Dekum relief

dekum relief
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

smile, you're on candid camera. the guy standing outside his pawn shop gave me a strange look when i was about taking photos of his wonderful building. i'm a sucker for architectural reliefs like faces or gremlins or naked bodies. The Dekum, @ SW 3rd/Washington in downtown portland is just one of those buildings. everytime i come accross the morrison bridge into downtown, i'm put on morrison going west. i usually take the left @ 3rd and BOOYA, there's the dekum. there's probably some amazing history about this building that i should share with you, but last time i did that, others on the web had already trumped me with portland architectural history. so i give you conjecture.

The Dekum was originally a high priced brothel in the height of portland's debauchery of the 1880's-90s. many a portland native dipped thier toes in The Dekum's well.

not really.....

you gotta give the stonemason some credit. this is amazing work. everything about it is perfection and quality. they didn't just pour concrete or use block, they used hammer and chisel to create an amazing texture of relief with faces and smiles and love. yes people - LOVE.

just down the street around 3rd and "the max trax," theres a parking garage with an amazing art display. ever since i can remember (like 3 weeks ago) i have seen "THE FISH!" how many times have you parked downtown and wondered - hey, can i get some fish here? well, go to this garage and you'll get fish:

so, what did you do today? i walked and enjoyed the sun, the breeze, the concrete sidewalk below my feet, the smell of a hot dog stand, the sound of a panhandler, the feel of a camera in my hand, the taste of a nice cold fresh brewed beer, the feel of dirt in my hand while planting, the strain on my muscles while one-handed mowing the lawn, the joy of knowing the problem at work wasn't my fault, a smile from a little dog, and the love of a beautiful woman.

so, what did you do today?

lastly- gotta give props to PUMA truly an amazing display of how the web has transformed our shopping lives - thankyou josh rubin.

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Good morning. Looks like a beautiful day in portland today. Enjoy the sun! Is there not a depeche mode album named validator?

N. Mississippi rising - further...

rebuilding center
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

the rebuilding center, a wonderful place to spend some cash - has grown and come into its own. i remember going to the rebuilding center years ago and picking up amazing wood and fixtures and such. now, you really have to be diligent or imaginative to pick up the good stuff. if you don't know, the rebuilding center is a location here in portland where you can purchase used building materials like windows, doors, light fixtures, hardwood flooring, cabinets, and lumber. when we were redoing some framing on our 1890s victorian, i had to salvage some real 2x4 studs. back in the day, they were actually 2" x 4", today, they are 1 3/8" x 3 5/8".
i digress. i wanted to show you a before and after, but only have the before, so I'll show you some other locations "before" and later, we'll check out the afters....

this is a vacant lot on N. Fremont/Mississippi with amazing views of the freeway overpasses, downtown and the west hills. it appears there were a couple or 3 houses here at one time. according to recent news in the portland tribune, it was purchased by a local developer for condos. i think the price was $300,000. wow, that's cheap. we'll keep you posted on the progress.

not the best photo of this building, but the only one i have. i've been amazed that this building hasn't been snatched up by someone. at n. mississippi/interstate, right in front of the max tracks, it's a large building with parking. i could easily see it as a restaurant/bar/night club. i also think with max so close, it could attract the pre-game/pre-concert crowd going to the rose garden only one max stop away. hmmm, maybe i could make it a chihuahua refuge.....

well, the question isn't what will it be, because it already is.... congrats to Amnesia Brewing on it's 1 yr anniversary this past weekend. well done friends. i feel special in that my buddy and i were some of the first patrons to the new brewery. i love supporting the hood. check out thier new imperial IPA if in the neighborhood.

also, welcome to nopo GNOME - @ Mississippi Commons.
also, welcome to nopo Laughing Planet Burrito - @Mississippi Commons.

lastly, the sun is out and i'm gonna get out and walk. my usual route home from work takes me accross the steel bridge and up n. williams to fremont and then mississippi. i'll have a backpack on, so if you want to stalk me or just call me out, do so. i want to meet my hoodies.

