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Drinking, nightlife and entertainment
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Portland's smart cocktail lounges and dive bars easily rival those of Seattle. The city is a beer-drinker's haven, with over thirty local
microbreweries
.
BridgePort Ale House
, 3632 SE Hawthorne Blvd (tel 503/233-6540), and
BridgePort Brewing Co
, 1313 NW Marshall St (tel 503/241-3621), are two solid choices, and the
McMenamins
"concept" brewpubs sell their own locally-brewed ales in unique settings, such as former schoolhouses and renovated hotels (
). The
coffee
-swilling scene looms large, but without Seattle's ubiquitous coffee carts - naturally, though,
Starbucks
is everywhere. For
music
, the place to head is downtown, with the coolest venues centered around Burnside.
The art scene in Portland revolves around the Portland Center for the Performing Arts , 1111 SW Broadway (tel 503-248-4335 or 224-4000, ), a dynamic complex consisting of two main buildings - the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and the New Theater Building, containing the Dolores Winningstad Theater and Newmark Theater . The "Schnitz" is a sumptuously restored 1928 vaudeville and movie house that presents big musical extravaganzas, opera and theater, hosting performances by the Oregon Symphony Orchestra (tel 503/228-1353), Portland Opera (tel 503/241-1407) and Oregon Ballet Theater (tel 503/222-5538), amongst others. Several blocks east at SW 3rd Avenue between Market and Clay streets, the Ira Keller Auditorium (tel 503-274-6560) is home to traveling musicals. As for festivals , Portland State University hosts the mid-July Portland International Performance Festival ( ) for contemporary dance and theater productions. During the summer, free concerts are held at Pioneer Courthouse Square, Tom McCall Waterfront Park, and the zoo.
The free
Willamette Week
(
), available on any street corner, carries
listings
of what's on and where, as does the Friday edition of
The Oregonian
, the main local newspaper (
).
Just Out
is the chief gay/lesbian publication (
). Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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United States,
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