Dave Knows Portland

Free Admission at Lan Su Chinese Garden (January 2-9, 2011)

by Leave a Comment

Lan Su Chinese GardenPortland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden (NW 3rd and Everett) is offering free admission for eight days from Sunday, January 2 through Sunday, January 9, 2011.

The garden shop expands into a garden pavilion to offer a dazzling display of Chinese New Year items in preparation for the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit on February 3.

Regular adult admission is $8.50, so this is a great deal! Heather and I visited the garden in spring with our friend Kate a couple years ago. Visiting in winter should be an interesting experience. We may have to take advantage of the tea house this time!

The Garden is closed on Saturday, January 1st, but regular hours, from 10am until 5pm, begin again on Sunday, January 2nd.

June 18-20: Pride Week, Offbeat Belly Dance, Chinatown Walking Tours, and the Timbers

by 3 Comments

It’s shaping up to be a great weekend here in Portland, Oregon. Behold below a list of select events I’m going to miss because, of course, Heather and I are off to the 43rd Annual Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival!

And don’t forget, it’s Pride Week in Portland! Visit qPDX‘s special Portland Pride 2010 page for all the events, and follow @qPDX on Twitter for real time updates all weekend.

Friday

Offbeat Belly DanceOffbeat Belly Dance

Every third Friday of the month, from 7 to 9pm, the Blue Monk (3341 SE Belmont) hosts the Offbeat Belly Dance collective, a club rocking, good timing, genre-defying gang of badass belly dancers.

This third Friday, June 18th 2010, is no different [more]

Saturday-Sunday

China Town GateSweet Cakes, Long Journey: A Walking Tour of Portland’s Chinatown

The tours offer a unique opportunity to learn about the neighborhood through its architecture, oral history and little-known cultural heritage. A rare lecture by visiting scholar Dr. Marie Rose Wong offers a broader sociological and historical view of the area. [more]

Sunday

TimbersYou Are Timbers History Open Studio #2

You have another chance to make Portland Timbers history, this Sunday, June 20th, at FC Media’s second Open Studio event.

The first Open Studio, earlier this month, was a success. Fans brought Timbers memorabilia of all kinds to the event to be photographed and cataloged for the Timbers visual history project. [more]

June 19, 20: Sweet Cakes, Long Journey: A Walking Tour of Portland’s Chinatown

by 1 Comment

Sweet Cakes, Long JourneyJoin the Dill Pickle Club on either Saturday, June 19th or Sunday June 20th for Sweet Cakes, Long Journey: A Walking Tour of Portland’s Chinatown.

The tours offer a unique opportunity to learn about the neighborhood through its architecture, oral history and little-known cultural heritage. A rare lecture by visiting scholar Dr. Marie Rose Wong offers a broader sociological and historical view of the area.

Highlighting many of Chinatown’s lesser known landmarks, the walk encompasses Yat Sing Music Club, New Market Theater, historic Chinese association buildings, as well as the original Chinatown on the south side of Burnside. Along the route, elders will meet the tour to share their memories. The walk will stop at sites more familiar to most, including Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Portland’s Chinatown gate and Lan Su Chinese Garden.

The Saturday tour goes from 3pm to 6pm, and the Sunday tour 2pm-5pm. Tickets are $15 ($10 for members). Visit the club’s events page for information on how to get tickets.

Here’s a preview:

Preview of Sweet Cakes, Long Journey: A Walking Tour of Portland’s Chinatown from dill pickle club on Vimeo.

The Dill Pickle Club is a Portland creative cultural club, which organizes educational tours, lectures, and publications. For more information visit the website, and consider becoming a member.

Portland Chinatown Gate photo (only visible when post is “featured”, or as thumbnail on front page), by user Cacophony at Wikimedia Commons.

May 31: History Pub screening of Come Together Home

by Leave a Comment

Come Together Home, a film by Ivy Lin, will be screened Monday, May 31st at the Kennedy School Theater (5736 NE 33rd).

The screening is part of the History Pub series, and includes a presentation prior to the film, and a Q and A after. Admission is free, and program begins at 7pm.

“Come Together Home” trailer from Ivy Lin on Vimeo.

The film’s synopsis:

Block 14 in Lone Fir Cemetery, the first Chinese burial ground in Portland—and site of as many as 1,500 burials—now stands as a fenced off void of gravel after most of the remains were exhumed and shipped back to China in 1928 & 1949.

Sixty years later, Director Ivy Lin follows the footsteps of the missing 1949 shipment in an extraordinary journey from Portland to Hong Kong.

February: the month of indoor (mostly) festivals

by 1 Comment

I miss summer and fall in Portland; the fantastic street fairs, festivals (Beer, French, Greek, Mexican, Polish, German, and more), and Timbers matches. When every weekend provides so many opportunities for fun that even the most obsessive festival frequenter can’t contemplate visiting them all. But then we hit November like a wall, and for the next several months all we have to “entertain” us is the holidays and pointy ball. Bah.

But now that we’ve slogged through the holidays and much of the winter rain, and pointy ball season is finally coming to an end, the Rose City festivals begin to bloom again; February is Spring for festivals:

chocolatefest2008.jpgChocolate Fest

February 2nd-3rd
World Forestry Center Discover Museum

Chocolate! What else do you need to know? Vendors, guest lecturers, and, oh, only The World’s Largest Truffle!?!

chineseny08.jpgChinese New Year Celebrations

February 7th-10th
Portland Classical Chinese Garden

Celebrate the Year of the Rat. Activities include a plant sale, lion dancing, storytelling, and an art exhibit.

piff08.jpgPortland International Film Festival

February 7th-23rd
Various venues

You know the drill, get your tickets quick!

pdxjazz08.jpgPortland Jazz Festival

February 15th-24th
Various Venues

Too many acts and different ticket prices to list them all here, but that’s why they have their own website. The schedule page has the acts, venues, and ticket prices.