By Kris McDowell
111 Places in Portland That You Must Not Miss is a book that feels good in your hands. The sturdy, ultra-heavy stock paper cover is smooth and almost silky with a simple three-color design.
Its heft says, “Toss me in your bag and let’s go explore. I’ll stand up to plenty of handling, crumbs, a splash of moisture and still look good guiding you through the town.”
The book is part of a set of guidebooks equally suited to locals as well as travelers. Published by Emons Publishers GmbH, the series includes books on popular destinations on the west coast, like Vancouver, BC and San Francisco.
Author Katrina Nattress, a Portland native, and photographer Jason Quigley, a SE resident, take readers on an educational tour through the City of Roses page after page, from Abernathy Green to The Zymoglyphic Museum.
Organized alphabetically, there are eye-catching photos for each of the 111 places listed that begs even a casual, “flip-through-er” to slow down. There is a combination of places you have likely visited on your own or taken out of town visitors to mixed with those you may not have known existed.
Take the Pittock Mansion. Most Portlanders have visited it at least once, but did you know about Portland Bike Polo or the Outbreak Museum? While it might be a while before you are entertaining visitors again, finding adventures in our own backyards is perhaps just what Summer 2020 may need.
Past the listings for the 111 places at the back of the book, you’ll find maps with places listed by their number in the book. One is a wider view covering the whole of the Portland metro area and zoomed in ones of downtown and the eastside – areas with a greater concentration of places.
Pick a few close together or plan a route to walk/bike to fill a day, depending on how much time you have or the stamina of those you’re adventuring with. Start with a part of town you haven’t spent much time in or enjoy discovering new places on your home turf.
One note before heading out is that it may be prudent to visit locations’ websites, especially retail, to verify their location. We didn’t do a complete check of locations, but one we noticed has relocated from their former SE home to NW since the book was published earlier this year.
The added changes necessitated by the COVID-19 situation may have an impact on some locations’ hours in the short term.
Such changes, from the time a hardcopy publication goes to print until it reaches the readers hands, beg the question: is there a corresponding e-book? The answer is “no,” but not without good reason.
The impactful layout of the book with the text descriptions on the left-hand pages and the photos filling the right-hand pages just wouldn’t be the same in digital format. Grab a copy from your favorite bookstore or visit multcolib.com to reserve your time with their copy of it.