop in if you are in the area. Weather permitting , hit the DIY up. Wish I had. I’m not the most sociable person but it felt rad to just nerd out with a stranger over our love of a wooden toy.

+1 to Cypress. Stopped by during a trip. I also did not have my board but I had a great time going in the shop and looking around. Spoke to Jeff a bit and he was a cool dude

[adumb]

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I was recently in Astoria and made a mental note to stop in at Cypress skate supply if I happened to come across it while in town. It happened to be next to a coffee shop that was recommended to me. After getting my coffee I noticed the door was open and a dude was behind the counter on his laptop. I walked in and we started shooting the shit. I didn’t even realize the lights were off and he was t open. He was just there doing design work for shop merch. His name was Jeff and was stoked that I said I try and stop in at local shops and buy at least shop shirt or something to show support. We ended up talking for around 45 minutes while I browsed around. Like myself, he started skating around Public Domain and we talked all things 90’s, injuries, boards we loved and what we dig these days. I was on a coastal drive trip and the friends I were visiting don’t skate. So I didn’t have my board. He told me about a diy they have there that was pretty chill and low impact. I didn’t check it out and assumed it was crusty. But I peeped the shop IG snd if actually looked really smooth and fun to skate. I thanked him for his time and bought a beanie.Long winded post just to say Cypress is a cool little shop with a great owner. Stop in if you are in the area. Weather permitting , hit the DIY up. Wish I had. I’m not the most sociable person but it felt rad to just nerd out with a stranger over our love of a wooden toy.

[close]

Chase is a good guy. He built this spot in Bellevue, NE

Unfortunately Donut Hill is not around anymore. Glad I got to weasel my way in there a couple times.

In small world-ish stuff, i grew up in Omaha looking up to Jeff Chase, he was a local ripper when I first started skating. I moved from there many years ago so didn't really keep up with everyone from the '90s Omaha/Lincoln scene, stoked to see he's still involved!

[brycickle]

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I was recently in Astoria and made a mental note to stop in at Cypress skate supply if I happened to come across it while in town. It happened to be next to a coffee shop that was recommended to me. After getting my coffee I noticed the door was open and a dude was behind the counter on his laptop. I walked in and we started shooting the shit. I didn’t even realize the lights were off and he was t open. He was just there doing design work for shop merch. His name was Jeff and was stoked that I said I try and stop in at local shops and buy at least shop shirt or something to show support. We ended up talking for around 45 minutes while I browsed around. Like myself, he started skating around Public Domain and we talked all things 90’s, injuries, boards we loved and what we dig these days. I was on a coastal drive trip and the friends I were visiting don’t skate. So I didn’t have my board. He told me about a diy they have there that was pretty chill and low impact. I didn’t check it out and assumed it was crusty. But I peeped the shop IG snd if actually looked really smooth and fun to skate. I thanked him for his time and bought a beanie.Long winded post just to say Cypress is a cool little shop with a great owner. Stop in if you are in the area. Weather permitting , hit the DIY up. Wish I had. I’m not the most sociable person but it felt rad to just nerd out with a stranger over our love of a wooden toy.

[close]

Chase is a good guy. He built this spot in Bellevue, NE

[close]

Unfortunately Donut Hill is not around anymore. Glad I got to weasel my way in there a couple times.

In small world-ish stuff, i grew up in Omaha looking up to Jeff Chase, he was a local ripper when I first started skating. I moved from there many years ago so didn't really keep up with everyone from the '90s Omaha/Lincoln scene, stoked to see he's still involved!

Yeah, they had to shut it down just as I was considering investing in being a key holder. Bummer, but it is what it is. At least the Offut Motor Inn is still just as sketchy as it's always been.

[Benicio El Toro]

Shit you know Tyler?

[brycickle]

Probably, but maybe not. I came up in Lincoln.

[adumb]

Tyler who? I know a few

[Benicio El Toro]

Paulson