If you appreciate full-frontal fun with your Portland, Oregon history, tap into one of Know Your City’s free walking tours offered May through the middle of September. The only nonprofit organization leading walking tours in downtosn Portland, visitors have a choice of four different tours: A People’s History of Portland, Sing a Song of Portland and Private Tours.
To get all the details go to the Know Your City website. Here is the scoop:
No reservation is necessary. Tours are approximately 2 hours in duration and cover about 1.5 miles. Bring a camera, comfortable walking shoes, water and sunscreen. All routes are ADA accessible.
All tours begin at Dan & Louis’ Oyster Bar (208 SW Ankeny St). After the tour, stick around – the guide will invite you out for a local, cheap and delicious lunch or beverage! Sit down and join us, continue the great conversations and get ideas for where to head next.
Currently the tours run Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays: A People’s History of Portland at 10AM, Sing a Song of Portland! at 1PM.
The tours are donation-based. If you enjoy yourself on the walking tour (and you will), we ask that you pay whatever you feel is fair to our tour guides ($10-20 per person is average).
The Tour Guide
Doug Kenck-Crispin is the Ribald Resident Historian from www.orhistory.com. He researches, writes and co-produces the bi-weekly podcast series Kick Ass Oregon History, recently featured in the Portland Mercury and Portland Monthly. He has a BA in History, and is nearing completion of his MA in Public History, with an emphasis on the History of the Pacific Northwest (Portland State University). A lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, Doug enjoys a good yarn — the more outlandish and unseemly the better — especially when they are true!
Tour Highlights:
Portland’s “Old” and “New” Chinatowns
The site of Portland’s first African American community
“Nihonmachi,” Portland’s JapanTown
LGBT roots in Old Town
For more information or Group Tours or Contracted Tours contact ask@knowyourcity.org or call us at (971) 717-7307.
