[pdx] Address Nerd™ Mystery Theatre: The Case of the Henry Thiele Waffle Club

2822.Got sent something that was a real stumper, folks, in a good way … but still inscrutable.

Got an email a couple of days ago from one David Buettner, who had stumbled upon this chronicle in aid of trying to untangle a mystery.

Everyone with a smattering of Portland history (especially of the culinary kind) has probably heard of Henry Thiele. Henry's was a restaurant that was lodged in the point at the five-cornered intersection that was where NW Westover Road met up with West Burnside Street, NW 23rd Avenue, and SW Vista Avenue. It was a landmark in architecture (see this picture) as well as in food (the German-style pancakes were reportedly legend). But the history of Portland has it writ large that Henry's was at NW Westover and West Burnside.

But then David throws me a curveball, looking like this:

photo courtesy David Buettner

This, I'm told by David, is the back of a small mirror, advertising (rather scrumptiously) the Henry Thiele Waffle Club of all things. The history of Henry Thiele is, sadly, something not much written, if at all; the part that says he had a location on SW 10th Avenue or SW 11th Avenue is pretty much invisible.

My particular task was to help David figure out where those address might have been. Remember the old Portland address pattern, on which I've commented oft perforce &c &c, and you'll remember that any numbered street without a directional is south of Ankeny/Burnside/Washington; this would therefore put this in what we would say is the downtown core today; SW 10th Avenue was '10th Street' and SW 11th Avenue was '11th Street' prior to the Great Renaming of 1930.

Moreover, the building numbers amounted to 20-to-the-block, instead of today's 100-to-the-block. So 107 - 10th Street actually winds up, most likely, being between Alder and Washington or between Stark and Washington. So, we have an idea of where that address might lie, down to about a 1-block possibility.

But again, the real thing that's making us grind our teeth here is that we simply cannot find any trace, so far, of the existence of anything called the Henry Thiele Waffle Club. Particularly intriguing is the dual address on adjacent streets which could suggest a business which fronted on two downtown streets.

Anyhow, this is a call for any history-addicted Portlander or Address Nerd to come to the aid of his … country … or something. Does anyone who might stop by here know anything about Henry Thiele Waffle Club? Any information would be gratitudinous, and is meant to be shared. Here's a chance for us to explore a corner of Portland history heretofore unexplored.

Into Henry Thiele With Gun and Camera, as 'twere.

Leave your exploratory notes in the comments, bitte sehr.

[art_liff] Shaun Tan Makes An Excellent Gift Idea

2821.The real dear gift was from The Wife™ who knows my number, too.

I am a huge fan of Shaun Tan. I am a late arrival to that party, sadly, because his books generally get marketed to children, but he's a fantasist on the level of, say, a Harlan Ellison, but one who wields a pencil with the same gusto and sense of surreality that he does with his words.

Many of you already know of his wondrous book The Arrival, and if you don't you should. It's not just an immigrant's experience, it's the immigrant experience, portrayed in a world that is fantastical and phantasmagorical in its way, wondrous and cool, with vistas open to great colossi and geometric cities that can't exist but do in this world. It tells its story without words, but tells it clearly enough.

Surf this link to see pictures from the book: http://www.shauntan.net/books/the-arrival.html. Tell me this man isn't God's gift to the pencil. The incredible imagination and deep humanity blazes fort from every page.

Shaun Tan has forgotten more than all my other favorite artists have known about illustration. 

[liff] With Artists Like These, Who Needs Normal Friends?

2820.A particularly valued gift given me this birthday cycle involves a sketch by Jess Warren of Borked Planet. She certainly has my number:

I got good friends.

[OR_liff] State Of Jefferson In Eclipse This Weekend

2819.

On this coming Sunday, there'll be an annular eclipse of the Sun that'll be the first North American continental eclipse of the 21st Century. Sometime around 4:45 PM, the shadow will pass onto the American mainland near the Oregon-California border. Oregon will be within its shadow, but only the southwestern corner - Curry, Josephine, Jackson counties.

This Google Maps interactive map view is mounted by NASA and available here.

An annular eclipse is, as the science writer for the HuffPo accurately put, no match for a total solar eclipse. When the event is fully on, due to the variations of distance from Earth that the Moon has, the Moon is far enough away so that it covers almost all of the Sun's disk, leaving a 'ring of fire' (as they dramatically like to call it) which throws enough light that, if you didn't know there was an eclipse, you probably wouldn't be aware. It's like a partial solar eclipse really.

So if you're looking for some real solar eclipse action and your here in the Portland Metro, I wouldn't haul ass to Grass Pants unless you're a real sky geek. If you're looking for that, it's going to happen on Monday, the 21st of August, 2017. The totality will cover an area from just south of Newberg to about Monroe, and the middle of the shadow will cross I-5 at around 10:15 AM PDT (9:15 AM PST)

But, this coming Sunday, the state of Jefferson will be in partial darkness, but there are some I know that say that it doesn't take an eclipse for that to happen down there.