jack baur isn't dead.
but toliver may be.

out of context

i'm not myself this morning. life is throwing me a curveball right now - my own actions have caused it - so, i'm trying to figure out how to work with this weighing on my mind. all i can say is i'm sorry.

cooked dinner last night for our buddy tige who was in town for work. he took us out on tuesday night, so i thought i would return the favor with home cookin'. we had pepper seared tuna with chopped up fennel frawns (farm share), garlic tops (farm share) and fava beans (farm share). a salad of butter lettuce and spinach (both farm share), some bread and steamed kale (farm share.) you seeing a pattern here? yup, we got our bag of veggies from the farm on tuesday and went to town. it was excellent and so fresh tasting. i'm sooooooo looking forward to the next 6 months of eating.

star wars episode III, revenge of the sith.

i just wanted to post that because then i may get google hits. we're going to see it, but i haven't been a star wars geek since my childhood when we hung out outside in line to see empire strikes back. i had the toys, but blew or burned them all up as a kid. oh well. i still think my childhood friend ended up with all my star wars cards......

woke up this morning to a police shooting in downtown. luckily it wasn't down the street from my home (that's happened before.) fox portland had the most coverage with cameras on the scene. i always love to see a body with a tarp over it and pools of blood @ 7am before i've had coffee. way to go tv news!

tonight we're going to a low dough show @ dante's. it's with earlimart, okervile road and climber, a few bands we like and are interested in seeing live. i'll give you the rundown after the show.

enjoy the day. sun is coming.

Peacock @ Maryhill Museum

Peacock @ Maryhill Museum
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

Beauty. and to be so close. another family weekend in the books. wow, that's 4 weekends in a row that involved the fam. i'm worn out. next weekend we are alone - weeee. this weekend took us up north to Yakima (with an I - the tribe is named Yakama). my nephew Henry was babtized sunday.

our trip was pretty relaxing and included a nice drive down I84 in the columbia gorge; lunch in cascade locks; sun from hood river on; a nice walk with the dogs @ maryhill museum; more sun and driving up north through goldendale, WA, topponish wa and then to zillah; wine tasting in zillah and then on to yakima.

the gorge - what can I say. the columbia gorge is truly one of the wonders of our region. we're blessed to be so close. by the time we reached hood river and the dalles, the sun was out and we were getting toasty. by the time we were at maryhill, it was 80 degrees.

maryhill: back in the day, a pioneer named Sam Hill came to oregon and built this amazing home for his lady. Maryhill is now a wonderful art museum and grounds where you can picnic or just admire the gorge. there are peacocks too - they eat the snakes!

and the views:

after maryhill, we began our trek north to yakima. the drive is beautiful. there are a couple of passes to go over - one being Satus Pass. after the forest, you come down into a valley that is dry and arrid and mostly rangeland. i love it because it's where we can see herds of deer or hawks or other wildlife. it's also not usually crowded with autos, so the drive is relaxing. after about an hour, we come into topponish. we've never really spent much time here other than food stops. there is a wonderful industrial plant on the outskirts of town that had been abandoned for the longest time. part of the building is the steel structure style with all the small windows. it's pretty beaten up and grafitti-ed, but we thought it would be a great place to raise a family of chihuahuas.

Zillah - on I82 - probably 10 different winerys on the map, yet my buddy @ southpark (a wine guy) had never heard of the place. we'd been here before doing wine tasting and were looking forward to a specific winery because of thier special "10 buck Red." Paradisos Del Sol has become a fav of ours since the last time we were here. Our first visit introduced us to the vinters and thier small yet casual back room of the house where you taste the wines. there are chickens and turkeys running free and the total package makes you feel welcome and wanting to buy wine. they have a great "10 buck Red" - a lemberger blend that when you purchase it by the case (see where i'm going?) it comes out to around $4.75 a bottle. two cases later, we hit the road.

