Showing posts with label Oregoniana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oregoniana. Show all posts

24 June 2014

[liff_in_OR] Newberg's Classic Dairy Queen Sign

3119.
Newberg is the first town you get into after leaving the Portland Metroplex going south on Oregon State Hwy 99W. It's the vanguard of wine country, the sentinel admitting you to that charming area known as Yamhill County.

At the entrance to the center of town, the highway splits into a couplet made up of First Street and Hancock, and this continues for about ten or twelve city blocks. At the west end, the two streets snap back together, cross the railroad tracks, and head on southwest to the land of the eternal traffic jam, Dundee. And, if you didn't look quickly, you'll have missed it.


404 West First Street. It's a DQ that looks quite a bit like just about every other DQ you're likely to see; cream-colored walls, red mansard roof.  But there's something that might catch the eye a little more than other things, especially if you have an eye for the classics.

Some ten-fifteen years back, the DQ wasn't the commodious sit-in place it was, it was a traditional drive-up. Anyone familiar with the adorbs little DQ drive-up and sit-out at SE 56th and Division here in Portland will be able to picture this. It was quite a bit the same. Well, about ten or fifteen years back, the Newberg DQ decided to give its patrons the inside-dining experience. I was sad, a little. It's nice to sit inside with your burger, but the old-fashioned burger driveups have a charm that can't be denied or resisted.

But they kept the old sign. Standing fifteen or twenty feet up, on a stout pole that shows a bit of rust, the stylized ice-cream cone keeps happy watch on the western entry to Newberg, taking in the equipment rental place, a Dutch Bros, a trailer court across the way, and a 100% Hispanic tire-seller across the street.


Whether or not you'd ever live in Newberg, there's a definite American-small-townness that recalls the rosy memories of prim little farming towns. The past wasn't perfect, but certain facets were adorable.

In Newberg, some of it can be found under the sign of DQ. Roadside neon, the way it used to be … and still is.

22 July 2009

[pdx] The Way Burgerville Rolls, Part 2

2163.Leave it to Burgerville USA to realize the potential of the so-called "roach coach"[1]. Via The Columbian:
On Thursday, the 24-foot-long Burgerville Nomad will take its maiden voyage, pulling away from parent company The Holland Inc.'s downtown headquarters and heading south to Portland's Waterfront Park. The decked-out kitchen will be used for community events and as a stand-in facility during restaurant remodels.
City of foodcarts, get ready for the mother of all food carts!

According to the article, if the Nomad works out (and I think it will) they'll move out more of them.

And while I am happy that BV is going to be scouting downtown Portland for a location, they really have to put one back down in Salem. They had one at the I-5/Market Street exit, but they took it out when the interchange was remodeled back in the 90s.

It would be a welcome bit of culture down there.

[1] Roach coach is only a term of artifice. There will be no actual roaches – of any kind.

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10 July 2009

Portland Street Mnemonics Make The New York Times

2140.Okay, well, the comments of a regular feature anyway.

One of the residents of the sidebar is a couple of Portland street name mnemonics. It'd be fantastic if I could take the credit for them, but while I, amazingly enough, inspired them, they aren't my composition. But they are nifty. Today, via the miracle of Google alerts, I saw that this humble place of woolgathering was namechecked by a commenter to the "Schott's Vocab" column, identifying himself as one Matthew G. Miller:

And Samuel John Klein has posted three more–covering more streets and helping us remember the order of which M and which C streets come first–on his blog The ZehnKatzen Times in a posting January 14, 2009:

The colon there at the end was as in the original; presumably the commenter ran out of room. The 14 Jan 09 post which mentions this is at the end of this rabbit hole, but if you don't feel like clicking yet another link that has a target="_blank" attribute, I'll save you a step.

The streets, in order from north to south starting from SW Ankeny Street (1 short block south of West Burnside, which should need no introduction) and continuing through the PSU district, run as follows:

Ankeny, Ash, Pine, Oak, Stark, Washington, Alder, Morrison, Yamhill, Taylor, Salmon, Main, Madison, Jefferson, Columbia, Clay, Market, Mill, Montgomery, Harrison, Hall, College, Jackson.

