Whenever we’re bored in the wee hours, there’s only one option in town for my friends and I. It’s not a bar, or even a pizza joint— it’s a doughnut shop.

But Voodoo Doughnut is far from anyone’s idea of a ordinary doughnut shop. For example, my usual treat of choice is the (tactfully titled) Gay Bar, a raised yeast doughnut injected with Bavarian cream. Vanilla frosting and sweet, crunchy Froot Loops make the whole thing positively delectable. But when I need something different, the store’s signature Voodoo Doll works just fine. Baked in the shape of a doll (already slightly creepy), red, blue, and chocolate frosting depict a crazed face. And as if this wasn’t enough, the doughnuteers drive pretzel stakes through the hearts of every doll. Squeeze in the right place, and out oozes… raspberry jelly. Pure genius, and it can lead to my friends and I biting off the dolls’ heads and and sucking out the jelly like vampires. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and order one.

Eugene, Oregon, is known, for its culture of creativity. Maybe it’s the enormous amount of grass seed that comes into the air every spring, the 49.4 inches of precipitation per year, or the fact that Ken Kesey made the city one of his intellectual birthplaces. One thing’s for sure, though: creativity reigns. The DIY culture abounds in Eugene, in happy conjunction with the “high” arts, such as drawing and painting. I’ve seen both Handel’s Messiah at the Oregon Bach Festival and the works of the Radar Angels guerilla art group here.

So when the folks of Voodoo Doughnut up in Portland, Oregon, were looking for a place to launch their third store (referred to within the community as Voodoo Doughnut Tres), Eugene must have appeared as the obvious choice.

Apart from their doughnuts, the Voodoo brand is recognizable by their signature pink t-shirts. Cheeky sayings like “Magic Is In The Hole” and “I Got VD in Portland” adorn everything from infant onesies to ladies’ underpants.

The shops are keenly tuned to the local culture, wherever they may be located. Their Facebook page regularly cites articles from publications based in Eugene and Portland. The Eugene shop is adorned with posters of movies that have all been set somewhere in Oregon.

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The success of Voodoo Doughnut has become a source of pride in both of the communities in which the shops reside. It serves as proof that the Pacific Northwest does indeed have services and businesses that matter to the rest of the country.

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Whether you find it endearing or obnoxious, Voodoo Doughnut is slowly evolving into one of the symbols of the Northwest. The company has been featured on the Today Show, the Cooking Channel, and recently People magazine. The national attention has been incredible, but thankfully, Voodoo hasn’t lost its experimental nature. When the store’s founders Tres Shannon and Kenneth Pogson were featured on NPR’s feature show Day to Day in 2007, it was originally due to their attempt to create a trans-fat free doughnut. But the two founders couldn’t resist talking about their last crazy venture.

“It was a Tums doughnut, where we had a Pepto Bismol-vanilla frosting with crushed Tums on top,” Pogson explained in the interview. The doughnut (designed to serve as a hangover cure) was banned because it was technically food mixed with medicine. The Health Department didn’t take too kindly to that, apparently.

To me, Voodoo Doughnut represents the future of the Pacific Northwest. Sure, a lot of businesses in these parts are quirky. But they’re also a force to be reckoned with. By believing in their product, even in times of economic downturn, Voodoo has managed to earn nationwide renown in less than ten years. This is incredible, considering the relatively small size of the city of Portland (and Eugene).

The success of Voodoo Doughnut has become a source of pride in both of the communities in which the shops reside. It serves as proof that the Pacific Northwest does indeed have services and businesses that matter to the rest of the country. Like logging. And book stores. And doughnuts with names like the Memphis Mafia and the Grape Ape.

We Want to Know:

• Have you been to Voodoo Doughnut? What’s your favorite menu selection there?
• Is their a business that reminds you or shares a similar ethos with Voodoo Doughnut?

Start the discussion below and be sure to experience the confectionary bliss at Voodoo Doughnut when you’re in the Eugene or Portland areas!

I’m a coffee snob. It’s my only addiction. My co-workers have a Caffè Americano to thank each and every day for ushering me through my metamorphosis from curmudgeonly troll man to moderately friendly human being. The coffeehouse culture is also near and dear to my heart. I ran a coffeehouse a little more than ten years ago and made some extremely significant connections that I still enjoy. It was a tremendous place for building meaningful community. The employees knew the customers, the customers knew each other . . . it became a cultural hub where local musicians played and artists displayed their work. And while the technology over the last decade has changed the game and made wireless internet just about omnipresent, people did bring their laptops and work in. But I can’t recall it creating an environment of silent silos. Everyone regularly interacted. I miss that place.

That experience more than ten years ago, is pretty much the antithesis to my experience now. While I’m sure those community building coffeehouses still exist throughout the country, it seems the steady flow of traffic that I encounter on a daily basis is in one of two camps, the grab and go folks or the cordoned off lost in the laptop crowd. It’s really quiet with the only sounds coming from the cash register and espresso machine. Don’t get me wrong, quiet and peaceful is never a bad thing, but I think about how I see a lot of the same faces on both sides of the counter, but don’t know anybody’s name or see any of the regulars interacting.

As I stopped to pick up my morning life blood today, I started thinking about this concept and wondered if there were coffeehouses that decided they simply weren’t going to cater to either of the aforementioned camps. A simple Google search turned up Tazza Bakery Enoteca in Brooklyn, New York. Their website is a simple, one-page explanation of who they are that includes a downloadable menu, but more importantly, laying out what they offer, what you can expect. There is one section in particular that caught my attention:

“No cell phones. No wireless DSL. You come to Tazza to relax and relax you will. These are The Heights, after all… The heights of having your own little place: Tazza.”

18th Street Coffee House in Santa Monica, California, and Virgil’s House in Saratoga Springs, New York, are others that I’ve found that seem to have similar no laptop, no cell phone policies. Coffeehouses, can make an ideal work environment and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but I wonder how much more sequestered we can possibly become. Some may say it’s a time and place for everything type of thing, but it seems that the nose in a laptop is far more prevalent than a face-to-face conversation.

We Want to Know:

• Is there a coffeehouse in your life that you stop by regularly? Do you know the staff and the other regulars?
• What do you think about the places with no laptop or cell phone policies? Do you know of other places like that?

Start the conversation below!

*Top photo from Wikimedia Commons by Arria Belli
*Home page featured photo from Flickr Commons by Toshihiro Oimatsu

Matt Bort and Chris Williams had a need.  After filling their need with ingenuity, practicality and some sewing chops, they had a business. Burro Bags has fans, they may call them paying customers, from all over the world. Their start-up began by offering handmade messenger bags made with recycled materials from such items as old sails, couch leather, convertible tops and even highway billboards and have expanded their line to include backpacks, wallets and T-shirts among other products. (more…)