[pdx] The Tom Peterson Alarm Clock!

1587.

Noting in passing that The Tom Peterson Alarm Clock would be a kickass name for a band (apply to me for permission to use it ... baby needs a new pair of shoes ... a new computer ... to pay the mortgage ...) ... Again this blog gets a tip from the forums at OLive, this time, ironically, in a Blazers thread. Nifty!

The Tom Peterson's "Wake Up" Alarm clock is indeed the stuff of legend. Lucky are you who have one. They are occasionally available, but vanishingly rare: there's one right now on eBay that you can buy outright for $250.

But for those (such as me) who are poor and can't afford anything right now, I combined a picture I had of one with the sound file thoughtfully supplied by Blog Heroine Judy at Persistent Illusion. Hit "play" and relive the memories:

Tags: Portland Advertising, pdx_legends, pdx_history, pdx_people, Tom Peterson's, Tom Peterson and Gloria's Too

[pdx, pdx_lore] Mnemonic Device? We Haz It

1338.

Greetings to anyone stumbling over here from the local real estate blog re:PDX, who noticed the high coolness of the downtown street mnemonic (which, in the interest of disclosure, was actually composed by a commenter (J. D.).

Welcome, welcome, and welcome again.

And thanks to re:PDX for the mention. Skookum nifty!

Tags: bloggage, link live, Portland Downtown Street Mnemonic

[pdx] Portland Downtown Street Mnemonic Users' Guide

1209. After turning the Portland Downtown Streets Mnemonic (PDSM) around in my head (provided thanks to commenter JD, as per the last posting, I wanted to analyze it a little more.

The mnemonic, provided to us, was as follows:

All Across Portland Our Streets Wind Around Mossy Yards. Traffic Snarls May Mean Jammed Cars, Cranky Motorists Making Minimal Headway. Harried Commuters Just Love Going Slow.

This maps to the following street sequence (from north to south, not including Burnside):

Ankeny, Ash, Pine, Oak, Stark, Washington, Alder, Morrison, Yamhill, Taylor, Salmon, Main, Madison, Jefferson, Columbia, Clay, Market, Mill, Montgomery, Harrison, Hall, College, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, and Sheridan.

JD had actually extended our sequence to just south of the I-405 in the 4th/5th/6th Avenues area (though there is a slight error; after Grant comes Sherman, and Caruthers and then Sheridan. But someone can tack on the extra C and S; JD did a fantastic job and has given us all a toy to play with.

Now, the key to using a mnemonic like this is to think of it as giving you an easy way to remember the first letter of each street. Once you have that, it's half the battle done. The mnemonic also make it a hell of a lot easier to keep everything in order. It doesn't give you the whole game though – you still have to get familiar with your streets' names (the famed Seattle mnemonic, for example, doesn't tell you the names of the streets or the fact that each initial represents two streets, not one, and which one of each pair comes first – this is all stuff you have to find out)

Once you are familiar with the basics, however, this mnemonic will provide ready-made 'sites' for the information to bind to, making it more easily rememberable. And that's the magic of the mnemonic.

So say it loud, say it proud, and spread it 'round:

All Across Portland Our Streets Wind Around Mossy Yards. Traffic Snarls May Mean Jammed Cars, Cranky Motorists Making Minimal Headway. Harried Commuters Just Love Going Slow.

Now, you've got it!

(PS: will someone BoingBoing this? The fame, I craves it!)

Tags: pdx, Portland downtown streets, mnemonic devices, meme

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[pdx, logo_design] A Brief History of The KPTV Logo (Sort of) With Illustrative Examples

1154. The history of Portland television is, in a way, the history of Channel 12, KPTV. It's also kind of a history of styles and fashion, which is truthfully the way I relate to it on a gut-response level.

The current logo portrays the KPTV-that-is-now; Portland's FOX affiliate–slick, mature, serious. It was a long growing-up. History will recall that Portland's own KPTV was the first TV station in Portland, and may well be the first commercial UHF TV station in the world (the award for first UHF station proper going to a Bridgeport, CN trasmitter (KC2XAK) that was an experimental effort). Ironically, the first owners of KPTV–Empire Coil–bought the transmission equipment for KC2XAK, shipped it cross country, and assembled it on Council Crest ... as KPTV's first transmitter.

It signed on as KPTV-Channel 27 in September of 1952 carrying all four then-major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont), and, as commercial television exploded in Stumptown from 1952 through about 1964, changed affiliations and swapped networks; KPTV was at one time an ABC station, and an NBC station. In 1956 KPTV and another local station, KLOR were brought under one corprate umbrella; at the end of April, 1957, KLOR went dark and KPTV moved into the Channel 12 spot on your dial, where it's been ever since.

