Tag: Portland

Saturday morning walk to MLK

We had Friday off from work because we had a work retreat on Saturday.  It was at the Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg and there was carpooling involved. I needed to get to a meeting spot on MLK and decided that this morning was a good time for a longer walk.  Here’s what I saw along the way.

Once upon a time, this lot had a blue house on it. I took a picture of that house (but didn’t tag it properly and now I can’t find it. I also have a view from the alley of the initial stages.  Now it has eight townhouses.  From an infill perspective, I very much like this development.  Why?  Each unit has a parking space.  Also I think they look like small places. Better to have one house torn down and replaced with eight small homes than one huge one. I haven’t been successful in finding a listing, possibly because these have already all sold, and attempts to spy through windows failed because people live there.  But I would like to see the inside of one of these units.IMG_5803 IMG_5804

I think the sudden designation of a street is a little bit of overkill, though.

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I’ve admired this house for some years now.  Full basement, okay sized yard, nice mid-century design.  IMG_5806

Once upon a time North Portland had a convent.  (Maybe more than one, what do I know?)  And then the convent closed and eventually the land surrounding it was plotted into owner-occupied and rental housing.  But you can still see the original building.  And people still live in it.IMG_5807

What do you suppose happened to the statuary that was in this alcove?IMG_5808

Brand new alleyway!  New to me, at least.IMG_5809

Interesting design here.IMG_5810 IMG_5811

This elm tree is not long for this world.IMG_5812 IMG_5813

Another alleyway, this one with contrails. And power lines.IMG_5816

Good bones on this house.  It needs some love, though.IMG_5819

Dead car wash.IMG_5820

Dead building.  But such excellent mid-century design.  I think it could still come back.IMG_5823

When I moved to Boston, one of the markers that I lived in a big city was the presence of the Boys & Girls clubs everywhere.  I knew about them from commercials featuring famous people who once hung out at them.  Like this one.  Which is from 2011, and thus not very old.  But watch it and see if you don’t get all teary.  Also I feel like Denzel Washington has done voicework for Boys & Girls clubs for many many years.  Ha!  The internet confirms my belief.  You can even watch his first ad from 1993.  Prepare to get all teary.  Or, as we called it back then (due to Saturday Night Live): verkelmpt.

And Portland has it’s own Boys and Girls club. But just one location. We’re not that big of a city.

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The reopening of the Harlow Hotel (maybe)

This building has been looking like something was going to happen to it for several years now.  But recently, this hopeful sign sprouted on its side.IMG_5784

I’ve long loved this building, it reminds me of a Gus Van Sant film.  (From the early, gritty-Portland era)  You can read about the genesis of the Harlow Hotel here. 

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It’s got really good bones and those store front retail spaces could be great.IMG_5787
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Fingers crossed for the Harlow Hotel!

Mermaid Parade

It’s the first annual Portlandia Mermaid Parade!  I had to be there.  It was a good day to wait on the waterfront for mermaids to wander by.

I wasn’t situated in the best place for photos, (next year) but here they are:IMG_5719 IMG_5720

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There were at least two mermaids being pulled in wagons.IMG_5725 IMG_5726 IMG_5727 IMG_5728

Many mermaids stopped at the Salmon Street Fountain for some pictures.IMG_5729 IMG_5730 IMG_5731 IMG_5732 IMG_5733 IMG_5734 IMG_5735 IMG_5736 IMG_5737

The mermaid parade was a hit!

Did you know it was World Skate Day?

Me neither.  But the street in front of work was blocked off and a ramp started to be assembled.  Suddenly, there was a gaggle of skaters hanging out.IMG_5604 IMG_5605 IMG_5606 IMG_5607 IMG_5608 IMG_5609There was a bit of a confrontation over this camera, but the two parted smiling, so that worked out okay.

I left work as the ramp was still being assembled, but my co-worker said when she left it had been fully assembled and it was fun to watch them skate on it.

Another fan of the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

One of the downsides to digital is that I can’t spy very well on people’s reading materials.  When I’m reading on my phone people can’t see I’m catching up with the Oregonian. And e-readers don’t have the title printed at the top of every page, like printed books do.    But there are still times I can see what’s in someone’s hand. Like this young man.IMG_5576

Looking at the photo I notice he’s from De La Salle, (a Catholic High School that focuses on academics and work experience) which makes me wonder if it’s required reading, or he’s just interested.

(And sometimes when you are quickly taking the picture on the train, someone leans forward into the frame and glares.)

