The Magic Inn Goes Away

4162It's Friday, and another bit of Old Portland goes away.

At 816 SE 122nd Avenue there has been a old-school Portland dive bar called the Magic Inn. I don't know how long it was open ... but has to have been decades. Probably set up by Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery for all I know. It seemed to be old-school-kicking it up to the last.

For a short time it was owned by the same group that owns Boss Hogg's (home of the Hawgarita, for those who were worried about homelessness for tackily-redubbed house signature beverages, don't worry, at least we have that covered) over on NE 102nd. They'd even painted it up with an exterior mural ... which went away before I quite dithering about taking a picture of it. Sic transit gloria. 

Today, when nearly home from coming in from work, SE 122nd and Stark, which is a bear of an intersection during that time of the commuted on the best of days, was backed up to 127th, and narrowing to a curb lane only. 

I wasn't really in the mood for it, but I went with the flow. So many times on Stark I was turned aside before I could see what the issue was in other traffic problems. I wanted to see what the deal was, this time.

At 122nd, Officer Friendly was diverting all traffic on to 122nd northbound. Couldn't go any farther west without detouring, but I could see that the building, just about 400 or 500 feet south of Stark at that point, was truly immolating. Three great streams of water were pouring from fire equipment onto the site, and smoke billowed up like as a volcanic eruption.

Getting back to the Bank of America's parking lot was a bit of a task; I must admit that I think I missed the most spectacular part. But what I saw when I finally could get there was pretty extraordinary.

 

 

The building is a total loss. Nothing to do but level the thing and sell it to a developer now, which may have been the thing all along, who knows. Some months ago, some small apartments on the same lot, toward the back, also burst into flames. Suffice it to say, Portland Fire Bureau investigators probably are looking at a job of work.

There was a lot of equipment there, to be sure. Three ladder trucks, two engines, and at least one maxillary support vehicle. 122nd and Stark rush-hour traffic were using all the back streets to get around it; northbound traffic SE 122nd passing Market were diverted to 130th, which was stacked from Stark all the way back past the David Douglast HS campus, which is a shade more than a half mile.

Here's a wider angle which gives an idea of how much equipment was on the scene

The Mr. Peeps Adult Superstore, which wss probably set up by a skeevy member of the Lewis & Clark party, was unscathed, as well as the former auto parts show just on the corner of 122nd and Morrison.

What Kind of Burnside Bridge Do You Want For The Future?

4161While the process grinds forward on the redux of Interstate Bridge 2.0, the process is rolling along quite smoothly on the planning to replace the Burnside Bridge.

The current bridge is gorgeous, laden with history, a classic of design, a linchpin of Portland's geography, and will collapse like a Republican excuse for not doing the right thing when Cascadia Next happens. It's apparently advantageously situate for keeping the city together in the wake of that anticipated cataclysm, so the goal is to have a Burnside Bridge that will not shake down when that 'quake finally happens.

In the apres-quake times, the most important thing for getting Portland back on its bearings ... however long that will take ... will be eastside-westside connectivity and access.

The opporunity is being taken to make the new-Burnside-Bridge-to-be another example of statement architecture that we Portlanders are so very fond of. There are two options to consider; a tied-arch bridge, similar to the Fremont Bridge, and an cable-stayed bridge, using the technique that was built into the Tilikum Crossing. 

These two styles are asymmetrical; the signature architectural part, the arch in the first case and the cable-stay tower support in the second, will be over the Interstate 5-east end of the bridge, leaving a span over the middle of the channel for a the necessary drawspan for river traffic and for making Portland tourist wonder why they had to stop on the bridge in the middle of the day.

There are also variations on each style. This picture, sharked from the Earthquake Ready Burnside site, shows the beauty profile of the tied arch look from a point in Tom McCall Waterfront Park on the west bank:

Source: https://burnsidebridge.participate.online/tied-arch.html

Driving over it will look like this ... which reminds me of a crossing of the Fremont, which has always been a love of ours:

Source: https://burnsidebridge.participate.online/tied-arch.html

The other option, the cable-stayed version, looks this way:

Source: https://burnsidebridge.participate.online/cable-stay.html

This version will have taller towers than the arch-style, but the visual presence isn't there for me. However, the asymmetry of the cable stays does have a element of dynamic style in it.

