EAST PORTLAND, (2024) "Tinder Date"

I could hear her describing me to her friends afterward.

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I matched on Tinder with a woman who lived on the east side of Portland.  I live on the west side.  I invited her to a coffee shop I knew on the east side because I don’t go there very often, so I make an effort to visit whenever I can.

The east side is the more bohemian side of Portland.  It’s more interesting.  More young people.  It’s cheaper.

It gets a little ragged if you go too far east.  Most of the murders and crime in Portland happen in the outer areas of the east side. 

But closer in is where the cool shops are.  And the trendy coffee places.  And different cultural locations. 

The music venue La Luna was in southeast, that was the center of Portland’s thriving music scene in the 1990s.  And Holocene is there, Portland’s main dance club which was a hot spot in the 2000s and 2010s. 

Now there’s a venue called Revolution Hall on the east side, though there’s not really the same energy around rock bands anymore.  A lot of old bands play there.  Doing their middle-aged tours.

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The west side by contrast, is more staid and suburban.  People take really good care of their lawns.  It might be slightly more conservative politically, though there are still plenty of WE BELIEVE IN SCIENCE signs to be seen.

Nike and Intel and Columbia Sportswear are on the west side. Nike has its groomed, self-contained campus there.  Phil Knight’s private jet is at a small commuter airport on the west side. You can drive by and look at it if you want.

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Anyway, so I went to this east side coffee shop and met my Tinder date. She was sitting outside. She looked like an east side person:  a big tattoo on her shoulder, a black T-shirt, trendy aviator glasses (not sunglasses).  She was younger than me but not excessively so. 

She seemed nice. She reminded me of people having fires in their backyard and drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon beer in lawn chairs. This is a classic lifestyle that remains central to Portland culture.

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