slides: Spotted In Portland: 10 Celebrities Who Passed Through Portland in 2014

Saturday, January 03, 2015

Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

Jerry Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld and Fred Armisen in SE Portland. Photo credit: Matt Breslow.

Portland, Ore., might seem like an unlikely city to spot today's hottest celebrities. But, oh, that is far from the truth.

Celebrities -- just like "normal" people -- are attracted to Portland for many of the same reasons we all are: the environment, the ease and comfort of travel around town, and the food.

Many of them traveled through Portland in 2014.

See Slideshow below of "Ten Celebrities Who Passed Through Portland in 2014"

Various reasons, from filming, to visits with family and friends, brought top celebrities to Portland this year. Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern came for the premier of the feature film Wild, Lucy Liu and Katee Sackhoff stopped in Rose City to visit family, while Pee-Wee Herman and Parker Posey came for a Portlandia shoot.

Maya Rudolph and Andy Sandberg came through to visit friends, and filming of "The Librarians" brought Rebecca Romijn and Noah Wylie to town.

Plenty of other familiar faces were in Portland to play music, play ball or just play around. Portland was even visited by some of the biggest names in celebrity news including Martha Stewart and Bill Cosby.

Below is a slideshow of ten famous folks who happened to visit our fair city in 2014.

Related Slideshow: 10 Celebrities Who Came Through Portland in 2014

Portland, Ore., might seem like an unlikely city to spot today's hottest celebrities. But, oh, that is far from the truth. Celebrities -- just like "normal" people -- are attracted to Portland for many of the same reasons we all are: the environment, the ease and comfort of travel around town, and the food. Many of them traveled through Portland in 2014.

Prev Next

Reese Witherspoon

"Monday December 8 was the big premiere of "Wild" at Cinema 21, and stars of the movie, including Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, were spotted earlier in the day in downtown Portland outside of John Gorham's Tasty N Alder.

Witherspoon and Dern were joined by Wild author Cheryl Strayed and others who worked on the film including director Jean-Marc Vallée."

Read the full article.

Photo credit: Reese Witherspoon via Wikimedia Commons

Prev Next

Patrick Stewart

Actor Patrick Stewart was seen all over Portland in the course of an October weekend, including at a Timbers GAme on Friday October 17.

Read the full article.

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Prev Next

Urban & Sackhoff

"New Zealand actor Karl Urban—best known for playing Éomer in the second and third installments of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in "Star Trek" and "Star Trek Into Darkness"—was spotted over the weekend at the food cart pod on Mississippi Avenue by the folks at Koi Fusion, Bo Kwon's popular Portland taco truck.

And Urban just so happened to be spotted there with his co-star from the film "Riddick"—another major sci-fi star, Portland-born and -raised Katee Sackhoff, who is perhaps best known for her role as "Starbuck" on "Battlestar Galactica."

Read the full article.

Photo credit: https://twitter.com/KOifusionpdx

Prev Next

Tiger Woods

"Golf legend Tiger Woods was spotted leaving a popular downtown steakhouse one Thursday in early October.

Once scandal-plagued pro golf legend Tiger Woods was spotted leaving El Gaucho Portland Thursday night with one of his biggest supporters, Nike's Phil Knight."

Read the full article.

Photo credit: Keith Allison via Compfight cc

Prev Next

Lucy Liu

"Actress Lucy Liu was in downtown Portland in late August She popped into Alder & Co. on Southwest 12th Avenue.

Liu said she was in town to shop and "visit family." She was mostly interested in stores like The Good Mod and mid-century vintage places."

Read the full article

Photo Credit: Lucy Liu's Instagram

Prev Next

Posey & Nielsen

"Actress Parker Posey was seen in front of a downtown hotel and in Portland's West District near Tasty N Alder on Tuesday September 16.

Not far from there, near Southwest 10th Avenue, actress Brigitte Nielsen was also seen strolling in Portland on Tuesday too."

Read the full article.

Photo credit: "Parker Posey @ Fox Upfronts 2007 02 (cropped)" by Arnold Gatilao from Fremont, CA, USA - Parker Posey. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons [live look]

Prev Next

Pee-Wee Herman

"Paul Reubens was spotted outside a downtown Portland hotel on a Sunday in early October. Reubens, best known for his iconic role on television and in film as Pee-Wee Herman, was said to be in town over the weekend for a guest-starring role on the hit IFC show, Portlandia."

Read the full article.

Photo credit: The Palmetto Scoop Webiste: The Palmetto Scoop (Paul Reubans in character), via Wikimedia Commons

Prev Next

Joe Biden

In early October, the Vice President was seen in Northeast Portland making an unannounced stop on NE Alberta Street to visit Salt & Straw.

Read the full article.

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons

Prev Next

Bill Cosby

"Bill Cosby, comedy and television legend, was seen arriving in Portland on Tuesday October 7. Cosby was in town to perform at a sold-out benefit at the Portland Art Museum."

Read the full article.

Photo credit: Scott King

Prev Next

Jerry Seinfeld

"Comedian Jerry Seinfeld was spotted all over town on Saturday Septembr 27 shooting an episode of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” with Portlandia star Fred Armisen."

Read the full article.

Photo credit: Matt Breslow