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Tiled Entrances

Dear Liza,

I love walking around Portland, and especially our Belmont neighborhood, looking for signs of the past. They are like layers in a painting or the growth rings of a tree, showing you what has come before.

One example of these signs are, literally, signs. Many of the tiled doorways that businesses laid down in the 1890s are still looking good, even when the original business has long gone.

The Pantorium, for example, was a dry goods store on Belmont in 1894. Since then the building has been more shops than I can count, including “It’s a Beautiful Pizza”, “Hall of Records” and currently, “Suzette”, home of sweet and savory crepes and delicious cocktails. But the tiled entryway still reminds us of what has come before in an elegant, useful way.

Other doorways graced by tiles show the permanence of cities. The Laurelview Apartments have been right here, renting space within sight of our beloved Laurelhurst Park since the turn of the century. Back then the park was fairly new, and the trees were just coming into their own.

Another way the tiled entrances show us the history of the city is by the addresses. As Portland grew, it incorporated smaller surrounding cities, which then became neighborhoods. St. John’s, East Portland, Albina, and others had their own street systems and addresses, which were carried over to their new status as as part of Portland, causing duplicate streets and addresses. This confusion was solved in The Great Renaming of the 1930s, which introduced an organized grid system. Numbered streets told you how far east or west of the Willamette you were, and north and south told you where you were in relation to Burnside Avenue. It was a few years’ work, but sure makes getting around town easier now!

The address of this shop used to be 1114 Hawthorne. After the renumbering, it became 3741 SE Hawthorne, which places it 37 blocks east of the Willamette, and south of Burnside Street. I am happy that all the owners in between have chosen to keep the old tiled entryway.

Layers of history, everywhere I look. Amazing.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Gateway Discovery Park

Dear Liza,

After walking in a light rain around the Leach Botanical Garden, we were hungry. Dairy Queen to the rescue! The restorative powers of ice cream and french fries always amazes me.

We visited the Cedar Crossing covered bridge (who knew there were covered bridges in Portland?) which crosses Johnson Creek. It feels more like the Connecticut countryside than suburban Portland, and is lovely. It was built in 1982 and feels wonderfully historic.

Then Grandpa Nelson had another surprise up his sleeve, and we drove north about 4 miles to Gateway Discovery Park, which the city of Portland calls the “newest urban park”, as it just opened in August of this year.

This four acre park and plaza has newly planted trees, a fountain, a covered meeting and arts and crafts area, an open, grassy play area, creative sand play area, climby toys, adult exercise equipment, and a skate park, all laid out in a shared space.

We wandered from bit to bit, chatting and watching families enjoy their favorite spots. I loved how involved and happy everyone was in their own activities. There was plenty of room for everyone.

The park is on the corner of NE Halsey and 106th, and there is lots of street parking. The main area is marked by a piece of steel and stained glass art called The Fifth Wind.

I wonder if I will ever run out of new things to see. I hope not!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Leach Botanical Garden

Dear Liza,

On Saturday, Grandpa Nelson had a surprise for me. He took me to see a garden in the city that I had never even heard of, the Leach Botanical garden in the far southeast, just off of Foster Road and 122nd Avenue.

When a park has someone’s name on it, you think: Who was this person? Why is there a park in their honor? In the case of Leach Botanical Garden, there’s an easy, delightful answer. This 16 acre garden was their garden, and the house on the property was their house! The garden was their gift to the city.

But of course it’s never that easy.

John and Lila Leach were married in 1913 and were an unusual couple for their time. He was a pharmacist and businessman, and she was a scientist, studying botany and teaching science at Eugene High School. They belonged to a group called the Mazamas who hiked, camped, and skied in the Oregon wilderness. On their trips, Lila discovered two new genera of plants that had never been seen before!

In the 1930s they bought 16 acres of land on Johnson Creek and built a small stone cabin. They hired a landscape architect to help lay out the steeply sloping property, and began putting in plants. They named the property Sleepy Hollow.

When World War II started, Lila volunteered with the Red Cross, and after the war, the two were active in supporting the YMCA and the Boy Scouts. They worked in the garden and lived in the larger house they built later until John passed away in 1972. Lila moved to a care facility in Lake Oswego and passed in 1982. Their ashes were spread in the Oregon wilderness they loved so much.

In their wills, they both had stated that the house and property was to be given to the City of Portland. But after ten years of typical civic squabbling, the city was ready to let the property go to developers when Parks Commissioner Jordan went to visit the garden and decided it was too precious. It was developed and is maintained by a combination of public and private funding.

