Beth ♥'s Portland. Ditto!

A Lolita-esque Beth photographed for the last ever Observer Music Monthly by photographer Jay Brooks.

The Gossip's Beth Ditto and I share a mutual love. Yeah Ok so Beth actually lives in the city I long for, whereas I cannot claim to have ever set foot on America's west coast, never mind Portland in the state of Oregon. However, the Pacific Northwest remains a sanctuary for Ms.Ditto and a constant obsession for me.
I can trace my fascination right back to being a child watching The Goonies. How amazing did Astoria look? The mystical, rain-soaked coastal town where the action was set with its rugged beaches and huge black rocks rising from the furious sea.



As a teen it was the incredible bands of the Grunge scene that all seemed to hail from the towns and cities of this same faraway place. I recently purchased this book which documents the iconic scene. 'Grunge' published by Abrams Books begins with Thurston Moore's words and continues with Michael Lavine's photographs.

Kurt of course and the ferocious L7.

Now that I am all growed up, it is the articles I read written by cool folks like Beth that describe Portland as a bohemian dream which continue to lure me there. She reported in this article in the Guardian (back in 2007) that it's friendly, cheap, green, creative and practically illegal to NOT be in a band. I like what I hear.

Beth at Portland's famous Waffle cart. Mmmmmmmmm.

The city also claims to be the thrift-shop capital of the world with more vintage shops per square mile than, well, anywhere. Here is another article from the Guardian (more recently, from April 2009) all about vintage shopping Portland style.

Get me a Green Card i'm moving tomorrow!