Seen in the neighborhood, rotating sign #1

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Franz! Too bad I cannot post how good it smells when the breads are baking!



United States Bakery, better known as Franz Family Bakeries, is located in Northeast Portland within walking distance of my apartment. Franz Bakery itself was founded in 1906.



In collaboration with E. E. Franz of Franz Bakery, W.P. Yaw of the former Yaw's Top Notch Restaurant invented the 5-inch (130 mm) diameter hamburger bun in the late 1920's. Though others are credited with creating a bread product to use for the first hamburgers known to the world, Franz is credited for inventing the hamburger bun in its current worldwide accepted form.



Franz! Like I said, too bad I cannot post how good it smells when the breads are baking. Sometimes when I walk part of the way to work, I get experience that pleasing aroma.

Would the scooter guy appear so calm if he realized an art van followed closely?

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Saturday, April 27, not the first time I've seen this van. I took these photos in Northeast Portland. The van has evolved quite a bit since I first saw it in July, 2007, when I was set up to try to sell some of my arts and crafts at Last Thursday up on NE Alberta. A man in clown face drove it and had a chimpanzee puppet sitting up front with him, looking out the driver's window. You can see versions of the van from 2009 in some photos at the bottom of this post. The owner has rearranged some of the accoutrement.



Here's a closer view for you. No clown face for the driver on this particular ride--I looked closely at the photo in its original size, just to check it out so I could let y'all know.
 

Pay close attention to the position of the hand on the back window.
 

Pay close attention to the position of the hand on the back window.
 

Pay close attention to the position of the hand on the back window. Yep, it's waving bye-bye!

Here's what I found online, by Googling Portland art car van clown, posted August 31. 2011, at Neighborhood Notes Dot Com:

• The Never Never Van Driven by Extremo the Clown (a.k.a. Scott Campbell) 
•  For many years, Extremo the Clown drove the most noticeable art car in the city of Portland. Extremo—the professional artist Scott Campbell—is known for wearing distinctive clown makeup, driving with performing puppets, singing karaoke, and laughing manically. “Scott has a little bit of a compulsion,” Emily Hall says, “and the compulsion is clown face.” Besides his work as Extremo the Clown, Campbell is a successful and prolific graphic artist. His primary form of artistic expression, and income, is painting advertisements in the windows of local businesses. “Anywhere you go in Portland, you’re going to see these goofy window paintings,” Hall says. “And he makes a really great, straight living off that.” Extremo the Clown maintains an active presence on YouTube, which hosts videos of his local television appearances, and has shown all types of unique art around town. Extremo’s well-known car, the MSV, no longer runs. The Never Never Van, his current work in progress, is based on the story of Peter Pan.   

These next photos were taken downtown Portland, April 25, 2009. The van had not completely become what you see in the photos above. Still interesting, though. Looks like the ladders he uses to paint ads in store windows are up on top of the van, inside that red metal rack.

   

The van is heading west on SW Morrison. The MAX Blue Line is heading west to Hillsboro, Oregon, a suburb of Portland.

 

Two more photos, taken the same day.

 

There's the Never Never. See in the photos that I took last Saturday, the Never Never is gone from the bumper.

 

One last one from April 25, 2009. I wonder if the change in adornment facing vehicles driving behind the van came about because this seems so high as to be a detriment in traffic. Maybe I'll run into him sometime and get to ask.

Seen in Northeast Portland

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Actually, this is one half a block inside Northeast Portland. The street behind the man is East Burnside which is the street that divides Portland's north from south. The street on the left of the photo is NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. I took this photo on December 8, a Saturday. I was out and about, walking and looking and taking photos on a dry-at-the-moment Saturday morning--before I ended up at Tuba Christmas at Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Since this is where on my morning commute I change from one bus to the other, or from one bus to the streetcar,  I am thankful that I've never before seen this man feeding the pigeons. 

Waiting, with Loyalty, #1

Downtown Portland, September 27, 2009.

