Tag: Portland

Walk on Michigan Ave.

Ah, there are so many ways to get to the Wednesday volunteer job.  This week I took the train to Overlook and walked over I-5 using the Failing Street Overpass , then took a walk up (aka north on) Michigan Ave.  This part of town has a bunch of streets in a line, all named after US states that begin with the letter M.  In fact, when I-5 was in the planning stages, this section of the Interstate was known as the Minnesota Freeway, because that’s the street that the Interstate took over.  (Also, in looking for the name, I found this great picture of I-5 through N. Portland in 1964.)

Here’s a great picture of triplets.  The high vantage point is thanks to the Failing Street Overpass. Which has a review on Yelp.  Notice how in the one closest to us, the bay window is on the side closest to the alley, or the right-hand side of the building. 

Here they are again, from street level and you can see that in the middle and left-most houses, the bay window is on the other side.  It seems we have a flip-flop of floor plans. It would be interesting to walk through all three and see how they’ve changed on the interior over the years. 

Mid-February.  Magnolia bloom.  You know.  Because February.

Another set of triplets.

Only the middle one still has this detail.

And then I found these little friends. And took a lot of pictures.

Look at the recycled metal used on the siding!  And the reuse of bricks.

Maybe you need to look a little closer?  Done!

There’s a grand path to the backyard.

And even a porch swing.  Also, look at the tiling!

I was gushing about these houses to my coworker, who lives nearby and she said that one of the students at school lives next door to these two houses.  So I tracked down the dad and asked him about the houses.  He told me they are tiny, with a loft bed and a guy built both of them.  Further information on Portland Maps tells me the guy lives next door, the house you can see in the picture below, and the houses were built in 2008.  They are 362 square feet.  So cute!  Also, their real market value for the two of the is $294,570.

These dogs came a-yappin as I walked by.

The big orange sign of impending death.  Look for one or two larger houses to appear in the future.

It’s fairly overgrown.  

This was a fun find.  I initially was impressed with the amount of yard this house has. On this block it’s this house and one other and that’s it, which is very unusual for this neighborhood, as you saw with the other houses being so close together.

But as I walked by, I happened to glance back and see that the small house is much bigger than I thought.  So I investigated, which involved walking back around the block to the alley.

And look! There’s been a whole part of the house, even bigger than the original one, grafted on.  I’d like to see inside this house too!

This is the other house on the block, which boasts a yard of overgrown ivy.

It’s a grand Victorian, though. Although I would like it to have a more colorful paint job.

Here’s a set of twins, right by the Q Center. 

The one on the left is for rent.  Reading for-rent signs makes me quite happy we bought when we did.  We don’t pay anything near that amount and we have more square feet too. And our rent doesn’t keep going up.

I liked this duplex.  We don’t have a ton of them.  Most houses are single family.

This bush was very Sueussian in its look and deliciously smelly too.

A fine specimen of symmetry.

It’s  not unusual to find apartment complexes centered around a courtyard in Portland, but it’s very unusual to find Mission-style ones.

Third floor, corner room.

A long shot, so you can see how the new building is stacking up to the house next door.  That house was for sale a few years ago, and it turns out to be a good thing I didn’t buy it.  It’s pretty easy to look in the backyard now.  I still like the green tin roof, though.

But here’s the small (and out of focus) detail for today.  I’m very interested that these corner rooms seem to be triangle-shaped.  So far both the second and third floors are like that.  I’d like to see them from the inside.

And these telephone poles have appeared in the lot across the street.  I can’t tell if they have anything to do with this construction or not.

Bike Ride to Smith & Bybee Lake

It’s sunny, it’s warm, it’s February.  Whereas my former roommate in Somerville, Massachusetts spent this weekend getting walloped by yet another snow storm, I took a lovely bike ride.  Go Portland! (Although I’m worried about the lack of snow pack and am hoping for a wallop of our own–rain here, snow in mountains–to begin soon.)

Cuts in the hill for a new house going in.

My guess is that it will look like these ones.

This is Columbia Boulevard, which on weekdays is chock full of cars and trucks doing their industry thing.  But on weekends is lightly traveled. And we have a dedicated bike/walk path, which makes traveling alongside it quite pleasant.

I was going to ride out to Kelly Point Park to see if the Willamette was still flowing into the Columbia, but I got sidetracked by Smith and Bybee Lake.  They had a bike rack, so I locked up and set off on foot.

Smith & Bybee lake is a “wetlands natural area” which means that while it is surrounded by the heavy industry of North Portland, it is an area to see all sorts of wildlife including birds.  This picture is my stealth shot of the woman who was not only on her cell phone, but had her dog with her, clearly ignoring the many signs explaining why dogs weren’t allowed. 

This looks like a quiet and peaceful scene, but it was actually a croak-feast with seemingly hundreds of frogs chattering away.  When I walked by they quieted down, but I had a seat and they were soon chatting it up again.  I used the zoom on my camera to try and see one, but no dice.  They blended too well.

When I first moved to Portland it was a wetter than usual winter.  We nearly broke the record of consecutive days of rain, stalling out at 38–three short of the previous record.  I was still emailing with a friend from Massachusetts at the time and he asked what it was like there. 

Green.  Green was my reply.  Not just the evergreen trees or the grass watered by the endless amount of rain, but the moss growing on every static surface painted the entire city green.  I thought of that conversation when I saw this informational sign, completely covered by moss along the upper lentil.

