Rip City
Encyclopedia
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
s referring to Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
.
City of Roses
The official, and also most common, nickname for Portland is The City of Roses or Rose City. The first known reference to Portland as "The City of Roses" was made by visitors to an 1888 Episcopal Church convention. The nickname grew in popularity after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial ExpositionLewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide exposition held in Portland, Oregon, United States in 1905 to celebrate the...
where Mayor Harry Lane suggested that the city needed a "festival of roses." The first Portland Rose Festival
Portland Rose Festival
The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region...
was held two years later and remains the city's major annual festival a century later. There are many other cities and towns known as Rose City
Rose City
-Nickname:Using the nickname "Rose City" and/or "City of Roses":Canada*Camrose, Alberta*Welland, Ontario*Windsor, OntarioChile*Panguipulli, ChileIran*ShirazUnited States*Cape Girardeau, Missouri*Chico, California*Little Rock, Arkansas*Lowell, Wyoming...
or The City of Roses.
The nickname is often attributed to Leo Samuel, who founded the Oregon Life Insurance Company in 1906 (known today as Standard Insurance Company
Standard Insurance Company
Standard Insurance Company, also branded as The Standard, is an American insurance and financial company which is a subsidiary of StanCorp Financial Group, headquartered in Portland, Oregon....
). Samuel, who moved to Portland in 1871, grew roses outside his home. He placed a pair of shears outside his garden so people could snip a rose from his garden to take for themselves. This encouraged other people and businesses to plant their own roses outside their homes and business. Today, roses are still planted outside the Standard Insurance Company's home office building in downtown Portland.
This nickname likely inspired the name for the four-year-old female Asian elephant
Asian Elephant
The Asian or Asiatic elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant or E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m....
who arrived in 1953, Rosy. The first elephant ever to live in Oregon, she remained the matriarch of the herd and gave birth to six calves before her death in 1993. On August 31, 1994, her daughter Me-Tu became the first elephant in North America to have twins. On August 23, 2008, her granddaughter Rose-Tu (the surviving twin) gave birth to Samudra, the first third-generation elephant born in the United States.
On June 18, 2003, the city council unanimously approved a resolution adopting "City of Roses" as the city's official nickname.
Bridgetown
Portland is known as Bridgetown due to numerous bridgeBridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s crossing the Willamette
Willamette River
The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...
and Columbia
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
rivers. The river width spanned varies from 850 to 7850 ft (259.1 to 2,392.7 m), and all of the bridges also span shoreline roads, paths, or other ground at each shore. In total, there are eleven bridges over the Willamette, including eight in the central area, and three over the Columbia.
Beervana
A portmanteau of "beer" and "nirvana," Portland has more brewpubs per capita than any city in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. (Also see Beer in the United States and Oregon beer and breweries
Oregon beer and breweries
The U.S. state of Oregon is home to several breweries that produce a large variety of beer.-History:* 1852 - Henry Saxer established the Liberty Brewery in Portland* 1856 - Henry Weinhard and George Bottler establish Portland's second brewery, City Brewery...
.)
Little Beirut
Staffers of former U.S. President George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
used to refer to Portland as Little Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
because of the protesters he encountered during his visits.
Rip City
The nickname Rip City is usually used in the context of the city's NBANational Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
team, the Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
. The term was coined by the team's play-by-play announcer Bill Schonely
Bill Schonely
Bill Schonely , nicknamed "The Schonz", is an American sports broadcaster who was the first play-by-play announcer for the Portland Trail Blazers. A native of Pennsylvania, he worked in radio in Louisiana and Seattle before settling in Portland, Oregon...
during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
on February 18, 1971, the Blazers' first season
1970–71 Portland Trail Blazers season
The Portland Trail Blazers were one of three new teams to join the NBA. They played their first game in Portland, beating their expansion brethren, the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-112 on October 16. The Blazers would finish last in the Pacific Division with a record of 29-53. Of the three expansion...
. In the days prior to the three-point field goal
Three-point field goal
A three-point field goal is a field goal in a basketball game, made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc radiating from the basket...
, Blazers' guard Jim Barnett
Jim Barnett (basketball)
James Franklin Barnett is a former professional basketball player. He is in his 25th season as a television analyst for the Golden State Warriors.-Youth and college career:...
took an ill-advised long distance shot that nonetheless went in, giving the new team hope for a victory against the powerful Lakers. Excited, Schonely exclaimed "Rip City! All right!" Schonely admits that he has no idea how he came up with the expression, but it became synonymous with the team and the city of Portland.
Stumptown
Stumptown was coined in a period of phenomenal growth in Portland after 1847. The city was growing so rapidly that the stumps of trees cut down to make way for roads were left behind until manpower could be spared to remove them. In some areas the stumps remained for so long that locals whitewashed them to make them more visible. They also used them to cross the street without sinking into the mud. Captain John C. AinsworthJohn C. Ainsworth
John Commingers Ainsworth was an American pioneer businessman and steamboat owner in Oregon. A native of Ohio, he moved west to mine gold in California before immigrating to Oregon where he piloted steamships and became a founder of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company and several banks.-Early...
commented that there were "more stumps than trees" in Portland in the early 1850s.
Razorblade City
Portland Hip-Hop group the LifesavasLifesavas
Lifesavas are a hip-hop group from Portland, Oregon. Jumbo the Garbageman is an MC/producer and Vursatyl is an MC. DJ Shines has also been involved in much of the production and DJing on their albums.- Discography :* Spirit in Stone...
brought this nickname into being as the fictional location of their album Gutterfly. It has been commandeered by locals to reference Portland's relatively high depression and suicide rates.
PDX
The city of Portland is nicknamed PDX after the International Air Transport Association airport code for the Portland International AirportPortland International Airport
Portland International Airport is a joint civil-military airport and the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of passenger travel and more than 95% of air cargo of the state. It is located within Portland's city limits just south of the Columbia River in Multnomah...
which is within the city limits. For example, the domain name for Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
of pdx.edu was chosen in 1987, since psu.edu had already been given to Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
in the previous year.