It hosts weddings, parties, composting classes, children’s activities, and seedling sales. You can learn more at Leachgarden.org.

And that is your Portland history lesson for today!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Evening Walk in Laurelhurst

Dear Liza,

In case you missed me and my blog over the weekend, I have decided that I will only be posting on weekdays, and taking weekends off. I am feeling like I’m so busy writing about life, I’m not having time to DO life. But for now…

We are at the part of Fall where it can be warm during the day, cool in the evening, but still light enough to walk after dinner. If I am quick to get out and careful, I can take some nice photos.

In the neighborhood around Laurelhurst Park, there are signs of Fall everywhere. Leaves changing, seed pods doing amazing things, squash and pumpkins swelling and getting fat for Halloween, crows scavenging.

Sitting by Firwood Lake, the pond inside the park, I kept seeing reflections and shadows, trying to channel my inner Monet.

Dahlias, one of Auntie Bridgett’s favorite flowers, are still blooming, catching the lower light in their dense petals.

And, of course, chestnuts! The scary-muppet looking ones that you can eat, and the studded-motorcycle-jacket ones that you can’t are both falling like rocks from trees all over the neighborhood. Keep your hats on!

And, as Edith Ann used to say, that’s all I have to say about that.

Love,

Grandma Judy

North to Alberta, Part 2

Dear Liza,

After I had explored old buildings and seen monuments, I found what I had originally headed north for, a fabric shop called Modern Domestic. It is bright and well laid out, and carries the variety of fabrics I have been looking for.

Martha, who is the ‘new kid’ at the store, and I had a wonderful conversation about the colors of Portland, and what I would need to do the city justice in my quilt. Greys, for the clouds, she said, and reds for the bricks. It was nice to talk to someone who understood what I was aiming at.

After moving bolts of fabric around, I found a perfect Easter Egg, a collection of Fat Quarters from Robert Kaufman in the colors and textures I had been looking for. I tucked it under my arm and continued looking, because the collection was lacking a forest green. Martha helped me find it, hiding in a corner across the shop. Everyone was so helpful, even letting me recharge my phone while I shopped.

Then I headed off in search of lunch! It is amazing how hungry I suddenly realized I was. I knew Martin Luther King Jr. was a main drag, so I just walked north, knowing something would turn up.

And something did. Aberus Ethiopian Food was on the next corner, a small restaurant, totally empty the whole time I was there, but the food was delicious. I told the lady (cook and waitress) that this was my first time eating Ethiopian food, but that I wasn’t afraid of spice. She recommended Doro Wat, a chicken and chili dish served on a large disc of spongy bread, a hard boiled egg, cheese, and salad. It was spicy, messy, and a wonderful experience. I left with leftovers.

Now sated and ready for home, I caught the number 6 south. Walking between Grand and MLK, I found a fellow leaning against a building who seemed to need the leftovers more than I did, so I gave them to him. We chatted for a minute, then my bus came.

After I had rested, Auntie Bridgett and I went for a walk. I keep finding new things! Did you know gingko trees have nuts? I didn’t! But now I do, and here is what they look like.

The rest of the evening was spent watching the Giants beat the Padres and playing with Mousekin.

Love,

Grandma Judy

North to Alberta, Part 1

Dear Liza,

The weather Tuesday was cool and clear, perfect for an adventure. I took the number 15 bus to Grand Avenue, close to the Willamette River. I was walking toward the number 6 bus stop when something caught my eye.

This wonderful building has been puzzling me for some time. It is on the corner of SE Belmont and SE Grand and is, as far as I can see, the tallest building on the Eastside of Portland, certainly the tallest for miles around. So I walked over to learn more, if I could. Many old buildings have a name, a plaque declaring it to be on the National Registry of Historic Places, a date….something to indicate when it was built, why, and by whom.

What I found was some ornate old iron work, odd architectural bits, and Charles McCloud. Mr. McCloud has run the parking lot behind the building for the last ten years. He told me the building was built in 1927. There used to be a theater where the parking lot is now, and a dry cleaners next door. He doesn’t know if the building has a proper name.

Later, I found that the Weatherly Building was built in 1927 by George Weatherly, a man who made his fortune in the ice cream retail and manufacturing business. One of his employees invented and patented the first ice cream cone making machine. Civilization owes them both a great debt, I think.

Mr. McCloud does know that the building has recently been sold and his parking lot will be closed within a month or two, which means he will need to find another job.

We lamented together that change usually means someone gets pushed out of where they are, I wished him luck, and caught my number 6 bus heading north on Grand Avenue, which further on joins with Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.

