Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Vampires in Portland?

Tom Cruise as Lestat de Lioncourt and Brad Pitt as Louis
de Pointe de Lac in Interview With a Vampire
Forget Transylvania, or even Forks, Washington (location of Twilight for all of you uniformed). If I were a vampire, Portland, Oregon would certainly be my city of choice. Like Forks, and probably Transylvania, it rains a lot, there's very little sunshine, lots of clouds and fog, and plenty of green forested areas in which to lurk. As a matter of fact, while I'm here on the 3rd stop of my family-visit sojourn, I'm staying at my brother's house in a suburb just outside of Portland; even here, in this neatly manicured corner of the world, you can find a bit of forest here, a stand of pines there. One minute you're at a mini-mall, the next you're driving under a canopy of ancient firs eerie enough even for Sookie and Bill (of True Blood - come on, people, get with it!)

Oh, but Portland isn't all burb-claves and big box stores - far from it. Get out of the suburbs and into Portland proper and there are hillsides of cottage-y homes and winding streets, so green, so lush with vegetation that I was pretty sure I saw a werewolf the other night as I was leaving my aunt's house. And old Portland, what I think is referred to as the Hawthorne District, is all vintage clothing stores, tattoo parlors, pubs, and old, old houses, shrouded in shrubbery. Such hip-looking people slouch about that area, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Lestat de Lioncourt sipping an espresso in some neighborhood boÎte. Portland is cool. Portland is creepy. Someone oughta write a series about it.

5 comments:

  1. : ) Portland is about as awesome as you say! Have you watched that little mini-series Portlandia? It is so true that it brings tears of laughter to my eyes. I just love it here.

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  2. OMG, Portlandia is so funny! But only to those who know Portland. I'm sure the better you know it, the funnier it is. But seriously, it's a great city - I'm falling in love with it.

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  3. Okay... you both have me interested in Portlandia now. :) I have a friend who used to live there. Her photos of the homestead are just awesome. It is on my list... especially if vampires can be found lurking in the woods.

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  4. ...yeah, right! Vampires in Portland!...you must be imagining things...*wipes the blood from his fangs and slips into the dark, green shadows*

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  5. Challenge accepted! I will write a series about vampires in Portland. Don't be surprised if they're nothing but a bunch of pot smokers that feed off of willing people, though.

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