Where: World Cup Coffee
1740 NW Glisan
Highlights: Clean and stylish, children's art to look at while you're waiting
problems: Bland
Multnomah County Library Northwest branch
2300 N.W. Thurman Street
Highlights: Historic, communal
Problems: Historic, communal
Food Front Cooperative Grocery
2375 NW Thurman St
Highlights: Community bulletin board, organic waste
Problems: It's a grocery store bathroom
Dragonfly Cafe
2387 Northwest Thurman Street
Highlights: Handicap bar, art, super toilet paper, etc.
Problems: no paper towels (air dryer only)
Over th
e last few weeks I've made piles of paper cranes, romanced perhaps by the crane's connection to wishes. According to Wikipedia, a young girl might fold a thousand paper cranes to win the love of a young man or the thousand cranes can represent health and prosperity. Legend has it that cranes can live for a thousand years. Sunday, I decided to decorate toilets around Portland with paper cranes and flowers in honor of the glorious sunlight.Tuesday- as I embarked upon the "toilet beautification project"- as I called it- the clouds created a fog across the sun and the rain drizzled the town grey. If this were a post on facebook my friend would comment, "85 degrees in California" and another would describe her tragic dissent into despair for lack of sun. Portland is cloudy 208 days out of the year (San Fransisco is only 105, L.A. only 73).* The clouds attract artsy, cynical, emo types that read Nietzche in coffee shops and dye their hair dark colors. I sometimes associate these long, dark winters with scenes from the shining and Jack the Ripper and yearn for Africa, or Singapore, or New Mexico- fantasizing for hours about the sun.
Tuesday I felt the same despondency over the rain's return. Then, walking past an old, Gothic church decked with rhododendron bushes, i noticed the sweet, vibrant color of the flowers. The color of red tulips in the park, the intense grass smell after a soft rain, and the specks of water on the remaining cherry blossoms making the petals lush and shining. Not everyone came to Portland to write about a gloomy, Godless humanity, many saw in Portland a symbol of hope.
If one gets too distracted by the flashiness of sunlight, they might not notice the twilight beauty of the rain, how the clouds bring objects into focus and give to everything a magical, fairytale quality. They may not notice the beauty in hidden things, the sensuous fresh simplicity of a row of lilacs that only glisten when it's grey.
I thought of making spaces beautiful, perhaps a reflection on a lack of satisfaction with myself, but I realized that I can also change the way I look at things. Rain gives you a quiet space to understand yourself. Rain makes a warm drink (chai roibos in my case), a library, an art museum, or a good movie, a small and precious shelter. Maybe the beauty in a thousand paper cranes isn't the wish itself but in the patience and time it takes to fold each crane, the gathering wisdom to see all you've wished for was there all along.
Review
Things To Do On a Rainy Day
Sunny weather folk might feel a little surprised to see how joyously we Portlanders frolic in the rain. The parks fill with children in bright colored rain coats and galoshes. Flower vendors set up shop on the streets, men walk their dogs, women sit outside bakeries, and couples in coats window shop in the many boutiques littering Nob Hill. These drizzly days are actually a great excuse to go out and enjoy yourself- especially in the spring when the gardens fill with flowers. For all you sunny weather newbies here are a few suggestions for rainy day activities (all with fully equipped toilets of course).
Start out with something warm to drink at a comfortable cafe. I went to the World Cup coffee house which usually has enough chairs and boasts a wall of children's artwork (for the moment, marionettes) and it's own brand of local coffee. It also serves dragonfly not Oregon chai. For those non natives who might not know the difference- dragonfly is American (for lack of a better term) style chai with several different tea bases and Oregon chai is terrible. Both are local. The bathroom is clean, attractively painted, and has a large mirror.
After looking into the shops of crafts, new-aged hippie books, upscale fashion, and breakfast cafes that oddly serve alcohol, stop into the library to use the Internet, read the paper, or even check out a book! In general, beware of library bathrooms. This rule applies in particular to most Multnomah county library bathrooms which host scores of eager patrons and rarely update their facilities. The plumbing resembles a 70s hospital and the baby changing station has some weird black smudge which I suspect dates back to the early 90s. Academic folk looking to better understand the history of Portland may appreciate this glimpse of the past but most people should check out the many more comfortable options in the area.
You can pick up some free rooibos to rewarm yourself and indulge in food fantasies at the Food Front. In the bathroom learn about classes in the area and wholesome hippie events which will make you ask yourself, "Wait- am I in Eugene?" This includes adds for fortune tellers, garden supplies, a business card for God, and a sign saying, "keep your brain sexy, learn French."
After buying dates and honey, or gluten free cookies, or a fair trade chocolate bar, or any number of tree hugging products at the coop that make you feel like going into a yoga, religious, shaman, fill in the blank induced trance why not stop at a nearby bistro and eat some more? One of the best ways to ward off rainy day blues is to eat constantly. I wonder why people from sunny climates don't gain tons of weight. Oh yeah- it's because of all that yoga, religious study, shamanistic ritual, fill in the blank...
The dragonfly c
afe also carries dragonfly tea and is filled with luscious velvet couches, cushioned benches, boardgames, and old books including one of my all time favorites- The Chicago Manual of Style. It also has the best bathroom I've seen yet. Why is this bathroom so good? It has everything I've personally ever wanted in a bathroom and more! Let me list the things I love about it:1) An enormous mural with bright colors and a hot air balloon. I love hot air balloons!
2) Loads of toilet paper unwrapped and out in the open so if you run out you don't have to pull at it, search for a garbage can, fiddle with some dispenser, or any number of other nuisances.
3) The toilet paper feels amazing! Thick and firm and soft- not the cheap stuff that fills even the finest restrooms
4) A whole rack of disposable reading material. If you have an episode- not that I've ever had one in a public restroom- you have something to read until it passes that won't carry someone else's germs and that you can recycle when you're done. You can also use this multi tiered rack with a table underneath to put your things on. I decorated the rack with paper cranes.
5) A handicap bar. How many small establishments don't have handicapped bars. It's awful considering the large number of elderly people who want to eat out and can't bend down to the toilet so have to stand while they use the bathroom.
6) High quality yummy smelling soap.
7) The garbage is covered and tasteful and the plumbing on the sink is hidden by a simple striped cloth.
8) The walls are newly painted and graffiti free!
Two problems keep this bathroom from a perfect score: 1) no paper towels, only an air dryer. 2) slightly lax on cleanliness.
Grade: World Cup B
Northwest branch (Multcolib) C
Food Front B-
Dragonfly Cafe A-
*according to the Western Regional Climate Center.