My personal recollections of KPTV 12 start way after these halcyon, salad days, and I remember, from my vantage point in cosy, close Silverton (where even Mount Angel was a toll call) that 12 was the "other" station–the one where you watche the reruns and the old shows, that reran 50's vintage episodes of The Mickey Mouse Club looooong before "retro" became fashionable, where you went to see Star Trek in syndication before it too became fashionable again; it was the channel of the Jerry Lewis Telethon where "Ramblin" Rod Anders collected curbside donations as the famous fishbowl drop on SW Broadway.

As far as I'm concerned, Ramblin' Rod was the most sincere children's host out there (and was an accomplished perfrormer, coming as he did from a notable range of local talent who transitioned to the small screen via 12, such as Heck Harper and Bob "Addie Bobkins" Adkins) , and professional wrestling pretty much died with Frank Bonnema.

What was then telling about KPTV was that there was a certain "homemade" feeling about it which made it seem a little unfashionable next to its big network sisters. That may sound like an unfortunate way to describe it, but when I say it I actually do mean it in the best possible way; when the other stations had slick art up for their station ID cards, KPTV's looked like a master letterer had done them by hand. if design can express passion, these graphics did; they were done by people who cared, people who very likely not only gave a damn about what they were doing but loved showing it to everyone who could watch.

This legacy–local talent, local production, home grown–continued through the first years of the 21st Century, culminating with the move from KTPV's old studios of nearly five decades–735 SW 20th Place, just off Burnside where Morrison merges in at the Kingston Tavern, and just behind Civic Stadium–to a state-of-the-art facility at the foot of SE Caruthers Street ... only to leave the city entire a scant few years after when Meredith consolidated KPTV's operations with KPDX's in a business park out near the Cornell Rd/Bethany Blvd exit from the Sunset Highway.

Now, I don't want the good people at KPTV now to think I don't like what they're doing–we're stuck on Good Day Oregon as the niftiest AM show in Portland, and today's KPTV knows not to mess with success, keeping Perry Mason in its historic noontime slot weekdays and running the best syndication it can find, just like Yesterday's KPTV did.

But it seems like something ineffable is gone. I can't quite put my finger on it. There's a certain spirit that was diminished once Oregon's 12 became FOX 12 Oregon. Fairly or unfarily, that's just my impression, and exactly what that is, I'll leave that up as an excercise to the reader. I kind of hope some people want to argue it out in the comments. What makes Portland Portland? Are TV stations part of our terrior, our sense-of-place? I think that's why the evolution of KPTV's logo appeals to me–Channel 12's look communicates something subliminal, that can't be put into words, about what makes Portland Portland.

Maybe because it was here first, who knows.

But the point of all this is the logos, and how they have changed over the years. KPTV, as it happens, have had several looks over the years. Let's get back on point and take a look at a few of them.

First, here are two ID cards from 1952 and 1953; Wake up, PDX, you're in the video age now!

KPTV's first Station ID card, ca. 1952

KPTV Station ID card from 1953, featuring classic Saint Johns Bridge shot

The first one is glorious, no? According to Ron Dunevant, webmonster of Yesterday's KPTV (and who gave gracious permission for me to borrow his images; thank you, Ron) :

Obviously hand-drawn, it represented the hard-work of the employees who got the station up-and-running just weeks after tower construction began

A very can-do image pertains. The card is as charming as is passionate. The one with the Saint Johns Bridge is a recurring theme–I distinctly recall KOIN using a similar shot–but the Saint Johns is a Portland icon, and what better way to use it on television?

Now, let's take a rocket ride through the 1960's:

KPTV "Satellite" logo card from 1962

It's the age of Sputnik, and KPTV is following the fashion. If only they know that the world would become even smaller than they could have dreamt. The abbrevation of "ORE." in the city name is charming and quaint.

KPTV Station ID card from 1967

Whenever I see this one, the voice of Rod Anders echoes through the memory: KPTV, Channel 12 ... A Chris-Craft Station!. Chris-Craft industries started out by making boats and diversified into a basket of industries, including media. These days, Chris Craft is back to just making boats, and KPTV is on the FOX net. There's a symmetry there somehow.

The style of type stayed consistent through many representations: the call-sign in extended type, the bold sans-serif 12, the mysterious four-pointed star (maybe it was borrowed from the lady in the Portland city seal) and the baseline leading away from the 1. It was a clean, simple design that lent itself well to at least a few interpretations.

Now, on to the 70's. This period was dominated by what I call the "Four Easy Pieces" logo; it looks like someone clicked them all together like a handful of Legos. The 1 in the 12 grew a quiff, and the play of bold mixed-case letters (the P and V are majuscule, the K and T are minuscule) generates a bit of playful energy.

KPTV's 1972 logo

It wasn't long before the four easy pieces found a home on the Chris Craft banner card, as well.