First budding.  Here comes the green on the bushes.

See that moss?  Everywhere.  Green.

Here is the shelter that overlooks Smith Lake.  I had it to myself and it was very peaceful.

Broken tree.

A robin among the moss.

Another picture that looks silent.  But the wind rustling through the dead grasses made quite a lot of noise.  This is Bybee Lake.

And here’s Bybee Lake from the Bybee Lake Shelter.

Waterfowl.

Red among the brown.

This plaque once upon a time said something.  But we will not know what, thanks to (I’m guessing) some meth-head who pried it off to sell.  I was interested in how the UPC code and some other information were still viable in the glue.

I’ve always loved these snag/art pieces.  It’s not the first time I’ve taken a picture.

Changes afoot close in

Watch out, Burgerville, that those buildings don’t swallow you whole!

This is just south of the Rose Quarter.  Construction has been going like gangbusters in this area, which makes sense because it’s so close-in and has very good access to public transportation.  When I moved here in 2001, there was a new-construction condo for sale in this neighborhood for $84,000.  Too bad I wasn’t in the market then.  I’m quite sure units in that complex aren’t going for that amount anymore.

The building being constructed in the back of this picture is the other side of the building that is swallowing Burgerville.  I love the old-school nature of the two buildings in the foreground.  Both the architecture and the fact that both of them have signs telling you what they are.  “Professional Building,” “Dental Building.”  I’m quite certain neither of these is long for this world.

January walk up Williams

Last week I walked up (aka north on) Vancouver, this week, Williams.  Williams is the one-way north arterial.  While Vancouver has more houses, Williams has more businesses.  I suspect it was the main drag back before poorly planned urban renewal destroyed the neighborhood.

But before we get to Williams, let us pause and mourn these abandoned Christmas Trees.  Poor things.

It’s around this time of year that dandelions start to look delicious to me.  I wouldn’t mind harvesting some of these and frying them up with some bacon.

Here’s a really nice infill that fits well with the neighborhood.  It’s a little older than what you are about to see.

I like the lines on this high-density housing of long ago.  Four units, people!  And even some yard.

There are still empty lots on Williams, but they are becoming extinct.

This is called Blue House Greenhouse Farm  I hope someday to have such a pretty spread.  And I see from their blog that they have work parties now and again.  Perhaps I shall go and make my acquaintance.

The amount of things happening in this photo is crazy stimulating.  New Seasons is in the distance.  I read in the paper that they leased all of the retail space in the building being built.  They have no plans for that retail space, but they needed all the parking spaces. 

An indication of why one of the bars had a sign posted for a few months that said, “We are open during all this f*@ing chaos”

House being eaten by a building/boa constrictor.  This house now houses businesses, including Betty Jean Couture which designs clothing for full-figured women.

This is a bar/restaurant I’m intrigued by, but I haven’t successfully visited because I can’t tell what their name is.  Googling and guessing a few months ago led me to a different bar down the street.  POA?  DOA?  Let’s see what results I can pull up.  Ah.  It seems to be Poa Cafe.  And not a bar.  Alas.

One of those rare empty/overgrown lots.

Old school business.  Back in the day when they had a lot more added security.

The building’s occupant has a similarly old school sign on their door.

Going up!  The empty lot on the left is the back half of the block with the building on Vancouver I took a picture of last week.

Old school Vancouver building.  I’m guessing, from the graffiti on the front, that it’s unoccupied.

Notice how the taller building steps down to a more respectable house-sized level.

I’ve always though this was a good example of a “remuddling”

Old school houses, including one that has been converted into a church.

This building had a very nice refurbishing. It was pretty decrepit.

Uniform in their modernity.  I wish I had taken a picture of the houses across the street, just for contrast.

Old school building with mural.  Probably not long for this world.  There was once another mural on the front that has pictures of edible weeds.

The building on the left was once a church.  It was for sale for a long time.  I wanted to buy it because I’ve always wanted to live in a converted church.  You can’t see it in this picture, but I think they have a catio on the other side of the house.  I can’t remember what the building on the right used to be, whether we are looking at a renovation, or new construction.

Twins!  Fraternal, not identical.

Someone is going to make a pretty penny off of this lot.  Hidden under the tarp are the items that are periodically for sale.

There was a time in my life when I rode my bike on Williams on a regular basis.  I watched this lot transform from the side lot of a grand house into this row of three houses.

Here you can see the grand house.

Speaking of grand houses, this was initially a family residence, then a women’s hospital and maternity ward.  After that it was the first African American funeral home in Portland and now the East Multnomah Soil and Water Council District owns it.  Though EMSWCD interviewed me twice for a position and never called to tell me I didn’t get the job, all is forgiven because I love what they’ve done with this building.

This is a grand example of a well-kept house.  I love the colors and the mystical creatures guarding the property.

On Killingsworth now, I noticed a detail on the Scanner Newspaper building.

Those aren’t awnings, they are solar panels!

So ended my walk.

RIP Downtown Post Office

You’ve been bought by St. Mary’s Academy and they are tearing you down until they figure out what they want to put on this block.  This is the post office I used a lot when I lived downtown.  It’s also the one where I once took 20 manila envelopes to mail for work and the postal clerk was aghast.  “Did you sort them by zip code?” she asked.  She was very grumpy when I responded in the negative.  “I have to enter each zip code separately!”   That was a lady who was not at all happy with her job.