Rosie and The Operator are staying in the Portland suburb of Mississippi, just across the river from the Downtown area during their 4 night visit to the city as they travel to Seattle. Back in the 1940s Mississippi was predominantly an African American and Asian neighborhood as this was the only area in Portland the local government allowed these ethnic groups to buy houses in. It is still a residential area today with tree lined streets sitting under drifts of colored leaves and colorful wooden homes giving it a groovy boho kind of vibe.
The long line of small boutique shops, cafes and bars that line the historical Mississippi Avenue are mainly two story dark brown or red brick with big front wooden framed windows. This neighbourhood has certainly evolved and there is plenty going on to explore! Rosie is so glad we stayed here!
Mississippi sits midway on the KEEP PORTLAND WEIRD scale, halfway between weird and cool, which is fine by Rosie as it makes it a fun place to be in the middle of. Rolling with the weird, the weirdest shop in the neighborhood is Paxton Gate.
You walk through the doors and your jaw hits the floor at the sight that beholds you. Stuffed animal busts line the wall with animals Rosie didn’t even know existed! Well technically a Jackaloupe doesn’t exist…does it? Disturbing yet fascinating cabinets like a mad scientists laboratory are full of fetuses, oddities and baby animals floating in jars of formaldehyde each with a label underneath that you read with wide eyes that describe the macabre thing within.
Jackaloupe….can this be?
A gaping hippo is to the left on the wall and a two headed $30,000 calf stands on the counter. Colorful bugs, butterfly’s and moths are framed and presented for sale. Weird skeletons and even weirder macabre curiosities grace the shelves. Rosie was wandering around taking secret photos when the shop girl approached to see if she could help…she was so friendly and explained that everything for sale was from vintage collections and estate sales.
Nothing here has been hunted to order and even though things are sourced world wide, most of the stores inventory has come from the US….Rosie wasn’t to sure what that says about the US and there penchant for travelling the world killing and displaying the most beautiful creatures in it. WOW, these animals would have looked majestic in the wild.
Feel free to take as many pics as you like said The Shop Girl as Rosie did another turn around the shop…stopping to look at these taxidermied dressed up mice…so wrong…yet Rosie cannot take her eyes off them.
You will not go hungry in this suburb of Portland, for starters, in amongst the shops, cafes and restaurants is The Mississippi Food Truck pod which was literally 100 meters down the road from our place, conveniently set up in what could have been the off street car park of the pub next door. A dozen caravans were positioned in the space, some with bespoke decking and seating areas but most with out door tables in front and sails over the common eating area to keep any unwanted rain away.
The grungy caravan of Matts BBQ ranks in the Top 5 of the cities food trucks and is the crowning glory of The Mississippi Food Truck Pod. In a city obsessed with food trucks and which proudly boasts over 500 of them, it was awesome to experience one of the best just up the road from us. Matts BBQ opens at 10.00am and stays open until he is sold out, which is normally between 2-3pm.
The food was slow cooked deliciousness and our lunchtime sampler was en pointe with the brisket and the pork belly being Rosie’s favorite. The Operator, well, he was a fan of the Dry Rubbed Ribs and Matts BBQ was so deserving of the accolades and crazy following that qued to get his amazing food every day!
Its true, you cannot walk 100 metres down the road without coming across a food truck of some sort here in Portland. Why would you have your morning coffee in a coffee shop…..when you could have it on the top deck of a red double decker London bus?
The London Bus Food Pod near the Bagdad Theater
The Fried Egg Sandwich food truck had to have won the award for the most creative menu. It was so much fun eating our here in Portland and in particular our own neighborhood that was so full of variety that we hardly ever sat in a restaurant to eat once!
You know Rosie and The Operator love their oyster bar afternoonsies so we traveled a short distance outside our suburb…because who can pass up ‘a buck a shuck!’ OMG, they were the biggest oysters we have ever had for a buck! EaT: Oyster Bar was amazing, Happy Hour from 3-5, oyster shooters if you are so inclined and small plates with a real Southern Vibe.
Modeled to look like a backyard Louisiana swamp shed, this place was groovy and perfectly fit the bill. On leaving, they handed us a sharpie and asked us to autograph the walls. We found a space on the heavily graffitied walls near the newspapers to the side, and Rosie let her home country down by drawing the lamest Kiwi anyone has ever seen.
The number one taco joint in Portland was also in our neighborhood, and they along with other bars in the area seem to look abit ‘hole in the wall’ or food truck like. All have out door terraces and Por que No? Tacqueria sure lives up to the hype. It is a jumping we place with a que normally outside the door…but do not be discouraged, it moves quick and you never have to wait long. Just be sure to pick up a menu in the line as you order at the counter before you find a place to sit.
The Alberta Arts District was just up the road and this area was another, older more established version of Mississippi without as much buzz Rosie thought. It was nice to wander around, check out the street art, dodge the rain drops and have a nosey around the retro shops, galleries and boutiques. All were individual, colourful and made you smile.
Dont forget to look up the alleyways between the shops…this is where the most amazing street art is hidden away.
Oh and by the way, if you want to park your bike, the rack is three trees up….seriously, DO NOT bring it into the shop….OK?!
Rosie secretly thinks alot of conspiracy theories and tin foil hat wearing theorists are rife in this town of Portland. Evidence Rosie? Check out this wall, car and these boards….hmmm, if these public mediums are anything to go by….freedom of speech and getting the word out there is alive and well in this town. The Keep Portland Weird bar has been lifted a little higher and Rosie and The Operator are chuckling and shaking their heads.
PS Dont forget to report your pothole 503 823 BUMP……
Rosie was a little nervous when booking her Portland accommodation in Mississippi that she had chosen an area a little too far away from the action of the Downtown. No, she had chosen right! Mississippi was alive, modern, hip, cool and weird all rolled into one. It had the buzz of everyday people living and going about their business and was the epitome of the vibe that summed up Portland. Our AirBnB was 100 meters from Mississippi Avenue and its myriad of cafes, restaurants, bars, quirky shops and an excellent Food Truck Pod and was the perfect place to stay!
If we had stayed in Downtown, we would have been abit disappointed in the city as a whole and would not have enjoyed it as much. Downtown is a bit dead in comparison to lively Mississippi. It is quiet and run down with a lot of closed commercial buildings, there are not a lot of cafe and bars but instead is full of loud, boisterous homeless people camping in the area and it is not a place Rosie would like to wander in the dark. Staying in Mississippi did not impede our sightseeing as it is easy to get around the city and we would definitely come back to this area the next time we are in town.
Sitting in the Portland sunshine, street side, in Mississippi, sipping an incredibly hoppy, weirdly named Craft Beer that has taken over this town to the point where a nice clear, crisp lager is now considered kitsch, old fashioned and completely off menus. Rosie and The Operator glance sideways at each other as the Pink Vagina Mobile pulls out of its parking spot and slowly rolls past with thumping bass….yep, gotta love Portland, and we sure did.
We even dreamed of moving here we were so taken with the city and this area….until a local told us we had been lucky with the beautiful sunny weather, it was totally out of character for the city. At this time of the year the fog has normally dropped and the rain has usually started, turning the piles of beautiful fallen leaves that colorfully blanket the city streets into orange mud…..and the rain doesn’t stop until April. Yep, she was right, on the day we left Portland it was exactly as she had described.
Check out what else we have discovered about this amazing city of Portland – Portland Oregon – Keep it Weird
Tomorrow we are going to sample, literally, Oregon wine country at its finest and head South to McMinnville for a couple of days to experience the small town heartland of this beautiful State. Its only an hours drive from Portland into the Willamette Wine Valley and we would love you to join us!
