BY: ANDREW COLTRIN

This guide to Portland's under the radar haunts, activities and resources is a lifesaver for creative and crafty folk looking for the true Portland experience. Now the question is: why doesn't Tucson have one?

The Zinester’s Guide to Portland: A Low/No Budget Guide to Visiting and Living in Portland, Oregon (4.5th edition)
www.pdxguide.org
Compiled by Shawn Granton and Nate Beaty
Published by Microcosm Publishing

If you’ve ever glanced at the editorial page of the local paper, you’ll know that there is a recurring theme of Portland/Tucson compare and contrast letters. There’s an element in Tucson that would like to see our city of similar size take a few urban planning cues from the City of Roses. And there are others in the Old Pueblo who don’t understand why any Tucsonan would envy a town that so desperately lacks sunshine and decent Mexican restaurants. And of course there are the light rail enthusiasts. 

The main complication at the root of this Portland/Tucson envy is that the average Tucsonan has no idea what to do in Portland when you get there. Sure it’s easy to ride the light rail straight from the airport to downtown and find a corporate coffee bar on almost every corner. But where do you find some of the best vegan biscuits and gravy on the continent? Where can you find your precious thrift-scores on a by-the-pound price scheme? And where can you rent a bike to go ‘Zoobombing’ on Sunday night? "The Zinester’s Guide to Portland" has the lowdown on all of these Portland hipster essentials and much more. 

"The Zinester’s Guide" is a font of knowledge for the Portland visitor on a Tucson-scale budget that you’re not going to find in the Frommer’s or the Dummies guides. It was first compiled by Shawn Granton and Nate Beaty as a resource for out-of-towners attending the 2001 Portland Zine Symposium. It has grown over the years from a 16-page Xeroxed pamphlet into its convenient, square-bound, pocket-sized 4.5 Edition (128 pages). The guide has been painstakingly researched and illustrated by people who like to do really cool stuff on the cheap and have a certain sense of socio-economic ethics. Food co-ops, small groceries, and local businesses (including almost three dozen coffee shops that aren’t Starbucks) are listed for the conscientious consumer. 

Not only does it have the eats and the activities in each of PDX’s five quadrants (NW, SW, NE, SE and N), the Guide offers a section of info on one of the coolest collections of drawbridges (and the other kind) on the West Coast. This includes info on which bridges you can bike over, which you can’t, and which you’d really rather not.  

Of course one of the crowning features, and what makes it specifically useful to zinesters and other staunchly independent crafty folks, are the ‘Useful Resources’ listings. The Guide lets you know where to get help laying out your first zine (the IPRC) where to recycle your computer, or find a recycled computer for cheap (Free Geek) and where to find low-cost, non-emergency medical treatment (Outside In). There’s also an extensive section devoted to aspects of Portland’s distinctive bicycle culture (sometimes fireworks are involved). 

It could be argued that, aside from the drawbridges, Tucson has all of these things. But does Tucson have a handy guide put together by dedicated volunteers that helps visitors and locals find, frequent and support them? If you’re going to Portland, take "The Zinester’s Guide" with you. And when you come back, get on your bike, ride over some bridges, connect with some community resources, and let’s make a Guide to Tucson.

ANDREW COLTRIN has several Nigerian pen pals, each of whom need his help in transferring several million dollars out of their country. When not busy with correspondence, he has been known to do some very time consuming things like parent a six-year old child and form an art collective. The child is, of course, a genius. The art collective, Look for Signage, has produced three ingenious issues of the literary journal Bony Landmarks (the latest issue of which can be found at the Speedway Bookmans store). Andrew lives in Tucson with his legally recognized life-partner Jessica.