[design] Recycle Bocce Balls Here Please, Or Something

2818.Well, it's either this interpretation …

… or it's a Bocce ball recycling station. What english on that ball!

[pdx_liff] Democracy In Action, May 15th 2012

2817.Dateline: Midland Branch of the Multnomah County Library, ballot drop station, volunteers hard at work, 7:57 pm (three minutes before poll closing time) on the 15th of May 2012.

They are volunteers, and where would we be without them?


And now we have a run off race between Smith and Hales, and the fun really begins here.

[net_liff] Google Chrome, Now With Built-In Tab Synching

2816.The new Google Chrome, Chrome 19, is in the stable channel, and what got my attention was that they have apparently brought tab synching to the browser. This is supposed to mean that no matter where you are, on what computer, whenever you use Chrome you have the same tabs on any session on any computer you use. Your browser follows you everywhere.

This'll probably have two reactions depending on how you see Google; for those who aren't down with the seemingly-ever-increasing amount of information Google collects on you to make your online experience as unified as possible, there will be a search on how to turn that off; to those who don't mind or don't care … and judging by how well Google still seems to be perceived or how popular Chrome seems to be, that's an ass-ton of us … it'll be a boon.

And here's TechCrunch's article: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/15/chrome-19-launches-now-features-built-in-tab-syncing/

[design] How Many Fonts Do YOU Have?

2815.Looks like I'm running behind.

[pdx_liff] Are There Mutant Ducks In Laurelhurst Park?

2814.Well, no … not if you don't feed them, anyway.

Earlier today we repaired to the park to take in the waning day and enjoy a light lunch. The money the City's spent to rehab the pond in Laurelhurst Park has been well spent; ducks enjoy it mightily, and clouds of tireless swifts clear the air of irritating bugs. It's a very pleasant place.

But as you may or may not know, the City's concerned that we keep the Pond clear of everything that we don't need there; feeding the ducks will bring in matter they don't need, and threaten the rehab that's been accomplished there.

This is what it looks like these days …

But wait … what's that sign here?

Either we've got a freelancer working there, or the City isn't being forthcoming about what they're doing over there.

Either way, we took a longer look. Swimming a short distance away were two of the Ducks Whom Must Not Be Fed:

And here's a closer look:

Well, they don't seem mutated.

Yet.

The truth isn't out there.

The truth is in there.

Unless it isn't, of course.

[zehnkatzen] The Portland Marquam Bridge Skyline Picture Has Jefferson Smith's Back

2813.When a particularly beloved progeny goes on TV, there's always a moment of swelling pride. Now, some know this photo, and it has gone round the world a couple of times (sadly, not always permitted). Back in January, though, I reached an agreement with the Jefferson Smith for Mayor campaign to license the photo for use.

This, of course, is that photo:

It went on a few posters, which made me rather extremely happy. But in the latest campaign spot for Jefferson, my happiness meter pretty much pegged. Not just because it's a darned fine spot, and Jefferson looks very good in it, but the graphic backing up the titles going in and coming out should look very familiar.



Here they are in freeze frame:

… there was the intro, and here's the outro:

Jefferson Smith is a great candidate, and will make a good Mayor. I did license this photo to the campaign, but when it comes to politics, I don't just license these things out to just anyone.

[net_liff] Mahtab Zargari and the Yoda Soda

2812.I've rhapsodized at length about Mahtab in the past. If you've not been introduced, let me explain.

Mahtab Zargari is this precocious little 8-year old girl who has a passion for food. Yes, I know, what kid doesn't? But, unlike most kids, she makes the greatest little show out of it.

Mahtab's Big Kid Cooking Show is now at 11 episodes; she's covered things like making hummus wraps (yes, and "Yoda Soda") in the little-kid way but with a big-kid approach and a comfortability with the camera that is unmistakable. It's hard not to be sweet on young ladies, but I say, sirra, if you don't fall for Mahtab and her food act, then you must have a heart of stone. You must.


Here, after a too-long wait, is the anticipated 11th ep of Big Kid Cooking Show, where she assembles a glass of Yoda Soda from the Star Wars Cookbook.



It's easy to use gentle terms to describe her act … adorable, sweet, cute all come to mind, and they're all, in their way, true. However, Mahtab's got more going for her than just being a charming young lady. It's also easy to dish off a term like passionate, but how many 8-year-olds have you heard of that are still starring in such a charming series of Internet shorts that they've been doing since they were four?

She's literally been doing this for half her life. In this ADHD world, that's not just an achievement, it's a minor miracle.

And that's why I'm still sweet on little Mahtab. Assisted by her doting dad, she's a picture-perfect example of someone who's lucky enough to find her passion early. She plainly enjoys what she's doing, and when she speaks to the camera, it's like a friend is speaking to you.

