Lively college town lives up to its reputation

EUGENE, Ore. -- One of the first things to remember when you're in downtown Eugene: bicyclists have the right away.

Eugene, combined with Lane County, has the second-highest population density in the state but is still considered one of the most bicycle-friendly towns in the country. Miles of bicycle paths crisscross downtown streets and local parks, as well as local wetlands and along the Willamette River.

Maybe the town is bicycle friendly. But -- unintentionally -- I wasn't very friendly to the bicyclists. I almost ran two of them down with my truck during my two-day, first-ever visit to the city a couple of weeks ago.

The grid of one-way downtown streets was confounding at first. Meld in some bicycle lanes almost as wide as automobile lanes and it got downright scary at times since I didn't know my way around.

Safety tip: At the one-way intersections, fight your urge to just check the direction of travel to see if it's clear. Instead, be sure to check both directions before proceeding, lest you mow down a bicycle rider or two.

Also, be sure to pick up a map at the Convention & Visitors Association of Lane County at their downtown location. The association also provides a handy visitors guide for tourists complete with information about daytrip possibilities and other excursions in the county.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

The tower at the Fifth Street Public Market in Eugene Ore., where you'll find a wide variety of retail shops, bistros, bakeries and coffee shops.

If you look at it on a state map, Eugene is about midway between the Washington and California borders on Interstate 5. The city also is only 60 miles away from many popular recreation areas on the Central Oregon Coast. Recreational water-sport opportunities such as whitewater rafting and fly-fishing are popular pastimes on the nearby Willamette and McKenzie rivers as well.

One of the city's main claims to fame is the 650-acre University of Oregon campus -- sort of a tourist destination in itself since the movie "Animal House" was filmed there. The campus is gorgeous and several state-of-the-art museums are open to the public.

Like many college towns, Eugene over the years has earned a politically liberal reputation that, for some reason, it tends to wear on its sleeve more than others.

If I remember correctly, Eugene and the University of Oregon campus were hotbeds of political activism during the Vietnam War. A friend of mine, who used to live in Portland, said one conservative radio talk-show host used to refer to Eugene as "the people's republic of Eugene." One person on an online bulletin board referred to Eugene's population as "the local wildlife" -- but in a fun sense. Someone else called Eugene "one big neighborhood."

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

A bicyclist chats on his cell phone in downtown Eugene. Motorists need to be especially vigilant in this bicycle-friendly town.

Protest has become part of Eugene's social fabric. Thirty or 40 sign-carrying protesters paraded and chanted in front of the courthouse downtown while I was there to protest the Iraq war and President Bush's response to the Katrina Hurricane disaster. On April 15 -- tax deadline day -- protesters often target tax return drop-off points in town to remind the tax-paying public that their dollars continue to be spent on an unjust war.

Many of the major hotels and motels are clustered around the Oregon campus just south of downtown on Franklin Avenue, not too far from Interstate 5. I stayed at the very tidy and reasonably priced New Oregon Best Western Motel, which is walking distance from the university and close to downtown. The Best Western Greentree Inn is only about a block away on the same side of the street. Rooms on Oregon football game days are hard to find, so if you plan to visit Eugene this fall, be sure to check the football schedule first.

If you like old-fashioned open-air markets, Eugene has one of the best. More like a mini street fair, Eugene's Saturday Market is one of the oldest weekly open-air markets of its type in the country. Through Nov. 12 the market is open every Saturday, rain or shine, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Eighth Avenue and Oak Street downtown. The market features hundreds of artisans, food booths and live music.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Eugene's tie-dyed side is celebrated in this bus stop outside the Fifth Street Market.

I stopped at the fairgrounds near downtown at what is called Thursday Farmers Market that -- through the end of September -- features top-quality Willamette Valley plants, produce and flowers. The Thursday version goes from 2 to 7 p.m. The Saturday version of the same market operates from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Tuesday market, similar to the other two, is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

I could hardly keep from drooling as I watched customers paw over the certified organically grown tomatoes from the Groundwork Organics farm based in Junction City, a small community about 20 miles north of Eugene. Their market stand was heaped with everything from okra to watermelons.

