The blues festival is a good one. Charlie Musselwhite is definitely worth two cans of food. Great location there, too, beside the river.

After Rose Festival and then four days of blues guitar and harmonica, you might be ready for something a bit more on the sedate side. I know I will be. You need to decompress. Clean the palate.

So I’m thinking the Star Festival at the Japanese Garden might be just the ticket. Also called Tanabata, this event is traditionally celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the year, when the two stars Vega and Altair come together.

Well, the Japanese Garden, ever the rebel, is having it on June 6 instead. Guests can take part in the tradition of writing one’s wishes, called tanzaku, and hanging them on a tree, enjoy picture storytelling, or kamishibai, as well as music and activities for the kids.

Now doesn’t that sound relaxing?

Cheers,
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

Here’s your friendly reminder about our Hotel deLuxe Sunday night movie. If you haven’t been before, here’s how it works: We invite talented local and regional filmmakers to screen their movies in our Screening Room off the lobby the third Sunday of each month.

If you want to come, doors open at 6 p.m. and the movie begins at 6:30 p.m. It’s free. Just RSVP at 503.219.2093. And food and drinks are available from Gracie’s and the Driftwood.

This month, on April 20, we’re showing Solving Immigration, a political documentary by award-winning filmmaker and Smithsonian inductee, Mike Shiley, that explores illegal immigration in the United States.

I haven’t seen it, but Mike directed last month’s movie on Hurricane Katrina, which was really moving. So I say bring on immigration.

See you there,
Emily

An interesting post in PDXArtWork about the battle for broader rules for murals in Portland. I for one say bravo. Murals are a positive expression of civic pride. When is public art a bad thing?

(Though I guess people weren’t so happy when Diego Rivera included Lenin in his mural at the RCA Building… Bad Diego.)

But if you’re a fan of the mural, and think a vibrant, modern city is not quite as vibrant or modern without them, then here are a couple not far from Hotel deLuxe to check out. Now, the skill is, um, relative, but the heart is there.

Beneath the Urban Canopy (2375 NW 23rd Place)
Friendly House Mural (2617 NW Savier) – Says even passersby helped.

See these and others at Metro Murals.

Cheers,
Emily

So, I was at Goose Hollow Inn last night after work, and I learned something I didn’t know. Goose Hollow, the neighborhood, which includes Hotel deLuxe, PGE Park, the MAC club, etc., was actually named after migrating geese that used to stop in the area in the late 19^th century.

I guess I just figured there would be more to it. Apparently there were even fights about these free-ranging birds. That led to … yup, the “Goose Wars”.

(Wikipedia has a different story. They say it got its name from people letting their own geese run around free in the area. I guess only the geese know for sure.)

I’ve got to stick with the guy that told us the story. He had an eyepatch and wore a t-shirt that was a take-off on the cover of Casablanca but with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. You just want to believe a guy like that.

Back to it,

Zach

Wanted to take a quick break to talk about something that’s really important: “The Simpsons”. I think we owe it to the visitors to our city.

You probably know that Matt Groening, hallowed be his name, (the creator of the Simpsons) is from Portland. But did you know that a lot of the characters’ names on the show come from Portland streets?

>Ned Flanders – Flanders St. (Check the sign in NE Portland. Usually someone has written in a “D” to read “NED Flanders St.).

>Reverend Timothy Lovejoy – Lovejoy St.

>Mayor “Diamond” Joe Quimby – Quimby Street (Supposedly the “Diamond” comes from a crooked Portland police chief with the same nickname.)

>Charles Montgomery Burns – An abbreviation of Burnside St.

>Robert “Sideshow Bob” Underdunk Terwilliger – Terwilliger Blvd.

>Milhouse Van Houten – Van Houten Ave.

From Hotel deLuxe, nearly all these streets are close enough for you to make your own Simpsons walking tour. Just tell people it’s part of the Lewis & Clark trail.

That’s all, folks,
“Diamond” Lance

OK, here’s another one. It’s not exactly a bar, but the Leaky Roof is a really great spot. I hadn’t realized till just a little while ago that it made a total 180-degree switcho-changeo at some point. It used to pretty much be a dive. Probably actually was leaking.

Now it’s this great, little place with awesome food, a nice inviting feeling and it boasts Portland’s largest selection of Irish whiskeys. I’m not even sure how many Portlanders know about it. Try their special soup. Just looked it up: It’s called Doukabor soup. Based on borscht apparently. Perfect for a rainy Portland day. I’m going to have to try it for lunch one of these days, it’s totally within walking distance to the Hotel deLuxe, yet another great Portland restaurant located in Goose Hollow.

Your trusted Doukabor resource,

Lance

Zach here. Lance said I should offer up a blog about my favorite bar in the Goose Hollow neighborhood here around Hotel deLuxe. Sounds easy, but in Portland that can be a tough call.

OK, partly because it’s almost summer I’ve got to go with the Goose Hollow Inn.

Goose Hollow is true Portland. It’s even owned by a former mayor, Bud Clark. Beer selection is good and so is the grub. (I’m not a sauerkraut person but people go mental for their Reuben.) I think it’s best on a warm night, or a sunny afternoon, when you can just kick back on the deck.

Ask me again next week, and I’ll have a different answer.

See ya,

Zach