PARIS OREGON IF YOU SQUINT HARD ENOUGH

Paris, Oregon is located on SW Ankeny Alley in Portland.

All it needs are three times as many outdoor tables and chairs and wait staff with the navigational skills to swing trays of food and drinks between them without dumping on anyone’s head.

It would work better with a wider road and more foot traffic, but you get the idea?

If not, this will help:

 

The swarm of tourists never ends in Paris, Oregon, or Paris, France.

 

 

They love the icons that identify the city.

 

 

The differences between Paris, Oregon, and Paris, France, one difference, is being able to find the icon.

The Eiffel Tower is hard to miss.

Not everyone was happy to see it in the beginning, but because of the flat landscape it was unavoidable.

 

French writer Guy de Maupassant frequently dined in one of the tower’s restaurants, not because he was particularly fond of the cuisine on offer, but because, being inside the structure was the only way for a Parisian to avoid having to look at it.

 

In Paris, Oregon, the iconic Portlandia statue doesn’t have a location problem.

Instead of being installed in an open space, a park or field, it is mounted on the side of a building and hidden by trees half the year.

Good luck finding it.

 

New Paris, Oregon Icons

No one comes to Paris, any Paris, looking for masked men.

But if it’s Portland, Oregon, which has never been called the Paris of any where, let alone Oregon, they’re here.

And since we are a civil society way out here on the western edge of the North American continent, can’t we make a better effort in welcoming the fellas?

If you go down to the ICE building, take some local history with you.

Along with your mere presence, speak loudly for the land you stand on.

Click this post from ten years ago.

If it seems like a long time ago, it’s not in Historical Time.

It’s even less in Geological Time.

Boomerpdx included four hundred and sixty posts tagged Portland History, so dive in rookies.

During their down time, when the guys take their masks off, they’ll want to stay busy and explore their new surroundings.

Yes, they came to prevent a hot spot from boiling over, so why not visit other local hot spots?

 

Mount Hood sits about 50 miles (80 km) east of Portland and is undoubtedly the most famous volcano in the region. But more than 20 extinct volcanoes dot the broader Portland metro area and provide ample opportunities for outdoor recreation.

 

It shouldn’t take the out of town people long to fall in love with Paris, Oregon in 2025, at least no longer than it took out of town people to fall in love with Paris, France in the early 1940’s.

Back then it was during WWII.

Paris, Oregon played a role in The Big One, but it was a supporting role.

Five years ago things changed around here.

What have we learned in the interim?

 

PS: History is more than a hobby or a class, of opening and closing a book. It’s about looking around and making comparisons.

 

PSS: How are things looking?