The first submitted one, from a commenter identifying himself as JD, went as such:
All Across Portland Our Streets Wind Around Mossy Yards. Traffic Snarls May Mean Jammed Cars, Cranky Motorists Making Minimal Headway. Harried Commuters Just Love Going Slow.
Nice, simple, sweet, poetic, and topical. Mnemonic WIN. But another commenter, Dave DiNucci, pointed out that since some initials duplicate (Main-Madison, Market-Mill-Montgomery, Harrison-Hall), and gave us two alternatives that included more letters. The first one plays off the tendency of names in the Alphabet District to be named for historic Portland figures and alludes to the curious geography of the south end of the grid, where all lines pivot, and offers a sort of gently gibing editorial commentary of the fairly fashion-oriented names of the streets:

ANcestors ASsociated Portland Oregon STreets With ALphabetic MORtals, Yet Toward SAlem, MAInly MADe JEjune, COLUmnar, CLiche MARked MIxtures. MONotones HARmonize HALfway, COLLiding JAuntily.  Lines Gently SHim.

Another mnemonic WIN. But Dave wasn't finished. Knowing that Portland has its share of left-brain/right-brain thinkers, he offered another, more lyrical version which goes so far as including the whole of the name Columbia:
AN AScending Path Of STone
Wends ALong MORning Yellow Trilliums.
SAnity MAIntenance.
MADe JEalous,
COLUmbia CLeaves MARvelous MIsty MONuments,
HARsh HALcyon COLLages.
JAcob's Ladders Gorge-ously SHine.
Note also that Dave's mnemonics include streets athward the I-405/South Portland interface, which is even more nifty.

From the comment at the NYT's column comes the phrase that started it all with me. The original questor of a memorable PDX downtown mnemonic was none other than The Oregonian's quondam quotidian quipster, Jonathan Nicholas (who was in his time sort of PDX's version of Herb Caen) who, after an appeal in his column sometime back in the 80s, eventually produced a little gem of his own:

Any Portland, Oregon Sunny Weather Always Makes You Think Some More Magic Just Came Calling.

Which at least gets you through to Columbia and Clay.

We have an embarrassment of riches, each suited to a particular way of thinking, each equally memorable, so that you may never be lost amongst Portland's downtown street again. I wish I could have said that I came up with them, but I am honored to have been thought highly enough by some that they'd share them with you all here.

And thanks to Matthew G. Miller who though enough of my blog to have made a mention of it in the New York Times.

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09 July 2009

Hung Far Low: Finally, A Re-Erection Campaign That Doesn't Promise What It Can't Deliver!

2138.Some months back, a charming and representative piece of Portland visual design and history diappeared with the taking down of the landmark Hung Far Low Restaurant sign.

The vertical sign, which resembled a great majuscule letter I with the words HUNG FAR LOW down the spine, and advertising CHOP SUEY across the top and COCKTAILS across the bottom, and topped overall by a cute little stylized pagoda,(see it here, here and here), stood over the corner of NW 4th Avenue and Couch Street in Portland's Chinatown since at least the middle of the 20th Century. In 2007, the eponymous restaurant moved to the corner of SE 82nd and Division (where it now sports a much less memorable sign) but the sign remained. Between then the word COCKTAILS was reduced by some prankster to the word COCK, and all the words at the top and bottom were altered to read "EST. 1928" at the top and "BUILDING" at the bottom.

The years had taken their toll and the sign had become more of a sword of Damocles to some potentially unlucky pedestrian, thus in October 2007 the sign had to come down. It now rests in a "sign graveyard", reputedly in Scappoose.

There was always the intention of re-erecting the sign, but it's going to take $30,000 to get that done. So this blog, as indeed should every self-respecting Portland blog, am taking great pleasure in helping to spread the word that the Re-erection campaign to get the Hung Far Low sign back up over the corner of NW 4th and Couch is on.

I've visited the website and it's very clear and nice, and donations are priced so that everyone can get in on the act; there's a donation level as low at $10, so as soon as I can find me a tenner, I'm sending one along.

The address to view is: http://reerecthungfarlow.com/ .

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08 July 2009

Branding The Intertwine

2137.Noted in passing was the rebranding of the Metro initiative, formerly known as Connecting Green, into a new look they're calling The Intertwine.

The idea behind Connecting Green is to create, cooperatively, out of the abundance of awesome green spaces that the greater Portland area is rightly famous for, a world-class parks and recreation system. Connecting Green is the alliance of local authorities that was to make this happen.

The identity "Connecting Green" did need a little "sprucing" ('scuse) up, and not just because the website used Comic Sans. Whoever decided that the new identity needed something slick (but not too slick) and modern (but approachable) had the right idea.

The name The Intertwine has a modern connotation (I bet you thought of the Internet when you heard that name) and a rustic connotation (in as much as the word twine refers to a low-tech device used to tie things together). It also represents the apparent aims of the initiative – to meld, with regional cooperation, the vast public green space wealth of the greater Portland/Vancouver area – with deft cleverness, and extending the "internet" metphor, it, too, represents a network of networks.

