For unknown reasons, this large poster of Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love Express Tour has a speech bubble added to it. “Stay golden, Pony Boy” it says. Why? We shall never know.
Also in the photo? A TriMet rider. And me! This is what happens when I’m double fisting photos. I took one for my phone for texting purposes, and then didn’t bother to frame the camera one properly.
This is a bank of three houses at the corner of NE Couch and 8th. They’re surrounded by a bunch of industrial buildings and I’m surprised they have survived this long.
However, they do not have much in the way of backyards. Instead, their former backyards are now a parking lot for the apartment building behind them.
The most awesome Portland Maps site tells me that all three houses are owned by Volunteers of America. One was bought in 1989 for $63,000, another in 2001 for $450,000. There’s no data on the sale of the third one.
I would assume that these are either used as halfway houses, or other things for VOA’s many programs, so perhaps not entirely residential, but yet more commercial among the commercial.
For more than nine years I worked for The Emerson School and for more than nine years I did recess duty at the playground across the street from the school. I’ve watched kids play every imaginable game in this space. I’ve sat with a child stuck in the play structure while the firemen came with the jaws of life to move the steel enough so she could pull her leg out. I’ve watched kids year after year play the game where they try to catch falling leaves in the autumn and try to catch whirling seed pods in the spring.
And now the playground as I knew it is no more.
The steel play structure and the swings came down first.
But the object I called the ziggurut needed to be sledgehammered bit by bit.
They pulled up the soft landing material.
And broke up all the concrete. This cupola-type object was a top the ziggurat. Kids who were good climbers would like to hide in the peak, wedging themselves in all four corners, Spider-man-style. They weren’t allowed.
So far this lamp is staying.
It looks like they’re going for a totally clean slate, as evidenced by these large hunks of concrete.
I’m not sad to see the playground being revitalized. It was built in 1990, which was my sophomore year of high school, which was a long time ago. It’s had a good run and now it’s time for a new way for children to play.
Also, because The Emerson School has moved to a new location, this doesn’t affect how recess will work. They’ve been talking about redoing the playground for years and it was always a bit of a conundrum, trying to figure out an alternative place for the children to play.
I used one of my free articles from the New York Times to access this information. It was totally worth it! Do you want to know how common your birthday is? I’ll give the answers to some birthdays of people I know:
October 26: 184
September 26: 27
February 10: 171
June 26: 112
October 22: 164
June 2: 121
October 13: 180
August 6: 46
July 22: 18
Chock full of actors I enjoy (many from Downton Abbey), based on a book I quite liked, and featuring an interesting subject, this was a great example of a Sunday Afternoon Movie.* Lily James draws you in, and look! there’s Michiel Huisman, enjoyable in so many projects.** The stakes are somewhat high, but presented in a pleasant manner, and all things come out fine in the end.
Cost: Netflix Monthly Subscription ($7.99)
Where watched: at home, after an exhausting day
Also consider watching: Before We Go; Under the Tuscan Sun, The Grand Seduction
*The type of movie that is pleasant and soothing, best watched on a Sunday afternoon, before you start gearing up for the week.
**The Age of Adaline, Irreplaceable You, Treme
There will be a new building at the corner of 12th & Flanders. Looking at the sketch it looks like it will be a lot taller than the buildings that surround it.
The height isn’t as much of a problem as the fact that this lovely tree will be cut down in order to build another tall building.
I don’t always feel sad about big trees coming down. I was downright giddy when my neighbor cut down the large tree that dropped a ton of annoying branches and served as a home for many aphids that dropped sticky substances on the car.
But I’ve always liked the way this tree shades the parking lot and towers over the intersection.
Though it is old, it doesn’t look old enough to be a heritage tree, so we shall eventually lose it.
Every Fred Meyer I’ve ever visited has one of these indicators by the front doors. It’s always very exciting when we get to see some of the blue, as we don’t spend very many days per year below freezing in this part of Oregon.
I watched Eighth Grade at the Regal City Center Stadium 12, and Sorry to Bother You at the Laurelhurst. The Living Room Theater was where I watched Three Identical Strangers and Won’t You Be My Neighbor was seen at the Hollywood Theater.
Portland is such a good movie theater town.
I highly recommend all of these movies. In fact, if these are the four movies you see this year, you will have done very well, movie-wise.
It was hard to watch this film because it was “so deeply rooted in the feminine adolescent experience”* and I remain grateful that I got through that period of my life in an analog era. Elsie Fisher is stunning as Kayla, a young woman who presents as self-assured, popular, and well-adjusted while filming for her YouTube channel and completely fades into the woodwork at school. Nothing is wrong with Kayla or her life, but adolescence is so harrowing,** it’s hard to re-experience via cinema, even as the main character continually tries for a positive spin.
Cost: $5.55 (but actually free due to gift cards)
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12
Consider also watching: The Edge of Seventeen, We Are the Best
*Kate Erbland, Indiewire
**I found the popular/unpopular kid interactions in this movie to be very true to my experience as a teenager and much more accurate than the overt bullying that is usually portrayed. More social hierarchy is established by freezing people out than by words said.
What starts as a wacky, smart commentary on alternative-present social, economic and racial issues takes a very weird turn partway through. The weirdness works having been properly set up in the first half. Lakeith Stanfield makes the most of his sorrowful eyes and Tessa Thompson* knocks it out of the park as a sign waver/performance artist in this movie that is a worth-seeing zeitgeist.
Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater
*She’s having a great (and well-deserved) couple of years.
Also consider watching: Get Out, Attack the Block, Dear White People