KPTV Station ID card from 1973

Modern, dynamic, stylized–very 1970's.

1975: President Ford had declared our long national nightmare over, the CB-Radio craze was just getting into full-swing, and KPTV pushed the envelope with the presentation of a diagonal line of 12's and the four easy pieces diminshed below them. Further, the line if 12's were animated to appear as marquee lights.

KPTV Station ID card with the "Running Lights" logo,
circa 1975.

While an exciting change (seriously–I enjoyed watching the promos with the "running lights" line of 12's) it proved graphically limiting in layouts, leaving a diminished area above and left for program specific graphics:

Programming announcement with the "running lights" 12's.
Notice here that the 12's at the far left and the far right are dimmed
out, displaying the marquee-lights animation in action.
The problems in layout should be fairly apparent here.

This graphic treatment lasted little more than a year.

Starting in 1976, KPTV debuted a clever, dead memorable design for its identity:

1976 Station ID card featuring "Rectangle-12" logo design

The logo uses simple typographic tricks of unifying forms and cutting out pieces to create a very strong and memorable design. Perhaps without meaning to, the unity of the K with the P and T with the V pays homage to the Four Easy Pieces (which gave similar colorations to the KP and the TV pairs). None of the joins feel forced or overly arbritrary, and the way in which they're done actually makes a sort of symmetric desgin out of the dissimilar letterforms.

And the change wrought on the number 12 are nothing short of brilliance. Unifiying the 1 and the 2 within the rounded-rectangle lifts the letters to the next level to the status of icon, one which even today stands strongly along industry classics like the legendary Circle-7.

This is TV Station logo design done right. It lends itself well to a variety of treatments, from disco-era neon:

Surprisingly, sweet rave parties were still some years in the future.

To the day someone over at KPTV discovered Photoshop (joke, fellahs, joke!).

In seriousness, the way the stylization was carried into the word "PORTLAND" from the call sign "KPTV" is well done.

And even worked well when the stylized type was left behind as we worked our way through the '90s:

But times do change and so do station affiliations. In 1995, the UPN network debuted KPTV joined itand in 1996 the station removed from its home of decades to the east side of the river. But, as we've seen here, strong design has legs.

Longevity is its own evidence. The Rectangle-12 had a lifespan of 19 years. You can't improve on a good thing.

From then, the UPN years saw a little experimentation, eventually settling on the Oregon's 12 logo, of which this is a very good example:

The station, as I recall, flirted with simply calling itself Oregon's 12, but never quite got away from carrying the call sign KPTV whereever it went. This, in my opinion, is to the good–that call sign to this day has immense good will pertaining, and it would be foolish, I'd say to delete it wholly (even today's FOX 12 Oregon can be found at KPTV.com) The Rectangle-12 has morphed into an outline of the state of oregon containing a 12 with a half-serifed 1, which perhaps unintentionally pays homage to the way the Rectangle-12 connected and, more prosaically, allows an interesting typographic form while allowing for the tight kerning between the 1 and the 2 that's requred to make the logo a success.

Despite transmitting from Portland and primarily serving the Portland market, KPTV during these days made an effort to get its viewers thinging about Oregon as a whole. The "1 Oregon" campaign, comprising 30-second spots featuring notable Oregonians from all over the state, went a long way toward it, as did the then new AM news block, Good Day Oregon (Not Good Day Portland), so the "Oregon's 12" approach worked very well–it communicated an insipring remit, and a station that really wanted to be Oregon's station.

Now, of course, we're in the era of FOX 12 Oregon. We still have GDO and we still have Perry Mason, we still have The 10 O'Clock News. We now have The 11 O'Clock News and The 5 O'Clock News on weekends; KPTV has become a major news player locally.

We look back in fondess, we look forward with hope. Who knows what the future will hold for Portland's Own KPTV?

For more of the KPTV scrapbook, visit the Yesterday's KPTV site. Tell Mr Dunevant that ZehnKatzen sent you. It's the most loving tribute to Portland's broadcast history that I (or, I think, anyone) can name.

(Credit: The station photo of the 1996 stuidos was nicked from Melvin Mark's website; the station photo of the old building on SW 20th Place was clipped out of a screenshot at the front door of Yesterday's KPTV. All station logos were courtesy of Yesterday's KPTV and used with permssion, we thank Ronald Dunevant for granting permssion, mounting and maintaining the Yesterday's KPTV site, and for generally existing. He's skookum).

Technorati Tags: pdx,Portland Television,KPTV,Channel 12,KPTV-12,Staton Logos,TV logos,TV Graphic Design,Portland History

[pdx, pdx_politik] The Chavez Revolutions

1140. What was amazing about is that it all fell down like a house of cards. According to Witigonen and the Merc:

1. Mayor Tom's proposal to rename Interstate Avenue went down, 3-2.
2. Saltzman moved to table the process-revision vote in favor of settlling the SW 4th renaming issue.
3. Council approved the tabling.
4. Unanimous rejection of the proposal to rename SW 4th on reconsideration.