Yakima - yep, Yakivegas, or "The Palm Springs of Washington." we enjoy coming to yakima because my sis has a ranch with doggies and chickens and horses. this weekend though was all about business and family, so the vibe was a little different. we decided to stay in a hotel since they have two kids and we didn't want our little pups waking them in the night. we would rather keep the hotel patrons awake with the incessent barking @ 2am (yup, that did happen.) yakima is a nice place, but it does have it's challenges. the hotel we stayed at was a nice one, but is at the end of "the strip." 1st ave is where all the fun happens in yakima. it's also the place where you can find some cool stuff:

provacative huh?

sunday came and the babtism was great. all of the kids were antsy and squirmy and it was wonderful to see my brother get all flustered just like my dad did when we acted up in church. hee hee. i jus sat there and watched and chuckled. lutherans celebrate communion with wine and wafers. we decided to partake since i had a tinge of hangover and needed the hair of the dog @ 11am. afterwards, i mentioned to a that I thought i had the body of christ stuck in my braces...

drive home was uneventful. we were tired and it was raining. the house and kitties survived being alone fo the weekend. some photos from the trip:

and lastly - your moment of Zen - in Zilla, there's a church that has a "GOD-Zilla"

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Ok. So how do you open a bottle of wine when you do not have a wine key. I used a metal hanger from the hotel. I am so cool.

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On the way home. Fishing was good. Caught a few, but on keepers.

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Mine

ack from the past

i work in downtown portland and am always seeing people i recognize. i'm horrible with names, so i usually divert my eyes or turn the corner instead of engaging in that awkward moment of - uh, hi, i know you but don't remember you name....

today, while out walking, i saw 3 people i used to work with 8 years ago. i began my current career in the mailroom of a local engineering firm. yep, college educated and working in the mailroom. i see how much it humbled me now, but at the time, i thought i was too big for my own good. i had a manager who wouldn't give us the time of day, nor allow us to grow in our career. in her view, we worked in the mailroom and that's it. when we saw room for improvement, it was usually shot down then later implemented by her or her minions in a slightly different way. we didn't get along and it was challenging. i distincly remember getting sat down and "talked to" regarding my attitude and position. i couldn't risk losing my job at the time, so i caved and listened and stroked her ego and agreed to be a better employee. one month later, i moved into IT and the rest is history.
why am i telling you this? because i ran into her here in my building. ahhhhhhhhhh. and i think she recognized me. i still see her as a manipulative witch and ogre. also, she hasn't aged well.

what does this all mean? it makes me question my own relationships with people who percieve me to be a senior to them. am i one of those assbags who control someone elses future? will peers 10 years from now divert their eyes from me because i treated them bad and didn't realize it? i tend to think i treat everyone fairly if they treat me fairly. makes me wonder.

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Waiting for food.

update - waiting for takeout - not sure why i took this - maybe to show you how cool i am moblogging....

Have the royal Hapsburgs come to town?

remodeled dwntwn building hapsburg yellow
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

you probably don't know what i'm talking about, but i'm not offended. when i was a young lad, about 15 years ago, i spent some time in Austria for school. it was amazing and we had a wonderful time learning about european and austrian history. in austria, the hapsburgs were the royal family for a few centuries. at one time, the austrian empire was an empire where the sun never set. so, how does that apply here? well, in austria, the hapsburgs had royal palaces and the like and everything was painted yellow. beyond the royalness of architecture, others took on the yellow and made it work. today, when you cruise through austria, you see so much yellow like the building to the right, it's crazy. an example.

so, my walking obviously took me through downtown - the usual 4th avenue jaunt. i did veer off to stumptown coffee on 3rd to grab a latte- yummmmmm. back to 4th and over accross burnside to china town/old town. i did photograph the chinatown gate, but the photo didn't turn out as i liked. i think either my eye is a little off or my camera is a little off. either way, i proceeded down 4th, which is under contruction. what do you see is an issue with the following photo:

well, i'll tell you. just a few weeks ago, there were large cherry trees on both sides of the street. alas, the city decided to cut half of them down, tear up the ground with the intention of re-planting "asian specific" species of trees to replace the cherry trees. do they know we sometimes get freezing weather here in pdx? hmmmmm. oh well, i bet the cut down trees were turned into some good mulch for someone's garden.
further down 4th, i came accross the following:

so, is this a restaurant that serves good tasting food or a restaurant that servs food in good taste? hmmmm

next up - my fave - the picture states it all:

i proceeded down 4th, fighting the urge to not take photos of every little thing i saw. i know, you want me to, but i can only blog about sooooo much. another of my favorite china town haunts is Republic Cafe. what i love about it is it's not the Republic Cafe, but just Republic Cafe. they have some great crab puffs and a good atmosphere - traditional and asian.

