I’m Jake Newman. The Portland Logbook is my love letter to this city: the food worth hunting down, the history that refuses to die, the corners you only find if you’re paying attention.

Portland Is Sleeping on Zephyr Ice

I drove past Zephyr Ice for probably a year before I ever stopped in.

Honestly, I thought it was just a snow cone stand.

The kind of place you stop at once as a kid and never really think about again. I figured it would be bright blue syrup, crushed ice, and a lot of sugar.

What I didn't expect was how much thought went into every part of it.

Zephyr Ice is over on Spring Street, just around the corner from the Portland Museum of Art, and it's one of those places that doesn't really make sense until you try it. A scoop of homemade ice cream goes in the bottom, then they pile shaved ice on top. Not the crunchy carnival stuff you're probably picturing. The kind that's so soft it almost disappears when it hits your tongue.

The syrups are where it starts to make sense.

Every one of them is made in-house from real fruit. No neon pump bottles. No mystery blue liquid. The syrup soaks through the ice and into the ice cream, so every bite is a little different than the one before.

I know everybody says to get the macadamia nut ice cream, and they might be right, but I always end up getting vanilla ice cream with passionfruit, raspberry, condensed milk, and sour plum powder on top. It sounds like a weird combination until you eat it. Sweet, tart, creamy, salty all at the same time. The sour plum powder is what makes it. It wakes the whole thing up.

The people behind it are Julie and Don Martin. They first had shave ice on a trip to Hawaii in 2017 and couldn't stop thinking about it when they got home. Don grew up making ice cream with his family and spent more than twenty years bartending before opening Zephyr. Once you know that, the syrups make a lot more sense. They're balanced the way a good cocktail is balanced. Sweet, but not too sweet.

They started with a cart in 2020 and opened the Spring Street shop the following year.

Every time I walk by Zephyr in the summer, there are people sitting outside with one. Families, dates, people walking their dogs. It's around the corner from the PMA, and it feels like one of those places that needs to become part of summer in Portland.

I spent a year thinking I already knew what this place was.

Turns out I was wrong.

Portland's pretty good at that.

Go Get a Shave Ice!

This Doesn't Feel Real Yet

The Portland Logbook just passed 7,500 readers!

That number doesn't really make sense in my head, so I tried to picture it.

Fitzpatrick Stadium holds about 5,500 people. When Hearts of Pine sells out, every seat is taken. The place is loud. You can feel it.

Now fill the whole stadium.

Then put another 2,000 people outside waiting to get in.

That's about how many people read this newsletter.

Which, honestly, is a little hard for me to wrap my head around.

I started the Logbook because my friends kept telling me they didn't feel connected to Portland. They lived here, but the city felt like something happening around them instead of something they were actually part of.

I wanted to change that.

I wanted people to know the stories behind the places they walk past every day. I wanted people to try the restaurant they've been meaning to visit. I wanted people to notice the things that make Portland feel like Portland.

Somewhere along the way, something unexpected happened.

You all started writing back.

People send me recommendations. They tell me about places I missed. They argue with me about food. They tell me a story that reminds them of their grandfather, their first apartment, or a place they haven't thought about in years.

It stopped feeling like a newsletter and started feeling like a conversation.

That's probably my favorite part.

Thank you all, Jake

Share this with a friend!

THIS WEEKS CONDITIONS
☀️ SUNRISE: 5:02 AM
🌅 SUNSET: 8:17 PM
✨ Local Opening’s: Barkada
✨ Local Favorite “Shop” of the Week: Regards
✨ Local Artist of the Week: Dillon Richardson
❤️ Local Job Listings: Lambs - Bartenders and Servers

Portside Real Estate Group

I'd put your house right here!

🏡If we end up working together, your place shows up in this spot, in front of thousands of people who already love Portland.

There's something kind of great about seeing your own home land in their inbox, in the same newsletter people actually read for fun.

I'm curious

🐾 Adoptable Buddies of the Week! 🐾

🐶 Smee – 3 yrs
A goofy, adventurous pup who’s looking for someone to show him the world isn’t so scary. Loves to play, stay active, and be part of the action. The perfect sidekick for someone on the go.

🐱 Amberlynn – 5 yrs
A sweet-and-spicy cat who takes a little time to warm up. Loves her people once she gets to know them and enjoys playtime. Best with a patient, cat-savvy adult household.

🐱 Harbor Master – 3 yrs
A shy, thoughtful cat who needs a little extra time and patience to settle in. Part of the Tiny Tiger program, he's looking for a calm home where he can build confidence at his own pace. The kind of cat that rewards patience with quiet companionship.

🐕 Interested? Check them out here

If the link doesn’t open anymore, it means they’ve already been adopted!