Portland Tourist Trap Tips by IncogNeat-0 Top 5 Page for this destination

Timeline: March 2008

If you want to see Chinatown, your best bet is to go to San Francisco. It is true there are enough asians in the metro area to support a lively little freebie weekly, "The Asian Reporter," but most of the readership is probably occidental anyway. It is also true that it was at one time possible during Chinese New Year celebrations to walk atop firecracker shards all the way from Salmon or Taylor on 4th to what is now referred to as Chinatown without ever touching the ground, but that is no longer the case.

All the best asian restaurants are in the burbs, and so are most Americans of asian descent. There may be a few Asian cultural associations scattered about the landscape, such as the Korean club/lodge on the #20 bus line, the Filipino community center on the #15 bus line, or the Japanese Superstore Uwajimata in Beaverton, but local Asian Americans almost totally interface with the greater occidental community.

WW II may have had something to do with that. More then 4000 (4400?) Japanese Oregonians were rounded up & sent to concentration camps. After, their property essentially stolen, there was nothing to come back to, so they spread out. Other Asians, I guess, followed suit.

The silly "Gateway To Chinatown" on NW 4th & Burnside is more a shame then a sham, and was when it was installed. The Classical Chinese Garden on NW 3rd & Everett is a fairly recent addition, and may be the only thing there worth seeing, but is of no historical significance.

A few new apartment/condo residences have recently been built nearby, presumably to draw some of the older folk back to old Chinatown. It may be working. Some Asian American elders have begun gathering daily at the downtown "Loaves & Fishes" for a free lunch & chance to mingle with like minded folk 60 or older; on SW 11th Main.

The place to stop & shop near old Chinatown is the Oregon Leather Company @ 110 NW 2nd Avenue. Doesn't look like much from the outside, but some good custom work & local products can be had on the inside.

http://www.portlandchinesegarden.org/