There is a survey on line that anyone can submit their opinions and personal preferences into, it's found at https://burnsidebridge.participate.online/survey.html. The homepage of the informational website is https://burnsidebridge.participate.online/, of course. 

In the near future, this bridge will close for a remarkably-long five year span for this replacement. I don't even remember the Hawthorne Bridge being closed for that long back in the 90s when they updated the eastside approaches.This will be something to contend with for a lot of us on all levels. I'll be recording everything I can about it and posting it here as I go.

We were there for the opening of the 21st Century Sellwood Bridge, and I'll put my anchor down here; I'm looking forward for us to be there for the opening of the 21st Century Burnside Bridge as well. In the meantime I'm going to be finding us taking many more pictures of the current span; it's a charming architectural gem, and that passing will be notable. 

The North End of Waterfront Park

4160Tom McCall Waterfront Park stretches along the left bank of the Willamette in the center of Portland for over a mile. It not only is Portland's most direct connection to the River but also represents history; Harbor Drive, the downtown freeway, once ran through this slender strip, also one of Portland's most remarkable buildings of the past, the Public Market Building ... later the headquarters of the Oregon Journal, where columnist Doug Baker planted the seed of imagination that grew into the mighty mite that is Mill Ends Park.

A small tab of Waterfront Park extends north of the Burnside Bridge, only as far as Everett Street.

Here Naito Parkway curves through the middle of the view and then ducks out of view to lead to the apartment district of inner NW Portland, and a ramp curves up and to the right to connect to the ancient Steel Bridge. 

In the foreground can be seen some of the Japanese American Historical Plaza. While this area is known for being Portland's Chinatown, before it was Chinatown, it was Japantown, and this was its southeast corner. A sculpture, out of shot at this POV, tells that story.

The Woonerf Comes To Everett

4159... and just what is a woonerf? How about a chamfer, for that matter?

Everett, Washington is taking a number of approaches to revitalizing its considerably-extensive waterfront and making it welcoming to people. And, to that end, one burgeoning development, accessible from Marine View Dr W via Thirteenth Street, is a redevelopment of a large pier area where lumber and shingle mills used to rule; they're calling it the Millwright District. There will be retail, residential, commercial; all the urban things.

Circling the area is a new street known as Millwright Loop, giving the area the vague outline of a spatula when seen from above. And there's this:

Chamfer Woonerf. Photo courtesy Benjaming Donguk Lukoff, used with permission.

It shows up here on this street blade: CHAMFER WOONERF. It's a street which serves the interior of the spatula's blade.

And, of course, that brings us to the question of what a woonerf is, and as it turns out, it's simple to answer, and like the much-maligned bioswale, it's something we had all along and is nothing really new (we called bioswales French drains once upon a time and didn't make a big deal about it), but it does have a certain approach and attitude inspired by European point of view.

A woonerf is just a street designed to allow automobiles but also designed to accommodate people activites; some call it a living street; sort of a cross between a public plaza and a side street. People and autos share space. It became a modern thing in the Netherlands, where it picked up its strange name. And, most importantly, it's a street that easily gives itself to public events like street fairs and festivals. And it would be an ideal thing for something in the center of a destination district.

And a chamfer, for those who don't know, is a woodworking thing where you knock the corner off a form. 

So, Chamfer Woonerf. Strange name, but it'll catch on.

PDX: City of Buildings

4158Today, we go abstract and zoom in so that the building faces presenting themselves to me, from my POV on the Burnside Bridge.

Just a piece of downtown Portland devoid of connection to the surroundings because of my choice of angle, making it nowhere and everywhere.

Although the billboard does kind of give it away.

Again, A Portland Hellscape: NW 1st Avenue Between Burnside and Couch

4157Certain people trying to get a rise out of you will insist that Portland is not only burning, but in ashes now. 

It gets them fans.

On Saturday night, this is what NW 1st Avenue looked like between Burnside and Couch:

Old Town is a destination, but it's been so commodified that if you're there anytime after business hours, it's so deserted in places, it's just a liminal space now. 

Well, to be fair, the MAX stop there under the Burnside Bridge did kind of smell of pee. And there were homeless men lining up for admission to the Portland Rescue Mission, but homelessness is a thing that exists here in Portland. And the Rescue Mission has been there for decades. 

Of course, anyone willing to take the mental effort can imaging burning cars and derelict people out of Escape From New York, if you wanna. I can't stop you. And if you look far enough, you'll see a junky tent on a streetcorner. Portland's a Big Town, and those things happen here ... Portland doesn't strictly reserve the rights to that.

