An elderly couple were in front of us. They were looking about the room with grins on their faces. I imagined that they'd seen this shop on the Travel Channel or the Food Network, this crazy pastry hut that puts bacon on maple bars. At the counter was a young woman who fit right in to the whole tableaux. She was young and pretty in a Suicide Girls type way, redolent with tattoos and sporting a spetum piercing. The elderly couple in front of us looked at the Kenny Rogers posters and took pictures of those. They took pictures of the pinball machines and Elvira. When they got their doughnuts, they asked the young woman if they could take her picture, too.
"Uh, yeah." She smiled nervously. Perhaps she was weirded out by having an older guy suddenly take her picture. She tried to laugh a little, and look candid, but was obviously slightly uneasy. The old couple in front of us, though, were quite happy with their whole experience. They left with a bag of doughnuts and a camera of pictures, satisfied that they had indeed found something that makes Portland as odd as it is.
I enjoy it that Portland is self-aware about its weirdness. If anything, it pays a significant chunk of my own bills. In my capacity as a tour guide, I take people to see things like Voodoo and the 24 Hour Church of Elvis, all marks of oddness that allow us to maintain distinctiveness. On an abstract level, it's a nice source of regional pride to know that one lives in an easygoing and fun place, but more practically it's great for our tourism industry. Visitors, obviously, want to see something they can't see at home. We can give them that. We can give them weird doughnuts and Elvis worship and signs that are really big double-entendres. Tourists will come here and pay money to see these things, and spend money while they're here. That's great. But, there's a price.
The price is the nervous laugh of that Voodoo Doughnut employee, out of towners gawking at us and ours and saying "Wow! You guys are weird!" I get it all the time. I mention to tourists that I ride my bike to and from work every day, and a few have asked incredulously if I'm afraid for my own safety. I find such questions hugely naive, but understandable if you come from somewhere where everyone drives. When I've mentioned Portland's penchant for vegan and vegetarian lifestyles, I've been asked more than a few times about alleged attendant health problems- another set of questions I think are naive.
Upon reflection, though, I know that these questions are not dumb, and that that older couple wasn't wrong to gawk at Voodoo Doughnut. I joyfully provide people with information, and Voodoo joyfully dresses itself up to be weird. Most of the people that this brings in are not naive gawkers, but there will always be a few. There will always be a few old people taking tourist pictures of the local tattooed populace, or wondering with disbelief how one could ride a bike everyday. This reaction is aggravating, but unavoidable, and ultimately part of something much more positive and entirely worth it.
"Uh, yeah." She smiled nervously. Perhaps she was weirded out by having an older guy suddenly take her picture. She tried to laugh a little, and look candid, but was obviously slightly uneasy. The old couple in front of us, though, were quite happy with their whole experience. They left with a bag of doughnuts and a camera of pictures, satisfied that they had indeed found something that makes Portland as odd as it is.
I enjoy it that Portland is self-aware about its weirdness. If anything, it pays a significant chunk of my own bills. In my capacity as a tour guide, I take people to see things like Voodoo and the 24 Hour Church of Elvis, all marks of oddness that allow us to maintain distinctiveness. On an abstract level, it's a nice source of regional pride to know that one lives in an easygoing and fun place, but more practically it's great for our tourism industry. Visitors, obviously, want to see something they can't see at home. We can give them that. We can give them weird doughnuts and Elvis worship and signs that are really big double-entendres. Tourists will come here and pay money to see these things, and spend money while they're here. That's great. But, there's a price.
The price is the nervous laugh of that Voodoo Doughnut employee, out of towners gawking at us and ours and saying "Wow! You guys are weird!" I get it all the time. I mention to tourists that I ride my bike to and from work every day, and a few have asked incredulously if I'm afraid for my own safety. I find such questions hugely naive, but understandable if you come from somewhere where everyone drives. When I've mentioned Portland's penchant for vegan and vegetarian lifestyles, I've been asked more than a few times about alleged attendant health problems- another set of questions I think are naive.
Upon reflection, though, I know that these questions are not dumb, and that that older couple wasn't wrong to gawk at Voodoo Doughnut. I joyfully provide people with information, and Voodoo joyfully dresses itself up to be weird. Most of the people that this brings in are not naive gawkers, but there will always be a few. There will always be a few old people taking tourist pictures of the local tattooed populace, or wondering with disbelief how one could ride a bike everyday. This reaction is aggravating, but unavoidable, and ultimately part of something much more positive and entirely worth it.
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