Category: Structures

I can’t help but think I made this urban farm happen.

There has been an empty lot between the Head Start/Apartments on the left and the beautiful (though boring colored) house on the right since before I moved to the neighborhood in 2007.
I used to walk by and imagine buying the property, building a tiny house and having a huge garden.  Then the foursquare house went up for sale and imaged buying it and the empty lot and living in the beautiful house with a large garden.  That house sold and then the small house that backs the lot went up for sale.  I imaged buying it and the large lot and having a small house with a huge garden.

And all these years after imagining this, guess what has popped up on this lot?
They’ve built small sheds to store things in, and raised beds for growing.  The small house that backed onto the lot was sold and ripped down, apartments replaced it.  The small house next door was also sold, ripped down and even larger apartments replaced it.
But here is my large lot, filled with a garden.  This picture shows the huge hoop house they built, so things can grow through the winter.
It’s been a great addition to the neighborhood.

Things have been happening at the City of Roses Motel site.

I haven’t been able to take any pictures because it’s become very dark in the morning, which is when I encounter this site.
But things have been happening!  First of all, they have removed a wall of shrubs that separated the house on the right from the motel site.  They also took out a tree in the back part of the lot and pulled down the ghetto palm growing on site.
Everything has been leveled (the kitty hangout depressions in the earth are gone) and gravel has been spread.
And the site has been wrapped in this.  I’m never sure if this is supposed to keep debris in, or keep prying eyes out.  Perhaps both.
My guess of what’s coming?  Row houses.  Maybe 12 of them, with underground garages. Although the rental market is tight, so it also might be more units than you thought possible with no parking.

Comparison Contrast two houses on Belmont Street.

Waiting for the #15 bus, I got to looking at these two houses located on Belmont just off Cesar Chavez.  They seem to be the same house and presumably built the same time, so I thought it would be fun to do a comparison.  Plus, I get to geek out with Portland Maps.
This is 3921 & 3923 SE Belmont.  It was built in 1908 and is a duplex. It has 2,169 square feet.  Both residences in the duplex are owned by a couple with an address in another part of the city so this is presumably a rental.  The couple purchased the house in 2001 for (get ready to clutch your hearts, real estate hunters of today) $132,000.  Portland Maps tells me that it also sold in 1992 for $59,000 and in 1991 for $42,500. It’s current assessed value is $198,500 and its market value is $273,700.  There are some fun historic permits on file for plumbing inspections.

This is 3927 and 3939 SE Belmont.  It is owned by a couple who live in the house, though I assume they rent out the second unit.  It was built one year earlier, in 1907, and is a tiny bit bigger at 2,171 sq feet. The couple bought the house in 2003 for (again, get ready to clutch your hearts) $47,800. The type of sale is listed as Bargain Sale and Deed and I don’t know if that’s why it was such a steal, selling for so much less than its neighbor.  The historic permits on file list Albertsons, Inc. as the owner in 1965.

The upper story: you can see the type of siding and the roof which I would characterize as in good condition.
This one has shingled siding and what I would guess is a new roof.
Second story.  It looks like the windows have been replaced with newer vinyl-style.  You can also see the “peak” of the porch is placed to the right on this house.
This house still has the old aluminum frame windows and the “peak” is placed further to the left on this house.
Here, our house has an open porch, probably retaining the same style as it was built with.
This house has an enclosed porch, which I am not a fan of.  They seem less pleasant to hang out on and they tend to become a place to stack things.
One thing that interested me was that both houses have heavy 60s/70s era doors that don’t match the rest of the house.
Based on this, I assumed that both houses were owned by the same owner some time in their past. But no!  Was there a traveling door-to-door door salesman with an irresistible pitch?
The carved wood, the dark stain, the brass mail slot!  Does not match!!!
It looks like these steps have been scraped.  Perhaps they are getting ready for a new coat of paint?
The steps on this house are not as wide.
These columns look as though they’ve been renovated at some point.
I would bet these are original.
Thus ends our comparison/contrast.

The end of Powell’s 2, nee Powell’s Technical Books

Once upon a time Powell’s Technical Books was at the corner of NW Park and Couch in a big white brick building with a store cat named Fup. Time passed, Fup died of old age, things changed, Powell’s Technical moved a few blocks north and became Powell’s 2.  The white brick building was torn down to make way for student apartments and a coffee shop with incredibly slow service.  
Walking by today, I see that Powell’s 2 has moved back to the mother ship, and so I bid goodbye to another piece in what was once an empire. Which will survive, of course, but in a different form than before.

Difficult to follow instructions.

I’m walking on the left-hand side of the street and the blue sign tells me to cross to the other side, because the sidewalk is closed.  But the other side of the street doesn’t have any sidewalk access either. So I did what that guy is doing and walked in the road.  
I’m glad they are doing work on both the red brick building on the right and the one you can see on the left.  But I do need to walk on a sidewalk now and then.