Signs Of The Times
by IncogNeat-0
A work in progress.
Update: December 2007
Something new has been added in time for the 2007 tourist season, so new exact details can not be provided at this time: Large, yet unobtrusive tourist guide posts about 7 feet tall & 18 inches wide.
Key PDX tourist zones are color coded: downtown core = blue; Portland State University area (south) = international orange; and Pearl District (north) = purple. The only obvious error is Chinatown = red. No, that's in San Francisco, a few miles south of here. Highly recommended.
One side of the guide posts feature high-lites of the area in which you are standing; the opposite side feature general, not specific, directions to other high-lites in nearby color-coded zones.
Guide posts are sprinkled along 10th avenue streetcar tracks, SW Broadway, and downtown MAX tracks. The logic of where they are placed, other then along the streetcar line, so far escapes me. There may be more later. A crew or crews may still be in the process of installing them.
No idea how long they've been in place, or who is responsible for putting them there A Banana Split made with a split banana in a glass "boat," a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate syrup, a scoop of strawberry topped with strawberry or pineapple syrup, a of scoop chocolate topped with marshmellow cream, plus whipped cream over it all, nuts sprinkled on top of that, and a cherry to top it all off for 35 cents. That was about 1950.
Animals in Pools
by Gypsystravels
Part of the Local Improvement District for the MAX light rail ten fountains with twenty-five bronze sculptures of Pacific Northwest animals were installed in 1986. They were designed by Georgia Gerber.
Here are just a few I was able to photograph.
Saturday Market
by derats
The Portland Saturday Market (actually held on both Sat-Sun) is arguably the city's single most important and best-loved event. For years the Northwest has attracted artists and craftspeople, and every Saturday and Sunday nearly 300 of them can be found selling their creations here. In addition to the dozens of crafts stalls, you'll find ethnic and unusual foods and lots of free entertainment. This is one of the best places in Portland to shop for one-of-a-kind gifts. The atmosphere is always cheerful and the crowds colorful. Located at the heart of the Skidmore District, Portland Saturday Market makes an excellent starting or finishing point for a walk around Portland's downtown historic neighborhood. Don't miss this unique market. On Sunday, on-street parking is free.
Hours First weekend in Mar to Christmas Eve, Sat 10am-5pm and Sun 11am-4:30pm
Location Underneath the west end of the Burnside Bridge between SW First Ave. and SW Naito Pkwy
The Rose Festival
by TashieKitten
The month of June is dedicated to the Rose Festival. There are parades, art shows, fun center, carnival rides, princesses, a queen, an airshow and much more. Many events are held at Tom McCall Waterfront Park as well as many other locations all over the city.
KELLY POINT PARK
by mtncorg
Looking at a map of Portland, you will find the city on the east side of the Willamette River points towards the northwest like a giant finger. At the tip of the finger is the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers and that confluence is taken up by the semi-wild cottonwoods of Kelly Point Park. The original settlement of Portland was located at a site that was approximately halfway between Vancouver and Oregon City - the only two towns at that time. By canoe, which was the principal means of transport, that meant Portland was a logical stopover between the two other towns as it took about two days to fight up the Willamette River. If you make it out to Kelly Point Park, you will find it a long ways away from downtown, as the canoeists had an easy go of it coming downriver from Fort Vancouver until this point. The Park protects an area that is probably similar to what Lewis and Clark saw from their boats over 200 years ago - they actually missed the Willamette confluence but there were no dikes and river navigation markers to let them know in those days - dense cottonwoods, a few small beaches and the odd mosquito or two. The Park is popular with locals who enjoy picnicking, swimming and fishing. From the last parking lot - the first parking lot gives access to the entrance of the Columbia Slough into the Willamette - follow the paved trails that skirt along the Columbia until you get to the actual confluence marked by a ship’s anchor and an old dredge impeller laying in the sands. Look out as the waters rip together and watch as huge ships make their way up or downriver over a hundred miles from the open seas.
The park is named for a New Englander who came here in the mid 19th century anad briefly tried to establish a seaport here at the confluence. The major sea docks would have to wait another 150 years.
Portland's Victorian-style Old Church
The music/living room at Pittock Mansion
My appetizer platter at Nel Centro
NW 11th at Lovejoy
