In This Issue
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• Gather up Some Unique Holiday Gifts
• Sparkling Sights at the Oregon Zoo
• Warm Up to Winter Ale
• Letterpress Lovelies
• A River Through Time
• Get a Green Night's Sleep at the Avalon
• New Festival Focuses on New Drama
• Ten Days of Jazz in the City

What locals and visitors have to say about everything Portland.

Compound: Seek the Unique: New Old Town: Compund. The Adidas Consortium group consists of elite boutiques around the world, and this year, Compound has proudly joined its ranks… Read more >>

¡Oba!: Lively atmosphere. Oba has a lively bar with great cocktails. The restaurant is a bit open but great for people watching. The food is outstanding. Especially the Cuban pulled Flank Steak… Read more >>

Elk Cove Vineyards: Great wines and wine club too! The Roosevelt wine club is a great value. They send two bottles every other month and… Read more >>

ten 01: Run don't walk to Ten01. Had dinner at Ten01 last week and tasted the most finger licking Thai pork ribs--sweet and tangy and meaty and salty… Read more >>

Bakery Bar: Best Coffee and Scones in Portland! I stumbled upon the Bakery Bar when I was just thumbing through a Portland Monthly magazine. What caught my eye was the part about having fantastic… Read more >>

Adobe Rose Café: Our favorite neighborhood restaurant. Adobe Rose serves up “New Mexican” cuisine: tasty, fresh and authentic. One of my favorites is the halibut soft taco… Read more >>

Share your favorite Portland places with thousands of other users and discover new places to visit at GoSeePortland.

When Portland lights up for the holidays, even the animals at the zoo feel the festive glow. You can drink in the warmth with an only-in-December beer at the Holiday Ale Festival. Portland is also a hot spot for holiday shopping, where you can score one-of-a-kind gifts that will brighten the faces of all your loved ones. No sales tax here — another cause for holiday cheer!

There’s a sleigh load of shopping opportunities for distinctive local gifts in Portland, from holiday markets and sales to downtown events.

Seek the unique: Check out our interactive shopping maps of the Broadway Blocks, Pioneer Place, West End and Old Town.

Other events of note: Green is the emphasis at the CRAVE Holiday Shopping Party, where spa treatments, fashion shows and boutique shopping are all under one roof. At the Museum of Contemporary Craft, you’ll find the annual Holiday Shop showcasing handcrafted gifts for all budgets. The Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale features handmade goods from 125 vendors. And at the weeklong Festival of the Last Minute at Portland Saturday Market, artists will win you over with their unique creations.

More than a half-million colorful lights in the shape of wild animals greet evening zoo train riders at every turn at the Oregon Zoo's annual ZooLights Festival. It’s worth a daytime return visit to see Samudra, the adorable baby elephant. He’s been in the spotlight since his Aug. 23 birth, when the bouncing 286-pound baby boy became the 28th elephant born at Portland’s zoo, the site of more Asian elephant births than any other zoo in America. Also new on the scene — and available for holiday viewing — are three rare Visayan warty pigs, born Sept. 9.

Image credit: Mark Downey

Beat the chill this winter at the Holiday Ale Fest in Pioneer Courthouse Square — right in the middle of downtown’s bustling shopping district and under the glow of Portland’s holiday tree. Don’t worry; in addition to the hearty brews on tap, tents and heaters will keep you toasty and dry. This is the only time of the year to taste three dozen seasonal brews like Lompoc’s strong Belgian ale, “Brewdolph,” and “Noggin Floggin' Barleywine” from Hopworks Urban Brewery, so take a break from your holiday activities to raise a cup of good cheer. More info >>

Portland’s Egg Press pioneered the resurgence of letterpress printing, designing and handcrafting greeting cards on antique presses since 1999. Holiday cards and other artful creations will be featured at the Egg Press trunk show at OFFICE PDX, where the award-winning designers will demonstrate and explain their work. Take a rare, behind-the-scenes look at printing plates, custom work and new products. Selected items are 15% off, and visitors who show out-of-state drivers' licenses get an extra 5% discount.
More info >>

More than 200 photographs taken over 90 years highlight changes and constants along a mighty river in “Wild Beauty: Photographs of the Columbia River Gorge, 1867-1957.” The exhibit, now winding through the Portland Art Museum, shows the increasing human impact on the river over the decades. You can explore the gorge on your own with a map featuring images from the exhibit, available in the museum shop. Plus, there’s no admission fee for visitors 17 and younger, and, through Jan. 8, 2009, adults can enjoy 2-for-1 admission on Thursday evenings. More info >>

Portland’s Avalon Hotel and Spa is the second hotel in the world and the first in the Pacific Northwest to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) Silver certification for an existing building. The riverfront hotel’s recycling, alternative fuel use, water reduction, native landscaping and natural habitat preservation added up to the prestigious ranking — and make it a natural stop for the eco-conscious traveler. Check availability >>

“Fertile Ground: A City-Wide Festival of New Work” includes works from the edgiest ensemble groups, as well as major national premieres like Nancy Keystone's Apollo at Portland Center Stage and a new jazz version of Alice in Wonderland at Northwest Children's Theatre. Theater fans can catch plays, staged readings and drama workshops in locations all over the city.
More info >>

The 2009 Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival presented by The Oregonian A&E marks the 70th anniversary of famed jazz label Blue Note Records in one of the top jazz events in the country. “Somethin’ Else: Blue Note Records @ 70” will include performances, conversations with Blue Note artists, film screenings, midnight jam sessions, and educational events. Headliners perform in a variety of venues around town, jazzing up hotel lobbies, restaurants, clubs, classrooms and other sites.

Plus: Beat the economic blues and get 15% off Jazz Festival tickets when you book a stay at a participating hotel. Get the details >>

Photo by Jenny Bagert

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