Features
50 Reasons We Love Portland
Portland has been discovered. In recent years the national media has lavished it with superlatives: “America’s Most Livable City” (Forbes), “The Top City for Creative People” (Kiplingers). On the streets, there’s a new vibrancy, a faster pace. And everyone raves about the food. At the same time, the city retains its unique Maine-ness — you feel an intimate connection between the people and the landscape, a sense of both history and community. Somehow Portland feels both big and small. If we had to choose only one reason to love the city, that would be it. Fortunately, we don’t. And while there aren’t enough magazine pages in the world to list all the reasons we love Portland, here are fifty examples of why we’re proud to call it Maine’s own.
Reason No. 1: East Bayside is rising (and sinking…)
At the bottom of Munjoy Hill and the northern end of Marginal Way may be Portland’s next great neighborhood. By Sara Anne Donnelly.
Reason No. 2 – 17
Working Wharves, Allagash White, Maine’s Jobs, John Coleman/VIA, Local Music, and more
Reason No. 18: Lauren Wayne brought back the State
By reopening the State Theatre, Lauren Wayne brought Portland’s music scene full circle. By Michaela Cavallaro.
Reason No. 19 – 27
Standard Baking Co., Architecture, Reiche School, Coffee, Style, Late Night Food, First Friday, The Portland Room, What You’ll Overhear.
Reason No. 28: The city finally elected a mayor
An interview with Portland mayor Michael Brennan. By Jeff Clark
Reason No. 29 – 50
Underground Food Scene, Telling Room, It’s the Original Portland, Portland’s Nature, Preble Street Resource Center, Longfellow Square, Six Great Products, Forest Avenue, Cobblestone Streets.
Departments
Where in Maine?
Can you identify this oven in the woods?
Editor’s Note
Going to high school in Portland in the early eighties, and how the city has changed over the last thirty years.
The Mail
Letters to the Editor
Your Maine
We asked our readers “What are you thankful for about Maine?” Here are their responses.
Island Thanksgiving
As traditions go, the feast on Swan’s Island takes the notion of a large family holiday to an intriguing new level.
What’s in a Picture?
B.H. Anderson bet on Teddy Roosevelt to win the election of 1912. He lost, and paid for it with a walk across the United States.
Maine as Fashion Muse
National clothing lines look to Maine for inspiration.
Drop on By
Newry’s engineer of fun turns his talents homeward and built what may be one of the longest and fastest ziplines in the world.
Unwelcome Development
What is the future of Land for Maine’s Future?
A Peaks Paradise
Tim and Liz Williams renovated a classic Peaks Island cottage. Now it’s the life of the island party.
Slow Burn
Washington mason Pat Manley laid the foundation for some of Maine’s most iconic restaurants.
Walking the Mice
One Maine cabin dweller shares his abode with some uninvited houseguests.
Tao
Brunswick’s Best New Restaurant
The Good Life Guide
Maine’s favorite busybody offers advice on life, love, and work.
November Calendar
Go here. Do this. See that.
From Our Archives: November 1987
A Look Back at Down East Twenty-Five Years Ago