[pdx] The Tom Peterson Alarm Clock!

1587.

Noting in passing that The Tom Peterson Alarm Clock would be a kickass name for a band (apply to me for permission to use it ... baby needs a new pair of shoes ... a new computer ... to pay the mortgage ...) ... Again this blog gets a tip from the forums at OLive, this time, ironically, in a Blazers thread. Nifty!

The Tom Peterson's "Wake Up" Alarm clock is indeed the stuff of legend. Lucky are you who have one. They are occasionally available, but vanishingly rare: there's one right now on eBay that you can buy outright for $250.

But for those (such as me) who are poor and can't afford anything right now, I combined a picture I had of one with the sound file thoughtfully supplied by Blog Heroine Judy at Persistent Illusion. Hit "play" and relive the memories:

Tags: Portland Advertising, pdx_legends, pdx_history, pdx_people, Tom Peterson's, Tom Peterson and Gloria's Too

[portlandiana] Your One-Stop Tom Peterson's Shop

1572. Yesterday or the day before, a very generous habitué to the OLive forum boards posted a link to an old entry I'd done about that Portland advertising legend, the great Tom Peterson.

My admiration of Tom is real. From everyone I talk to about him I hear stories about what a sweet and pleasant fellow he was to work with and for, and have warm memories about his prolific TV adverts (including the Portland Wrestling sponsorship and the famous/infamous "Wake Up!" sale ads. And the higher they fly, the harder they fall ... the Stereo Super Stores acquisition and subsequent corporate meltdown are stuff of local business legend.

Along the way he had his face stencilled all over town and acted for Gus Van Sant. Tom isn't just of Portland, Tom is Portland!

It occurred to me that I have enough hits actually looking for TP that it might be useful to have an omnibus post linking it all together. Hence this:

1. Tom Peterson Logo Love, 14 Dec 2005. I lurves me some Tom Peterson logo; here's my love letter. Includes photos of the latter-day building at SE 82nd and Foster.


2. Tom Say "Wake Up", 14 Aug 2006. A plaintive appeal for fileage.


3. The Tom Peterson Alarm Clock "Wake Up" Sound, 16 Aug 2006. A mere two days later, Judy of Persistent Illusion digitzed the TP alarm and sends it hither (get yours here!).


4. A 1986 Tom Peterson's Commerical, 17 Sep 2007. His 1986 Price Expo! Complete with 19-inch Big Screen TV ... WITH Remote! A YouTube Clip sent by a secret admirer. Must-see TV!


5. The Old Tom Peterson's Building ... Going, Going ... 7 Nov 2007. Pictures of the gutting of the legendary 82nd and Foster former location of Tom's flagship store. It's been remodeled and is now a strip retail space.

That's the lot. Anyone wanting me to post even more Tom goodness is welcome to send it along. I kinda mocked Tom when he was big, but you know, I'd give anything to have all that back the way it was.

Tom is one of a kind. I miss his 82nd and Foster empire.

Tags: Tom Peterson's, pdx_history, portlandiana

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[pdx_people] I Found It Ironically Funny ...

1411. ... that two of the parents mentioned in the NYT article making the rounds about parents, kids, and texting, happen to be two of our premiere foodies ... John and Caprial Pence.

I don't know why I found it funny ... I just did for some reason I can't quite put my finger on.

Well, it's NBD anyway.

Tags: caprial pence, john pence, texting, generation gap, modern times

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[liff, pdx] This Really Doesn't Seem Right Or Fair...

1125. This fellow is a much better person than I am....

Technorati Tags: PDX Bloggers, b!X

[pdx, pdx_media] Scott Moore's Program Of World Domination Apparently To Proceed

1098. We greet the news that Scott Moore is moving on to state government with congratulations...AND SHEER ALARM!

The smart people around here noted this posting, in which I Photoshopped Mr. Moore's head into a picture of Dr. Evil. We meant it as a joke. We didn't know how deadly serious it would be. We didn't think the shaving of his beard would push him as far as it did though:

Cant you see, sheeple! Oh, yes, sure it's just a "spokesman" position for "Secretary" of "State", Bill "Bradbury". That's prescisely what he wants you to think!

Oh, you're all laughing at me now. They laughed at Galileo; don't forget they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. Today everythings normal; tomorrow he'll be destroying Washington with The Alan Parsons Project unless we pay him One million dollars!

Technorati Tags: Scott Moore,Portland Mercury,Oregon politics,ZOMG,LOLScottMoore

[pdx] Sam Adams Gets His URL-And We Have The Pictures

1096. Welcome to another episode of You Weren't There. Why weren't you there? Shucks, we don't know. Maybe you were picking up the kids from soccer; maybe you were stuck in traffic; maybe you had other plans; maybe you were plotting to take over the world (same as you do every night). Who knows?[1]

The Hawthorne Bridge From Just Outside the Pilsner Room, 7 Nov 2007

Point is, you weren't there. We were. Here's our story.