The discussion has been rebooted, if we care to have it. The only things we aren't getting back are the time and energy expended in arguing over it (and we still can't tell if the lesson was learned that processes are there for a good reason, and taking shortcuts only breaks people's hearts in the end).

Personally, the lesson I think we've all learned here is: There's a Commissioner Saltzman here? That dude's so quiet, I forgot about him.

Technorati Tags: pdx,pdx_politik,Cesar Chavez Blvd,terrior,pdx_geography

[pdx, pdx_politik] Commish Randy Swaps Out The Chavez Gameboard

1116. The most notable thing about Portland politics is that, sometimes, it isn't over even if it's over, as witness the strange turn in the "let's name something after Cesar Chavez" slo-mo train wreck

It's by now old news that Commissioner Randy Leonard not only sprang on us all the prospect of renaming the street City Hall is on SW Cesar E Chavez Blvd in favor of doing it to N Interstate Avenue. It's kind of become a game that the board gets changed out randomly. At first, it was some sort of strange cross between poker and "I've Got a Secret". Now, it's suddenly chess.

In suggesting not only a major downtown Avenue but the one that City Hall is located on, Commish Randy has not only changed the gameboard but, somewhat, the terms of the conversation. In this chess game, he's put the city's King on SW 4th in a way that the rename-Interstate advocates have to answer. And, in having the support of four out of five of the City Commission (save, of course, Mayor Tom), he's positioned his pieces well to support his move.

Quoted by The Big O:

It's the address of City Hall. There's a lot of symbolic value, and I think it reflects the pride the council has in wanting to honor Cesar Chavez

So he not only has the support of an overwhelming majority on Council, he's also putting the City's prestige on the line as well, which, politically speaking, is a master stroke. While all this is a surprising turn, this is perhaps the logical ultimate expression of the realipolitik involved in the quest to rename Interstate Avenue embodied in ramrodding through the process with no regard to existing policy and, at best, disdain for the feelings of the neighborhood involved.

I'm not in favor of renaming any of our streets any more, actually. It's not out of any fear of a name like "North Cesar E Chavez Blvd" (or "SW Cesar E Chavez Blvd" if it come to that), and, actually, ultimately, it wouldn't bother me much if one of them were renamed. I have no fear of a brown planet (or black, or what have you; our policy is to be as nice as possible to other people, in as much as other people outnumber us over 6 Billion to one).

I'm not in favor of renaming any of our streets in favor of anyone right now because, after the MLK renaming, the City devised a careful, methodical process that does its best to make sure that if a street does get renamed, it doesn't happen unless a majority of the people involved are on board with it, but latterly, if someone in City government gets the proverbial wild hair, it gets utterly and completely ignored, rendering the lessons we all learned about uniting community in the wake of the MLK renaming irrelevant.

If Mayor Tom promised renaming advocates that they could have thier way without going through the process, then that was a promise he never should have made.

That this and the last few renamings (Naito Blvd, Rosa Parks Way) were to honor people who were all about community (Naito about building the physical community, and Rosa Parks about the fact that we've all got to be respectful of each other – a lesson we probably haven't learnt after all), are in honor of people whose lives were about building and reinforcing the things that make us a human community just adds a great deal of irony to the whole thing.

Technorati Tags: pdx,Portland,Interstate Avenue,Cesar Chavez,Interstate Avenue Renaming,Cesar Chavez Blvd

[pdx, pdx_media] Scott Moore's Program Of World Domination Apparently To Proceed

1098. We greet the news that Scott Moore is moving on to state government with congratulations...AND SHEER ALARM!

The smart people around here noted this posting, in which I Photoshopped Mr. Moore's head into a picture of Dr. Evil. We meant it as a joke. We didn't know how deadly serious it would be. We didn't think the shaving of his beard would push him as far as it did though:

Cant you see, sheeple! Oh, yes, sure it's just a "spokesman" position for "Secretary" of "State", Bill "Bradbury". That's prescisely what he wants you to think!

Oh, you're all laughing at me now. They laughed at Galileo; don't forget they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. Today everythings normal; tomorrow he'll be destroying Washington with The Alan Parsons Project unless we pay him One million dollars!

Technorati Tags: Scott Moore,Portland Mercury,Oregon politics,ZOMG,LOLScottMoore

[pdx] Sam Adams Domain Name Party Photobucket Remix

1097. Okay, skip it, skip it; Photobucket is being a bear about it all; can't control the blog display for the remix and it crashes Safari when I load it up.

So here's a hard link to it. That, or click in the big piccy below.