We know not what this bespectacled gem has up her sleeve for the future, but we presume that what she wants, she'll pretty much get.

If you want to see the previous 10 episodes in the series, look here: http://bigkidcookingshow.podbean.com/ . She has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/mahtabzargari, and yes, you should like it. 

[pdx] An Animated GIF for Jefferson Smith

2811This is as close to political I'll get on this blog, however, I do have an animated GIF supporting Jefferson Smith, If you're supporting Jefferson, you're welcome to help yourself to it and spread it around.

I do like Jefferson, and he is eminently quotable.

Download the GIF as a GIF, remember. If you download it as JPEG, there's no animation. Click on it to embiggen (it'll look better that way) and then you can download.

There ya go, buckos. Share away.

Thanks to Carla Axtman (http://twitter.com/carlaaxt) for the quote and the graphic, and Jefferson's campaign on the Book of Face is at (https://www.facebook.com/forwardwithjeffersonsmith) and on Twittah at (http://twitter.com/Jefferson4PDX)

[infographic] Eat Sriracha Or Slowly, Slowly Die

2810I have been recruited to the Rooster Sauce side of the Force since some time ago. There's very little that can't be improved by Sriracha.

We all know what The Oatmeal had to say about the Rooster. But did you know that it was just so damn' miraculous? I didn't. The skinny … and there is some skinny … on a long, skinny infographic, perforce.

Clicky to embiggenate. You are the Embiggenator.

Created by: CookingSchools.net

Via here. 

[teh_funnay] The Premiere of the 3rd Season of You Suck At Photoshop. Here, Now.

2809The big fishies at MyDamnChannel haven't yet released the premiere of YSAP 3.0 as a stand-along ep, but you can see it if you load up this episode of MyDamnChannel Live and go to 5:48. It runs to about 12:50.

Here's the video cued-up to the starting point for you all. Click on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8mux_Rhh24&t=5m48

You got your Donnie Hoyle coming to you after all this waiting. You're going to get him good and hard.

[art] A ZKT Exclusive Interview With I've Been Framed's Newest Employee

2808I'll say it until I can't say it no more: Local art stores rock and there are two that are instrumental in putting the cream in our coffee, the art supplies in our bag, and taking the money out of our wallet. One of them is I've Been Framed.

We like our two favorite stores for mostly the same reasons. They're both staffed and owned by local Portlanders who are passionate about art and sincerely love their customers. They both have different approaches that mean you get a ton of good out of them and the prices are seriously affordable. They care about what they do and almost everyone who works there are artists themselves.

When you walk into IBF you get the idea that you've walked into a delightful collage that will also sell you art supplies. They not only have brands that you look for but they also sometimes have insanely-discounted clearance lots. IBF has a nice little framing department in the back, which is where they get the idea for the nam.

The employees at IBF, as I intimated, really make the store however. Really friendly, really care about the art. Really care about making your experience there a good one. A new employee has been added, and he's a sweetie. I understand he works really cheaply … mostly for Little Friskies. You can get a good idea of who it is when you enter:

He, like all great artists, goes by a single name … Jordie. He's still settling in, but he's got a warm charm all his own. After asking Mark for an introduction I was shown into Jordie's office, where he was busy at work, holding down the Adorable department, as well as some of the inventory.

Actually, he may have been on break. With a kitteh, it's hard to tell.

I'm not sure if he was up to a hard-hitting interview about the ins and outs of being the only known art-store cat in Portland, but I wasn't about to back down. Here was a story that needs to be told, and in the wake of the loss of Powell's Books' legendary store cat, Fup, the position of Dean of Portland Store Cats is still up for contention. The public wants to know if Jordie can make the grade. And I wasn't about to be swayed by purring and cute looks.

Oh, heck, he's a cute cat. Of course I was. But on to the interview:

The Zehnkatzen Times: Jordie, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with us.

Jordie:

ZKT: You have the opportunity of working as the store cat in one of the two most awesome art supply stores in the Portland area. How did you feel when you realized that you're the point kitty here? Particularly honored?

Jordie:

ZKT: Indeed! A great opportunity. Now, you're settling in, getting used to the crush of customers coming through … they're very creative types. Do you find the artists that come in for supplies particularly inspiring?

Jordie:

ZKT: That's a great story. You never know who you'll run into here … I just helped an artist who was working on ancient methods for making gessoes figure out how to come by the circumference of a circle so he could lay out some calligraphy. You don't have to work here to learn something new! You do work here though … do you feel that you're luckier than most kitties?

Jordie:

ZKT: Yes, it is a special place. That's why we keep coming here, especially with personnel like yourself that make the experience so nice.

At that point, Jordie had some important item on his kitty agenda to complete and had to end the interview, but not before there were skritches and pettin's and purring. But, withal, it looks like Jordie has all the chops to be a great art-store store cat. He's still got some settling in to do, learning the ropes of a very important position, but it looks like he'll grow into the position just fine.