My walk to work

Since January 25, my first day at work, I’ve been pretty darn good about getting off at the Rose Quarter and walking over the Steel Bridge.  I think I’ve not done it fewer than five times.  One challenge I have with taking the same walk over and over is that things can feel stale.  So I try to look for small changes as I walk.

Here is my approach to the bridge.  I have a picture of this from 2007 covered in wildflowers.  Alas, it’s reverted to grass. She’s a persistent one, that grass.  For a two-week period earlier in the year this was covered in Canada geese chomping away.  But they moved to another part of their life cycle after some point and the rain eventually washed all their poop off the sidewalk.IMG_5417

I believe this random post used to have more than a No Parking sign on it.  But who knows what it was?  Regardless, the end of the horizontal post is open and for a period of time (I assume it was nesting time) I would usually see a sparrow perching at the edge of the opening and chirping away.

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My first view of downtownIMG_5419

A way to measure peak moss.  We have moved through Peak Moss Month (this year: March) and the moss has started to recede.  IMG_5420

My next view of downtown.IMG_5421

This grain silo operation is continually fascinating to me.  Sometimes the ships are *poof* suddenly there.  And then they sit for a week or more.  Why do they sit so long? And why do I mostly never see any sailors on the ships?  I once came across the ship being filled, which was quite fun to watch. IMG_5422

Today we have a barge.  I always like barges, probably because I learned the song “Barges” at Girl Scout camp. IMG_5423

Work is being done on the Steel Bridge.  Can you spot the workers?IMG_5424

Another game I’ve been playing is to see when all the slips are filled with boats.  At first there were just two, but they’ve been slowly arriving as we have so much nice weather.  Also, I really like that condominium complex.  Though it’s more geometric than I would choose to build, I think it’s aged well and looks great against the river and the city.IMG_5425

It took several weeks for me to notice that the black sign lights up with the words “stopped vehicles ahead”.  And then several more weeks to figure out what triggers it.  The train is the trigger.  When the Green and Yellow lines make the hard turn to the right at the base of the bridge all traffic must stop, so the sign illuminates.IMG_5426

The beach where a lot of dogs play.  I don’t think that beach was there earlier in the year, so I will watch the water level change.IMG_5427

Over the tracks. I often think of Jan when I walk this part, as she lived in for some time in an apartment that is just out of view.IMG_5428

These three semi trucks are parked behind the abandoned fire station house I would like to renovate.IMG_5429

As you can see, homeless people have taken to living in them.

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It is easy to get around this fence.IMG_5432 IMG_5433

I am quite pleased with the renovation of this building. It sat empty for many of my years living in Portland.  There seems to be a gym in the basement.  I enjoy wondering if today will be the day I look up to see what gym it is.IMG_5434

The red brick building is the old Blanchet House.  When the new Blanchet House was built on the opposite corner of the block, the billboard space became less desirable.  So this billboard is slowly being peeled away by the elements.  It’s also exposing its signage precursor.IMG_5435

At this point, my camera battery died, so you will have to wait to see other highlights from my walk to work.

The old Portland

I grew up in Boise, Idaho, but my grandparents and aunts lived in Portland so we visited at least twice a year.  Portland was the big city, where you always locked your car in the mall parking lot, where there was a bus system that people actually used, where I routinely tried not to stare at skinheads and homeless people.IMG_5212

In Heavier than Heaven, Charles Cross’s biography of Kurt Cobain, he describes Portland in the late 80s and early 90s as (I’m paraphrasing here) a city, but a blue-collar city, still showing its roots in logging and shipping.  And that’s what I remember of downtown Portland growing up.  Sure, it had Meier and Frank and the ten stories of goods, plus a fancy restaurant to replenish your appetite during a day of shopping.  But it was also full of buildings like this one, single story and dingy looking and in need of a face lift.  My memories of walking around downtown Portland as a child are gray (probably because of the perpetually overcast skies) and crowded (many Portland streets are not very wide).

Those dingy buildings are disappearing so quickly.  Just looking at the edges of this photo you can see the changes happening.  The shiny building to the left of the Passport Photo place was a similarly dingy restaurant equipment supply store until a few years ago.  And in the upper left you can see additional stories grafted onto a building on the Park Blocks that has been purposed into mixed-use condominiums.  On the upper right is a huge condo complex the likes of which I will never be able to afford and I can’t even tell you what kind of buildings used to be there.

It’s a time of big changes for the blue-collar logging town.  Some of them I love, some of them I don’t.  I just hope that through the changes Portland says a city I’m crazy in love with.