All Things Portland

[Fez Hammersticks]

This is a project that's on the boards (distant future?) but the new courthouse location is going to cause a lot of detours and traffic headaches, if you use the Hawthorne bridge often.

The city tried to strong-arm the developers of the new First And Main tower because they wanted that block for the new courthouse. It didn't work. So, they designated the block in front of F&M (taking their views in the process).

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

The Lloyd District is finally getting a residential tower. The area is going to be extremely active with new development like the Cordish Portland Live! project at the RQ and this. It's a shame the convention center couldn't get the hotel deal done. Anyway, here is the proposed apartment building:

 

[Colonel Ronan]

Interesting pics.

 

[maxiep]

The Lloyd District is finally getting a residential tower. The area is going to be extremely active with new development like the Cordish Portland Live! project at the RQ and this. It's a shame the convention center couldn't get the hotel deal done. Anyway, here is the proposed apartment building:

Good luck getting financing for that thing. High-rise multi-family is in the shitter.

 

[Eastoff]

Good luck getting financing for that thing. High-rise multi-family is in the shitter.

i agree, that is a really dumb idea. I think portlanders are smart enough or cheap enough to not want something like that.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

The renovated PGE park:

LINK

 

[andalusian]

I wonder how they are going to keep all these black and gray flags (are they the Timbers or the Raiders?) when the wind is blowing?

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

No reason behind this but these pictures are awesome:

.

Pearl Dist.

 

[MARIS61]

Description: The flag of the City of Portland is an offset cross of light blue, edged by white-yellow-white stripes, with a white four-pointed star in the left center, all on a background of Kelly green. The official size, proportions, and color elements in the City Flag are specified in the Portland City Code 1.06.010 (http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?&c=28155).

History: In 1969, at the suggestion of Mayor Terry Schrunk, the Portland Art Commission established a special committee to select a designer for an official city flag. It chose Douglas Lynch, former president of the Art Commission and a prominent local graphic design professional and teacher. After extensive research and consultation with art commission members and city commissioners, he proposed a design in a process he called “as much diplomatic as it was artistic”. The Portland City Council adopted the flag in January 1970. In 2002, with the encouragement of the Portland Flag Association, Mr. Lynch simplified and improved the design, and the revised version was adopted by Ordinance 176874 on September 4, 2002.

Symbolism: Green symbolizes Oregon’s forests, which surround Portland. The intersecting vertical and horizontal blue stripes represent the Columbia and WillametteRivers, with the central white star (technically, a “hypocycloid”) signifying Portland at their confluence. The yellow stripes symbolize the harvest of golden yellow grain (Portland is a major exporter of wheat) and the gold of commerce. The white stripes are merely decorative. The offset cross is not intended to resemble a Scandinavian cross. The design inspired the logo of the Port of Portland.

Locations: The City Flag flies in front of the PortlandBuilding (5th Avenue) and City Hall (4th Avenue), in Pioneer Courthouse Square, and on many other commercial buildings around the city. It also hangs in the City Council Chamber and the PortlandBuilding’s 2nd-Floor Auditorium.

Previous flags: Portland has used three previous flags, with the first proposed in a flag contest sponsored by Mayor H. R. Albee in 1917 but never officially adopted.

[Source: AmericanCity Flags, North American Vexillological Association, ©2004: “Portland, Oregon” by Mason Kaye.]

God, what a butt-ugly flag, and using Kelly Green (the official color of Boston Massachusets) is not only ironic but retarded as it's the one puky shade of green you'll see the least of (if any) in an Oregon forest.

You will also never see Oregon rivers or lakes that lame washed-out shade of blue.

In all it's a dull, meaningless design any 2nd-grader could vastly improve on.

I say we burn it!

 

[ucatchtrout]

The “World Famous” Woodstock Mystery Hole™
“Just two miles west off I-205!”SM

Evidence of a vanished civilization has long been suspected to exist under the thick layer of earth laid down at the close of the last ice age.

Known as the Bretz floods, numerous colossal tidal-waves of melted glaciers swept over Eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge, ponding over the Portland area, and depositing silt, before flowing out to sea.

