The Pacific Northwest area of the United States is known for its bountiful natural beauty---with Washington's Mount Rainier National Park and Oregon's Hells Canyon National Recreation Area offering superb vistas and outdoor adventure---but there are also several very quirky and interesting cities and neighborhoods well worth exploring in the area. Lovers of the arts and counterculture can find plenty of attractions in Oregon and Seattle, Washington.
The Pearl District of Portland, Oregon, had long been the home of gritty industrial warehouses and railroad yards before a major urban renewal effort began to transform the region in the 1990s. Since then, many of the warehouses have been turned into loft spaces, restaurants, upscale businesses and condominiums. The area has rapidly become one of the hippest neighborhoods in all of Portland and is a target destination for visitors of The City of Roses, especially young people. Powell's City of Books, which has positioned itself as the largest independent bookstore in the world, covers a full city block in the heart of the Pearl District, and nearly 50 art galleries adorn the locale with all manner of creative expression. Portland is also well-known for its vibrant music scene, and the Pearl District has numerous live performance venues showcasing the wide variety of locally-crafted tunes by singers, songwriters and bands.
If San Francisco's Castro District is the West Coast's most well-known gay neighborhood, then Seattle's Capitol Hill could arguably be called a close second. It is at least a sibling in its spirit and openness to the gay community of Seattle. The most densely-populated neighborhood in the city, Capitol Hill has developed a well-deserved reputation for championing counterculture communities and a wide variety of artistic expressions. The streets are lined with coffeehouses and bars, bookstores and nightclubs, and the area has a bustling fringe theater scene. The most well-known element of Capitol Hill, besides being a gay-friendly enclave, is the dynamic music scene, which became the center of "grunge" culture in the early 1990s. The neighborhood has also recently become the home of both the Seattle International Film Festival and the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, each exhibiting films in the area's numerous movie theaters.
Long a bastion of counterculture ideals, Eugene, Oregon, still retains its ties to the hippies of the early 1960s. Eugene has largely been defined by the aura of author Ken Kesey, "the merry prankster," who wrote his book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" after attending classes at the local University of Oregon. The city's ties to that time of flower power and war protests is expressed by the local neo-hippie culture, but the Eugene city council bills the area as "A Great City for the Arts & Outdoors." Numerous museums showcase art and cultural history, and the city is the home to the annual Oregon Bach Festival and the Oregon Festival of American Music. City leaders are notably proud of the University of Oregon's Knight Library (the largest in the state) and its symphony, ballet, opera, and concert choir. Still, the counterculture is alive and well, with the local music scene being especially vibrant.
