Freshmen first to discover years-old PDX hotspots

FOLLOWING THE week of New Student Orientation, hordes of first-year students at Lewis & Clark ventured out into the remarkable city of Portland for the first time. Upon returning to campus, many chose to share the news of the activities, landmarks and locales they discovered with our reporters here at The Mossy Log.

I first spoke with Baie Errea ’26, a first-year student from Walnut Creek, Calif.

“My roommates and I were just out walking in the city — Portland is so walkable, did you know that? — and we came across this really cool bookstore,” Errea said. “I think it was called Howell’s or something. Have you heard of it?”

I had not.

Next, I met with Lola Noobeigh ’26. Noobeigh and her friends explored a number of restaurant spots in downtown Portland.

“Well, we were kind of just all randomly craving donuts all of a sudden, and we found this kinda creepy but super cute little donut shop,” Noobeigh said. “It was really quaint, and I got these super quirky small business vibes from it. You should check it out!”

Errea had also visited said donut shop. She and Noobeigh began to fight about who was the first to truly discover it.

“I was literally there when BeReal went off at 10:47 a.m.,” Noobeigh said, showing me an image of four or five people with colorfully dyed hair and silly earrings squished closely next to each other. “I’m not sure what Baie was doing. Her BeReal was like three hours late.”

Noobeigh explained how her BeReal post was meant to serve as a public service announcement and that other students should check out the donut shop she had so bravely pioneered.

Regardless of who discovered the donut shop, Errea went as far as writing an article for The Mossy Log in order to profess her excitement and pride about finding such a small, quirky place.

“I thought the paper would be the perfect platform for sharing this with other students,” Errea said. “After all, I know everyone will read it!”

Another notable discovery made by the first-year class is that of a large forest with a well-maintained system of trails situated right next to campus, which Hardy Cook ’26 found by accident after getting hopelessly lost trying to find the grad campus. 

“I’m pretty sure I’m the first person to ever find it,” Cook said. “I hope they name it after me.” 

Finally, I spoke with the sole student in the class of 2026 who grew up in Portland, Rain N. Treeze ’26. I asked them how they felt about being their friend group’s de facto tour guide.

“It was pretty fun, mostly,” Treeze said. “Except for when I told my new friend Stick we had to use the public bus to get to the Japanese garden and they had a panic attack.”