blue heron, westmoreland park

july infrared

august infrared

pearlhenge

Some construction photos from somewhere in the Pearl District, at the tail end of the condo bubble. I'm not sure which building this turned out to be; I haven't been paying close attention to the Pearl recently, and many of the new buildings aren't overly distinctive anyway.

It's almost a shame the bubble didn't pop earlier, leaving a forest of concrete slabs and bits in its wake. Grainy black & white photos of this scene in midwinter would've been Holga-licious.

On a related note, I ran across a fascinating video tour inside the unfinished Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Billions already spent, billions more needed and unavailable. Which in turn is oddly reminiscent of the Commie-era Palatul Parlamentului in Bucharest, Romania.

Not that I'm trying to suggest an analogy between Mayor Adams and Nicolae Ceaucescu or anything, no sirree. Although it is curious how so many people seem afraid to publicly criticize Sam for any reason. Why is that, exactly? What sort of hold does he have over people? What are they so afraid of, and -- more importantly -- should I be afraid of that too, whatever it is? Maybe I should stop talking about this now. Yeah.

reflected, autumn

This is the area around 3rd & Ankeny, going by the bit of the "Keep Portland Weird" slogan you can see here. Don't bother doing a pilgrimage this time -- in RL it didn't actually look very much like what you see here.

big pink in a window

A few more window-reflection shots, this time of the US Bank tower, a.k.a. "Big Pink". This sort of photo requires an empty storefront with butcher paper behind the windows, with a good view of something you want photos of. The worse the economy is, the more options you have for this.

As a result, you would be within your rights to assume that some sort of message or social commentary is intended, but there really isn't. Not consciously, at least, unless you count "Empty storefronts are kind of melancholy and sad". Which is more of a truism than a message, really.

Still, sometimes I like to play like this reflection stuff kinda-resembles the sort of photo they teach you to make in Art Sk00l. And in Art Sk00l (and beyond), one is more or less obligated to at least pretend one's work embodies various Important Truths, because that's a key part of the product, you see. This juices up the perceived value and desirability of the work, thereby enabling one to starve somewhat more slowly. So, in short, feel free to imagine I'm trying to say something deep and meaningful, if you like.

Hall & 14th

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A few photos of the nameless city park at SW 14th & Hall, just across I-405 from downtown Portland. I've mentioned the place before, in these three posts, but I've never gotten around to doing a post about it. Quite possibly that's because it's not really that fascinating. It's a small triangle of land next to a bend in the freeway, and my guess is that it's a leftover scrap of land from when the freeway went in. There are a few flowers, some landscaping, some lights and benches, and a trash bin or two, and that's about it. The place was on my TODO list anyway because it's both obscure and close to home, but I still never got around to going back and taking photos. Then I realized I still had some photos from 2007 that I'd never used, and I might as well go with those. They get the basic idea across, at least.

Via PortlandMaps, we learn that the triangle is designated "R246890". Which isn't much of a name, but at least it's unique. We also learn that the park comes to 0.53 acres, and the land technically belongs to the Oregon Dept. of Transportation rather than the city, although I gather the city (rather than ODOT) looks after it. This is not terribly surprising considering that it's right next to a freeway, and it may explain why the city's never gotten around to naming it, putting up a sign for it, etc.

I've already mentioned, in one of those previous posts, the sole news item I could find related to it, a 2006 change in the park hours. Assuming the policy's still in force, after 9pm you're still free to walk through the park, but loitering is verboten. I would hope that if, for example, you're walking through at 9:04, and you drop your car keys and stop to pick them up, you don't immediately get tased by Officer Friendly. But you never know. Chances are that the real-life policy is to hassle anyone who looks homeless, and convince them to go be poor somewhere else. The park is surprisingly secluded despite being wedged between a freeway and a somewhat twee historic neighborhood. It's down a slope from the street and only accessible from a couple of side entrances, and it's surrounded by trees on all sides. If you're homeless and just looking for somewhere to sleep and not be disturbed, this would seem like an ideal spot.

Note that I said "seem" there. I haven't actually encountered anyone living here, and I'm just deducing based on city policy. Maybe the freeway is just too noisy. I suppose if I was really dedicated to this whole blogging thing, I'd grab a ratty blanket and a 40 of Old E and go try it myself. But I didn't do that, and doing so only occurred to me just now, and it doesn't sound like a very good idea. However, if you're feeling more adventurous than I, and you decide to go try it, I'll be happy to link to you. If you try it, get tased by Officer Friendly for your efforts, and write a humorous or harrowing account of your adventure, I'd be delighted to link to you.

And if you actually live here for real, I can pretty much guarantee I'd link to you. Unless that would attract too much attention, I mean, since I do get visitors here from City Hall now and then. And in the larger scheme of things, a link from an obscure and obsessive little blog is probably not on the top ten (or hundred) list of things you really need, is it?

twilight, market street

fallen

Doughboy Monument, Astoria

A few old (2007-ish) photos of the "Doughboy Monument", the slightly odd World War I memorial out in Astoria, at the corner of Marine Drive & Columbia Avenue, just east of the Astoria-Megler Bridge. The slightly odd bit is the low building that forms the base of the statue. It doesn't seem to have any obvious purpose, but it does. Any guesses? No? Why, it's a public restroom, of course. Really, it is. It dates back to the 1920's, when there seems to have been a mania for adding public restrooms to various improbable things, like the Oregon City Bridge for instance. I've never seen a good explanation for this. Did people just drink a lot more water than they do today? Beats me.

Astoria, Oregon Daily Photo has a nice post about the monument, including the various inscriptions around it. Which is nice, since they're are too small to see in my photos. The author expands on that in "Astoria's Doughboy Monument: Finding an angle", in which she tries to figure out a good angle to shoot it from. Busy backgrounds in most directions, and wayyy too many overhead wires. I remember running into this problem too when I took the photos in this post, and thanks in advance for pretending you hadn't noticed.

Portland Public Art covers the doughboy here, calling it "dull and mechanical". Also a mention of it (and the sculptor's many similar works) at ~westr. (Scroll down to the "Soldier's Monument" bit.)

The statue on top is titled "Over the top at Cantigny", by the sculptor John Paulding. Cantigny is a small town in France, and the site of the first WWI battle involving US soldiers. The town now features a large memorial to US troops, and another smaller one outside of town. Among those who served at Cantigny was Col. Robert McCormick, later the right-wing owner of the Chicago Tribune. I mention this because he had a 500 acre estate outside Chicago (now a park), which he named "Cantigny". The battle also lent its name to an Army transport ship of the 1920's.