Thanks, Vintage Roadside, for turning me onto this refurbished neon sign!

I stood as far as I could from the north side of the sign, out of the overhanging tree limbs filled with leaves, and took this photo on Tuesday night at 7:29 p.m., with a Nikon D5100. I don't have a tripod; the photo is a bit tilted down to the right. Gorgeous paint job and fully functional neon. Hooray! Thanks, Palms! See below for almost the same shot, before darkness had arrived.
 

Here's the south side of the sign. I walked up onto the landing of some wrought iron stairs. I'm afraid of heights and couldn't get myself to go up one more flight. Maybe next time. Took this one at 7:32 p.m. with the D5100. Too bad the leaves cover the capital L a little bit.



I took this one at 6:31 p.m., with the D5100. You can really tell how swell the paint looks.



Here's the south side of the sign, taken from underneath the wrought iron stairs, at 6:29 p.m. with the D5100.

 

I took this one from the window of a Zipcar which I had driven into the parking lot and put into park, at 9:36 p.m. on May 16, 2010, with a Nikon D50. It's easy to see the spotty paint and neon.

Fun at Overlook Park, Saturday, October 16, 2010

I'm guessing the little girl standing in front of the clown is the birthday girl.


In seconds, the clown stood up on the board, balancing on the pipe, then flicked the stick upward causing the plate to fly up, then she caught it in the same hand that held the stick. The kids loved it!


Something the clown said to the party-goers got them off and running. The little girl in the lead on the left, the one that I think is the birthday girl, I think I've got it right because she's got on a petticoat that I'll bet the clown brought for her to wear during the party.


I took a couple of photos of this dad spinning these girls, watching how he threw his hands off the pipe, hoping to catch the action. I did!


As I decided to walk back to Interstate Avenue to wait for the MAX Yellow Line, I noticed a line of bicyclists coming across the park from my right to my left. I waited for them to cross and got this photo. What better place to stop for what turned out to be a short rest, especially on sunny, blue-sky day!

Seen from the MAX Yellow Line, snaking rail cars along the east side of the Willamette River, heading north.

Saturday in Portland, the sun shone, the breeze blew, the temp chilled, and I rode the light rail train to get my flu shot, taking photos to my heart's delight. At this particular point in the ride, the train has crossed the Steel Bridge, heading east towards Interstate Avenue, then north on it.

Now Serving, The Alibi

My alibi for having gone missing--last Saturday I got to take photos for the Special Olympics Polar Plunge on the Columbia River. And I got to take them while standing on a Multnomah County Sheriff's Office River Patrol Boat! Thank you so much! Naturally I took loads and loads of photos. My little ol' computer is just about worn out with downloading and uploading. But I figured I owed it to the 100's of people brave enough to run into that cold water; I wanted them to have a chance to see their faces as they gave up being warm, all to raise around $140,000 for a great cause.

Anyway, here's something new for you to enjoy!

I adore this sign combo!


I took this photo on a December, Saturday, as Leland and I drove by in the Buick, a couple of hungry folks on the prowl on Interstate Avenue. As I snapped the photo, I said, "Leland, the sign says lunch! Let's try here!" Turned out to be a brilliant decision. We went there again Saturday before last.


My lunch on our second visit, a really tasty, juicy, meaty hamburger on a skillfully toasted bun, served with the crispiest waffle flies I've ever eaten. Well, to tell you the truth, I had waffle fries with a different burger back in December, so this is the second time that I've eaten them.


The decor rocks at The Alibi.
Looking across the room from our table




A closer view of the hula dancers on the wall in the other dining area


Behind the bar




The menu


A chair, table, palm tree with lights, and the simulated rock wall


Leland at the exit--it's a curved, 3-D, bamboo shape

Look what I saw while on the PCPA Tour Guide tour when we rode the MAX Yellow Line to learn about TriMet's public art on display!

Yep! It's a Paul Bunyan statue! While he's not part of the TriMet public art on the MAX Yellow Line, he's certainly worthy of a post.

Here's what I found about him, online at The Oregonian:
North Portland's Paul Bunyan is officially historic
by Lynne Terry, The Oregonian
Monday February 09, 2009, 9:15 PM

It's official: North Portland's quirky Paul Bunyan has joined the National Register of Historic Places.

The 31-foot-tall statue, created in 1959 to mark Oregon's centennial, was recognized as a "well-crafted example of roadside architecture."

"It encapsulates how people thought about their state and where they lived in a set period of time," said Ian Johnson, historian at the State Historic Preservation Office.

There are more than 1,800 other landmarks in the state listed in the national register, from Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood to the USS Blueback submarine at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

But the Paul Bunyan statue is Oregon's only roadside architecture in the register.

It was commissioned by the Kenton Businessman's Club to greet the millions of visitors to the Centennial Exposition, set up at the current-day Expo Center in North Portland at a time when Interstate Avenue was the main gateway to Portland.

"People were really proud of it," Johnson said. "Paul Bunyan was a really popular figure at the time. Even though Paul Bunyan is a Minnesota legend, it made sense to folks out here because the timber industry was really important in Oregon."

It was designed by a father and son team, Victor R. and Victor A. Nelson, who owned and operated the nearby Kenton Machine Works. They built the statue's steel structure and then moved it into place, finishing it off with concrete, plaster and paint.

"It was not inexpensive or easy to do," Johnson said. "It actually has quite a bit of craftsmanship." Unlike lesser lumberjacks that straddle roadsides in the U.S., this one has impressive detail, like molded shoe laces and buttons. The eyes are raised as well, and the pockets and belt loops were not just painted -- they were cut out.

The statue was nominated for the register in part by Maiya Martin, a University of Oregon student, and Bette Davis Nelson, the widow of Victor R. Nelson.

"I wanted to honor my husband," Nelson, 75, of Lake Oswego told The Oregonian last year. "Vic was so proud and thankful for the statue and what it stands for."

Last year, a businessman offered to buy the statue and move it to North Carolina. The Kenton Neighborhood Association, which owns the statue, ruled that out. In October, Oregon's State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation voted unanimously in favor of the nomination. Being including in the National Register doesn't bring much besides bragging rights, Johnson said.

But there is only one other Paul Bunyan statue in the National Register, a relatively puny 18-footer in Bemidji, Minn.

Neither is exactly pretty. But if you're worried about that, you've missed the point.

"The National Register doesn't recognize beautiful things," said Johnson. "It recognizes historically important things. That's a big distinction."