Looking through my older photos taken when I worked in Southeast Portland and lived in Northwest Portland which made for a visually interesting commute twice daily has made me realize I need to get out and about on weekends more, on the hunt for photos to shoot. You see, since Mama died in January, 2011, and I moved, I still work in Southeast Portland, but I live in Northeast Portland. My twice daily commute offers somewhat less variety, especially during the winter. It's good for me to have a goal. How to you operate best? Setting goals for yourself?

Northwest Hills, March 6, 2012

Deja vu? Sort of. Here's the same view as yesterday’s post. No snow. The Portland Oregon sign's not lit. Still, that bluish tint near the tops of the hills caught my eye, so I had to get my camera out and take a few shots. I am so blessed to have that camera with me in either my backpack or my purse. Blessed. Taking photos adds a large part to however sane I am at any given time.

Northwest Hills, March 1, 2012

I change from one bus to another at the intersection of SE MLK and SE Couch. I'm standing in Northeast Portland when I wait for that second bus. Often I look west across the Willamette River, towards the Big Pink and the venerable Portland Oregon neon sign. The Big Pink is south of West Burnside, so it is in Southwest Portland. The Portland Oregon sign is north of West Burnside, so it is in Northwest Portland.

This particular morning snow had fallen at the higher elevations. The wintry view enticed me to quickly get my camera out of my backpack and take a few photos. Would that I had had more time. Alas, the bus arrived. My responsibility--to get to work on time.

Abandoned on the street, No. 4

A single shoe hoisted upon the wrought iron fencing which fronts the building where our first rental company has its offices, the corner of NW 21st and NW Everett in Portland's Alphabet District.

I took this photo on July 24, 2010, while I waited for the bus to work.

Now for what I consider a giant kick of irony. That first rental company, Bristol Equities, managed our first apartment which was in Southeast Portland--it's the one Mama took a walk from with Duncan and found the "Free!" items mentioned yesterday. We moved there in June, 2006. Size of apartment, perfect. Location, perfect--four blocks from Lamont and Leland's place and about eight minutes by bus from my work. By September, 2006, notification came that the building had sold through no fault of Bristol Equities, would be turned into condos by the new owner, and we had to move out ASAP even if we wanted to buy a condo because remodeling was the step before ownership. Talk about a couple of unhappy campers! We had absolutely no intention of owning ever again. Ever. We did have an ace up our sleeves, though, a six-month lease, so the new owner offered us a financial incentive to get out ASAP in order to expedite the remodeling. After thoughts of purchasing a generic-building-owner voodoo doll, I finally found us our new apartment in Northwest Portland which ended up being one block west of the offices of our first rental company!

We moved there by the middle of October, 2006. So for a while in the beginning when I waited for the bus to work in front of the wrought iron fence you see in the photo above, my mind clouded with unhappy thoughts about the hassle we went through of packing every single piece of stuff (see yesterday's post for mention of our stuff) AGAIN, moving it all AGAIN, and then unpacking it all AGAIN. What would we have done without my sons? Put our heads down and sobbed, at the very least. Anyway, we loved our new place so much, were very happy there except for the lack of parking, and never once entertained the thought of moving. Until.

When Mama died last January, my sons sweetly asked me to consider moving onto the east side of the river to be nearer them, preferably to an apartment building with available on-street parking. Remembering that our original rental company handled vintage buildings with hardwood floors, I got online and found my new place in no time at all. So, now I don't wait for the bus in front of their offices, but I am once again connected to Bristol Equities in a good way, enjoying my vintage building in Northeast Portland.

Speaking of connections, I wonder why the other shoe wasn't on the fence? Did the two of them ever come together again and regain their connection to their owner?

I decided to move. These are my eight windows--you can't actually see one of them. I did not have cable or "blog-able" Internet for 13 long days!