Sand, gravel, and finally, clay covered all that had been created before 10,000 years ago, leaving no physical trace of existence for future generations of inhabitants.

Psychic archeology, however, can sometimes probe to depths of hundreds of feet. Although not fully understood nor accepted by authorities, no one can argue with results. The Mystery Hole™ stands in mute yet undeniable testimony to the validity of following the mind’s eye with pick and shovel.

No one would have suspected from looking at an ordinary wild blackberry patch in a suburban backyard, that Oregon’s most incredible archeological site lay waiting beneath. No one, that is, except those using their natural psychic abilities to “see” a Giant Double Arch™, a stupendous Gaping Tunnel™, and cryptic rock inscriptions appearing to be lazer-blasted in a strange stone-like material indistinguishable from our modern day concrete.

Moonbeam anticipates climb down new ladder
No one can say with authority that breathing the peculiar, cool air which wafts up from the Mystery Hole can cure any and every illness you might have. Nor that you will suddenly have more money than you know what to do with. Nor that you will find true love in less than a month.

However, there are those who feel that they have been helped in health, romance, and/or money by breathing the Enchanting Vapors of Encouragement™.
How was it dug?
Without being certain of who dug the Woodstock Mystery Hole, it is virtually impossible to determine how it was created. The absence of pick and shovel marks points to crude methods by a primitive people. However, this is given by some researchers as evidence of extraterrestrial activity. Indeed, marks not unlike laser-blasting are clearly visible on the walls of this gaping cavern, adding fuel to the fires of debate. Most experts and theorists do agree on one thing%mdash;it was not created by natural forces.
How deep is it?

The Mystery Hole goes all the way to the bottom. The depth of the Woodstock Mystery Hole has never been accurately determined by modern scientific methods, and estimates vary greatly, but the over-all consensus is that it is very deep.
Why was it dug?
Perhaps the most puzzling mystery of all is the original purpose of the Hole. Theories have been hotly debated since the discovery of this enigmatic wonder by modern Man. Was it used as shelter? Was it a ceremonial kiva? Was it an outpost for beings from another planet? Did someone just dig a hole?

Well, it seems that more questions than answers have been unearthed by the discovery of the Woodstock Mystery Hole.

ATTRACTIONS AT THE MYSTERY HOLE
Giant Double Arch™

Moonbeam illuminates mysterious carvings in Arch

Perfectly aligned with the North Star, a stupendous arch stands guard at the entrance to the phenomenal gaping tunnel at the bottom of the sensational Woodstock Mystery Hole. The ratio of the height to width is precisely 1.618—the same ratio found in natural spirals from sunflower heads, to snails’ shells, to spiral galaxies. This “Golden Mean” of geometry was not determined until the 13th century! How could a primitive people have known the solution to a problem that took mathematicians centuries to unravel? Perhaps the architects were not so primitive after all.

No tool marks can be detected on the arch, lending credence to the theory that they were carved by a superior culture with sophisticated technology, which our civilization is only now developing. However, this “gods from the sky” theory fails to answer two big questions: “Why would an advanced civilization place a message-stone deep in the earth, and when will they return?”

Mysterious “carvings” on Giant Double Arch have endured the untold eons, but their meanings have been lost in the sands of time. Attempts to decode the ancient symbols have only added to the confusion. Is that really a flying craft with a pilot at the controls? Do those formula hint at a cure for cancer? Could the star pattern on the vault be a clue to the origin of mysterious visitors from space?

How Old is the Arch?
The novice archeologist might date the arch at less than 5,000 years, simply going by the thick over-layer of sediment from ancient floods. But, extraterrestrials who have mastered the art of laser blasting could put an arch anyplace they feel like.

The Door That’s Never Been Opened™

(Artist’s conception based on actual unretouched photographs)

Perhaps the most incredible discovery of all: a massive, rough-hewn, but intricately carved, entrance to...? Could it be a subterranean city complex?

At the far end of a side tunnel in the very depths of the Mystery Hole™ sits a portal created in a scale unmatched even by the Giant Double Arch™. The vast, as yet immovable door speaks of a people whose height is almost unimaginable to us.

