A couple specimens of American cars from back when they were still desirable...
A 1967 Olds Delta 88. I didn't really recognize this as an Oldsmobile at first look, especially with that mean pointy grille.
Even from the back I immediately thought it was some sort of Chrysler or something.
An adorable whale of a Packard from the early'50's.
Not in pristine condition, but someone loves it. It looks like a daily driver.
About a year ago, I posted about my love of Oregon's speed limit (speed suggestion) signs. I finally managed to get a picture of this old soldier that still stands guard just five blocks from la casa. Not sure why I never managed to take a picture until recently, I've admired it for years. I love how awkward the wording is, "Speed 30 Miles." I've seen these signs in old pictures, but this is the only specimen I've discovered in the wild.
Our current "Oregon Speed" sign is peculiar enough, but this early version is even weirder. I've noticed even more of the US standard "Speed Limit" signs appearing on the freeways around the city in the past year.
Sadly that old rotting wooden Broadway Bridge directional that used to hang at Vancouver & Williams was replaced last year, and now I can't find a picture of it anywhere. That reminds me, I need to get down to Swan Island and take some pics of all those old button reflector signs that still populate the area.
I love this billboard assembly, traveling by car, its right as you come off the Fremont Bridge and plunge into the series of ridiculous stop-sign intersections that lead you from the freeway into the tiny streets of NE Portland.
Its a huge ass billboard, accessible from ground level, at a major intersection, ripe for vandalism. It somehow manages to attract awesome tags like the ones above instead of the silly lil' gangbanger bullshit that seems to permeate the city.
Here's a couple other shots of the same billboard during the summer of '08. These two stood side-by-side all summer long.
Pics borrowed from "The Impression That I Get's" photostream.
Update: Looking through old pictures, I found another one from the spring of '07.
Or, "My disjointed off the cuff reaction to news of the the plans to demolish Memorial Coliseum and build a Sports and Wine Disneyland."
Three years of Mayor Potter's silly tantrums and total lack of vision made me anxious for a regime change in Portland City Hall.
Anxious enough that I drove around the city one Sunday morning last year to put up your signs, but your disorganized campaign people sent us on a wild goose chase to houses that already had signs in the yard.
I was a little discouraged, but I really believed we were on the same page, it seemed we shared a lot of the same visions for the city. Even though I knew you had never done anything other than "politic" since before you entered the workforce, somehow I believed that you were above most of the bullshit and would stand up to the things I assumed you also found repulsive.
I rallied behind you when news of the "incident" broke. I defended you to co-workers and even tried real hard to convince my partner that you were still exactly what the city needed, and eventually everyone will realize that this "scandal" is overblown and ridiculous and city business will continue as usual after it all blows over.
Four months later, here we are, we've got a 12 lane bridge to funnel Vancouverites into the city and now my neighborhood is going to be a theme park for suburban sports fans.
Its now clear that I was mistaken about our shared vision for the city. I now find myself hoping that the current economic climate will slow growth enough that your fucked up visions for the city will never come to fruition. Are these really your ideas, or are you just unable to wield any real authority anymore?
A few weeks ago I posted about Portland's new street sign designs, tipped off by a fellow blogger who is also prone to geek out about things like road signs. I hadn't actually seen one of the new ones in person until Thursday when I had to go to drop off some t-shirts at Bridgeport Brewing. I didn't have the camera in tow at that moment, but just happened to pass through this area again today on a long walk around the city.
This has been an area of heavy construction for the past few years. Construction on the new high-rise condos are finally finished on this block, folks are moving in, and new street signs are going up.
It seems another street blade re-write is in order. You makin' a list ZehnKatzen?
In a perfect world, Portland's Alphabet District, so named because the east/west streets are named in alphabetical order from Ankeny to York*, should be relatively intuitive. Laid out in quadrants, Portland just makes sense, so it makes sense that the 1300 block of 12th ave should occur after crossing the street named after the 13th letter of the alphabet. The city sign shop even gets it.
However, in the real world, we do things differently. In Portland, we start counting at Burnside, not Ankeny, and we always have a block of two-digit addresses before we get into the 100's. I assume this is how this sign came to be. The real 1300 block is between Overton and Pettygrove Streets.
On a side note, if anyone from the city happens upon this post and is thinking, "hmm, maybe we should hire a fact-checker," I'm available nights and weekends, perhaps even full time if the price is right. Just sayin'.
*Roosevelt St. is a total cop out. Wasn't there at least one guy in town named Xavier to name this street after?