So, visit yourself some I've Been Framed … local art stores are cool, and local art stores are awesome. Also stop by Muse. Support your local sources. They matter.

And pet yourself some kitty when you can. It may not make you rich, but it will make you happy.

[PDX_liff] LOLBurgerville At SE 11th And Hawthorne

2807Burgerville USA, the only burger joint worth visiting, indeed, the only burger joint anywhere, has good news for this particular kitteh:

Yes, you can haz that cheezburger. Might I suggest the Tillamook Cheeseburger?

Of course, the injunction is delivered with a smile. Because that's how Burgerville USA rolls, yo.

[teh_funnay] Donnie Hoyle is Back … and You Still Suck At Photoshop

2806Got something for you all …

Today on MyDamnChannel's YouTube channel, during the daily broadcast of the MyDamnChannelLive web series, something happened that I'm betting you didn't know you wanted but you did in your heart, oh dear yes you did.

Remember You Suck at Photoshop? Remember how much Donnie Hoyle went through to train us on how not to suck at Photohshop? And remember how he seemed to go out in a blaze of … well glory, or something like it?

Well, friends, he didn't die. He's just been hidin' out. And rocking CS5, of course. Today, MDCLive premiered Volume 21 in the series, which illustrates Puppet Warp and Content-Aware Fill, which are awesome of course.

The videos aren't up in their own channel, of course, but you can probably see it as part of today's MDCLive, which are in this YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/MyDamnChannel. If you go there nowish you won't see it, but if you do it, say, later this evening or so, it should be up.

For now, this should hold you.

Maybe.



Oh, you are in for it people. You really really are.

[OR_liff] The Popcorn Machine Has Been Cleared Of Blame …

2805Not long ago, word broke that Silverton's magnificent Palace Theater, a fixture for most of a century (and as an opera house, even longer) at the corner of Oak and Water Streets in the center of downtown, suffered a tragic fire.

At the time, one of the theatre's owners, the famous Stu Rasmussen, guessed it might have been the popcorn machine. The lobby suffered a remarkable amount of damage, and the estimate went as high as $300,000.

Good news: a message on the marquee has proclaimed that WE WILL BE BACK, and word is the business is on the mend: fully insured, saith this article at the Statesman-Journal.


Good on Stu and his crew. I always figured him for a smart cookie.

And the popcorn machine is off the hook for the blame. 

[OR_liff] The Perfect Sister City For Boring, Oregon?

2804Why, that would be Dull, Scotland, of course.

No, seriously. Really.

I mean, here it is. Right next to the Dull Wood, in fact.

Why would anyone bother to make this up?

(Via)

[liff] I Tried Out A ChromeBook … At The Multnomah County Library

2803This is a thing I just stumbled on. It's a good thing.

For a while I've wanted a crack at a Chromebook. The way things go round me, chances were hard to come by. But I saw this placard in the Midland Branch of the Multnomah County Library that said something about Community Chromebooks.


I was intrigued, and asked about it. Google has apparently provided Chromebooks for checkout to certain branches of the County Library, and I asked one of the librarians about it.

They're spiffy new machines, so there's a fair amount of rules to follow. You can check one out for two hours only, and if you keep them out after two hours, it's a $10 overdue fine per hour. They'll give you a sheet to read and sign; read it carefully. Take good care of that Chromebook while you have it; if you break it, you'll pay to fix it. Resist the urge to go all hacky on it, and keep your latte off to the side.

All I'm sayin' is, be careful. They have to take good care of them, so others can check them out too.

What you'll get for your trouble is a spiffy little Samsung Chromebook, and you can check out for yourself what they do. And for what they're intended, they work pretty well actually.

When I go out or go to the library, I'll want to check in online, see what's going on. As long as you're near a public WiFi network, you get signal, and all the net's bases are belong to you. If you want new apps, you download them from the Chrome Web Store, just like on your Chrome-equipped laptop or desktop. I don't know how much you can get done without net access, but you can apparently do some things; but essentially because the experience is basically a Chrome browser with a really nifty case, and you'll be using the Chromebook in situations where you're connected, this'll probably not be too much of an issue.

The machine boots up quick, just like they say it does, and runs really pretty well for what it does. Sort of the ultimate netbook really.

If you want to try out a Chromebook, your chance may be as close as your nearest Multnomah County Library. Like you needed any more reasons to go to the Library, Portland.

[comic art] How To Draw A Male Manga Face

2801Mark Crilley has an approach to manga that results in a look I like quite a lot … a face with realistic aspects but that visually-addicting manga style. This is from a series of very easy-to-follow manga tutorials on his YouTube channel.

[comic art] Creating A Dystopian-Future Comic Book Cover

2801 (Via Dark Horse Comics at the Book'o'Face) The Massive is a dystopian near-future comic series coming soon that is supposed to take place in an environment where the the race between global climate change has ended, and global climate change has won. There are previews available here and about.

