Shades and a sexy drinking buddy aren't all you need for a perfect vacation (though it sometimes seems that way). In BEFORE TAKE-OFF, OC brings you guides on what to read, watch, and listen to before heading to our five favorite US destinations. This week: Portland.
1. Fill your iPhone with artists on local independent open-genre label Fresh Selects, including jams from Low Leaf, Mndsgn, Dibia$e, and Knxwledge, and their many mixtapes for the radio show Tight Songs. Founder Kenny started the brand out as a music blog in 2008, when he was 17, and has since turned it into a label releasing fresh beat tapes, instrumentals, hip-hop, soul, and alternative R&B from all over the world. When you're there, hit some record stores. Music Millennium has one of the largest selections of cheap secondhand vinyls, and Jackpot Records is like the Strand books of records, with used and new records for sale. If you’re a music snob and only like pressings that are #veryrare and #obscure, go to Mississippi Records—the store started out specializing in Thai and West Africa music (they don’t even have a website). Want a variety? Crossroads Music is made up of consignment stock from 35 different record collectors. We know, we know, 15 record stores in a city might be a little overwhelming. But don’t worry, most places have these handy maps you can pick up.
2. Watch (or more accurately, rewatch) Portlandia and visit In Other Words, the booksellers that inspired the “Feminist Book Store." This IRL Portlandia set has yoga classes, zine libraries, reading groups, and music performances. There’s something here for anyone, especially if you’re into radical books (Anal Pleasure and Health: A Guide for Men, Women, and Couples; Surface Tension: Love, Sex, and Politics Between Lesbian and Straight Women). Like Candace and Toni say in this scene, “We don’t want top-selling authors. We want bottom-selling authors.”
3. Read Chuck Palahniuk’s Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon. Let the writer of Fight Club take you through the streets, houses, cafés, and “Scum Center” of his hometown. I mean, could you ask for a cooler tour guide? As the closest thing to an autobiography Palahnuik’s written, it sees Portland as a wonderfully weird melting-(crack)-pot of drug labs, swingers clubs, friendly and fascinating characters, and zoo animals. He even gives you a vocabulary brush up—"You say, 'Or-GAWN.' I say, 'Or-a-gen.'” Though it's been 10 years since its publication and many places mentioned have since closed, you can still find the “Volcano Basketball” (an asphalt ball court built on a dormant volcano) on Mt. Tabor intact, help clean the baby triceratops at the Oregon Museum of Science and