Tags: pdx, Sam Adams, Great Brew-HaHa, KEX, Portland Radio, Portland Media, Portland Politics, Mark Mason, Dave Anderson, Accent Verticals, Jim Hopkins, KEX Kids Fund, Pilsner Room, Samuel John Klein, ZehnKatzen

[pdx] Sam Adams Gets His URL-And We Have The Pictures

1096. Welcome to another episode of You Weren't There. Why weren't you there? Shucks, we don't know. Maybe you were picking up the kids from soccer; maybe you were stuck in traffic; maybe you had other plans; maybe you were plotting to take over the world (same as you do every night). Who knows?[1]

The Hawthorne Bridge From Just Outside the Pilsner Room, 7 Nov 2007

Point is, you weren't there. We were. Here's our story.

As the media have reported (and if you're a Mark & Dave cult member or other similarly-connected sort) The Letter That Caused All The Brew-Haha was auctioned off for the KEX Kids Fund and Mark & Dave were going to present the domains they had acquired to Sam Adams (the potential mayor, not the beer).

So convened the Sam Adams Domain Name Transfer Party, with your hosts, Mark Mason and Dave Anderson:

Mark Mason and Dave Anderson tell the tale of The Letter.
Dave's holding the commemorative 1st Amendment Ale tap handle

The tale was told of the bad guys (Boston Brewing, we all by know know who they are) and how the makers of Samuel Adams beer found out our fellahs reserved domain names for The Real Sam Adams™, didn't bother to do any due diligence in actually finding out just who The Real Sam Adams™ was, and set the legal wheels in motion, sending what has gone down in history as The Letter (follow the link to KEX's Brew-Haha page, where the letter is on prominent display).

The Letter was peforce put up to auction on eBay, the proceeeds to generate income for the KEX Kids' Fund, which sees to it that poor kids who need glasses and hearing aids get them. After the bidding was over and the dust had settled, the winner was Jim Hopkins of Accent Verticals, a local window fashions vendor:

Mark Mason, Jim Hopkins, and The Letter.

After setting up the situation and getting the festivities in full swing, the presentations begun. Very Big Checks/Certificates started changing hands. First, Jim Hopkins presented one to Mark and Dave representing the amount of the bid that won him The Letter:

Jim Hopkins presents Mark and Dave with his VBC

That $1475.90 was matched by KEX for a net gain of $2951.80 for the Kids' Fund on the basis of the auction alone. A run of Full Sail Ale was also branded as "Mark & Dave 1st Amendment Ale" for the night, and a special tap handle was made for the occasion, and proceeds from the sale of pints also went into the Fund.

KEX's Dave Anderson with the special Mark & Dave Ale tap handle

As for Samuel Adams Ale, its tap handle was shrouded in black. We wot that Samuel Adams didn't sell very well that night.

After the handing over of Jim Hopkins' VBC to Mark and Dave (and the transfer of ownership of The Letter), came the crest of the evening – Mark and Dave awarding the website samadamsformayor.com to The One True Sam Adams™[2]:

The URL goes to its rightful owner.

The ceremony done, people got down to some of your basic mixing. For the record, I did try the ale, which I rather liked; The Wife™, not so much (she's not an ale fan). At the start of the evening, we felt rather like a fish out of water, but everyone was very friendly and warm, and when we left, we found that we'd had quite a very good time.

Mark and Dave also gave credit to us bloggers who did what we could to publicize or at least speak out on this. Mark mentioned us, Witigonen (who we enjoy reading, and zeppelins), Isaac Laquedem (who links here and I didn't get to meet – sorry, Isaac) and Kari Chisholm was also there (who I did get to meet). I recall that Mark mentioned Rusty, sadly, he didn't make it.

Kari Chisholm discussing something with KPOJ PD Mike Dirckx.

No, we don't know what.

Naturally, we met the guest of honor. Here are we, Sam the mayoral candidate, and Sam, the pipsqueak underemployed graphic designer:

(left) Possibly Portland's Next Mayor;

(right) Mark & Dave Cult Member #583

Say whatever you want about his politics, Sam Adams is a pretty decent fellow, and extremely affable in person (now I really wish I could have been at the City Council meeting where they did the jazz hands). The Wife™ made him promise to stay in touch with us. He said he would. And why? "Because we're your constituents" saith The Wife™. Can't argue with that logic, neh?

And The Wife™ got her brush with greatness:

The Wife™ and The Guys

(I don't have to tell you who they are again, do I?)

We're going to treasure these shots – should Sam become mayor, we'll be able to say "We Were There When". This isn't the whole lot; I've posted all of them on my flickr account, and I've made a subalbum on Photobucket (complete with a captioned remix).

That's all for this edition of You Weren't There. We're not sure where we'll be next, but one thing may prove true: we'll be there, and you...well, you might not be.