But anyone who thinks that Portland is a hell hole consumes too much right-wing media, and needs to get a damned grip. 

An Icon in A City That's Made Of Icons

4155It's the sign on the White Stag Block. We all know about this one.

Began life as the sign for White Stag Sportswear; became Made in Oregon for a while, and then the University of Oregon wanted to place their name up there.

That didn't go over well. The Ducks are popular here, but not that popular.

At that point the Portland City Council stepped in, led by Randy Leonard, buying the sign and making it an official symbol of the city. It's said Portland Oregon ever since. 

The tradition of the red-nose on the leaping stag has maintained. Ploosa shaunge.

I Can Feel The Heat, Like A Spanish Dancer ...

4155Well, not a Spanish dancer, strictly speaking. And not just one.

One of the delights of the Multnomah County Fair a few weeks back was the stage; there was something going on there nearly all of the time and all you had to do was wander on by and take a few minutes and take it all in.

These dancers were full of furious energy, and it was colorful and beautiful.

I've got a few more of the '24 Multnomah County Fair to share. They'll make appearances.

The Lower Level of Oregon City

4154This is a view of the first city of Oregon, Oregon City, from the balcony of the city elevator. The date is March, 2014.

Oregon City began as a town on a fairly narrow shelf between the Willamette River, just downstream from the great falls, and a cliff. It's a unique geography that constrains the feeling one gets in town, and how that town grew, and provided for one of the more unusual municipal structures in America.

 The unusual municipal structure is that Oregon City Elevator. It's free, it's a dedicated public street, it's a gorgeous design (sort of Art Deco mininalist), and its fun to ride and decorated with much history.

And it gives you a view most people go to the trouble to used a drone for.

For all its history and longevity, Oregon City is a modest place. It's got a population of about 37,000 as of 2020, a modest footprint of about 11 square miles, and a small town feel that's terribly convenient to the big town. And the feeling one gets walking in downtown OC is a cozy, charming feeling.

In the distance, over the Willamette River, one can see the Abernathy Bridge, where I-205 crosses the river. This view looks generally north.

Remembering the Santiam Wildfire By Watching Mt Hood Go Away

4153Another picture that grabbed my attention as I strolled through my photo archives.

Dateline? Early September, 2020. The Beachie Creek Fire, and others up the North Santiam Canyon had combined into the Santiam wildfire which would dominate local events for about two months. The fire wasn't considered contained until the beginning of December 2020.

The mantle of smoke spread up north from the mid-Willamette and eventually covered the Portland Metro area. We were headed up to Vancouver to do a thing, and the smoke was intruding into the area at that time. I got many pictures of the sky.

But it's this one, with Wy'east over the Columbia River, shot from the Glenn Jackson Bridge, that stays with me.

It was the last clear air day before what was to be weeks of air the quality of which I had not seen in my lifetime and so far - the fates willing - I don't see again.

We can't be sure about that, though, the way things are going.

The Mural at the Back of the Elsinore

4152I was taking a stroll through my photo archives (have I really been taking amateur pictures for that long?) and I found this photo I took in Salem back in 2017 while me and spouse were on a visit there:

This is the back (east) side of the building containing Salem's Elsinore Theater. The view is from the corner of Church and Ferry Streets SE, on the edge of downtown Salem; to get this viewpoint, go west of Bellevue St SE from 12th St SE, then follow the curves through Pringle Parkway until you get to the light at Church Street. Look to the right. The facade of the Elisnore faces High St SE, one block west of here.

If you've ever seen the front of the Elsinore or been inside you know why it's Salem's palace of fine arts and live performance. Back in the day, though, it was a movie house, and kind of worked as a pair with its counterpart on State Street, around the corner, the Capitol Theater.

The Capitol Theater closed decades back and was eventually razed.

The Elsinore, however was where I saw Star Wars back in '77, Star Trek: The Motion Picture in '78, and a number of popular and Disney films during my teen years. As it moved into the 80s it got reinvented as a live performance space and stands as the grand dame of the Salem arts scene. But even before this, this mural happened.