The cover art, like any great comic cover art, hooks you in.

In this article at iO9, Brian Wood takes us through the creative process that led to that cover.

[comics] Archie Comics #636, Where Girls Will Be Boys, and …

2800You can probably finish the title yourself.

I'm amused that, amongst all the people or things that are bravely (or accidentally, even) leading us into the future, Archie comics would be one. When I was growing up, of course, Archie was fun, but conventional, safe … and rather boring. While the visual style has always been engaging, as time went on the impression I got was of something that didn't require too much skill. I imagined that Archie characters weren't so much drawn as assembled.

But within the last year, Archie has taken what is, for me, an unexpected place at the front of the changing times. But then, what does popular art do but reflect the times, if it does anything worthwhile at all? So, last year, we had two important supporting gay characters get married, something which stirred up its own controversy. And now, Archie's going all Freaky Friday on us.

According to this article at gay.net (http://www.gay.net/hot-reads/2012/04/19/archie-gang-goes-gender-bender), as the story apparently goes, the male side of the gang and the female side of the gang get into a big argument about who has it easier … so Sabrina, The Teenage Witch (and her kitteh) decide to change everything up so that each other gets to see for sure.

What got me about the whole thing though was the art. There's something subtly different about the cover art (see the link). The standard Archie kit is all there, but it's somehow more accomplished. Of course, Veronica is adorable in that cute mini-dress (that said, I've always been a Betty partisan. I liked Mary Ann over Ginger, for what that's predictably worth), but one of the keys to a winning comic is drawings you like to look at (as Charles Schultz alluded to when he commented on Calvin and Hobbes) and these two cover arts are comic arts I enjoy looking at. The burger-munchery on the part of Jughead was a little gratuitous, and I still wonder how Archie gets those grid-prints in his hair, but the indignant look on Betty's face is one for the books, and the irritation between Archie and Veronica is the most real emotion I've seen in a long time from any Archie comic.

Despite the adventure, some things remain ere the same; on the cover of the swtiched (see the link) identities, "Archina" (argh!) is still the meat in the "Ronnie"-"Billy" sandwich. But that's all they're tipping thier hats to.

Archie #636 is scheduled to hit the newsstands in August, so we'll all have to wait until then.

[branding] Whither And/Or Whence Oak Grove, Oregon?

2799Seen in The Oregonian today:

The sign just appeared. If anyone knows where it came from, they haven't come forward. But there it was -- the white and green "Welcome to Oak Grove" sign nailed below the green state signs on southbound McLoughlin Boulevard alerting drivers to the next towns coming up.  

That was April 4. Two days later, Milwaukie crews took the sign down because it wasn't actually in the unincorporated Oak Grove area, but one-third of a mile north, inside Milwaukie's city limits. Instead of trashing it, Milwaukie staff turned it over to Oak Grove resident Fred Nelligan. 

As it would happen, Oak Grove is a community laying roughly in the northern part of the unincorporated area of Clackamas County between Milwaukie and Gladstone. It doesn't include the whole of that area, of course; if you go to the corner of SE McLoughlin Blvd and SE Oak Grove Blvd, right by the Oak Grove Fred Meyer store, and draw a circle about 1.5 miles in radius about that point that'll pretty much take in most of the community. While some definitions have it between the Willamette River and Oatfield Road, others are a little more generous going east. And I'll be frank; I don't know what the neighborhood association's definition is.

But it's a pleasant enough place. I know several people there and they're very happy with the area; there's always been a banked fire of pride about being from Oak Grove. But never a strong sense of that thing we can't do without any more, 'brand identity'.

What is Oak Grove? Well, it's a bit of land in Clackamas County with a community that has a shared identity. It's got all sorts of incomes and lifestyles, from high to low; its axis is one of Oregon's oldest highways, State Hwy 99E, also known as McLoughlin Blvd, named for Oregon's most notable European pioneer. Follow that road south just a couple more miles and you land in Oregon City, where Oregon (and most of the organized American West) began. There are prosperous middle-class residents off either side of McLoughlin, even if some of the properties along that old road seem rather distressed. And there's a panoply of opportunities to spend your money on the main drag; chances are, if you can't find it along McLoughlin, you can get by without it for a little while. There is some local history, if one considers the famous "Bomber", which has a quirky history of its very own.

What Oak Grove is really doing right now is growing an identity. Up until now, that identity was pretty much a place you passed through either just after leaving or just before you get to Milwaukie. There's bound to be some basic human "you had to be there" silliness, like an unknown signster putting up a "Welcome To Oak Grove" sign up on a state milepost sign that's actually 1/2 mile inside the Milwaukie city limits.

But Oak Grove is a nice place with a whole lot of nice people, and community is a good thing, and they have a right to be proud as they build that community.