also, came accross this:

do i continue? are you bored with me yet? well, i'm not gonna stop. i hit the max stop as i wasn't dressed or prepared for the full walk home. there i eyed someone's attempt to fix a tree:

trust me, i don't think it will live. once accross the river, i decided to take max up to mississippi. i wanted to show off some of the new locale that have cropped up in the hood. first up is Gotham Tavern - a great locale associated with Ripe, Clark/Lewis and Meriweather:

and then it was up to N. russell, between Mississippi and Albina - for you uninitiated, mississippi starts down by n. interstate, cruises up through the current mississippi neighborhood, but then transitions into n. albina ave just north of skidmore. on n. russell, we got the building that houses Mint and 820:

down the street is the White Eagle, currently a McMennamin's tavern, but for the past 100 years, was privately owned and operated for the workin' man. it even has a ghost - we know!

at this point, i still haven't climbed the hill up mississippi? i think i'll call it a night though. i have so much more to write about today and my journey up the hill to mississippi, but i'll sleep on it and let it all marinate for a better experience tomorrow.

anyone readers out there been to Montreal? if so, drop me a note off the blog. we're heading there in july and i need some sleeping recommendations. thanks.

good night from the little ones and all.

Items of Interest

haven't taken many pictures lately, the rain has me in a little funk. when may comes, i want sun, not this hard rain for 3 days straight. oh well, i'll survive. according to cnn, we're to have sun this weekend. too bad i won't be in puddletown to enjoy it.

what's new? well, my sis-in-law got married last saturday in a wonderful ceremony up in WA. it was one of those casual affairs where just the families are involved. i was excited to hear that the groom's 2 sets of grandparents would be in attendance and the bride's 1 set would be there also - 3 sets of grandparents. wow. this is shocking to me because my last grandparent died something like 15 years ago and i'm only a few years older than this couple. when we arrived, it was a bit overcast and sprinkly. this concerned me as the ceremony was to be out on the uncovered deck. about 10 minutes before 2, it was sprinkling and people were anxious, but then the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun came out - for a total of 30 minutes for the ceremony and pictures. god has his ways of blessing people. we then ate and drank to our hearts content. everyone loved our arugula/lemon/olive oil/parmesian salad. i loved the champagne. we decided not to stay overnight and cramp the newlywed's style.
sunday brought mother's day and each of our families celebrations. not much news - standard stuff.
this coming weekend is the 4th in our month of family committments - we're heading up to yakima for a nephew's christening. it should be a fun time for all. we're bringing the dogs too - they love a farm.

items this week:
if you look in the Willamette Week for this week, page 38, i guess i'm DJ-ing @ the greek on thursday - DJ Brett, sounds good huh?
Saturday the 14th is Alberta's art hop - about 20 blocks of art and performance and a parade. fun for all. say hi to the people @ bink's.

Reminder - Overlook Farmer's Market opens next Wedenesday - May 18.

Fast Food

I was walking about downtown today and had a thought - what's for lunch. Mind you, I am a stickler for lunch foods. I don't do fast food, nor do I go to the standard lunch holes like Rock Bottom or Olive Garden etc. I always go for something different or a regular trusted spot like my friends at Higgins. So, where do all the lunchers go who crave fast food.

Definition of fast food in brett's mind: McDonalds, Burger King, Carl's Jr., Taco Bell, KFC, Wendy's, Jack in the Box, etc.
Definition of "downtown" in brett's mind: willamette river on the east, I405 rings around- everything in that circle. ( some people thing the lloyd district is part of downtown - we'll let them live in their own little fantasy world.)