[1]Apologies to Bob and Ray.
[2]Apologies to The One True b!X

Tags: pdx, Sam Adams, Great Brew-HaHa, KEX, Portland Radio, Portland Media, Portland Politics, Mark Mason, Dave Anderson, Accent Verticals, Jim Hopkins, KEX Kids Fund, Pilsner Room, Samuel John Klein, ZehnKatzen

[pdx] The Old Tom Peterson's Bulding-Going, Going...

1095. Out and about on Tuesday afternoon. Dateline: SE 82nd Ave and Foster Road. View: End of An Era–Tom Peterson's old building is a-coming down:

As we understand it, the little LaRog's building hard by the corner is coming down next. We forget when they're winding things up there, however.

Ladmarks do have a way of changing. And change is a constant.

Technorati Tags: pdx. Portland Photos,Tom Peterson's,Portland Landscapes,SE 82nd and Foster

[pdx] For A Member of the Economic Underclass, My Calendar Is Surprisingly Full

1093. Today we need to drop off our ballots (we miss the days of polling places, so we wait til the last minute to get some of that election-day mojo that used to be accompanied by a VOTE HERE! sign), but the dance card is simply bursting–at least it is for us...

Tonight, The Wife™ and I are going to put in an appearance at the KEX-Sam Adams Domain Name Party. At last, Yours Truly, Cult Member 583, gets to meet "The Guys". And, yah, that Sam person.

Tomorrow there's going to be a Jeff Merkley blogger get-together over at the new Laurelwood Brewery on NE Sandy.

Pictures to follow

Technorati Tags: Sam Adams,Samuel Adams,Commissioner Sam Adams,The Great Brew-HaHa,KEX,Mark Mason,Dave Anderson,Jeff Merkley,Blogger Meetup,PDX Bloggers

[pdx, ZehnPhoteaux] Schmap!

1082. As I'd hoped, my photo of Jim & Patty's Coffee that was short-listed for the Portland Schmap! Guide was, in fact, used! Yay me!

The entry it illustrates is kind of...well...wrong. Notably. The text, credited to wcities, in a copyrighted entry I can't locate there, describes Coffee People, and gives the location as NW 23rd Ave. In fairness, it does make note that the chain was about 30 strong, but it's written in present-tense and, as any Portlander who knows their coffee knows, Stumptown's heart was broken a few years back when Diederich Coffee first bowdlerized then sold Coffee People to (shudder) Starbucks, largely wiping CP from the face of the planet.

I've sent feedback to Schmap!, let's see where that goes.

H/T also to Cary at Left Coast Ramblings, who had two of his photeaux used in Schmap!. Nifty!

Tags: Jim and Patty Roberts, Coffee People, Jim and Patty's Coffee, Schmap, Portland, pdx

[pdx] Sam Adams Is Politco: Official

1081. The polling is closed, and by a margin of 62% to 37%, Sam Adams is official a Politician, as decided by the Mighty Readership.

To be honest, I'm surprised that it was that close. Yes, it was an overwhelming margin, but 37%...hmm. Makes me wonder.

Anyhow, thanks for precipitating in the poll, those of you who did. You are créme de la créme (I hope I got the accents in the right place, yo) and you are wise and wonderful. I hear you all smell pretty good too. And you have excellent taste. And, no, your butt certainly does not look huge in that!

Tags: Sam Adams, Samuel Adams, Commissioner Sam Adams, The Great Brew-HaHa, KEX, Mark Mason, Dave Anderson

[pdx, pdx_media] Sam Adams Letter Means Almost $3K For Kids

1080. Mark & Dave have sold The Letter That Was Heard Round The World–the winning bidder, according to the KEX Brew-HaHa page, was Jim Hopkins of Accent Verticals, who had the winning bid of $1,475.90.

But wait, there's more...KEX's General Manager matched it, and the total going into the KEX Kids' Fund is going to be $2951.80. Which is skookum; some kids are going to get hearing aids and glasses that wouldn't've otherwise, just because of one legal eagle Back East who didn't do quite enough due diligence.

And, as a reminder, the Greatest. Poll. Evar., our little Sam Adams–Beer or Politican poll, closes at midnight tonight. Sam Adams–still a politican, according to our mighty readership.

Tags: Sam Adams, Samuel Adams, Commissioner Sam Adams, The Great Brew-HaHa, KEX, Mark Mason, Dave Anderson

[pdx] Fish Rape and Gossip: Fun With RottenNeighbor.com

1079. When we heard of RottenNeighbor.com, we figured this would quickly become a place to air out neighborhood dirty laundry – but we had no idea...