More power to them.

Just put the right sign in the right place, next time. Remember, it's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission, as someone once said.

You should probably try getting permission next time though.

[teh_funnay] This High School is The Fastest Hunk Of Junk In The Galaxy

2798Those who designed Parkland High School, Allentown, PA, claim they didn't intend to make it look, from the air, like a certain Corellian freelancer's ship …

Well, OK, we'll buy that. But so what? This is the most awesome HS campus ever.

And it made the Kessel run in less than 1.3 parsecs. Can your high school say that? I'll just answer for you: NO.

I'm reasonably certain that you won't find the droids you're looking for there, though, budgets being what they are.

Even more injustice: the sports team are the Trojans, not the Falcons.

[pdx] Urban Archaeology: At SE 42nd And Hawthorne, Where They Once Sold Ice Cream

2797This was a pleasant find to stumble upon, all the more so because we weren't looking for it and it concerns the continued success of peoples we are quite fond of.

I have exulted the charms. of Muse Art and Design before. Along with I've Been Framed they are the two art supply stores you must know if you need art supplies here in town. Local, passionate about what they do, and won't break your bank wide open.

Last we, me and The Wife™ slid along to the corner of SE 42nd Avenue and Hawthorne Blvd, upper Hawthorne, and we were amazed to see this:

Muse's current location is one address east of this (more on that allusion perforce). Until recently that location was a quirky, cool vintage shop called Shadowhouse Collectibles who, via the vicissitudes of business these days, had to quit the location and move on (we don't know where yet – if you never visited, you've missed out, my friend. Keep up to date with them here, as they say they'll be back). Shadowhouse has been good to us, as the vintage KATU sign will attest.

Alas and alack, for now Shadowhouse is gone. This has opened up an opportunity for Muse to move into a bigger space, which can augur nothing but good; but until then, remodeling of the space happens. And that has uncovered and unexpected visual treat.

The building on the corner SE 42nd and Hawthorne has had her makeup removed for a newer application, and we find that this used to be an ice cream shop.

The Portland Ice Cream Company, to be precise. I don't know whether they made it there or had it brought in, but the old hand-painted typography on the facade brings up memories I didn't know I had (mostly because I wasn't alive in the 1940s).

The old paint work itself shows signs of revision. We peoples, we just can't leave things along, can we? I'm guessing that the half-covered signage probably said something like Farmers Ice Milk and Cream, but we are certainly guessing there.

Old-fashioned ice-cream parlors. Doesn't that just speak 'small-town America'? One wonders what the then-denizens of upper Hawthorne would think of the current, with the ironic bars and the organic markets and the incense-and-peppermints shops and whatnot. Probably think they were on another planet or summat.

It would be far amiss if I didn't mention something about the remodeler. The job is being done by an outfit called Michael Cordes Remodeling, and we met the man as he was cleaning up at the end of what was obviously a long, productive day of work. There are all sorts of builders revising Portland at the present time but I don't think I've ever run into one that has this keen a sense of history. Very, very affable fellow; had a few minutes to talk and we had a fairly fun chat. But, you tell me … what remodeler would care enough about history to post a picture of the building in its heyday? I'm not sure what year this was, but the old-style street-blades on the corner suggest the 1940s.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who formats his business card and sign in lovely calligraphy is probably a cut above the rest. He can be contacted at mcremodel@rconnects.com, if you're of the bent.

He's said he has some more historic PDX photos to share after I post this, and i can share some, I will.

Keep your eyes open, peoples! History is right in front of you betimes.

[teh_funnay] Zooey Deschanel in a Post-Copy-Editor World

2796We always knew that Zooey Deschanel was a special woman of poise and good qualities.

Therefore we were not surprised when she divorced Death Cab for Cutie.

We never much cared for that group anyhow.

[pdx_liff] Mattress World - Again, It's Not Too Late To Sleep Like A Baby

2795Mattress World is back, at least in spirit, and, at several locations, in fact as well.

Sliding in somewhat under the radar, the business, now under new ownership (Sean Hathaway is mentioned as the owner) with Sherri Hiner along for the journey, boasts a new website (http://mattressworldnorthwest1.tru-m.com/) and seven locations, including Salem and Clackamas, and an evolved name: Mattress World Northwest. 

We wish 'em well. It was heartbreaking to watch Mattress World go down like that.

We hope the get a new URL soon though. That one? Not particularly memorable.

[art] It's Gamblin Torrit Grey Time!

2794The spring is sprung and that means grey, but in more ways than one. Of course, there's that particular Oregon gray, the sky that never stops giving us its water, but for some years now, Portland's own Gamblin Artist Colors does a singular thing.

Gamblin's Torrit Grey is a unique pigment. Every spring, they collect the pigments that are captured by the shops Torit® brand air filtration systems. When you mix all colors together, you don't actually get black … they neutralize and you tend toward gray. And the sum total of the color of all the pigments collected by the Torit are just a little different each time round, depending on what sells, how much of what gets made, and suchlike.