With my taste buds awakened, I had dinner at the Steelhead Brewing Co. and devoured a Steelhead burger that the waiter assured me was made from hamburger and not the fish. The restaurant brews its beer on the premises and was packed both weeknights I was in town.

The historical Fifth Street Public Market downtown across the street from the brewery isn't exactly a public market as I envisioned, especially for Eugene. I didn't care for the pastel color scheme, the natural wood everywhere, the free wireless hot spot, and the traffic pattern from floor-to-floor with multiple entries to the various shops and bistros.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Peter Helzer's "The Storyteller" sculpture in downtown Eugene immortalizes "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" novelist Ken Kesey.

I expected it to be much funkier, like the Pike Place Market in Seattle, since it's about the same age. But the Fifth Street Public Market has a more hard-core commercial edge to it, with a Nike Store as the anchor tenant.

Spread over two downtown city blocks -- with free parking and plenty of outdoor dining space -- the three-story market offers a wide variety of retail shops, bistros, bakeries and coffee shops. Unlike our Pike Place Market, many of the shops are upscale and boutique-style, such as Rubenstein's Home Collection, Boutique Outlet (a women's clothing store) and Maggie Rhode, another women's clothing store.

I wandered and window-shopped for a couple of hours, enjoyed a cup of coffee from Cafe Aroma and scored a giant oatmeal/raisin cookie from the Metropol Bakery, which also features a tantalizing display of cakes and baked goods in the display window. I eyed some "crinkle proof" travel apparel at Destinations, The Travel Store, stroked some fine cloth at French Quarter Linens, and took in all the fragrances emanating from Rhythm & Blooms florist.

Lavelle Bistro and Wine Bar next to the Nike Store was cooking for the dinner crowd and you could practically cut the garlic fragrance in the air. Dining outside Lavelle's, it's hard not to notice the giant mural on the side of the Nike Store of the University of Oregon's record-setting track star, Steve Prefontaine, who died in a car accident at the age of 24 in 1975.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

A shopper is reflected in a mirror inside the French Quarter Linens store in the Fifth Street Public Market. The Market offers many upscale and boutique-style shops.

Eugene has its cultural side as well as its tie-dyed side, with the 2,500-seat, acoustically renowned Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center for Performing Arts and the University of Oregon Museum of Art.

Among the hanging flower baskets crowding the brick-surfaced streets downtown, Ken Kesey is immortalized at an East Broadway intersection in a sculpture titled "The Storyteller" by artist Peter Helzer. Some call the late award-winning novelist ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") and Oregon resident the link hippie generation of the 1960s.

Because it's in Eugene and it's Ken Kesey who's immortalized, the sculpture feels more like a shrine than a form of artistic expression.

During my 10-minute pilgrimage late one evening, two folks came and knelt beside the memorial and just stared at it. Meanwhile a photographer waited for just the right "light" moment to make a picture of the scene. Local bicyclists rode past without even giving the sculpture a glance.

* Convention & Visitors Association of Lane County -- 754 Olive St.; 800-547-5445; www.visitlanecounty.org

* Fifth Street Public Market -- 296 E. Fifth Ave.; 541-484-0383; www.5thstreetmarket.com

* Saturday Market -- 76 W. Broadway; 541-686-8885; www.eugenesaturdaymarket.org

* University of Oregon information -- 541-346-1000; www.uoregon.edu

* Steelhead Brewing Co. -- 199 E. Fifth Ave. Hours: 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; 541-686-2739; www.steelheadbrewery.com

* New Oregon Best Western Hotel -- 1655 Franklin Ave.; 541-683-3669; www.bestwesternoregon.com/Hotels/Eugene_New_Oregon_Motel.htm

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