In downtown, I can only count a few fast food restaurants:
McDonalds x 3 - PSU, SW 6th, and Pioneer Place (does that really count?)
Carl's Jr x 1 - SW 5th
Taco Bell x 1 - PSU
Burger King - 0
KFC - 0
Wendy's - 0
Jack in the Box - 0

For a grand total of 5 "fast food" restaurants in all of downtown.

Now, let's look at other lunch food options other than the sit down restaurants and the carts.

Subway: 11
Quiznos: 5

What am I trying to say? Not sure. This all began with my mind running wild and now, I think I've forgotton my point. I think it was something to do with downtown portlanders being smart and health concious enough not so attract bad fast food. Then again, is subway really any different than mcdonalds? Not sure.

Today I had an amazing burrito from Fuego Burrito's on SW 6 and Yamhill - yep, a cart. Weeeee.

Did you know there are 22 Starbuck's within downtown as defined above and 51 withing 3 miles of my chair? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Overlook Farmer's Market opening May 18.

Opening May 18 here in our lovely Portland. Weeeeee. We're so excited for next week. We're starting our farm share and we're getting a local farmer's market all in 2 days. And this just in from the Portland Tribune today:
Eric Schlosser, author of the popular book -"Fast Food Nation" - will kick off the Overlook Farmer's Market and then speak at Arlene Schnitzer Concert hall on May 19 @ 7:30. Tickets are free - call 503 335 2466 to reserve your set. See you all there.

UPDATE - I just called and there are no tickets left. Ack! Come to the market and see him there and buy some rhubarb.

Update on Gaston collection

per previous post, i wanted to tell you where to find this collection: 901 SW Taylor St. - that's downtown Portland by the Guild Theater. Days: May 5-8.

Chucky Palahniuk

question for blogtown, has anyone either read or heard reviews of Chuck's latest book - Haunted. I read the inside cover today @ the book store and am interested. i've been a bit jaded by Chuck with his latest books, but this one really snatched my interest. thoughts?

Gaston collection

Gaston collection
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

not sure if i'm up to telling you about my day - it was good mind you, but i'm a bit tired this evening. fridays are usually movie night or just veg in front of tv night with bottle of wine. mind is usually mush and plans are cancelled. i digress.
today, whilst walking to powell's books, we came accross this interesting sale. an empty storefront in the "music" building that reminds me of france had been turned into a makeshift gallery of vintage movie posters and other items. the purpose of the show was to show off a collection of hand painted movie advertisments from the Gaston collection. according to the information provided, the stuff on the right was not known about for almost 50 years while it sat in a garage. the pieces shown are hand painted and were used to entice people to come to movies back in the day. i'm not a vintage movie fan, but i appreciate the art aspect of most things. these posters were amazing. most of the posters i was attracted to were the campy ones. these were so over the top, i can't believe they were truly movies that people paid for.
a few examples:

and the riskay:

the gallery also had other items that were part of thier collection. signed vintage star photos and signs for movie theaters. i was most impressed by the vintage western movie posters.

to be honest, i want to go down and pick up a few of these posters for the campyness of them. the challenge is timing. the show is only May 5-8 and we're going out of town tomorrow morning for my sister-in-law's wedding. yeh April!

so, further on the walk, i came accross the Clyde Hotel. as i was crossing the street, i remembered reading that the Clyde was to be remodeled into a new class hotel. in seattle's belltown district, there's the ACE hotel, a modern hotel catering to the young and hip visitors. if i understand it correctly, the Clyde will be portland's ACE hotel. cya clyde, godspeed into oblivion:

By the way it's 05 05 05

yup, it's 15 day. may 5, 2005. 05/05/05

weeeeeeeeeeeeee

Portland Farmer's Market May 4 2005 #3

Portland Farmer's Market May 4 2005 #3
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

ooh, red things....they look good with my green coat....a christmasy theme....