The icons are from the golden age of motion pictures. And it went up sometime in the late 70s; I remember viewing it quite often, as I lived in east Salem and used Cherriots to bus to school at Sprague (Salem Public Schools let you attend the high school of your preference at the time, and I grew to know the State and Fairview and South Commercial routes like they were a personal vehicle) and when I was inbound on the State and Fairview route, it usually went through the Ferry and Church intersection.

So this mural has been up for more than 50 years, and it still looks lovingly tended to, which is one of the neatest things I can think of right now.

Up, Up, and Away

4151This is the plane in the previous photo, just lifting off from runway 10L-28R, headed, for the moment, into the west, bound for parts known only to the pilot, the crew, the passengers, the tower, and airport administration ... but not us. We're just spectators.

On a whim, I drew a box around the plane in GIMP and saturated all the color, bringing a little bit of artistic interpretation into the photo. 

Flying aircraft seem to be in their own bubble.

PDX: British Airways At Take Off

4150The plane taxiing in front of the PDX control tower/parking garage/terminal is a British Airways jet, which was a pleasant surprise - we didn't know BA had flights into PDX.

The life of an international airport, at a glance, in a frame.

The Patron Saint of PDX?

4149Recently my spouse and me were driving along Marine Drive alongside PDX, like we do, and we pulled aside to watch a jet taxi and take off, which we don't get to do a lot, and I noticed that someone had committed a devotion of an indeterminate sort on the fence post at one of the gates.

It left me bemused. But what confused me the most? Was it that someone did this at all, in a place you weren't likely to stop and see, or that she vaguely resembles Demi Moore?

The world will never know.

Tsuru Island - Gresham's Japanese Garden, Part 3

4148Last missive, I posted a look out the portal window of the gazebo in the middle of Tsuru Island. This is what it looks like if you step out and take it all in:

I do really feel peace as I look at this. Japanese culture has a reputation for encouraging nourishing introspection and reflection. Its art and mingling with nature do that for me unlike few other things do.

One of the centerpiece features of the garden is a dry streambed that runs through the thing entire.

It makes me think of rivers and river valleys and the journey rivers take and valleys and the reality that I live in one of the world's perfect valleys and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Tsuru Island - Gresham's Japanese Garden, Part 2

4147Another stop by Tsuru Island. A couple of little cozy bits.

Reviewing these pictures brings a sort of peace, and tells me one thing about Tsuru Island ... it's not about how big it is, but how sincere. As Japanese gardens go, it's modest, but it's meaningful. Remembering it is a nourishing thing to do.

To view things in a Western way, as I'm prone to do, it punches above its weight.

There's a gazebo at the center, and in a future entry I'll share a picture of the whole, but for the moment, this part means a great deal to me emotionally:

 

And here's something that's just ineffably charming. It stands and speaks for itself. It's adjacent to the gazebo.

One Less Sign of the Time at Polar King

4146The Polar King is dead; long live the Polar King. Well, maybe that's a little melodramatic. 

There is a magnificent diner at the corner of Cleveland and Powell, just east of downtown Gresham, called Polar King. It was founded in 1952 and still slings classic diner faves including scrumptious burgers and sandwiches, big breakfasts, and divine lunches and dinners. For that entire time, the 'King has been remarkable for its retro archiecture and signage which has little changed since the time of its founding.

 

It scans most handsomely in the the night.

That standup which contains a mascot went up at the same time as the rest of the building, and it's remarkable. The mascot wears a crown, sports a red apron, and maintains a tall soft-serve treat in its paw. It's blue, and might be a bear, but it could also be a large mouse, is made of painted plywood, and has held court over the corner of E Powell Blvd and SE Cleveland Ave for the past 70 years.

As of this month, though, it's been retired. As reported by KOIN, the figure has been donated to the Gresham Historical society who is now studying how to best preserve and display the mascot, which has seen significant deterioration during its time in the crows' nest. 

That splendid lighting and signage will remain, of course, so the charm isn't gone, and the food is still excellent. 

As for the rest, sic transit gloria mundi, I guess. 

So it goes.

Tsuru Island-Gresham's Japanese Garden, Part One

4145I was about two months ago years old when I found out about Gresham's Japanese Garden. The fact that it exists at all is because of a strong volunteer base and a lot of local affection.

It's a delightful thing we're going through in this household; we are discovering Gresham, parts of which are closer to us than parts of Portland we've frequented over the course of decades, and from our point of view, it's gone through a lot of changes - from the bland, banal edge-city that we used to dismiss it as, to a warm and charming place full of unexpected depths and surprises. 