I got off at Alberta Street, the main drag of the neighborhood. The Alberta neighborhood has been one of the main black neighborhoods in Portland since the 1940s. In those days, red lining practices in real estate meant that black people couldn’t buy property in most areas of the city. Even after these racist practices were outlawed, they were still quietly continued.

The Alberta has the feel of an older neighborhood working to re-invent itself. Murals and memorials show the racial struggle and heroes the the community. There are smaller houses and storefronts, but many lots have taller new construction going on.

On a corner, I found a small silver monument to Officer Harry Jackson, dedicated in August, 1997. This memorial was erected while Officer Jackson was still working for the Portland Police Force. Becoming a police officer in spite of discrimination, he became respected for his community-building and encouragement of shared responsibility within the area. He represented the best in policing.

After looking around for a while, I found my primary quest: Modern Domestic, a fabric store that was recommended by the lady at Josephine’s Dry Goods.

This store was what I have been looking for. It carries cottons, wools, linens, blends, all the sorts of fabrics I want for my quilt.

Tomorrow, I will tell you what I found!

Love, Grandma Judy

No Words Necessary

Dear Liza,

I take a lot of pictures when I am out and about. So many, in fact, that they don’t all find space in my blogs to you. But they are pretty and tell a story, even without words.

Sometimes, there is no story at all, just an image that I like.

Here are some:

Adulting at the Zoo

Dear Liza,

Auntie Bridgett worked all day at the SideStreet Gallery today, so Grandpa Nelson and I went to the Portland Zoo, taking the number 15 bus and Red Line train. Of course, we have been to the zoo with Cousins Jasper and Kestrel, but going with just grown ups is a whole different experience. We were like our own island of calm in a sea of chatting, fussing, small people.

It was a perfectly Portland fall day, cool and cloudy but not raining. The animals were mostly up and about and, since I had no children to keep track of, I could really enjoy the critters.

On our way to the giraffes, which are Grandpa Nelson’s favorites, we stopped at the Columbus monkey enclosure. There was quite a crowd watching the new baby, sitting on a branch with his mom and learning to handle branches. His balance was precarious and every time the branch shifted, the crowd gasped. After a few minutes the father came over, and the baby became much less adventurous, seeming to keep Momma between himself and Big Dad.

**Baby Colobus monkey keeps an eye on Dad**

The giraffes were delightful, walking elegantly around their enclosure, or leaning gracefully down for a drink. Grandpa Nelson says he likes them because they are quiet.

Having no children to keep track of, I got to watch everyone else’s. This was a zoo-going experience, too, watching this species of small human interact. I loved seeing the kids play with Jim Gion’s bronze sculpture group called Lunch Break, especially this little guy trying to be a cub.

It was also fun to see older siblings explain things to little brothers and sisters. “See this snake? See how you are red? He can tell you’re not a rock, so he can eat you!” And, on cue, the little brother squeals.

Something I had never seen was an elephant enjoying a swim in the big pool. A keeper was fielding questions and telling us all about elephants, while we watched this giant animal duck and squirt in the water like you do in your bathtub. I imagine it’s about has hard to get him out, too, when it is time!

We noticed that the zoo is already getting ready for Zoo Lights, a wonderful night event held in December where the zoo is open very late and all the trees are lit up, and animals made of neon tubes glow and move. It takes weeks to take the lights down after the holidays, more time to refurbish them, and then another few months to put them all back up. But it is a delightful, if chilly, outing that we will certainly do again this year.

By the afternoon we were worn out and got back home for snacks and naps, because we had a date for the evening, as well. Auntie Katie’s book store, Books with Pictures, was sponsoring a showing of the 1984 movie, “Supergirl”, at the Hollywood Theater. I had never seen it, since in 1984 I was up to my eyeballs raising your Daddy David and Auntie Katie.

It was exciting to see Katie in her element, sharing her love of comics with a theater full of people. The movie wasn’t fabulous, but it did feature three strong female characters: Supergirl, Lucy Lane (Lois’s younger sister) and the villain, Selena, played by Faye Dunaway in all her evil glory. We enjoyed the silly camp and headed home, totally worn out.

For being retired, I am certainly not bored! As my dad always said, “If you’re not having fun, it’s your own darn fault.”

Love,

Grandma Judy

Friday Night Out

Dear Liza,

After my long walk yesterday, I came home, read, and had a nap. About five, we all got spruced up to try a new place. Le Canard is advertised as a “Portland styled French Restaurant”, a more casual version of Le Pigeon, the high end French place next door, run by the same folks.

