Kevin Altis is a Python programmer, a pioneer of Communities Online and owner of a very fuzzy bunny. He lives in Portland.
The map is a good overview of some of the things to do in the city, especially for those of you bringing family along to the conference as part of a vacation.
To help you locate where the conference is at, the Marriott is on the Natio Parkway facing the Willamette River, between the Hawthorne Bridge and the River Place Marina.
If you're bringing kids, don't forget that OMSI is just across the river from the hotel and there are pedestrian walkways and parks on both sides of the river.
Here is the current schedule info for the Zoo and Waterfront Park. The Blues festival will still be going on Sunday, July 6 along the waterfront, including in front of the hotel, which is something to keep in mind if you will have a rental car and arriving on the weekend.
If you do want to go to Mt. St. Helens, then check the volcano cam before you hop in the car so you can see if the dome is clouded up. You can only see the South side (backside) of the mountain from Portland.
There is a much larger cluster of restaurants towards Pioneer Square than around the Marriott, so walking towards mid-town will reward you with a larger selection. There is another large cluster on NW 23rd which is reachable by the streetcar. People can also use MAX and the Streetcar to reach Whole Foods and the main Powell's bookstore and Powell's Technical bookstore if they don't feel like walking to Burnside.
I suspect that there won't be enough time for people to use public transit to reach NorthWest 23rd restaurants for lunch, but they can easily to do it for dinner. Cab rides to 23rd and other areas for lunch would work just fine.
Since a lot of people might want to have lunch on the lawn on the waterfront in front of the hotel, it might be nice to figure out a way for people to order takeout food ahead of time for delivery to the hotel before lunch. Maybe we could have a sign-up sheet for various restaurants that want to accommodate larger groups for catering/take-out delivery?
Note to those of you not used to the lawns west of the Rockies; there are no chiggers here, so sitting on the grass is fine :)
These are mostly restaurants with waiters and such, not cheap eats, but you can still get burgers, sandwiches, etc. without paying too much and they are all within 5-10 minutes walking distance.
Given the large number of attendees it would probably be a good idea to make reservations in the morning for either lunch or dinner rather than just walking in. There are quite a few little shops, delis, and fast food within 5 or 6 blocks of the hotel. There are quite a few places around the hotel.
Portland has great pizza. Besides all the chains, many of the microbrew places serve their own pizza and often have slices as well as various specials. There are several New York style pizza places, but I personally hate thin crust greasy, so I'm not going go into that. (editor's note: Kevin is just wrong here. Properly made New York pizza is the one true pizza. -RS). My favorite in Portland is Pizzicato and the closest one to the hotel is the one at PSU.
Once you get into places away from the hotel either via a longer walk, public transit, or taxi, say for dinner, then there are endless possibilities. It is good to note that there really isn't a fancy dress code so even at the best restaurants in Portland you can dress casual.> One question I still have: > > Is a car necessary, or beneficial? > > In San Diego, it was quite useful. But Portland's public transit > and the hotel's more central location... it seems a car in > Portland will not be very useful.
MAX light rail goes to/from the airport, plus there are shuttles and cabs so you don't need a car for the airport. You also won't need a car to go to the Zoo on Friday, I expect most evening events will either be within walking distance or not far from a MAX/Streetcar/bus stop. Grocery stores, malls, and other shopping can be reached by walking, Streetcar, and MAX.
See http://www.tri-met.org for more public transit planning, including PalmOS schedules.
So in general, I would say a car at the conference will not be particularly useful unless you are wanting to make trips to the coast, gorge, Mt. St. Helens, etc. For that kind of trip you're likely going to do it before the conference starts or afterwards, so you could just rent a car for that day rather than having one the whole week. Of course, there are a huge number of great parks and gardens in and around Portland, some of which are more convenient to reach by car, but is that something people are likely to do during the week, probably not.
There are less expensive motels and hotels around town and along the MAX line and some major bus routes; the Youth Hostel on Hawthorne is a straight shot via bus. I have to say though that the Marriott discount rate looks pretty good, especially since you can do room sharing and you should have a great view of the river and Mt. Hood if you're on the front side; you might even be able to see Adams and St. Helens.
Smart Park info assuming you do have a car. Use the garages if parking short-term, say 4 hours or less, the long-term day rate is roughly the same as most of the lots already mentioned on the OSCON hotel page, but much cheaper per hour in the short-term. Parking rates at the hotel itself, like most hotel valet parking, is ridiculously expensive:
Additional transportation info.
If for some reason someone brings a bike or rents one to get around Portland during OSCON they should be quite pleased.
I found another good map of downtown (PDF) that shows the fareless zone along with most of the major hotels. Notice the green line of the Streetcar, that is what people will want to hop on to go to Whole Foods, the Pearl district, NW, etc. There is a stop on Fourth and Market, so it is about five short blocks from the hotel (#24 on the map).