As the media have reported (and if you're a Mark & Dave cult member or other similarly-connected sort) The Letter That Caused All The Brew-Haha was auctioned off for the KEX Kids Fund and Mark & Dave were going to present the domains they had acquired to Sam Adams (the potential mayor, not the beer).

So convened the Sam Adams Domain Name Transfer Party, with your hosts, Mark Mason and Dave Anderson:

Mark Mason and Dave Anderson tell the tale of The Letter.
Dave's holding the commemorative 1st Amendment Ale tap handle

The tale was told of the bad guys (Boston Brewing, we all by know know who they are) and how the makers of Samuel Adams beer found out our fellahs reserved domain names for The Real Sam Adams™, didn't bother to do any due diligence in actually finding out just who The Real Sam Adams™ was, and set the legal wheels in motion, sending what has gone down in history as The Letter (follow the link to KEX's Brew-Haha page, where the letter is on prominent display).

The Letter was peforce put up to auction on eBay, the proceeeds to generate income for the KEX Kids' Fund, which sees to it that poor kids who need glasses and hearing aids get them. After the bidding was over and the dust had settled, the winner was Jim Hopkins of Accent Verticals, a local window fashions vendor:

Mark Mason, Jim Hopkins, and The Letter.

After setting up the situation and getting the festivities in full swing, the presentations begun. Very Big Checks/Certificates started changing hands. First, Jim Hopkins presented one to Mark and Dave representing the amount of the bid that won him The Letter:

Jim Hopkins presents Mark and Dave with his VBC

That $1475.90 was matched by KEX for a net gain of $2951.80 for the Kids' Fund on the basis of the auction alone. A run of Full Sail Ale was also branded as "Mark & Dave 1st Amendment Ale" for the night, and a special tap handle was made for the occasion, and proceeds from the sale of pints also went into the Fund.

KEX's Dave Anderson with the special Mark & Dave Ale tap handle

As for Samuel Adams Ale, its tap handle was shrouded in black. We wot that Samuel Adams didn't sell very well that night.

After the handing over of Jim Hopkins' VBC to Mark and Dave (and the transfer of ownership of The Letter), came the crest of the evening – Mark and Dave awarding the website samadamsformayor.com to The One True Sam Adams™[2]:

The URL goes to its rightful owner.

The ceremony done, people got down to some of your basic mixing. For the record, I did try the ale, which I rather liked; The Wife™, not so much (she's not an ale fan). At the start of the evening, we felt rather like a fish out of water, but everyone was very friendly and warm, and when we left, we found that we'd had quite a very good time.

Mark and Dave also gave credit to us bloggers who did what we could to publicize or at least speak out on this. Mark mentioned us, Witigonen (who we enjoy reading, and zeppelins), Isaac Laquedem (who links here and I didn't get to meet – sorry, Isaac) and Kari Chisholm was also there (who I did get to meet). I recall that Mark mentioned Rusty, sadly, he didn't make it.

Kari Chisholm discussing something with KPOJ PD Mike Dirckx.

No, we don't know what.

Naturally, we met the guest of honor. Here are we, Sam the mayoral candidate, and Sam, the pipsqueak underemployed graphic designer:

(left) Possibly Portland's Next Mayor;

(right) Mark & Dave Cult Member #583

Say whatever you want about his politics, Sam Adams is a pretty decent fellow, and extremely affable in person (now I really wish I could have been at the City Council meeting where they did the jazz hands). The Wife™ made him promise to stay in touch with us. He said he would. And why? "Because we're your constituents" saith The Wife™. Can't argue with that logic, neh?

And The Wife™ got her brush with greatness:

The Wife™ and The Guys

(I don't have to tell you who they are again, do I?)

We're going to treasure these shots – should Sam become mayor, we'll be able to say "We Were There When". This isn't the whole lot; I've posted all of them on my flickr account, and I've made a subalbum on Photobucket (complete with a captioned remix).

That's all for this edition of You Weren't There. We're not sure where we'll be next, but one thing may prove true: we'll be there, and you...well, you might not be.

[1]Apologies to Bob and Ray.
[2]Apologies to The One True b!X

Tags: pdx, Sam Adams, Great Brew-HaHa, KEX, Portland Radio, Portland Media, Portland Politics, Mark Mason, Dave Anderson, Accent Verticals, Jim Hopkins, KEX Kids Fund, Pilsner Room, Samuel John Klein, ZehnKatzen

[pdx] ZOMG, 2 Days Left To Vote On What Sam Adams Is!

1070. As of about the time of this posting, there will be a mere two days left in The ZehnKatzen Times' Don't-You-Wish-Your-Poll-Was-Hot-Like-Mine INSTANT Poll, that is to settle the question of whether or not Sam Adams is a Politician or a Beer.

