Weird Portland

          If you do a search for “Portland weird,” you come up with many eccentric things about Oregon’s largest city, but nothing about the other 14 cities across the nation by that name.    Portland seems to revel in weirdness.  As travel writer Hope Nardini put it, “Portland is plastered with ‘Keep Portland Weird’ bumper stickers, t-shirts, and even billboards.”  While Keep Portland Weird is a widely used slogan in the city, the idea seems to have become a lifestyle. 

          A friend of mine mentioned the growing eccentricity of the city on his radio show saying the weirdness has caused businesses to flee downtown area.  Even as he discussed how the trend had affected business and employment, I recalled the embedded Portlandia video and smiled.  When he mentioned Portlandia, I knew I had to put the video on the blog.  We can laugh at the outlandishness portrayed here, but the question remains, is Portland too weird for business?