Well, Gamblin has just announced the game is on with the announcement of this year's Torrit Grey contest. Each year, Gamblin distributes tubes of Torrit Grey to art stores throughout the area, and is complementary with purchases of Gamblin products, just for the asking. You create some amazing value-based art with Torrit Grey and enter it in the contest.

Information is available here:

http://www.gamblincolors.com/torrit.grey/index.html

Game on, peoples.

[PDX_Liff] 61 Seconds At Denny's

2793We couldn't get by without our weekly visits to the Denny's at SE Stark and 105th (you know, the one closest to Mall 205). We love the staff … Cherisse, Samm, Mario, Robyn, Lisa, you know who you are … and when you can't get artisanal coffee in Portlandia, amazingly enough, we do what everyone everywhere else does. We go to the Denny's.

This, then is sometimes the most important 61 seconds of my week.

[art] Muse Art and Design-Earth Safe Finishes Demo at Milepost 5

2792So, yesterday night, The Wife™ and I took part in a demo/workshop put on by Muse Art and Design at the Milepost 5 complex. The subject of interest is a line of art supplies by Earth Safe Finishes (http://earthsafefinishes.com), and we found the whole thing nifty as a rule.

Earth Safe Finishes is a company working in the field of 'green'; the line is different, they say, for two main reasons. First, they're made in the USA, which is always a plus these days, and second (and maybe more important to an individual artist) they boast that they're free of VOC's, or volatile organic compounds. These are the chemicals that allow the paints, mediums, etc to dry quickly by outgassing. For those who are chemical-sensitive they are an active concern.

If they are a concern for any individual, then Earth Safe Finishes products do indeed provide an alternative. They are all non-toxic. They include mediums (including a titan called Fabric Magic, which can do just about anything, it seems) and a line of paints (called colorants but now called pigments) that are very very concentrated. A few drops do go a loooong way.

I used very small amounts of Phthalo Blue, Red, Yellow, and Lampblack to produce this Mona-Lisa-esque work over the two-hour workshop:

The colors are very rich and vibrant and enjoyably workable. The right side of the picture was me playing around with colors and a medium. 

A good time was had by all, and the Musers Marcus, Peter and David were there, and did their own works; I found all three to be skillful artists … albeit with visions running toward the comically disturbing. Good thing I don't have clown issues … and let's leave it there. Susan, led the demo had a sure and informative hand over the proceedings, and the people who showed up were all very affable and friendly.

In short, fun.

[branding] Dollar Shave Club Proves Cheeky Humor Still Sells

2791… well, at least it still sells if you pitch it just so.

In a conversation last night, I overheard someone talking about Dollar Shave Club, that it was apparently a dotcom that sent you just your basic, two-bladed razor for a dollar a month. Skeptical? You bet. But I've seen sillier things sold seriously (Artisanal Pencil Sharpening, anyone?) and anyone who's been on the intertubez for any length of time knows that it really does allow you to fuse things that weren't really 'fusable' before into something that works.

According to this article at Huffington Post*, the entrepreneur behind it, Michael Dubin, was able to mash up direct importing form China and Korea** with the savings that strictly-internet commerce can provide to deliver a free handle, five blades/month of a basic two-bladed men's razor for $1/unit, or $3/month.

What really gets this over-the-hump, however, is the cheeky, dry humor that seems to borrow as much from the sensibility of The Daily Show as it does Saturday Night Live with a dash of National Lampoon. The video, of course, has gone viral. Touching on such things as the quality-price-value proposition, men's grooming over the 20th Century (you're handsome Grandpa just used one blade, and he had polio) lampooning of some trite ad-speak, and even works in how he's improving the economy. Just watch.



The three models offered show a similar wry humor. The DSC's basic model, 'The Humble Twin' boasts that it 'does not front'; the middle-range model, 'The 4X', is good enough for you and your girlfriend; the Cadillac of the line, 'The Executive', 'comes from the future and lives in Outer Space'.

But this startup does exist and will send you blades at prices that make buying your shave at the variety, grocery, and drug store look kind of look a little extravagant. And I enjoy the humor.

Even though I wear a beard. Makes me wish I preferred being clean-shaven.

*I refuse to call it HuffPo. I cry and die inside whenever anyone I know does.
** I, too am a bit conflicted about importing from China and Korea but, on the upside, Alejandra wasn't working last month, and this month, she is. So that's something right there. 

[maps] Dido Albert Federowich: The Greatest Living American?

2790There's a practice in mapmaking known as copyright trapping. It is set by laying copyright traps. 


Creating maps is something of an odd competition. They usually wage war over features such as design, readability, completeness … the sources of many maps is a matter of public record. If I decided (and many of my friends over time has said I should) to create and publish a map of Portland, I could do so by referring to public records as to what streets have actually been built, historical records which have fallen into the public domain, and, in the case of this town, my extensive street-level experience in it.