Got to the site, plugged in our address in lovely Baja Gresham, and was not too surprised what came up – the farther into what was once well-(and incorrectly)known as "East County" the more there were complaints that pretty much fell into the "white trash-y" category. You know – big families with uncontrolled kids, "stacks of abandoned cars", that sort of thing.

Casting our net a little wider, we found a couple of real interesting gems. Now, you Wood Villagers, I don't know what you guys been doing, but you sure have urinated in someone's Cheerios™* at some point:


Apparently it's just one big episode of Desperate Housewives out there, you people!

This next one I blame on gay marriage, society in general, and teenagers mixing Mentos and Diet Coke:


This could go a long way toward explaining why Dr P. didn't give the city the whole island. Or maybe it doesn't. Just throwing that one out there.

* The ZehnKatzen Times has no connection to General Mills or Cheerios, of which is a registered trademark. We also do not recommend anyone urinating in anyone's breakfast cereal. This would be wrong.

(h/t to ...and this Paddle Game for inspiring me to check out RottenNeighbor.com. The above absurdity we found on our own)

Tags: RottenNeighbor.com, Portland, pdx, gossip central, Google Maps Mashups, funny

[liff, pdx_history] A Quick Note: Yesterday's KPTV

1078. Some months back, when transitioning to the New Blogger, I absolutely trashed my blogroll. I just realized I am quite remiss in not adding back Yesterday's KPTV sooner.

Yesterday's KPTV tells the story of the people and times of KPTV in its pre-FOX days. In some ways, KPTV was Portland television, and had some of Portland media's most well-known and beloved non-news names (Gene Brendler, Addie Bobkins, Heck Harper, Rusty Nails the Clown and, of course Ramblin' Rod) and Portland's most longstanding and beloved news anchors as well (Lars Larson back when he was nice, Kim Singer, Gary Hill, Kathy Smith, Ivan Smith (no relation) and even Tom McCall).

Yesterday's KPTV pulls it all together into a cool package (complete with history, photos, clips, old logos, and all that) that is good for hours and hours of time-wasting for the nostalgic Portlander. Do not go there if you're on a deadline.

It's one of my favorite sites. Such good memories.

(NB: Station Logo circa 1972 clipped from a screenshot of the site)

Tags: KPTV, Portland TV, Oregon's 12, Channel 12, pdx history, Portland History

[pdx] ZOMG, 2 Days Left To Vote On What Sam Adams Is!

1070. As of about the time of this posting, there will be a mere two days left in The ZehnKatzen Times' Don't-You-Wish-Your-Poll-Was-Hot-Like-Mine INSTANT Poll, that is to settle the question of whether or not Sam Adams is a Politician or a Beer.

We hear that Boston Brewing, the rounders, are backing off, but they do not control consensus reality–we do, through the power of our poll, which, we will remind you, can not only beat up your poll and take its lunch money but also has regular booty calls with top hot supermodels, which is way more than you. And me, for that matter. Man, I envy it that way.

At this writing, the poll stil has Sam Adams as a politician by a wide margin. The lawsuit threat may be resolved, but it is up to us to decide what we think Sam is–regardless of what he actually is!

So, vote. Elvis would vote himself if he could. Make Elvis smile...vote, one way or the other...at the top of the side bar on the right.

Technorati Tags: Sam Adams,Samuel Adams,Commissioner Sam Adams,The Great Brew-HaHa,KEX,Mark Mason,Dave Anderson

[pdx, Address_Nerd] Quietly Quirky Portland Street Signs

1066 and all that. One of the things I love about Portland is the street signs (I've never made a secret of this, of course). Portland's street grid has certain quirks that have, as a map addict and all-round Address Nerd, endeared me for life.

One is a practice to name some streets without a "Street Type". Herewith, an example:

The street blade isn't incomplete or incorrect. Historically, this street was never called "Reedway Street", despite it being an east-west traffic way (by Portland definition, a named "street"). Whoever named it probably called it "Reed Way", which concatenated over time into a single word, proably echoing "Broadway" and the similarly named "Wardway" (which is the little road that snakes down to the light at NW Nicolai Street and Saint Helens Road, in case anyone's ever wondererd, and was presumably named for the old Ward warehouse which is now Montgomery Park. Reedway, we presume, was either named in honor of Simeon Reed or the unique college that bears his name, which is close to hand).

Latterly, as these signs age, they have been replaced with more conforming signs: SW and NW Broadway are not yet signed "Broadway Av", but N and NE Broadway are increasingly being badged as "Broadway St", as is SE Reedway (and presumably NW Wardway, though we haven't been over there in a while to see.

Needless to say, we like this not. We need to keep Portland quirky.

Next exhibit:

This picture shows something I love to find–this sign, which can be found at the corner of SE 97th Ave and Harold St (how about that? I man, what are the odds?) shows signs made in the Portland style but the format does not conform. The blade on 97th should read SE 97th AV, not SE 97TH AVE (the unsuperscripted ordinal just kind of jumps out at you, and the street type should be AV not AVE) and the Harold blades street type (ST) should be much, much smaller than it is.

