I, too, am a fan of the Portland Airport Carpet, which has it’s own Twitter account. But the breathless and extensive coverage of its replacement is starting to remind me of “Panda Watch” as depicted in the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
My Wednesday swim has been usurped by freezing cold shower water. The swimming water is a good temperature, but the shower before and after is more “alpine lake” than I would want. So I’m putting off swimming until warmer weather arrives. In the meantime, I’m taking long walks before my Wednesday volunteer stint. Here’s my walk up (a.k.a. north on) Vancouver Ave.
Before we even get to Vancouver, here is a building on Russell St.
I love it because it has bits from all different decades.
Possibly original doors, but the plywood covering are much more recent. Then there’s the wood that trims the bottom. Most likely not original.
Looking above the front door, we’ve got wavy sheet metal, original ceiling and a busted out light. I also really love the way peeling paint looks.
Original roof detail, asphalt shingles and more plywood.
Really great side detail with original siding peeking through asphalt shingles.
Also, this building is much larger than it looks from the street. And it’s not abandoned. On the other side is a garage door (which completely doesn’t fit) so I think this building is used for storage.
The Vancouver/Williams Corridor has exploded in the last few years. When I first moved here there were many empty lots and even empty blocks thanks to really bad urban development in the mid-20th Century. Supposedly Legacy Emmanuel Hospital was going to hugely expand, so they moved out the largely black business owners and tenants, razed the buildings and then didn’t do anything. Things are being done now, decades later. But it’s not the hospital that is doing things.
Vancouver Ave is the street that runs one way south (towards downtown). Williams is the street that runs one way north. I used to get them confused until someone told me that she always found it odd that Vancouver’s traffic pattern took cars in the direction away from the city of Vancouver.
I was happy to see this bank of houses somehow managed to escape the devastation. Perhaps because they front the lovely Dawson Park.
Just one block north of those houses this is what it looks like. And that is the Vancouver today. Houses that still survive, empty lots that are being gobbled up and the building of high rises like crazy.
It wasn’t until I was walking by that I noticed this billboard is the shortest billboard I’ve ever seen.
A good set of compare/contrast houses.
I’m slightly worried for this pretty building because its on an otherwise empty lot and is surrounded by fencing.
Closeup of the mural.
On Killingsworth, I love this huge edifice.
It’s got extend-a-porch.
From an Oregonian article about most downtown parking tickets accumulated. The top winner is a UPS truck. But also high on the list? The daughter of a doctor with a little too much spending money. Who also has a parking space in a garage. The absurdity of this made me laugh.
I lived downtown from 2002 to 2005. Back then, a few of my jogging routes would take me through Northwest Portland, so between that and walking around, I had a pretty good lay of the land. I had to be at 24th and Northrup, so I walked from Union Station through the neighborhood just to see what had changed.
In short: nearly everything. Huge buildings where there once were none, huge multi-unit places where once there was a house, stores, stores, stores, restaurants, restaurants, restaurants and parking just as horrible as it always was.
So I was thrilled to come upon the Northrup Food Center, which has not been bought, torn down, spiffed up ironically, or anything else. It looks exactly like it did a decade ago.
I love the incredibly grimy 70’s white rock.
I spied an R2D2 hidden away. Old promotion maybe?
Whoever takes over this property has a lot of junk to dispose of.
Here’s a link from 2008 about a mural on the other side of the building. I’m not sure if its still there.
Here’s a link from 2010 about the man who owns the building which also provides insight about why the store hasn’t been redone.
You can read more about the benefit fundraiser here. But I thought I would share some of my favorite photos.
This would be the establishing shot, not a favorite photo. You can read more about Jilt by clicking here.
“The keyboardist looks like he could have actually been on tour with Journey” my friend Kelly quipped. She was not wrong. Not only did he have the look, he was also incredibly talented.
Were I to have a stage style, I might emulate the look of the vest/fedora that the bassist is sporting.
Keyboardist and the “fir” that give the Doug Fir its name.
An homage to Jimi during “Let me stand next to your fire.”
A blurry shot (we’ll just pretend it was smoke) of the drummer/backing vocalist.
A solitary watcher.
Sunglasses in the sound booth.
Chilled out photographer.
Hand stretching across the frame.
Good camaraderie and nice harmonies.
Self portrait.
Band and light show.
I liked how this awning hadn’t been cut off flush yet. These seem to be a design feature very much of the current era. My own house (built in 2007) has them.
We stayed in the Roly Poly at the Caravan Tiny House Hotel. But here are the other houses you could visit.
This is the Caboose. It is 134 square feet and has seating for 4-5 people as well as two bunk beds and a loft bed.
This is Rosebud, a 120 square feet traditional tiny house design.
This is the Tandem which is 160 square feet. It has two queen beds.
This is Skyline, which is 160 square feet, but with a shed roof, so it seems larger. Of the tiny houses here, this is the one I would choose because I could put a desk upstairs where the second bed is and have my cozy “reverse loft” that I’ve become rather obsessed with.
This is the Kangablue, which is another 170 square foot traditional tiny house.
I’m hoping to book another stay one of these tiny houses in the future. It’s fun for a night away.
