Starting in the 1870s, Portland and surrounding areas became infamous for a practice called “crimping.” Crimping, commonly known as “shanghaiing” was the act of kidnapping and selling people to ship captains, men as free labor and women as prostitutes. This supposedly was done largely through Portland’s “Shanghai Tunnels,” a system of tunnels under Portland . In the prime of crimping along the Willamette River, bars and restaurants in the Chinatown area were riddled with trap doors leading into the tunnels, facilitating the seamless disappearance of a drunken bar patrons. While exploring the tunnels on a tour one will see a once functioning opum den and evidence of a human trafficking’s ring.  If that is not enough? Who knows, Maybe you will experience one of several shanghaied tunnel sprits yourself?

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Voodoo Doughnut is a new Portland established tourist location. It was the brainchild of old friends and entertainment-minded Portlanders Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon. In 2000, they decided to embark on a shared entrepreneurial venture – something that combined quality hospitality with their daring do-it-yourself brand of show business.

Research revealed that downtown Portland lacked a single doughnut shop, so in 2003 they rented a hole-in-the-wall storefront scrunched between two Old Town nightclubs, joked to friends and family about being bent on “world doughnut domination,” and opened Voodoo Doughnut. Their initial pastry offerings were a mix of the classic and the unconventional.

The various sideshow activities included legal weddings, concerts in the loft space atop Voodoo’s duct tape-muraled bathroom and weekly Swahili lessons. Come experience weird Portland to the extreme with flavors like Voodoo Doll a raised yeast doughnut filled with raspberry jelly topped with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake (characteristics of Voodoo Dolls are all different) or ring of fire which is a chocolate cake doughnut dusted in cinnamon sugar, cayenne pepper and topped with a dried red chili pepper. Oh yum!!!!

The post The Voodoo in Portland appeared first on Explore Portland.