Tsuru Island is one of those unexpected surprises, at least to us. It's located in a corner of Main City Park, which is directly across the street from downtown Gresham, occupying about twenty-two acres in the southwest quarter of the intersection of Powell Boulevard and Main Avenue (it's not Main Street because it runs north-south and streets in the Gresham grid follow the N-S Avenue classification that the greater Portland area employs). To get there, one just goes south into the park; it's on the left just before the bridge over Johnson Creek.

The access to Gresham's Japanese Garden - Tsuru Island - from Main City Park

The access is a bridge from the south end of the main parks' parking area. Tsuru Island is an island because early in the 20th Century, Johnson Creek, which runs along the south part of Main City Park, was altered by having a meander straightened. The result was a semi-circular swale on the north side of Johnson Creek, which isn't submerged in water all of the time, but creates a small knoll of land which may as well be an island. 

And, coincidentally, a lovely little bit of land that is isolatable in the way that provides a feeling of seclusion in the middle of the fourth-largest city in Oregon.

The swale separating Tsuru Island from the rest of Man City Park. In the middle distance, Johnson Creek passes under a bridge providing access to the southern part of Main City Park.

Once over that magnificently-charming bridge, one finds themselves in a place replete with deft landscaping, charming flora, and in general a place that does encourages a contemplative, or at least quieter, frame of mind.

And this is why, personally, I love Japanese gardens.

The pond with Japanese red maple overlooking it is one of the first things one sees as one crosses over to the island

Immediately after crossing onto the island one comes upon a small, shallow pond surmounted by a Japanese red maple. According to the lore of the history of this place, that maple came from the property of a local who came to the conclusion that the maple had grown too large for the place that contain it so it was donated. What I learned about the history of this garden speaks of a proud history of volunteerism and donation and care from people who care about heritage and the history of Japanese people in east Multnomah County.

The history is recounted in thumbnail on the Garden's official page thusly:

In the early 1970’s, a group of local farmers and members of the Japanese-American Citizens League (JACL) Gresham-Troutdale chapter created a Japanese garden with peace, tranquility, and longevity as its theme. They named it Tsuru Island. Tsuru (Su Do) means “crane” in Japanese.

Despite such inspired beginning, though, after that initial period of birth and growth, the Island went though a period of neglect, until about 2010, when Tomiko Takeuchi - who was, at the time, a board member with the Gresham Sister City Association - and Jim Card, a local landscaper, decided to step in and organize a comeback. The results speak for themselves, with an active volunteer history over the past decade-plus, including expansion to a nearby plaza where interested people can purchase an inscribed paving brick, and a building that's now an event center.

On this small Island, there are curving paths you can get lost in the foliage on ...

... and what Japanese garden would be complete without a Zen garden? Tsuru Island has one.

This is merely the first go at showing of pictures from our visit. I have more pictures, and there'll be more visits, because one of the charms of Japanese gardens is that they really change, if only in subtle ways, from season to season.

The fact that it's so accessible and free of charge to enter are just bonuses really.

Robotics Demo at 2024 Multnomah Co Fair

4144Now may I present to you just over a minute of video of the demo of the robotics projects at the Mulntomah County Fair this last weekend .

The Ants' Picnic

4143The most unexpected home craft I found in the exhibits at the Multnomah County Fair were the place settings. Here were traditional old-school home ec in full effect and it was so very charming.

There were a number of precisely-designed place settings, each one with a theme, each one with an extremely designed aspect, accompanied by a menu designed to complement the theme. One had vintage IOOF (International Organization of Odd Fellows) china with a menu themed to core concepts in the IOOF organization.

There was a high level of creativity, wit, and style in each one; one of them employed tropical-themed parts which looked fairly inexpensive, centering on iridescent, pineapple-shaped main platter, but the thought and creativity and design put into the setting lifted it all up to the next level. It was a reminder that creativity, design, and life-enhancing cleverness is not just limited to painting and drawing.

But one will stay with us, because of the level of wittiness and humor; each of the other ones were impressive in their creativity, but this was the Monty Python episode of the group.

Think a moment: ants love a picnic, don't they? Well, what kind of pace setting would you design for them? Something like this, perhaps.

All kinds of things ants like, and you can see it's going over big. And what does the menu look like?

I can't understand it, but what do I look like ... an ant?