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The
Chamber of Commerce may call it "City of Roses," but with 12
colleges and universities and a young professional population, Portland,
OR is also known for its contemporary rock'n'roll, hip coffee houses,
unconventional art and world-class book stores. An inland port on the
Columbia and Willamette River network, Portland is hip. Portland may also
seem laid back to the outsider, but cool doesn't necessarily mean unexciting.
Cops with beards and executives' bikes parked outside of a high-rise office
building are small clues to what's going on.
One local source describes Portland as "the city of books, beer,
bikes and blooms."
The
city's love affair with beer began, according to legend, in 1888, when
Henry Weinhard and a few of the less-inhibited city leaders proposed pumping
ale to the Skidmore Fountain, through the city's fire hoses. Only the
possibility that the thirsty residents would puncture the hoses deterred
them from this feat of civic glory. Today, more than 40 craft breweries
and brewpubs slake the thirst of locals and visitors, who sometimes talk
about their "Munich on the Willamette."
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