This is the site where the new tower will displace my bank during construction, then the bank will move back to its previous location, but into the new building.
I like the double level shipping container being used for an office.
Tag: buildings
Post-Election Walk
Everyone was pretty raw at work. I did some stuff, and then left early to take a long walk to the Hollywood Library, where I was volunteering with Teen Book Council.
Look at this blast-from-the-past mural/advertisement for radio station 94.7! Usually it’s covered by an official billboard.
I’ve take a picture of this building before, but on a happier day. It seems today the building is sad. Sorry building. I feel sad too.
The footprint of Farm restaurant, which I always wanted to eat at, and never did. I guess I won’t ever get to now.
Tracking apartment rental prices. For reference, when I got my first studio apartment in Portland in 2002, I paid $500/month to live downtown. If Matt and I rented this apartment, we would pay $850 each. Yikes! 
Here’s the house where the unit is.
I loved the green of this house.
And look! It’s a very specific green.
Very nice vintage four-plex.
I love the neon sign with the brick.
Bit of grey cloud hovering.
The day after the election, not much was happening at the Multnomah Democrats headquarters. The building was dark. (The cars are from the business next door.)
I had a sundae at Baskin Robbins and a very nice Teen Book Council meeting. Then there was square dancing. It was a raw, but good day.
Foggy Portland Morning from the Steel Bridge
Sometimes the walk over the bridge is magical.
This building at NW 10th & Davis is soon to go away.
This is the corner of 10th and Davis, soon to be another tall building. Kush Handmade Rugs has the corner. They are moving to a new location. The storefront on Davis was a print shop that has moved. Aztech Sign and Graphics is on 10th. I’m not sure what will happen to them. Next in line is Jimmy Mak’s, Portland’s Legendary Jazz Club. They were going to move across the street, but the owner’s cancer came back, so he decided to close at the end of the year. Their final night will be New Year’s Eve. (Note from the future: Jimmy Makarounis died on New Year’s Day.)
Trump Art gone. So is the building.
Remember how just a few weeks ago there was Trump art plastered outside of this building?
I return for another movie and *gasp* the building is gone! I’m not sure why I’m gasping anymore as this is probably the 700th* demolished building in Portland this year, but I did have that weird, “something is off” here feeling.
*700 is a made-up number. Could be true though.
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.
I think the sudden designation of a street is a little bit of overkill, though.
I’ve admired this house for some years now. Full basement, okay sized yard, nice mid-century design. 
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.
What do you suppose happened to the statuary that was in this alcove?
Brand new alleyway! New to me, at least.
Interesting design here.
This elm tree is not long for this world.
Another alleyway, this one with contrails. And power lines.
Good bones on this house. It needs some love, though.
Dead car wash.
Dead building. But such excellent mid-century design. I think it could still come back.
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.
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.
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.
It’s got really good bones and those store front retail spaces could be great.
Fingers crossed for the Harlow Hotel!
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.
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.
My first view of downtown
A way to measure peak moss. We have moved through Peak Moss Month (this year: March) and the moss has started to recede. 
My next view of downtown.
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. 
Today we have a barge. I always like barges, probably because I learned the song “Barges” at Girl Scout camp. 
Work is being done on the Steel Bridge. Can you spot the workers?
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.
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.
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.
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.
These three semi trucks are parked behind the abandoned fire station house I would like to renovate.
As you can see, homeless people have taken to living in them.
It is easy to get around this fence.
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.
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.
At this point, my camera battery died, so you will have to wait to see other highlights from my walk to work.
Our last stops on the quest
We’re back on the highway for our final page of stamps on the quest. It seems our last page will mostly be a strip mall McMenamins experience. In our haste to finish, I neglected to take pictures of most of our stops.
Matt’s final stamp came at the Highland Pub. He claimed his pint glass prize.
Mine came from the not-at-all-romantically named Mall 205 Pub. I show off my pint glass. 
It is ironic that our final prize said “On the quest to be a Cosmic Tripster.” Because, you know, we’re done with that quest. If we were the type of people to drop mics, the mic would be dropped right here.
The Grand McMenamins Passport Tour
We had a lot of places to visit so we started early. Our first stop:
Roseburg!
We arrived just as the restaurant was opening. That purple ball had the cephalopod on it we needed to find to get our shirts.
On to Eugene. Laurie and Matt pose outside our first location.
Visiting our second Eugene location (which was my favorite in this town)
Stopping at North Bank for two more stamps and our prize.
Our prize was a basket of fries or tots. We also ordered lunch, which turned out to be a mistake.
You know you’re in Eugene when the McMenamins has bike parking.
Onto Corvallis. Our first location had this amazing sink sculpture:
The second location had an English Pub feel. Here we collected our prize of one free appetizer each.
Next came Salem and this amazing historic house-turned-restaurant.
Our last stop in Salem. Time to claim our prize: sandwich or wrap of our choice.
Wisely, we took them to go. While we were waiting, we sang happy birthday to Phoenix, an eight year old who covered his ears while everyone on the patio serenaded him.
Two pages in one day!