That's one way.

The other way would be to buy a Rand McNally map and create my own hand- or digitally-drawn copy. And, since it's the city of Portland, a thing that's open to all, and maps strive for accuracy, it'd be essentially impossible to discern that I got the idea that 82nd Avenue crosses Burnside Street from any freely-available source.

They have called this editing the competition as well, back in the days when maps were distributed through gas stations. Isn't it nifty?

But how to create a map in such a way that lazy cartographers can't get away with stealing your data? Easy. Put a little street it, that people are vanishingly likely to visit, in some out-of-the-way place, and give it a tell-tale name. It pops up in the competition's map and, bingo, you got 'em.

Blogfriend Ben Lukoff (@lukobe on Twittah) who shares a similar Address Nerdery, alerted me to a street named after someone I'd never heard of before … Dido Albert Federowich. I don't know who he was or what he did, but he's important enough to have a street named after him … or did he?

Anyway, as I was scrolling around the west side of the city, the map displayed a rather unusually named street: “Dido Albert Federowich Memorial Drive.” Uh, what now? So, naturally, I googled the name…and discovered that, oddly, there are similarly named streets in several cities…or at least, maps of that city indicate streets of that name in several cities.

I put the string Dido Albert Federowich Memorial Dr into Google maps, and I got 4 hits:

1. Omaha, Nebraska: A driveway into a park that has baseball diamonds.
2. Virginia Beach, Virginia: An entry road into a subdivision. If you go into Street View, and position yourself just-so at the intersection with the cross-street leading into that subdivision, you'll see that the street blade calls it Savannah Trail, which is the name of the backbone street of the subdivision, which it presumably is actually an extension to.
3. Knoxville, Tennessee: an access to a parking lot that apparently serves a park-and-ball-diamond arrangement on the city's southwest side
4. Pollock Pines, California: a back-road's back road in the Sierra Nevada east of Sacramento

My Google Maps search only turned up those four; the author of this blog posting found several others. 

The presence of DAFM Drive doesn't in and of itself excite so much as finding even one more of them in some other city hundreds of miles away … and I came up with four. What's up with that? Have I just inadvertently inducted myself into a secret society of DAF-followers and soon receive attendant power, prestige and wealth?

Gosh, I sure hope so.

Is it a copyright trap? Or just some pro-cartographers' inside-joke? That is a mystery that I, mah babies, cannot crack. Maybe someone someday will. I'll just enjoy the absurdity for now.

Anyway, Dido Albert Federowich, great unknown American, we salute you, whoever … or whatever … you were. Are. Is. I don't know, really.

[logo] Rivergrove, Oregon: The City Of Happy Little Trees

2789If you've never heard of Rivergrove, Oregon, then you're just like almost everyone on Earth, slim. And Rivergrove probably likes it like that.

Rivergrove is a very very small city on the north bank of the Tualatin River and on the border of Clackamas and Washington Counties here in Oregon. It's scarcely a mile long and, at most, four or five blocks wide. It clings to the river and both sides of SW Childs Road; there are three roads in and no roads back out (if you don't count the three roads that took you in, of course). If you use I-5 in the area you might go through it every day, but are only in that town for a heartbeat.

It's obviously a city of neighbors; even the city's website is unofficial and volunteer-supported. And it has a logo, or perhaps a sign, that, in its use of simple forms and Peignot as a font, is so datedly-charming that it's gone full-circle into retro:

Of course, I took one look at those trees, and I made an immediate connection:

It looks like them, don't it? Bob Ross inspired those trees. Had to. 

Rivergrove, Oregon; where happy trees go to retire.

Thank The Wife™ for finding this one. She thought it delightful, and she's right; it is.

[net_liff] The Girl Whose Feet Never Touch The Ground

2788Natsumi Hayashi is a young Japanese woman, who puts her super power on display for all the world to see.

Now, as far as polls go, attractive young women are right up there; Japanese moreso. The reason I make that tortured statement is to perhaps overmake the point that, while Natsumi Hayashi is very easy on the eyes generally, what will really make you fall in love with her is her delightfully skewed view, which she can make real and share with you:

She's pioneered what she calls levitation self-portraits, and there are quite a few. They make her seem in her environment, but not part of it. Something entirely un-Earthly and surreal and very wonderful to look at. They amuse the eye and lift the spirit.

She has many of these, whose secret is actually hard work; she sets her camera for auto-fire or has a friend squeeze the trigger, and really just jumps up and down. Out of the up-to-300-and-more photos taken on such a session, chances are, there'll be a few good ones.

It's reality, curated, really.

Her blog is Yowayowa Camera Woman Diary: http://yowayowacamera.com/. Come for the adorable young Japanese lady; stay for the sense of absurd wonder.