Braaaaiiiiiinnnnnsss...

PDX Zombie Walk 2010. Although these started in Sacramento about ten years ago, they just fit so nicely into the Portland psyche. And besides, there are too many good photo ops to ignore.




OK, so the last one technically may or may not be a zombie, but he's just so stinkin' cute he needed to be appreciated here.

And yes, that is the children's book hero Bunnicula.

An auditorium by any other name...

Last spring I was in Lincoln City, staying at a friend's beach house with some family visiting from West Virginia. One of the days we were there we ventured into town, visiting my daughter's favorite LC store, The Rocking Horse. The Rocking Horse has a prodigious collection of vintage and antique postcards which swallowed a good hour (at least) of my time that day.

I came home with this 25-cent treasure.













As a new-ish Portlander, I had to search for a while before I could figure out what building this actually was. It's certainly not one I remembered seeing before, and I soon discovered why: this building--now known as the Keller Auditorium, a building I'd definitely visited!--had undergone some pretty radical revisions in its century-long life. Here's a picture of it in 1958, ten years before the radical 1968 renovation which transformed it into a bastion of the International style so popular at the time. At that point, pre-1968, it was still known as the Portland Municipal Auditorium.












And here, in case you need a reminder, is what the building was transformed into (this photo taken only a few years after the update). It was also given the new, and more familiar, name The Portland Civic Auditorium. No wonder it was so hard to recognize.



I'm not a great judge of international style architecture; sometimes it strikes me with its elegant restraint, but I generally favor older buildings, like (ahem) them one in the original postcard. I am amused, however, by architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable's description of the building as "a building of unrelieved blandness."
I don't entirely agree, though, as the west-facing wall of windows simply glows when the interior lights are lit, letting passersby have a glimpse at a very glittery world inside while patrons have a wonderful view on the Keller Fountain across the street.

This brings me to the final impetus for compiling this post. A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to go to the Keller for the open OBT company class and technical rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty. Although it really was fascinating to see the inner workings of the ballet, between dance sessions I was distracted enough to snap these two shots on my phone camera. Other than that entrance, it's my humble opinion that the exterior of the building underplays expectations for the interior. The lights alone sparkle with elegance.




Maybe this lighting configuration was a product of the most recent renovation--funded by Ira Keller--in 2000, the one which gained the auditorium its current name. In any case, what a history there is to this place. Thank you, Rocking Horse, for a great treasure hunt!

Reed canyon, early fall

The four acre Reed Lake, which takes up a good portion of the canyon, is purportedly "the oldest naturally occurring lake in Portland", though whether or not it's actually natural has been debated over the years. It's all part of a land donation from the erstwhile William Ladd, and there are traces of the former agricultural purposes of the land strewn throughout the Reed campus.
The canyon has at various times held the aquifier for Ladd's cattle, a wildlife refuge, a fish hatchery, two bath houses, and an outdoor swimming pool.

Today, it's an urban oasis, as well as a valuable site for Reedies interested in some hands-on natural resources studies.

Hawthorne Bridge

Sometimes casual internet research turns into a banquet of riches. I'm just going to share the bounty a bit.

Portland's bridges are kind of like a gaggle of siblings in a family you love for taking you in. Each one has its own personality and appeal. The Hawthorne bridge holds the place of the older sister who has a fondness for fine art and music but not a lot of accumulated wealth to show for it. She's aged gracefully, and though her tastes are slightly archaic and out of touch with today's youth, she still resides as the cool, beautiful, and funky aunt whom all the nieces and nephews love. I even have a fondness for the wheelhouse (is that what it should be called?) shown here.

100 years old this year, the Hawthorne Bridge is the "oldest operating vertical lift bridge in the United States." This Multnomah County site also notes that most of the lift system is still original, other than the electrical and control systems, which I'd just as soon have updated every century or so, thank you very much. It replaced two earlier Madison Street bridges.

Here is a picture of some of the men responsible for this beauty.

This link provides a view of the old trolley bus which used to cross the bridge before the Max took over that kind of transportation. It can be seen about midway down the page.

This page provides, amongst other great old views of the waterfront, two WWII-era photos of the bridge, one of which shows a huge ship (it looks too big to be a barge-- one of the Navy's victory ships constructed around here?) passing through.

And finally, although I'm sad to say that I didn't get to go to the recent centennial celebration which had the middle lanes of the bridge covered in grass for a benefit picnic, I did find this contemporary representation of Hawthorne appreciation. See? Even the noisy, restless kids at the table find a lot to love.

So... pass the wine?

Too good not to link

Far before my time, but so part of the Oregon character.

Vortex Baptism

Ahavai Shalom cemetery

Located atop a hill full of cemeteries, the Avahai Sholom cemetery is now overseen by the Congregation Neveh Shalom, into which the small former congregation was enveloped in 1961. Congregation Avahai Sholom originated in the Southwest Jewish community in 1869, but finally bowed to the inevitable mid-20th century South Portland civic "progress" which razed hundreds of homes in predominantly Jewish and Italian enclaves.

One surprising bit of trivia: 1980s actress and tragic stalking victim Rebecca Schaeffer is buried here.

Great Northwest, I hardly knew ye...

By now, the demise of the Great Northwest Bookstore in South Portland is familiar news. Owner Phil Wikelund,local bookstore proprietor since 1973 (!!) had found a way to survive with the changing times by moving most of his business online, but that doesn't mean things were easy for him: due to increasing expenses and decreasing profits, he had let his insurance on the building lapse, meaning the May 2 fire was a total loss. Last month, local supporters had a benefit at the Crystal Ballroom to raise funds for the demolition of the 120-yr-old structure.



The bookstore was housed in what is still known as the Fourth Presbyterian Church, it's original intent (though I have come across one source saying it was first referred to as the Christian Fellowship Church, I haven't been able to find that information repeated elsewhere). Early in its life, it housed the South Portland headquarters for a group called "The People's Institute," an organization dedicated to bettering the lives of single mothers and their children from 1912-1915, notably a time of interesting social status for women. Later, before Mr. Wikelund took possession, it housed various different organizations, including the long-term tenant Union Gospel Mission.



But, as many know, The Great Northwest Bookstore wasn't the only resident of the church last spring. The "unofficial poet laureate of Portland," beat poet Walt Curtis, had been living downstairs as well. It's only fitting to include a poem here which he recently recounted to the Willamette Week:

At the edge of the dream there’s a curl of smoke and flame
It’s a love letter sent long ago
The lovers are lost in the phantom of time
Nothing remains except ashes in the rain.