I won't say exactly where I am now, except that I have gone from Northwest Portland to Northeast Portland. My two sons wanted me nearer to them with the good possibility of actually finding a parking space near my building. My brother flew up here on a Monday around noon and stayed through Thursday around noon. Between him, my two sons and one friend from work, they got all of my stuff either over here or dropped off at Goodwill. Before all of that, though, I had splendid help from friends at work, from providing packing boxes and paper, to sorting things for Goodwill, to packing box after box, to cleaning up the old apartment. Another friend stayed here with me at the new place on the first day of the process, moving boxes around in preparation for the arrival of furniture. No one got hurt; it did not rain; so far I haven't found anything broken. I never could have done this without their efforts, never. I still have boxes everywhere. I didn't bring some of the furniture--it just wouldn't fit. I like this place and now it feels like home. The bus stops are close with several options, as are a few Zipcars.

I don't really know how to thank everyone who helped me with this move, nor do I know how to thank those of you who have commented on my two posts about Mama. Your love and support strengthens me daily. I am getting better at dealing with my new reality, every single day. With what I am going through emotionally, I am pleased with the progress made, both in my heart and in my new home. Truth be told, it is good for me to have something to concentrate on doing, in between bouts of staring into space.

Here are the only photos that I am willing to share at this point, mainly because I have a lot left to do to get the studio into shape for viewing.


Here you see the first four windows which face south. The only thing outside is the entrance sidewalk and the other part of the apartment building. It was a sunny day when Lamont and I looked at this 550 square foot studio, so I know what to expect when our glorious Portland weather returns. I really liked the floors, the spacious room, and the bay-window-like situation. I turned left as I walked into the room and then found the closet to my immediate left.


Inside, and looking to the right of the closet door. Sorry, the photo's crooked. I took the photo above this one while standing in the closet doorway.


To the left of the closet door--I have replaced that teensy light bulb with a fluorescent one. The closet is 140 inches from end to end and 48 inches across--Lamont measured it and the rest of the apartment for me after I found out it would be mine! In preparation for the move, I photographed all of my furniture, measured it and recorded the info on the printed photos. Then I found a free 3D interior design software online which I used to make plans for placement and plans for what to discard.


I walked from the closet toward the bay window and saw this room out of the corner of my right eye. "What's this?" I said, in shock to find a room other than the expected kitchen and bathroom. "It's your bedroom," replied the rental agent. Lamont thought it would be a great room for my creative outlets. I did, too, until I realized that I wouldn't be able to see or hear the TV while in that room, thanks to my 3D efforts.


Bedroom it has become, the first corner of my new home to get set for actual living. My twin bed fits right there against that wall, with the row of windows beside me.


Looking into the kitchen from approximately where my bed now sits. Is it readily evident that there is a dearth of cabinets/shelves/storage? I'm working with what's there, plus two pieces of mine. Lamont has plans to add shelving as soon as we figure out what I will need. We'll go to Ikea, I imagine.


The wall cabinet beside the sink.


The sink and its single cabinet underneath, plus you can see about half of the small shelving area inset into the wall. I think that sink has been there ever since the building went up in 1925.


These shelves are in what appears to have originally been a wall-mounted ironing board. They are between that white cabinet in the first kitchen photo and the refrigerator.


The final storage option originally present in the kitchen.


Looking from the living room towards the front door which is to the right through that arch. That slender area with the lighter-colored wood floor that you see is a short hallway that goes into the kitchen--that bit of an open door is on the cabinet in the last photo.


This is a built-in cabinet in that hallway, a very narrow cabinet that is 74 inches wide, with two of the strangest, most-in-the-way doors I have ever come across. I plan to ask for them to be removed.


Most of the bathroom.


An additional view of the bathroom. Please know that the floor had not been cleaned prior to our viewing it.

So, there you have it. My new home before I filled it with furniture and stuff. At some point I will get it straightened up and take photos for you to see. Suffice it to say that I will be working towards those two goals at a steady pace.

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