The logo is a real winner, IMO. The swirling motion of four parts coalescing into a center is given dynamic energy by increasing the size of the parts from the 3 o-clock throug the twelve o-clock positions. It's a risk to come up with a logo where individual parts mean something – they tend to get shambolic very quickly – but the design keeps it simple. The four parts of the symbol represent the four properties of the Intertwine, which are trails, water, greenspace and … well, I forget the fourth, but it might be Whiffie's fried pies (and if it isn't, it should be). The type was also well-chosen: it has a humanist, hand-wrought feel to it. It's actually rather organic and has a pleasant cross between subtle and chunky.

The website currently comprises a splash screen whose bottom part alters to an input box for your email so they can keep you updated with press releases and announcments. But the style is very well chosen as is the palette, which is made of simple flat colors with an earthy overtone. Simple shapes and artful type keep it all very human.



It's a definite improvement, and a very clever use of branding to promote a connection to nature and the environment.

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02 July 2009

The Corvallis Gazette-Times Gets a 1-Day History Rewrite

2128.Portland isn't the only native Oregonian whose name was decided by a coin-toss. In 1909, Corvallis' then-two dailies, the Corvallis Gazette and (naturally) the Covallis Times, decided to get married, and the coin toss said the Gazette's name should go first. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today is the 100th birthday of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, and the GT decided to celebrate a unique way; by pretending, just for one day, that the coin had flipped the other way. Today and today only the paper will be known as the Corvallis Times-Gazette, not unlike if the City of Portland decided to celebrate its 200th anniversary (on 8 Feb 2051, if you're curious) by renaming itself Boston, Oregon, for just one day (which would be kind of neat).

Oregon Media Central has a big version of the front page here, including links to all the nifty little birthday party sheenanigans that the GT did, including a video of a reenactment of the original coin-toss.

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27 June 2009

Multnomah County Library, Good Samaritan Dept

2112.If we needed any more proof that the Multnomah County Library is the best damn library anywhere, check out the kind of good deed they do.

Around our house we check out a hell of a lot of books. We were working the MultCoLib for budget entertainment long before you staycationers and recession-victims figured out you could get a night of DVD entertainment for nothing there. The Libe is, without a doubt, one of the bestest places in the universe and rightfully a pride of Metro Portland.

Since we check out a metric tail-load of books from there, sometimes we use whatever's to had for bookmarks; napkins, flattened straws … even paycheck stubs in envelopes.

Recently I returned a stack, not knowing that i'd left a paystub in there (not to worry, we have direct-deposit; the funds represented by that slip of paper were, at that point, safe and sound). Time elapses. Last night, we go to the mailbox (the actual one on the street) and retrieve what looks like mail to me from … my workplace of all places. And it looks like a paystub envelope.

Puzzlemente! But when we turn the envelope over, we see this:



If it's hard to read, it says "You left this in a library book: Color Graphics. Have a Great Summer".

The way I figure it, it was most likely a library employee who caught it, in as much as it was returned with a Pitney Bowes postal meter stamp. There's a chance it could have been a private party, but the postal meter stamp argues against it. It was neatly sealed across the top with cellotape (thankfully I use a pocket knife to open my correspondence)

Not only did the Multnomah County Library return to me a potentially vital piece of personal documentation, they potentially saved this household from the scourge of ID theft. All because some Library worker, wanting to anonymously do the right thing, did so.

Dayum.

Multnomah County Library; you want any tax increase, any at all, you got my "yes" vote in perpetuity for restoring a little of my bruised, jaundiced faith in humanity. I also remember I need to go put a book or two on hold.

Thank you, MultCoLib!

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20 June 2009

I Know How This Feels

2093.Via @rodhillweather on Twitter: Rod Hill didn't get the KGW position.

But Rod has high praise for the man who turned him down. We always said Rod was a class act himself.

I'm sure he'll find another broadcast position very soon. He's just too good.

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18 June 2009

Kudos: LostOregon In The Oregonian Today!

2091.LostOregon has long been a favorite of mine: John Chilson pursues Oregon history of the 20th Century via old ads, postcards, and other ephemera with a single-minded passion that puts even this Oregon native to shame.

We should all care more about our shared histories and the memories that make modern Oregon, Oregon.

Well, today, one of my favorite Oregonian writers (Peter Ames Carlin, whose command of the english language has made me smile in admiration more than once), takes on the proprietor of LostO and shows us what makes him tick.

Proper payoff for someone who obviously cares about where we all have been, and does it in such an entertaining way.