We hear that Boston Brewing, the rounders, are backing off, but they do not control consensus reality–we do, through the power of our poll, which, we will remind you, can not only beat up your poll and take its lunch money but also has regular booty calls with top hot supermodels, which is way more than you. And me, for that matter. Man, I envy it that way.

At this writing, the poll stil has Sam Adams as a politician by a wide margin. The lawsuit threat may be resolved, but it is up to us to decide what we think Sam is–regardless of what he actually is!

So, vote. Elvis would vote himself if he could. Make Elvis smile...vote, one way or the other...at the top of the side bar on the right.

Technorati Tags: Sam Adams,Samuel Adams,Commissioner Sam Adams,The Great Brew-HaHa,KEX,Mark Mason,Dave Anderson

[pdx_transit] Streetcars: The Future's Looking Rather Familiar

1062.

Emboldened by the success of the downtown streetcar line, city leaders want to expand service into a network that would crisscross the city. -Dylan Rivera, Oregonian writer

We read with a certain distilled sense of irony the article in The Big O today about the buzz to extend the Portland Streetcar into a citywide network, but we're far from cynical about it–as a matter of fact, we couldn't be more pleased and excited. As anyone who's familiar with Portland history–and Portland transit history in particular–knows, before Portland was known for transit, Portland was known for streetcars.

So, it's kind of sardonically funny that one of the next big possible innovations in metro transit technology is something that was quite widespread less than 100 years ago, even though its encouraging and quite exciting.

As far as we're concerned, it's fun riding the train. We didn't get to ride the train at all growing up; we grew up in Silverton and Salem. Trains carried frieght, and you waited at "RRXINGs" in your car whilst the train held you up. The first experience of riding a train we had–other than the one at the Zoo or at Pixieland, when it existed down by Lincoln City–was the MAX, and that was when it ran from downtown to Gresham only (and we were touched even then by the irony of the exuberant rediscovery of urban rail in a city where urban rail once ruled–but, again, this didn't prevent us from enjoying what is truly a neat trip. Rail still rules).

Returning to the present, we are additionally sardonically amused my the following passage:

About 140 miles of the city's busiest streets show potential for new streetcar routes, said Patrick Sweeney, project manager for the Portland Office of Transportation. Those streets have dense enough housing, employment and shopping -- and are zoned for more.

We at The Zehnkatzen Times and our Editorial Department (which at the moment consists of me, an old map, and a bottle full of coool, puuure Bull Run water) are nothing if not civic-minded, and we reached back into our archives and believe we've found a great starting point.

One of our dearest posessions is a 1940 promotional folder for the Portland Traction Company's trolley, streetcar, and bus network. Though I can't find the reference right now, I believe someone of the ilk of Kim MacColl pointed out how Portland's early growth was along streetcar lines–then, as now, prime real estate. In 1940, PTC's network of streetcars, electric trolleys, and motor coaches looked like this:

The yellow solid lines and green dotted lines are the trolley net–those routes that had lines above the street with which the rolling stock drew motive power via a pantograph. Withal, we don't think that's a bad place to start.

I offer this up for the public good, though if the proper authority would deign my considerable research worth paying for, we can deal. Contact information can be found on the sidebar, up near the top there.

In all, the map folder is an incredibly dear thing. Then as now, we weren't afraid to beat our chests about our innovative transit; we called it then The World's Finest Trolley System, and we exhorted both residents as well as visitors to use our system to see the town. Festooned with photos of possible destinations as the Saint Johns Bridge, the "Theater District" (SW Broadway when she was our own Great White Way) and the quaintly-referred-to-as "Jewish Synagogue" (we are so far unaware of other faiths with synagogues), it's a piece of period style and flair, and we love this map.

Regrettably it's too big for us to scan, but let us share one more bit of it, the Portland Traction Company's glimpse of life in the Rose City in 1940:

Can you imagine that one of those little kids climbing on the bus in the picture in the lower left is Ramona Quimby? We sure can.

We've always wanted to compile a more complete library of Portland Transit ephemera, schedules and maps and such, but, sadly, those are most impossible to find it seems (we accept donations though. We could put together a most skookum display...)

Technorati Tags: TriMet,Portland Streetcar,Streetcars,Portland Traction Co.,Trolleys,Street Rail,pdx transit,mass transit,transit history,transit in Oregon

[pdx] Best. Bookstore. Cat. Evar.-Fup (1988-2007)

1060. Aw, heck. Fup's no longer with us.

I'm going to have to tell The Wife™. She's gonna bawl if I tell her and kill me if I don't.

Requies-Cat in catnip, kitty.

Technorati Tags: Powell's Books,Fup Store Cat,Fup