Up past the more famous rose garden on the west side is an arboretum with hiking trails and a zoo. Great views of Portland’s downtown and Mt. St. Helens in the distance. It’s very peaceful and any time of year it’s a nice and quick escape from the city, just takes under 10 minutes to get to.

Behind the Museum Cafe is a Japanese cafe, very bright and open with charming design. It is usually pretty quiet, and they have a great menu with onigiri, Japanese tea cakes, matcha and hojicha lattes, teas, mochi, etc. The space is also a shop, they have ceramics, kimono, cards and other small items. It is next door to Canoe, a favorite design shop.

Cool gallery and store on Burnside. They keep a pretty consistent calender of events, always worth checking out. Some purchases include a mix tape CD of fine taste.

One classic arcade to rule them all. Whenever I need a break from animating or staring at an editing screen I run across the street and clear my head with a couple games of Lord of the Rings pinball or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

This neighborhood theater is one of the oldest movie houses in the U.S. It opened up in 1915. I love to see movies here, especially screenings put on by Cinema Project. They are a collectively run, non-profit that screens amazing avant-garde films from the past and present.