Time wasted at LostO is actually time well spent, and I recommend it highly, and not just because I was one of the first people he linked to when he set it up, way back when as Stumptown Confidential. Good times.

Congratulations, John!

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17 June 2009

Rod HIll: You Can't Keep A Good Weatherman Down

2090.Because I love media and follow both pretenders to the niche Oregon Media Insiders used to occupy (for the record those are Oregon Media Central and Oregon Media Insiders 2.0 (which is what I call it because it's not the offical successor to OMI) I feel obliged to report that Rod Hill, recently shown the door at The Deuce, has come back with a Twitter accound (@rodhillweather) and it's buzzed that he's coming back soon on another tellyvision station – but since this blog's mission is not necessarily to chronicle the Portland market, I'm content to let that one develop in its time.

I do find it cosmically amusing in an otherwise-ineffable way … Rod Hill's first follower? @KATUSteve, a/k/a Steve Dunn.

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A New Magazine For Oregon: 1859:Oregon's Magazine

2089.Because I love print and I love Oregon I note that there's a new magazine coming up very soon (if it hasn't already), produced by Deschutes Media, called 1859: Oregon's Magazine.

It promises a quarterly look at the real Oregon. If the Flash intro to the magazine's website is any indication, the photography is going to be nifty.

Kevin Max of Deschutes Media says this about it:

I describe 1859 as a National Geographic merged with a Condé Nast Traveler, but all done for our own Oregon

Sounds like it's going to be pretty charming.

Go here: 1859: Oregon's Magazine home page

And read a press release about it here.

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15 June 2009

Portland: You Can Ride Your Unicycle Here

2084.NB: Nifty thanks to Sarah Mirk of The Merc for teh linkage! Nifty!

Just one more reason Portland is 100% full of win: the unicycle lane:



According to this flickr user here, it's on NW Cornell Road, outbound, in the inner NW Portland nabe. Photo is by Shannon Henry and is Creative Commons Attrib/NC/Share-Alike 2.0 licensed. Good on Shannon.

All we need FTW? Unicorn lanes.

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10 June 2009

Oregon Lottery Keno Screen Grammar FAIL

2071.This is either the result of outsourcing something or the shabby state of education here in Oregon, I'm not sure which:



It says Remember to have won more than your ticket to ensure you can claim any prize you may win!. Oh, at first you think you understand what it's saying, but then you realize that this deliciously awkward grammar is at cross-purposes with itself. However can you win less than your ticket? What does that even mean ... you don't win a ticket, you win a prize, and how can you qualify to win a prize that's worth less than the prize you've won ... aaargh!

And why do I have to remember it? Isn't that the Lottery's job to remember how much my Keno ticket has won? This is kind of like all those pharma ads that tell me to ask my doctor. My doctor should be asking me! And to have remember what was won kind of intimates that I could have won it anywhere. And I have to win more than I've won to win what I've won ...

Circular reasoning (n.): See reasoning, circular.

Can you actually win a prize that's more than the prize you plumped for?

I'm all at sixes and sevens here.

Sadly, I only have fours and fives, which means I can't claim my sixes and sevens, provided I remember how I got them at all. Or where. Or what.

Where's the help desk gone to?

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08 June 2009

Oregon Media Forum: A Logo With Wit

2068.The recently-opened Oregon Media Forum, in its current form a message forum devoted to those of us who really are having a hard time living without the abruptly-retired and rather-beloved Oregon Media Insiders, has it going on in the logo department.

LynnS's logo for that monumental work was nice, playful, and I enjoyed it much:



Radio, TV, Print. Great retro images (though in my opinion, the pencil is a timeless thing – I love drawing in pencil. Infinitely forgiving).

The pseudonymous founder of the Oregon Media Forum, "oregonmedia", brought the cleverness with a similarly-collage-like logo which takes the idea to the level of straight-faced satire:



The newspaper logo (s)he's riffing on is obvious, the two TV station logos, maybe not so much (though I parsed it straight away).

The phrase "straight-faced satire" might come off a bit awkward but it's actually meant as a compliment. An independent message board that welcomes anonymous comments branding itself using the visual grammar of prominent members of the community it critiques is actually quite visually fun if it comes off well, as it has here. And now that I'm taking a good deep look at it I like the subtle supporting touches: the gradients, the drop shadows, are all done just right. The beveling on the top of the F is a little stroke (so to speak) of genius, seriously.

If I was the type who had enough pull to give out Portland Logo of the Year awards, this would be up on that list. It's nifty!

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28 May 2009

Sic Transit ... Something Or Other

2063.If Silverton had been this cool when I was growing up, I never would have left it.

It makes me rather proud that my little town has become such an interesting place.

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