so, i visited the opening day of Portland's Farmer's Market (is that punctually correct?) wow, i can't tell you how excited i was to see all the fresh vegetables, greens, and fruits. there were booths with veggie starts, flowering plants and bulbs. there were booths with fresh beef, lamb, cheese (both goat and cow), and even freshly churned butter. there were booths catering to the downtown crowd with fresh lunch like burritos, and fresh pastries for dessert. Pearl Bakery, one of my fav's was there wit fresh bread, along with other smaller bakeries with other amazing treats. i was sooooo tempted to fill a bag full of veggies as there were sooooo many available - cilantro, asparagus, chard (multiple kinds) and early potatos and root veggies. i was timid though as we haven't been the best at home cooking lately. we need to get in the groove soon as we'll be beginning our farm share soon and once that starts, it's either stay home and enjoy the fresh organic veggies, or throw money in the toilet (or bury in the dirt.) also, we're getting our own Farmer's Market in NoPo on May 18. I'm sooooo excited.

Frodo

frodo
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

couldn't go to bed without showing off my little bobo. frodo is 2 and one of 3 of our wonderful little chihuahuas.

frodo says good night to you all in blogville.

New development on N. Interstate?

interstate old house
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

the overlook neighborhood association left thier newsletter on my porch last week. i keep telling myself i need to go to thier meetings, but never do. i'm not the best neighbor.... well, in there, there was a cryptic message about representatives from "Overlook Heights" making a presentation or something. what's overlook heights? let's google it. overlook heights (will open a word document from the city) is going to be a new development on N. Shaver/Interstate, on the east side of MAX and south of The Alibi. the house to the right is one of the buildings that would be raised to make way for the following:

from the zoning document referenced above:

The applicants indicate the purpose for the requested amendments is to allow the development of 28 to 36 dwelling units and 6,000 to 7,000 square feet of ground level commercial space.

what should we make of this? currently, we have the following on the rest of the land:
and

i don't mind getting rid of the gas station/ford model t repair shop, nor will i miss the old marions furniture building which by the way i have never seen a sould in. what i will miss is the old victorian house. it's got good bones and instead of moving it, i could see them just tearing it down - hmmmm - just had an idea......... move it. hmmmmmm.

secondly, 28-36 dwelling units. i won't go into it, but we already have some cheap apartments in the hood. we don't need more.

i am glad to see development though, all of it is part of the major plan for n. interstate now that max is in. even Kaiser is building a new building for radiation treatment and a new parking garage. as i was walking home yesterday, i looked into the construction side and there was a little kitty walking amongst the steel beams, checking things out.

lastly - future home of North Portland Farmer's Market:

sorry it's so dark, my camera is getting a bit wonky.

Alberta Last Thursday April 2005

Alberta Last Thursday April 2005
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

on thursday, april 28, my two kids and a and i ventured east to the "alberta arts district" for thier last thursday event. last thursday is alberta's foray into the art scene. the event is actually a few years old and from what i remember, it was the second "thursday" event after first thursday in the Pearl (john hausman voice.) now, every neighborhood has a first, second or last something. mississippi just began 2nd thursday music walk. i'm not against such events, just change the moniker.
we enjoyed our walk with the pups. they were troopers and everyone loved them. we only had one issue with another dog and it ended up being a small dog- go figure. the vendors were out in force and so were the families. the last time we attended, i don't remember seeing so many babies or women pregnant. i was forced to censor myself a little because there were soo many. i guess it's good. you can't support a community with young hipsters forever. we walked from around 15th all the way down to 25th and back. Some photos of the event. I chose to photog some building that are still awaiting development. i wonder which one will become the gap or starbucks.



oh, and i forgot. we visited our favorite pet store- Healthy Pets NW - and the owner was performing with her band. further, they had some wonderful art displayed called Phodogophry.

Beer Helps Fight Leukemia

Beer Helps Fight Leukemia
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

Found this at my favorite brew pub - Amnesia Brewing. I should have posted prior to the event last week. I like the thoughts that Beer can help fight Leukemia. Go have a beer right now!