Meet the Actors behind ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’

The person manning the speech table in 1977 was nowhere in sight when high school sophomore Debra Dreiling wanted to sign up for an elective, so she turned to the theater table instead, a serendipitous beginning to her lifelong passion for performing. In true sink-or-swim fashion, the shy Debbie’s first class was improv, and thanks to her instructor, Duane Benedict, she thrived. Fast forward to the present day, Debbie found octogenarian Duane and his wife in Saint Helens, and they thoroughly enjoyed her performance as Mrs. Kirby in Mask & Mirror’s recent production of “You Can’t Take It With You.”

Old Town Chinatown Bets on Halloween Night Market to Fill Its Empty Blocks

A block of Northwest Davis Street in Old Town Chinatown turned into a Halloween night market Saturday, with nearly 30 vendors selling handmade goods, art and Asian-inspired food and drink from 2 to 10 p.m. A costume contest with cash prizes, a DJ and live performers rounded out the evening in a neighborhood that has spent years fighting empty storefronts and declining foot traffic.

AM Extra went looking for crows and found Crow Manor

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The AM Extra crew went looking for crows and found their way to Crow Manor. The former Cook Mansion turned Haunted Halloween pop up is delighting audiences while raising money for OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. Happy Halloween from AM Extra!. Watch the full story...

Celebrate Life at Every Age, the Riverwood Way!

Hello, Beaverton readers! If I told you there is an assisted living community in our own backyard where bluebirds fly, wildlife viewing is abundant, wine-tasting events are common, and it just feels like home, would you believe me?. Last month, I received a call from Judith, a BRG reader who...

Forget the coffee shop. This Portland neighborhood has ‘The Bratmobile.’

Rachel LaBrasca’s mobile coffee bar serves specialty lattes and matcha outside her Alameda home, brewing a sense of community one cup at a time. What if you could roll out of bed, morning breath still in full force, step out of your driveway and be met with a cozy brown butter latte?

Halloween events across Portland this weekend

This Oregon Cafe Hands Your Dog Its Own Menu While You Order Brunch

Most brunch spots in Portland treat dogs as polite guests who wait under the table. One cafe on a busy Northeast Portland street does something different, and it starts the moment you sit down. Your dog gets a menu too, with breakfast choices made just for four-legged diners. That small...

PNW Queer Chef Profile: Summer Bingaman of Portland

What inspired you to go into the culinary industry?. I have always loved food and beverage, especially the way a meal can bring people together. What kept me in the industry was discovering how much there is to learn. I wanted to understand every role and how each one contributes to the guest experience. That curiosity has shaped my career and the way I lead teams today.

Property Watch: An Architect-Designed Midcentury with an Indoor Pool

The past few months have seen an abundance of cool midcenturies on the local market, and it’s like each one is trying to outdo the last—see last week’s entry in Concordia with its remodeled kitchen and basement mural in the bar. It looks like this house in the Southwest Hills also wants to compete. It has all the things we look for in these types, such as seamless indoor-outdoor flow with its forested lot, wood galore, and a historic architect and local designer connection. And there’s something we haven’t seen yet: an indoor saltwater pool.

Camas singer-songwriter, 13, on road to success

CAMAS — Jette Bigelow knows she wants to be a professional musician when she grows up. She’s just not willing to wait until she’s an adult to make her dreams come true. The Camas resident’s musical journey accelerated in 2024, when she was 10 years old. Having already learned to play piano, on which she performed cover songs, she moved on to the ukulele and guitar and took her act public, performing at a variety of locations and public events. Then she started writing her own songs, eventually recording two of them and releasing them on Spotify.

10 Oregon Meat Markets Where a Full Freezer Won’t Empty Your Wallet

Grocery store meat prices have a way of making a simple dinner plan feel like a budget meeting. A lot of Oregon families have quietly found a better system: buy in bulk from a real butcher, fill the freezer, and stop paying full price every week. The shops on this list range from busy Portland counters to small-town markets in the Willamette Valley, Central Oregon, the coast, and the far east side of the state.

Bargain Hunters Leave This Massive Oregon Thrift Store With A Full Trunk For Under $40

If you’ve ever stood in a checkout line watching the total climb past what you budgeted and thought there has to be a better way, Deseret Industries Thrift Store and Donation Center in Happy Valley, Oregon, is your answer. Under $40 sounds like a constraint, but inside this store,...

A Portlander once tried to name Tilikum Crossing after late actor Patrick Stewart’s ‘Star Trek’ character

In 2015, Owen Lingley launched a Kickstarter campaign to convince Portlanders to call the bridge the Jean-Luc Picard Wunder Crossing When TriMet asked Portlanders to suggest names for its new […]

The Best Things To Do in Portland This Month: November 2026

November is here, which means a parade of holidays are coming your way, from Election Day to Veterans Day to Thanksgiving. Plus, it's Native American Heritage Month and the first round of festive winter events are popping up on the calendar. And of course, there's also the usual array of concerts, festivals, food & drink events, and tons more. As we do every month, we've compiled the biggest events you need to know about in every genre, from Portugal. The Man with the Oregon Symphony to the Portland Book Festival and from Fred Armisen to Plus Plus Fest.

Joe Brown’s Carmel Corn finds new home after 66 years at Lloyd Center Mall

Joe Brown's Carmel Corn is scheduled to reopen in the Washington Square Mall food court on Oct. 30 following its closure at the Lloyd Center.

This 1909 Portland Department Store Now Hides Smash Burgers, Rooftop Views, and a Hotel Upstairs

You know that feeling when you walk past a big old building a hundred times and never step inside? Then one day you do, and suddenly your whole Oregon afternoon turns into a treasure hunt. Floors of stories, surprise snacks, and a few quirky details are waiting behind those tall...

Tula-Tu stable as Oregon Zoo vets treat for rapidly progressing strain of elephant herpes

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — The Oregon Zoo’s baby Asian elephant Tula-Tu has been diagnosed with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus, and zookeepers are working on a treatment plan since “young calves are particularly susceptible” to the disease. Active elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus – or EEHV – can be life-threatening...

Cowlitz County coffee staple arrives in Brush Prairie

A husband-and-wife team with nearly three decades of restaurant experience is expanding a locally grown coffee brand in Clark County, opening a second Red Leaf Organic Coffee

Portland Ramen’s Third Wave

Chefs are getting more specialized, more personal, and much less interested in following a script. When the staff at Toya Ramen were juggling a full house one day last summer, chef Colin Yoshimoto handed diners two bowls meant to represent both soup and birria beef while behaving like neither. Sure, the noodles were there, with broth in the smaller bowl as might be served tsukemen-style, but Yoshimoto had instructed staff to inform diners that they may “sip it, dip it, or pour it.” Part of a collab dinner with Diego Palacios of the Mexican street food project Machetes, the offering combined braised bone-in short rib with red masa noodles and caldo on the side.

Where Was ‘Halloweentown’ Filmed? St. Helens, Oregon, and the Town That Never Took the Pumpkin Down

St. Helens, Oregon, did not just host a TV movie shoot. It kept the costume on. Disney Channel’s Halloweentown premiered on October 17, 1998, and the small Columbia County town north of Portland that played the title role is spending six weekends this fall pretending it never stopped. So the short answer to where was Halloweentown filmed is St. Helens, specifically its riverfront courthouse plaza, a movie theater a few steps away and a hillside bed and breakfast that stood in for Grandma Aggie’s house. The longer answer involves Canada, Utah and a replica pumpkin.