If memory serves, I was headed to Walgreens to return a Redbox DVD.
I like the look of this house, though the appearance of a backhoe has me worried that soon this house will not be. Hopefully they are doing some renovation.
This is a fun message.
Here’s a two-part window display. The girl blows hearts that form a rainbow.
To a boy on the other side of the door.
I love a good random art find.
Time for a fun date! Once again Laura O. Foster provides a great walk for us..
It’s a house that John Povey, of Povey Brothers Glass Company fame lived in! Such a charming façade!
The book said Povey’s name could still be seen in the front steps. It took a bit of squinting, but Matt eventually found it and pointed it out to me. Can you see it? Look at the top step.
Portland has hosted its share of protests focused on racial injustice, police brutality and the killing of George Floyd and others. The Irvington Neighborhood was awash in signs included this Burma-Shave-type message:
Last sign says: Our Minds
We spotted this fella in some side yard bamboo.
Aside from signs, Irvington is awash in Little Free Libraries. I found a big win in this one. Look at all these postcards!
And everyone can use a neighborhood cat review.
Or two.
Cambia Todo Cambia translates as Everything Changes (or maybe Changes, Everything Changes?) You can see a delightful performance here and read the translated lyrics here.
I can tell that the Crystal Garden Apartments were built when Apartments were faaaaaaancy. Guess how!
It’s that plaque telling “tradesmen” to go around to the side.
I found a great site that has a list of apartment houses, including the Crystal Garden Apartments. The same site also has two images of my beloved Rose-Friend Apartment, now torn down, but forever in my heart as my first Portland home. Actually, I’ve now just spent 15 minutes clicking around the site which includes an interactive map with current and destroyed Apartment Houses. There were apparently three other apartment houses in the next block over from my beloved Rose-Friends Apartments. This is a fabulous site and you should check it out. The Apartment House in Portland.
I wonder if the cat at 1538 and the dog at 1530 are aware of each other’s presence.
This gorgeous house has unique window covers on the second story.
Names of Black people killed by police.
I also thought these signs were beautiful despite the sadness that comes with them having to be made in the first place.
This was a great walk! Thanks Portland City Walks!
Paul has a mask and a badge.
Harry Potter–style wanted poster for a person who’s making the pandemic worse.
This section of Watts Street has been featured before on this blog. It’s the street of cascading house renovations. I’m not sure if the residents of this street coordinated their sign creation efforts, or if they fed off of each other. But either way, most houses on this streets have put up signs of support for essential workers. Let’s take a tour!
I’ve always liked this house, both the shape and the color. I like how the “thank you” has a slant like their roofline does.
I like this sign with printed coloring sheets. The house is cute too. They always have nice lights up in December.
I appreciate how many groups are included in this sign.
This also has a similar amount of people, and I like the “no COVID 19” symbol. Plus the general “all those helping”
This is a great use of markers and polka dots.
There were more, but my camera battery died. Alas.
I enjoy a good homemade sign and the Kenton neighborhood is not immune to the occasional entry.
Here’s one outside an apartment complex.
I wonder if a country-wide medical emergency will be the thing that finally divorces access to healthcare from job status.
My guess is that it won’t due to the fact that political donations are what run our political system. But it should.
I think my favorite thing about this giant robot is that his chest lets you know what he is, just in case you aren’t familiar with robots.
I’m afraid this pretty brick mid-century multi-unit apartment building is not long for this world as it seems to be unoccupied. But the tree is making the most of the season.
As mentioned before, the main USPS processing facility in Portland has moved from downtown Portland to a location by the airport. That leaves the massive space to be redeveloped. My walk over the Broadway Bridge gave me the opportunity to grab some photos before everything is dissasembled.
Here’s the official notice.
Here’s a view of the back half of the 14-acre site. This part is hemmed in by two approaches to the Broadway Bridge. I’m standing on Broadway Street and you can see NW Lovejoy on the left side of the picture.
This part of the site is mostly open, as it was where semi trucks pulled in and out. The back part of the picture shows many building built in the Pearl District over the past twenty years. Before that happened, the post office fit right in. The space was filled with warehouses, rail yards, and the like.
And here’s the view of the back half of the massive building. While the post linked to above showed the public facing part of the building, most of the space was filled with mail sorting machines.
I got to tour that space once, while being a chaparone for a class studying mail. It was so fun to see all the machines.
Sometimes I get off the MAX train early and walk across the Broadway Bridge to get to work. In the last few years, this situation has evolved. There used to be parking spaces that weren’t very well signaged, then the bike lane, then the car lane. Things have been rearranged into bike lane, then a space for walking, then the parking spaces, then the lane for cars. You can even see the bit of crosswalk that has been added.
So why does this bug me? Because that place for walking was made for the people who have driven their cars and parked. It is not for people walking who want to continue to the Broadway Bridge. You can see what happens here:
At the last parking space, the bike lane takes over where the walking space was. As a pedestrian, I am forced to either walk in the bike lane until I hit that crosswalk you can barely see in the distance or cross the bike line and walk in the grass.
While there are probably not a ton of people walking on this street, I think it’s important to include all modes of transportation, not just some.
Amid this well-used pole on NE 20th, one stood out.
Hee!
I love a good pun.
