Here’s something you might not know, and thanks to PDXArtWork for pointing it out: Among its many public statues Portland boasts a bust – why I don’t know – of former South Vietnam president Ngo Dinh Diem.

Portlandia, I understand. The elk (though oddly proportioned) on SW Main, OK. But an 800-some-odd concrete memoriam to the former leader of South Vietnam? That’s about twice normal size? Hmm. And speaking of elks, the pedestal of the statue is apparently adorned with the antlered beasts. Does Vietnam even have elk?

Anyway, if you want to add this peculiarity to your must-see list while you’re in town, you’ll find the monument in the front yard of a home on NE Columbia Blvd, where PDXArtWork says it is “overseeing thousands of trucks and trains each day.” Diems da breaks.:-)

Cheers,
Emily

So I was cruisin’ Facebook today and much to my surprise I found the Hotel Lucia! That’s right, the same Hotel Lucia that you can find here in Portland! For those of you who don’t know, Hotel Lucia is our sister hotel and just so happens to be one of my personal favorites (of course, Hotel deLuxe still holds the keys my heart).

Anyways, I thought I would share the news. The page is actually pretty cool. They stream our blog right there on the page along with the blogs from Hotel Preston in Nashville and Hotel Murano in Tacoma. It also has maps, reviews, sample art, and pics. If you get the chance, you should check it out (I hear they may be running special promos there).

Drop us a note and let us know what you think, maybe we’ll make our own deLuxe page.

See ya laters alligators,
Emily

Speaking of bikes, a reader asked me to recommend where if you’re from out of town you can rent bikes. An excellent question. I should’ve thought of that. There are a lot of options. Here are a few:

Fat Tire Farm – This is probably closest to Hotel deLuxe. It’s at 27 NW Thurman. And it has the best name.

Waterfront Bicycle – This isn’t really too far either on 1st and SW Ash. They’re the closest to downtown. You can jump right onto the path that runs along the Willamette.

CityBikes Workers Coop – They’re on the other side of the bridge on 7th and SE Ankeny.

Wherever you go, ask for some recommended rides. You can also check out sites like OregonLive for ideas.

Cheers,
Keith

Congrats, Portland! We just earned the platinum level from the League of American Bicyclists. We’ve made gold before, but with this we become the first large U.S. city to earn platinum and join Davis, Calif., as the only other platinum Bike Friendly Community in the country.

LAB identified a bunch of reasons why. Like we have 270 miles of on-street bike lanes and paved trails, we have a city ordinance that requires bike parking in development projects and we have six bike corrals, each of which replaced one on-street car parking space with 12 bicycle spaces. And the list goes on.

About 16 percent of Portlanders use a bike as either their primary or secondary means of transportation to work. How can you not dig that? So helmet up, and join the party!

Later,
Keith

Imagine my surprise when I made my over to Physical Element at 11th and NW Lovejoy for some new workout stuff to find that they were gone. Well, not exactly gone. The store was still there, but no more fitness gear.

Turns out Physical Element has changed ― and dramatically ― from a place to get running tights to one where you’ll find European A-line chemises and V-neck ribbon dresses, among other striking fashionable fare.

I saw items from Cop.Copine, Moyuru, Deca, Casch Copenhagen, and there was also a lot from local designers. OK, I was disappointed to find the workout stuff gone, because I liked what they had. But the store looked great and the lines they’re carrying are top of the line and beautiful.

I didn’t really want to go to the gym anyway…

Cheers,
Emily

Roller derby. You read it right: roller derby. Does your town have it? I don’t know what to tell you if you don’t. It’s really one of the benchmarks of modernity. Like city-wide WiFi and electric cars, which we also have.

OK, I’ll confess, I’ve never seen the Rose City Rollers play, but I can still love that they’re here. They were founded in 2004 and have absorbed and administered an untold number of bruises, scrapes and contusions since that time.

They have their “bouts,” as they call them, at the Expo Center against six visiting teams like the Axles of Annihilation and the Heartless Heathers. You gotta love the names.

But then maybe you go and you’re not content to just watch. You want to mix it up. Lucky for you they have tryouts every couple of months. So sharpen those elbows.

Cheers,
Emily

I’ve wondered what the Roadside Attraction was. You can’t tell from the street. I was just in that neighborhood for a birthday party at Grand Central Bowl, which I obviously hadn’t been to in awhile. It’s, um, changed a little.

Gone are the days when you needed a gang affiliation and a tetanus shot to get in. I applaud their creativity. It’s time we reclaimed the bowling alley and made it a classy place that serves not chili cheese fries but pear and gorgonzola salad and garlic prawns. (They do.)

Grand Central now also has conference rooms, a private sky box, fireside lounges (seriously) and private luxury seating in something called a VIP bowling lounge. And I’m not going to lie, we had a good time. Though my Pacific Crab Stack did need more wasabi aioli.

Cheers,
Emily

Speaking of classy upgrades and posh VIP stuff. Or at the very least opportunities to drink. There are two events coming to the Pearl on May 2 that you should be aware of. The first, as Keith surely already knows, involves the opening of the Deschutes Brewery pub in the Pearl (NW Davis and 11th).

The second is a little thing we like to call the Portland Independent Wine Festival. The festival runs from till the 4th and gives you a great chance to taste the wines and meet the winemakers from more than 30 small craft wineries throughout Oregon.

It all makes me wonder about our fascination in these parts with the act of drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, distilled spirits, we don’t care. You’d think with as much rain as we get we’d favor a specialty in something dry, like crackers or Bundt cake.

Cheers,
Emily

Went to not one but two great bars last Friday that I’d never been to before. I don’t think it was just the weather, but these are important discoveries I’ll get back to.

So after work I went to meet a friend at this other place and he called and said, “Let’s meet at the Green Dragon.” “Is it karate school?” I asked. It wasn’t. It is actually a great spot in S.E. on 9th with an incredible beer selection. They have mead! Who serves mead! And they’ve got pinball.

Just up the street the Roadside Attraction doesn’t have the same beer selection, but it’s just plain cool. Like a New Orleans bordello mixed with a junk yard. It’s like a bar in a Quentin Tarantino movie. I want to live there. Great patio and more personality than three other places combined.

Later,
Keith

I don’t know if you checked out my post about Raiders of the Lost Ark: the Adaptation, but I went to see it and was blown away. It played at the Hollywood Theater and raised $9,200 for the Austin Miller Scholarship Fund.

If you haven’t heard of it these three teenage boys reshot Raiders of the Lost Ark scene for scene! Two of the guys were at the Hollywood and explained how they did it. Amazing.

The most incredible scene was the one where Indy is hanging off the front of the truck. They pulled their truck from some swamp, took out the engine and rigged a braking system. These are teenagers. I was playing PlayStation at that age.

Anyway, if you have a chance to see it, go. And Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens on May 22!

Later,
Keith