Please note, I took this trip last weekend when it wasn't 100 degrees.
Decided to take a walk up NW 23rd today, since I've talked about it a bit recently. There is about a mile of storied "trendy" shops, restaurants, and a few mainstream establishments (talking about you Gap). The stretch of road is a nice walk - there is tree coverage for almost the entire mile. Many of the stores are in old Victorian houses. NW 23rd is only one lane each way, so the amount of possible traffic is reduced. However, there are still quite a few vehicles that use the road. One negative about the area is that the sidewalks are narrow, so you have to dart around people. When you get to sidewalk sales and a cafe, the sidewalk space narrows even more.
Some other thoughts about the Trendy-Third:
Only two Starbucks
If you want to know the future, there are palm reading and other spiritual services
The Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center is located along the way (it's always nice to have a hospital close by).
Finally, is $50 dollars for a Brazilian wax a deal? 'Cause one sign I saw said it was.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
More on where I live
So, my apartment is in the Historic Alphabet District (see my last post about that). I'm not going to bad-mouth my apartment, because it is a roof over my head and a place to sleep, eat, and shower. I will say this though, the windows are about as sound resistant as a sieve is resistant to water. With it being hotter now, I have my windows open continuously. Since my apartment is on Burnside (one of the busiest surface streets in Portland) I often have my music and TV on the "loud" setting. Somehow I am able to sleep through it most nights (but traffic is also lighter). On Monday mornings, at way-too-early-o'clock, the trash truck comes to get the garbage. Lucky me, while I am not on the Burnside of the building, I am right above the dumpster.
The streets in this area are what you would expect in an older area of a city, barely wide enough for parked cars and 2 lanes of traffic. The super narrow street have been made one-way. Because many of the buildings have been made into apartments, and everyone has to have a car (but not really), the streets are almost completely parked up (disclaimer: I do have a car that barely gets used now; fortunately my apartment complex has a small parking lot, so I keep my car off the streets). It is kind of funny (not while I'm sleeping) to hear the people below spend 5 minutes trying to parallel park, only to give up and drive somewhere else. Despite the parked cars, the area is nice to walk around in, with plenty of shade trees and relatively low traffic off of the main roads.
Now, let me tell you about some of the places I see when I walk around. I am amazed at how early some of the restaurants and bars open each day. It is almost an "all night" district of Portland (I have not found the official "all night district" of Portland nor would Sara want me too). Subway (right next door!) opens at 7:30 am, the Taco Bell and McD's are open 24 hrs, there is even a bar (Tony's Tavern) that is only CLOSED from 2:30 to 7:30 am - you'll usually see a few 3rd shifters having a brew in the morning (assuming that's who they are). The banks around me still have normal hours. Let's see what else, there is a Volvo dealership across the street, and a Fred Meyer's supermarket (surprisingly owned by Kroger).
The big attraction just a few blocks away is the PGE Ballpark, home of the Portland Beavers. The mighty Beavers are the AAA affiliate for the San Diego Padres. I haven't gone to a game, yet. But in 2009 the PGE Ballpark will host the AAA All-Star Game.
So, pretty much everything I need (sans Target) is within walking distance and open for a while. A few blocks away is NW 23th St. - supposedly called the "Trendy-third" by locals. There are blocks and blocks of small stores that are not (mostly) part of national chains. I'll probably write more about this area in future posts, as we will be visiting there from time to time.
Well, someone is yelling outside trying to get their bud's attention (hello cell phones!), so that is my cue to go to bed (they don't seem to yell during the day). In summary, this has turned out to be a good place to make a temporary residence (considering I didn't actually visit this area of Portland nor looked at this apartment before moving in). And there is never a dull moment. But, I can't wait to move into a home in the 'burbs'!
The streets in this area are what you would expect in an older area of a city, barely wide enough for parked cars and 2 lanes of traffic. The super narrow street have been made one-way. Because many of the buildings have been made into apartments, and everyone has to have a car (but not really), the streets are almost completely parked up (disclaimer: I do have a car that barely gets used now; fortunately my apartment complex has a small parking lot, so I keep my car off the streets). It is kind of funny (not while I'm sleeping) to hear the people below spend 5 minutes trying to parallel park, only to give up and drive somewhere else. Despite the parked cars, the area is nice to walk around in, with plenty of shade trees and relatively low traffic off of the main roads.
