Tag: Portland

Terrible and intriguing flyer

This flyer appeared at my Max stop this morning.  What an unfortunate story.  Martha Marie Morrison was murdered in 1974.  Her siblings assumed she was reported missing, but she never was.  I’m curious about the details of the story. As a 17-year-old she was already living with her boyfriend.  She also suffered from psoriasis, which is something we have in common. This Wikipedia page has more information.  It sounds like she had a hard life.

Mediocre chain restaurant is now gone from the Pearl

At my previous job, it wasn’t unusual to end up at Noodles now and again, just because it was so close.  The food was always so-so.  It seems that others in the area might have felt the same.  I can’t say I’m too broken up.

Also, I’m amused that “not far” to them means Washington Square.  By my reckoning, they are very far away.

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.

Where the building exploded

A little past 9:30am on October 19, I heard a noise, which was loud enough to rattle the windows at work and cause some computer thing to beep as it reset itself.  It happened a second time and then there were many sirens.

My co-worker, always quick to find answers, found the news on the Fire Department’s twitter feed.  There had been a gas explosion in Northwest Portland.  Firefighters were on the scene and reporters were told where they should go for updates, and the best route to get there.

Though there were injuries, amazingly no one was killed.  You can see pictures and video by going here.

A week an a half later, we drove through the intersection, on the way to my Birthday dinner.  This the corner with the building that exploded, as well as the apartments next door.  

The plate glass blew out of the building across the street.

No longer a KFC. Parking space not included.

When I moved to Kenton in 2007, this lot at the corner of N. Lombard and N. Fenwick was a KFC with a drive-through and a parking lot.  The KFC closed a few years later.  The building was taken down and the lot has been empty for some time.  I recall a fluttering of plans for something, but those did not come to pass.  But now we have what looks like a six-unit complex that has been built on the lot.  And it looks like there will be another six-unit complex arriving soon.  This is located a block away from the Lombard Transit center, so hopefully many people without cars will rent these places.  However, if they do have a car, they will be parking the neighborhood.  It’s past time for the Portland City Council to start figuring out  a parking system for the city.  Big, compact cities have parking enforcement throughout.

Interestingly, the Google Map of the corner has not erased the presence of the KFC, or the parking lot.  While I don’t think it should instantaneously show a new building, the building it is showing hasn’t existed for years.