About Y-SCENES
Y-SCENES is a human-curated website that lists third spaces where Portland-area youth can hang out and socialize.
Great. What are “third spaces?”
Those are places that aren’t home or school but a third kind of place where you belong. A place where you feel safe and welcome and can spend time with your favorite people. We call our third places Scenes.
OK…what do you mean by “human-curated?”
Y-SCENES is run by real human teenagers in and around Portland who want to share great places for young people to hang out in the real world. They had this idea in 2025 and proposed it to the Multnomah Youth Commission and Big Village Coalition, who helped build this website.
Young people chose all the Scenes for this website, researched them, and wrote all the notes for them. The Y-SCENES team works with several Scenes to make sure they are Ollie-endorsed.
Who is Ollie and why are they endorsing Scenes?
Ollie is the official Y-SCENES mascot. Ollie (they/them) is a friendly Sasquatch who is looking for Scenes that are:
- Friendly to teens who just want to hang out
- Safe from violence
- Free or inexpensive to use
- Do not sell alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana
- Prohibit the use of illegal drugs
The Y-SCENES team (aka real human teenagers) personally verify each Ollie-endorsed scene. We don’t use AI or bots to find them for us!
I know this great Scene…
FANTASTIC! Anyone can suggest a Scene for Y-SCENES! The Real Human Teenagers who run this site review all suggestions and add them to the website.
You can make suggestions anonymously, but if you work at a business or organization that you think would make a great Scene for Y-SCENES, please leave your name and contact info on the suggestion page.
I have feedback about a Scene on your website…
WE LOVE IT. Anyone can rate a Scene by clicking on the Vibe Check and then clicking on Rate this Scene. You can rate each vibe category:
- WiFi (do they have it? is it spotty? is it awesome?)
- Adult supervision (maybe…too much?)
- Friendly to teens (is there a cranky barista who gives kids dirty looks?)
- Feeling of safety (are there always people hanging around looking for a fight?)
- Protection from weather (some otherwise great hangouts are unfortunately outdoors and tend to get wet-ish in winter)
- Good for long hangs (…or does that cranky barista chase you off when you finish your chai?)
- Accessible for kids with disabilities (how easy is it for kids who use mobility devices to hang out here?)
You can also leave feedback about a Scene. The Y-SCENES team (aka real human teenagers) reads all comments and add them to the site if they’re appropriate.
(You can only rate or leave feedback about a scene once.)
Comments, suggestions and feedback to Y-SCENES can be anonymous. You don’t need to leave your name or email, and if you do we will never publish it. We won’t contact you unless you explicitly ask us to.