Now, let me tell you about some of the places I see when I walk around. I am amazed at how early some of the restaurants and bars open each day. It is almost an "all night" district of Portland (I have not found the official "all night district" of Portland nor would Sara want me too). Subway (right next door!) opens at 7:30 am, the Taco Bell and McD's are open 24 hrs, there is even a bar (Tony's Tavern) that is only CLOSED from 2:30 to 7:30 am - you'll usually see a few 3rd shifters having a brew in the morning (assuming that's who they are). The banks around me still have normal hours. Let's see what else, there is a Volvo dealership across the street, and a Fred Meyer's supermarket (surprisingly owned by Kroger).
The big attraction just a few blocks away is the PGE Ballpark, home of the Portland Beavers. The mighty Beavers are the AAA affiliate for the San Diego Padres. I haven't gone to a game, yet. But in 2009 the PGE Ballpark will host the AAA All-Star Game.
So, pretty much everything I need (sans Target) is within walking distance and open for a while. A few blocks away is NW 23th St. - supposedly called the "Trendy-third" by locals. There are blocks and blocks of small stores that are not (mostly) part of national chains. I'll probably write more about this area in future posts, as we will be visiting there from time to time.
Well, someone is yelling outside trying to get their bud's attention (hello cell phones!), so that is my cue to go to bed (they don't seem to yell during the day). In summary, this has turned out to be a good place to make a temporary residence (considering I didn't actually visit this area of Portland nor looked at this apartment before moving in). And there is never a dull moment. But, I can't wait to move into a home in the 'burbs'!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Temporary Living
It's hard to believe, but I have been out in Portland for three months. Three months and I haven't really blogged about the neighborhood in which I live! Now, I'm not going to give you the exact location because I don't want the crazy fan (yes this was supposed to be singular) to start stalking me.
Portland as a city is divided into five sections and a downtown area. The mighty Willamette River divides the city into west and east sides. Meanwhile, Burnside St. divides the city into north and south sections. So, you have a northwest, northeast, southwest, southeast, and to be difficult a north Portland area. The downtown area is part of the northwest and southwest sections and bordered by I-5 and I-405.
My apartment is in Northwest Portland, just outside of the downtown area - the Alphabet Historic District to be exact. Now before you get all, "Wow! He's a high roller in Portland!" I have a studio apartment in a 100 year old (fairly boring) building. No AC and oil lamps (okay kidding about the lamps). And I am right on Burnside, so I live in a noisy border territory. The sun reflects off of the building across the street...
WAIT! You haven't told us about the Alphabet Historic District! Well okay! Here goes: starting from burnside going to the north each street is in alphabetical order named after the original founders of Portland ... most of the north half of Portland is in alphabetical order for street names, just this area has been marked for preservation ... it makes it easy to know if you are heading in the correct direction because if you know you just passed Couch (pronounced cooooch) and Davis you know you are heading the right direction for Johnson ... however, you don't know if that is 4 blocks or 8 blocks away (actually 6) ... there are a lot of neat turn of the 20th century (or older) houses and buildings in this area ... unfortunately, many of them have been turned into apartment for punks like me (my building looks like an old business building turned into an apartment - remodeled in 1984) ... other than some of the main roads it is a fairly quiet section of Portland - a great place to walk around.
So that is at least the area in which I live. I'll let this information sink in and talk a bit more about the ... um ... uniqueness, tomorrow.
Portland as a city is divided into five sections and a downtown area. The mighty Willamette River divides the city into west and east sides. Meanwhile, Burnside St. divides the city into north and south sections. So, you have a northwest, northeast, southwest, southeast, and to be difficult a north Portland area. The downtown area is part of the northwest and southwest sections and bordered by I-5 and I-405.
My apartment is in Northwest Portland, just outside of the downtown area - the Alphabet Historic District to be exact. Now before you get all, "Wow! He's a high roller in Portland!" I have a studio apartment in a 100 year old (fairly boring) building. No AC and oil lamps (okay kidding about the lamps). And I am right on Burnside, so I live in a noisy border territory. The sun reflects off of the building across the street...
WAIT! You haven't told us about the Alphabet Historic District! Well okay! Here goes: starting from burnside going to the north each street is in alphabetical order named after the original founders of Portland ... most of the north half of Portland is in alphabetical order for street names, just this area has been marked for preservation ... it makes it easy to know if you are heading in the correct direction because if you know you just passed Couch (pronounced cooooch) and Davis you know you are heading the right direction for Johnson ... however, you don't know if that is 4 blocks or 8 blocks away (actually 6) ... there are a lot of neat turn of the 20th century (or older) houses and buildings in this area ... unfortunately, many of them have been turned into apartment for punks like me (my building looks like an old business building turned into an apartment - remodeled in 1984) ... other than some of the main roads it is a fairly quiet section of Portland - a great place to walk around.
So that is at least the area in which I live. I'll let this information sink in and talk a bit more about the ... um ... uniqueness, tomorrow.
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