As information design, Portland street blades are spare but very efficient and above all, uniform. Something like this is a happy find–it's a little like finding that postage stamp with the upside-down biplane that was so famous

Technorati Tags: PDX Streets,PDX Street Signs,street blades,urban sign design,information design

[pdx] The Progress of the Poll-Sam Adams: By A Vast Margin, Still A Politico

1063. The ZehnKatzen Times's Instant Online Gazonga Poll That Can Beat Up Your Poll, Sam Adams, Politican or Beer?, is still amazing people with its ability to wreak pure, unforgving consensus reality. At this point in time, Sam Adams is, far and away, still a politician.

A future poll will determine which kind of politico he'll be, of course. While I'm willing to poll here, I believe the city and county still has that one in hand, so no worries.

Vote! Remember, if you don't, you'll make Elvis cry. And you don't want Elvis to cry.

Technorati Tags: Sam Adams,Samuel Adams,Commissioner Sam Adams,The Great Brew-HaHa,KEX,Mark Mason,Dave Anderson

[pdx_transit] Streetcars: The Future's Looking Rather Familiar

1062.

Emboldened by the success of the downtown streetcar line, city leaders want to expand service into a network that would crisscross the city. -Dylan Rivera, Oregonian writer

We read with a certain distilled sense of irony the article in The Big O today about the buzz to extend the Portland Streetcar into a citywide network, but we're far from cynical about it–as a matter of fact, we couldn't be more pleased and excited. As anyone who's familiar with Portland history–and Portland transit history in particular–knows, before Portland was known for transit, Portland was known for streetcars.

So, it's kind of sardonically funny that one of the next big possible innovations in metro transit technology is something that was quite widespread less than 100 years ago, even though its encouraging and quite exciting.

As far as we're concerned, it's fun riding the train. We didn't get to ride the train at all growing up; we grew up in Silverton and Salem. Trains carried frieght, and you waited at "RRXINGs" in your car whilst the train held you up. The first experience of riding a train we had–other than the one at the Zoo or at Pixieland, when it existed down by Lincoln City–was the MAX, and that was when it ran from downtown to Gresham only (and we were touched even then by the irony of the exuberant rediscovery of urban rail in a city where urban rail once ruled–but, again, this didn't prevent us from enjoying what is truly a neat trip. Rail still rules).

Returning to the present, we are additionally sardonically amused my the following passage:

About 140 miles of the city's busiest streets show potential for new streetcar routes, said Patrick Sweeney, project manager for the Portland Office of Transportation. Those streets have dense enough housing, employment and shopping -- and are zoned for more.

We at The Zehnkatzen Times and our Editorial Department (which at the moment consists of me, an old map, and a bottle full of coool, puuure Bull Run water) are nothing if not civic-minded, and we reached back into our archives and believe we've found a great starting point.

One of our dearest posessions is a 1940 promotional folder for the Portland Traction Company's trolley, streetcar, and bus network. Though I can't find the reference right now, I believe someone of the ilk of Kim MacColl pointed out how Portland's early growth was along streetcar lines–then, as now, prime real estate. In 1940, PTC's network of streetcars, electric trolleys, and motor coaches looked like this:

The yellow solid lines and green dotted lines are the trolley net–those routes that had lines above the street with which the rolling stock drew motive power via a pantograph. Withal, we don't think that's a bad place to start.

I offer this up for the public good, though if the proper authority would deign my considerable research worth paying for, we can deal. Contact information can be found on the sidebar, up near the top there.

In all, the map folder is an incredibly dear thing. Then as now, we weren't afraid to beat our chests about our innovative transit; we called it then The World's Finest Trolley System, and we exhorted both residents as well as visitors to use our system to see the town. Festooned with photos of possible destinations as the Saint Johns Bridge, the "Theater District" (SW Broadway when she was our own Great White Way) and the quaintly-referred-to-as "Jewish Synagogue" (we are so far unaware of other faiths with synagogues), it's a piece of period style and flair, and we love this map.

Regrettably it's too big for us to scan, but let us share one more bit of it, the Portland Traction Company's glimpse of life in the Rose City in 1940:

Can you imagine that one of those little kids climbing on the bus in the picture in the lower left is Ramona Quimby? We sure can.

We've always wanted to compile a more complete library of Portland Transit ephemera, schedules and maps and such, but, sadly, those are most impossible to find it seems (we accept donations though. We could put together a most skookum display...)

Technorati Tags: TriMet,Portland Streetcar,Streetcars,Portland Traction Co.,Trolleys,Street Rail,pdx transit,mass transit,transit history,transit in Oregon