Portland, Maine

[M. Brown]

Me and the fam went to Portland today just to get out. Its a nice lil' city. I def. wouldnt mind living there, especially since I know that I wouldnt be the only black person living there. Portland has a rather large black population for a small NNE city. You Portlanders have a real nice city. I must say that Portlands downtown is a whole lot bigger than Manchesters and it does feel bigger than Manch even though it isnt. Enough of me talking. Check it out.

Back to talking. I would have taken alot more pics but it was gettin late. I got there at 2 and we spent like two hours trying to find a resturant to use the bathroom. I def. have to pay another visit.

If I wasn't with my parents and my sister and would have gone by myself I would have pmed you p-lander guys so you could show me around the place. BTW its very easy to navigate around.

[M. Brown]

I see why people could say that Portland is the largest city north of Boston and hub of NNE cuz it certainly feels that way

[pvenne]

wow! Mike, that was magnificent. so tell us, did you have a good time? what restaurant did you eat at? what else did you do there? I am jealous, it looked like such a nice day but I spent mine here in burlington (not bad, but not portland).

I am also curious: when I went to manchester for the first time, I loved it. The reason why I liked it so much was that it reminded me of portland in many ways. You have the city, then there are very residential areas (im not sure if the houses i saw were in manchester, they were across some bridge and up a hill...i think) and then you have the mall area (which we have too, it just happens to be in south portland). all in all, i was very impressed because it was a very compact and action filled city, just like portland is for its size. did you get this impression from portland? or did you view it as somewhat less "happening" than manch? i know when i go to burlington i like it, but im always missing "the city" life of portland....did you feel this way, or was it as comprable to manchester as i thought it was? just curious?

again, wonderful pictures. i just got in from dinner and i was thinking to myself "i gotta ask mbrown to take some more manch pix"...but i guess i got lucky with some portland ones instead. you got some really good views of the city (some ove never seen before). I hope you enjoyed your trip. cant wait till i can get back to manchester......p.s. you didnt happen to see any worthwhile construction while you were there did you??? waterview broke ground 2 days ago, but i left before i could see any of it....again excellent post man, you got a very photographic eye.

[pvenne]

oh and one more thing man...there are somalians that are not counted yet in the census figures because they came after 2000. all in all there are almost 5,000 of them in the city, along with sudanese, and others. so portland has close to 7,000 "black" people if you include those recently arrived from africa. so out of curiosity, were most of the blacks you saw american or did they look like refugees? most people think portland is like the rest of maine (all white) but they are surprised when they take a stroll downtown, so im glad you brought that up. you should have stayed for the night life.....even if you dont drink it is always a blast. well i cant wait to get to manchester again, maybe this time ill bring MY camera. good post dude.

[M. Brown]

Thanks man. I appreciate it! It was very lively today because it just so happened to be a sidewalk art festival so it was packed. But urbanity wise it was at least on par with Manch or better. Your downtown is at least the same as size if not Bigger than Manch(I'm thinking its more the latter). Some of them you could tell were refugees obviously people from africa are darker than blacks in America. But alot of them were Americans. Its just here in manch they are almost all refugees and when you do see an afro american is like wow we arent the only ones here anymore LoL.

[pvenne]

Thanks man.  I appreciate it!  It was very lively today because it just so happened to be a sidewalk art festival so it was packed.  But urbanity wise it was at least on par with Manch or better.  Your downtown is at least the same as size if not Bigger than Manch(I'm thinking its more the latter).  Some of them you could tell were refugees obviously people from africa are darker than blacks in America.  But alot of them were Americans.  Its just here in manch they are almost all refugees and when you do see an afro american is like wow we arent the only ones here anymore LoL.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

crap man, some of my BEST friends are black, and they feel so out of place in all white places...my girlgriend is Filipino and she feels the same way...I kinda feel like telling other white people to stop staring sometimes like they never seen someone of color (especially at the university i go to)..but whatever man, people of color are some of the coolest people i know so more power to all of them. you know what else is funny -- what does everyone dance to in the clubs? rap and hip hop...and same with the radio stations...and then you got white people dressing like their hip hop artists and its always the same kids that act like they're above everyone else b/c their white (but guess what they have that stinks like everyone ele's...sh1t ) but dont tell them that. however, portland has a rep for being very respectful to all minorities, including blacks, homosexuals, asians, and anything in between, so on that note ill stop talking, but i love it here cause of that.

[M. Brown]

LoL true.

I did see some construction. I think I saw some construction near the hospital and next to the back bay tower or what ever its called.

[M. Brown]

Yeah it was this

[M. Brown]

Question to you P-landers. The people that live outsite the city do they consider themselves part of Portland? Because your out the city limits before you know it.

[pvenne]

well you might be talking about the peninsula. you are off of the peninsula before you know it (which is mostly the downtown) and then there are suburban neighborhoods that surround it, but they're all still portland. But to answer your question more specifically, I would say yes, everyone in southern maine practically considers themselves a portlander...although not in the "true" sense of actually living there. It's like you tell people you're from portland from out of state so they know where you're talking about. my girlfriend lives in buxton, but she worked and went to school in portland, so she is a "portlander". basically all of greater portland is full of portlanders because there is nowhere else to go shopping/eat out/do business. however, there are a few exceptions to this: i.e. old orchard beach is a hoppin little summer destination, and the O.O.B./biddeford/saco area has like 50,000 people, but that is still in greater portland, and all those people go to the beach out there, then to the theme parks and stuff, but still rely economically and socially on portland. and south portlanders dont like to admit it, but they are portlanders too, even though they have the mall, it was built for the "portland" area, not the "south portland" area. and coming down the interstate at rush hour you can see cars lined up almost bumper to bumper for close to thirty miles out of the city north and south. some othe rpeople may have different opinions, but this is mine. maybe corey could answer you better; he is actually from a town like 12-15 miles outside of portland, but im sure he still goes "into town" a lot.

[BigCityAttitude]

Great shots! I haven't been to Portland in... Well let's just say it's been too long.

[evan d]

WHATS THE TALLEST BUILDING IN PORTLAND

[M. Brown]

This supposedly.

[CoreyPortlandME]

Wow, superb pictures skip! It's really cool to see an outsiders impressions of the city. Sadly I will be 2 and a half hours north of Portland for college in like 4 days.

[M. Brown]

Why didnt you go to USM?

[CoreyPortlandME]

Honestly? Too close to home.

I got into USM, UNH, and Suffolk Univeristy of Boston but UMaine costs the cheapest and is a good distance from home so yep.

Next summer we are having HUGE Portland forum gathering, I'll fill you in as next summer approaches.

[M. Brown]

NiCe.