We eat early, so usually we have the quieter end of the evening. But what hit us as we walked in the door was the noise! Fifty conversations, along with glasses and dishes, made quite a din. We got a table, ordered wine, and enjoyed reading the short menu. Bridgett ordered scallops, I had risotto, and Grandpa Nelson, french fries. The food was good, although pretty small portions, and we tried to have a conversation, tossing around ideas for our next trip to Europe… but we couldn’t. We kept having to lean in, repeat ourselves, and even yell to make ourselves heard. Not a relaxing way to chat.

As soon as we finished, we paid our bill and headed out. The relatively quiet sidewalks of Burnside seemed relaxing, so we just walked along. There is a lot of new construction going on, so we kept having to cross the street to avoid scaffolding, but it was enjoyable, seeing things change.

We passed The Jupiter Hotel, where we three had stayed years ago for Auntie Bridgett’s first Comic Con here. A refurbished 1960s hotel, it has a funky charm. Now, just across the street, is NEXT, the new section of the Jupiter. It is brand new, modern, and beautifully furnished. We toured the lobby, went upstairs to a lounge, and checked out the patio, as well as the view of busy East Burnside.

Further along we found a pop=up art gallery, featuring the collage wonderful-ness of Andy Jenkins. I don’t take pictures of art in galleries, because Auntie Bridgett says it is rude, but his work is on line if you search his name. I recommend it. He has an abstract way of putting dry cleaning receipts, traffic tickets, and stereo instructions together that is unique and delightful.

We ended the evening by stopping at Forty Licks, the ice cream parlour that used to be just blocks from our rental and we don’t go as often as we used to. Their ice creams are made from natural ingredients and are extraordinary. Coffee, Ginger molasses, and a blood orange milk shake accompanied us on the last of our walk.

By the time we got home, we had walked almost two miles, which means MY total for the day was five miles, counting my trip to Clinton and back.

Good thing, too, with all that luscious food…

Love, Grandma Judy

South to Clinton

Dear Liza,

With cooler weather coming on (although it is sunny today) I decided it is time to start thinking about how I’m going to keep busy when it gets too cold to go for long walks. I have started knitting, but what I really love is making quilts. So I need to find some fabric.

Hunting online for fabric shops, I found the ones I already know about, The Whole Nine Yards, which only carries upholstery and drapery fabrics, and Cool Cottons, which carries only cotton/polyester blends. I want a store where I can find heavier and lighter fabrics, cottons and blends, corduroy and sheers, all in one place. I want to be able to see all the fabrics before I buy any of them.

A bit further away I found Josephine’s Dry Goods, about a mile and a half south on Clinton Street. I dropped Auntie Bridgett at Luke’s Frame Shop and headed off.

Along the way, I saw some lovely things and made some discoveries. These beautiful red balls that I have been seeing are actually dogwood tree seeds, and there is another sweet chestnut tree at 26th and Division.

Just past the sweet chestnut tree, I smelled something delicious and realized it was lunch time, so I stopped at La Panza Cafe, It is a small New Mexican place that doesn’t look like much from the outside. I was made to feel at home by the young waiter, whose name I carelessly forgot to ask.

From their lunch menu (though you can get breakfast all day) I ordered chili verde stew with meatballs and a cold, creamy horchata to drink. Maybe it was the long walk and the warm day, but both were incredibly delicious. Jose, the chef, knows his flavors.

After that delicious meal, I continued south to Clinton Street. I found a theater, a video store, art gallery, and comic shop, but finally, Josephine’s Dry Goods, my fabric store of the day. Josephine’s has a beautiful selection, but again, a narrow focus. They carry natural fabrics, the sort used in high-end dressmaking: silks, wools, cottons, linens. Beautiful, but not what I can use for a quilt. I drooled over the silks for a while, thanked the lady, and headed off. Cloud Comics, next door, was clean and bright, but not as nice as Auntie Katie’s Books with Pictures.

The Clinton neighborhood is very pretty, filled with Victorian homes from the turn of the century and old, well tended trees. The street signs highlight the fact that Clinton Street is a Bicycle Throughway, a road that has very little car traffic. Indeed, you can ride down Clinton Street to the river and cross the Tilikum Crossing Bridge. I want to do that bike ride!

I continued up past Sewallcrest Park (which, according to the map, is actually Hazeltine Park) and then home. A three mile walk, a fine lunch, and new things to see…I am a happy Grandma.

But pooped!

Love,

Grandma Judy