Tag: Portland

I read the movie schedule incorrectly and the first movie of my planned double feature was not playing for another week. I had already bought a ticket for the second movie in the double feature at a different theater, so I had time to kill.

I needed a place to hang out where it was warm and there was access to a bathroom. Where could I go for 2+ hours? After mulling it over, I remembered the Lloyd Center, the first shopping mall built in Oregon.

(But actually I only remembered the Lloyd Center because I checked the movie theater outside of the mall to see if I could catch an early movie at that theater. The answer: not any movie I hadn’t already seen or was interested in seeing.)

The Lloyd Center is in a state of change. All of its anchor stores have closed, and the only chain stores left are Forever 21 (it spans two floors!) and Barnes and Noble.

(Correction: The website says there is both a Hot Topic and a Claire’s; I remember seeing the Claire’s, but don’t remember the Hot Topic. The main point is that only a smattering of the retail spaces are filled with national chain stores.)

Let’s see what else there is to see.

I drove past hundreds of empty parking spaces in the street-level covered parking. When I finally found the place people were parking, it was blocked off by a chain, and I couldn’t figure out the alternate entrance. So I ended driving up a ramp (on the wrong side, as it turned out) and finding parking on the upper deck near where the Sears used to be. As I walked in, I heard much more ambient chatter than I thought I would hear.

Turns out, there was a card trading convention on the first floor! Many people were buying, selling, and chatting about cards.

Of course, to take over all this space, all the stores behind them need to be closed. And they are. One of them is the old Victoria’s Secret where I have attended a few NWCTC plays.

The medical directory lists two providers and the mall’s offices. In the early aughts, there were many professionals occupying the third story of the mall.

As the chains have fled, The Lloyd Center has offered attractive leases to small businesses. Floating World Comics is here, as is a place to buy lego.

There’s also a skate school. A school, not a rink!

Speaking of rinks, the ice rink is still going strong. It even snows intermittently. Speaking of, OPB had a fun story about one of the Zamboni drivers in December. It’s worth a listen. Or read. They have a transcript.

One thing that is an intermittent bummer about life in this particular big city is that I have no easy access to a department store. This used to be a Macy’s at the Lloyd Center, and there was another Macy’s downtown. Sometimes I just want to go to a place where I can buy a sweater and kitchen shears. And such a place is nowhere near me.

The third floor had a variety of interesting things. Beau Monde, the haircutting school I went to for many years is at the Lloyd Center now. They used to be down on SW 12th. If you want to play bridge, you can learn at the Portland Bridge Club.

Across from the Bridge Club is another club: the Chess Club. When I walked by there was a tournament, so there were many families hanging about.

The food court still has a few eating options. It also hosted some overflow chess action.

After walking the whole building, I hung out for the rest of the time at Barnes and Noble, where they had only the old edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. The new edition came out in the summer, and I hope no one buys that previous edition because it’s expensive.

I also learned that Barnes and Noble is part toy store, which makes sense because the Lloyd Center’s KB Toys closed years ago.

Overall, it was a very interesting and pleasant visit.

I had a bit of time on a Saturday afternoon (thank you, 9/80 day off) so I stopped by the Central Library to check out how it looked after the renovation. It’s very beautiful and quite different, while retaining the flavor of the previous incarnation.

For one thing: soft seating. This was something I’ve wished the library had ever since I visited the big Seattle Public Library and enjoyed comfy chairs. All the renovated and refreshed libraries will have soft seating. There’s a general feeling that people are less agitated when soft seating appears. They aren’t uncomfortable while sitting on top of the other problems they may have.

Sightlines are very different. In the picture above most of the floor area had stacks that were taller than me. There are a few places where I did find traditional-height stacks in the building, but most of the books on the floor area are housed in bookshelves no taller than 4 feet high. This improves sightlines for all.

Bathrooms. I didn’t take a picture, but the bathroom renovations are top-notch. There are many toilets, each has its own floor-to-ceiling door. The sink area is shared by all. There is no door to the bathroom, so it’s easy to see what’s going on in the bathroom (outside of the toilet cubicles). For people who like a gender-specific experience, there are men’s and women’s restrooms on an upper floor.

Overall, this feels very much like a library that is primed for the future. Nicely done!

I also looked up my family in this 1955 city directory. For some weird reason, my grandparents weren’t listed, but my great great uncle was.

There he is: Anastas, Tom 7505 SW 64th. I looked up “clk” and it means “clerk.”

I find it weird that there are places of employment listed in the city directory (Adriano Ancheta was a baker at the Bohemian Bakery) and home addresses, but no phone numbers.

I also love the name Aloysius Amzurfluh. Do you suppose he had a nickname? Aloysius is Antares’s middle name.

Well, nearly voted. She’s filled out her ballot, for sure.

It took a while. And it took a spreadsheet. This was the first election we got to experience ranked choice voting.

I had to rank six candidates for mayor (a bit difficult, due to quality of candidates) and another six for the three District 2 representatives. 22 were running, but happily some of those 22 hadn’t submitted a statement to the voter’s pamphlet, which is my lowest bar to clear.

I’m excited to see how the ranked choice voting goes. I’m noticing that by ranking six candidates, my feelings of needing ONE person to win have dissipated. I look at that as progress.