The subterranean complex hasn’t been found yet, but most researchers doubt that an entrance would have been created without something to enter. Only further excavations will unravel the Hole “truth”.
“Black Obsidian” Mirror of a Higher Truth™
A colossal windstorm of monumental proportions toppled the Mirror in 2008, shattering it into a million pieces—give or take a few hundred thousand pieces.

A fragment still provides a glimpse into the infinite depths of darkness, and those who dare to stare into it may find themselves face-to-face with a darker side of their personas.

It is believed that each of us has a dark side that we reveal to no one, not even ourselves. Shocking personal revelations await those with the courage to gaze deeply into an awe-inspiring, fragment of the megalithic slab.

What will your reflection be in a piece of the entrancing “Black Obsidian” Mirror of a Higher Truth™?

A pocket-sized relic of the shattered Mirror is available at a surprisingly low price in our ever-popular Gift Shoppe.
“Silver” Two-way Window of Opportunity™
A tragedy—the shattering of the “Black Obsidian”Mirror— can be turned into opportunity, which is what has replaced the Mirror.

In this case, the window of opportunity is “silver” and offers two ways of looking at it.
Mystery Tower™

In the years following the unsolved mystery of its sudden horizontal realignment in 1988, the Mystery Tower has passed through many phases. At times it was 66.6% erect -- at times only 33.3%. It stood at 100% for a time, inspiring all who bore witness to its height. Replacement of the giant “fluorite crystal,” shattered in the Realignment of ’88, will be guided by cryptic inscriptions ensculptured on the Giant Double Arch™.

What’s the Mystery Tower for?
It may very well be years before its true purpose is determined. In the meantime, it serves as a holy beacon to Fun seekers, a rock gym, an axis mundi, and more. Until the transceiving fluorite crystal is ready, a sailing boat serves well as a substitute, rewarding climbers with mountain views and dreams of far-off worlds.
It has been said that a force powerful enough to charge the entire planet with positive energy could be generated from a tower such as the one depicted on the Arch.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Progression, architecturally speaking.

[video=youtube;7YPQVJPOHss]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YPQVJPOHss[/video]

[video=youtube;3L-kT98sVPk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L-kT98sVPk[/video]

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

When you're near senility wouldn't heights like these in this Portland high-rise retirement home freak you out?

 

[Eastoff]

I was born there too. My mom worked there as well. Back when it was Bess Kaiser hospital.

ME THREE!

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

What do you think of the "umbrella?"

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Another RQ proposal

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Of the 90+ proposals the Blazers/Winterhawks proposal seems to be the favorite.

Part of their plan is to build a new practice facility in the RQ.

Ok, what happens to their current facility?

 

[Rodolfo]

 

[barfo]

Man, great photos. I'm curious about the "Creamed Shop" in the lower photo. And does anyone else remember Coast-to-Coast stores? I guess that's their warehouse in the upper photo, somewhere around 15th and Lovejoy.

barfo

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Wow. That's an awesome picture.

The PDC wants more vertical signs in the Old Town district like this. But this picture looks like old time Chicago.

 

[Rodolfo]

Swan Island airport circa 1940

General Pants Co.

 

[Rodolfo]

circa 1936...

 

[Rodolfo]

Here's where I'm getting the photos.

http://www.historicphotoarchive.net...mg=0&cat=all&bool=or&search=portland&x=9&y=13

http://vintageportland.wordpress.com/

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

The Blazers/Cordish MC proposal:

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Into the mystic

 

[THE HCP]

GREAT PICTURE! You always see Mt Hood in the back, not Helens! I love it!

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

The Pearl District went from industrial wasteland to upscale urban neighborhoods.

Buffalo, New York used the Pearl District as a model for their redevelopment project.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

The Beatles post-concert press conference in 1965 @ the Memorial Coliseum

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

[video=youtube;dldumLRyrk0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dldumLRyrk0[/video]

 

[Rodolfo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dldumLRyrk0

Was this a presentation for the city govt?