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PORTLAND MAN: PAST AND FUTURE OF A CITY ON THE EDGE

Portland man met another man and flipped a coin to name this place. We know who won since it’s not called Boston. From a distance it’s easy to see why people fall in love with a city growing in the woods. It’s a terrific strip of urban life in the western wilderness. You don’t have […]

PORTLAND SIGN SHOWING RED LIGHTS NEEDS TO CHANGE

This Portland sign has never been more accurate. It’s a red light, but the message is even brighter: “Turn around. Go home, it’s trouble town in Portland,” is one way to read it. From news reports, Portland looks like the place to go get wailed on, shot in the face with non-lethal rounds, and top […]

AMERICAN CITY ON THE LEFT COAST: PORTLAND

Normandy, not Portland Portland, Oregon is an American city on the west coast. Not too big, not too small, but just right for a big rural state on the edge of the North American continent. (Think top left corner of America. That’s Seattle. Everybody knows Seattle. Portland is down from there.) For an extra reminder, […]

PORTLAND PROTEST SCORECARD FOR THOSE PLAYING AT HOME

Portland Mayor Image via boing boing Portland protest review: Last night Portland mayor Ted Wheeler hit the streets. How did it go? He got heckled and gassed for his effort. In short, it didn’t go well. What the hell, Portland, if the mayor joins in, where’s the welcome mat? Would past mayors fare as well […]

PORTLAND DREAM DIES? NO, THIS ISN’T DETROIT, BUFFALO, OR MINNEAPOLIS

Big question: Is the Portland Dream dead? From a coin flip on the banks of the Willamette River, to a human shield of protest moms downtown, what was the dream to begin with? It’s a big question, one that gets asked when the biggest town in the state pulls a federal response to Black Lives […]

SOUTH PORTLAND PEOPLE CHANNEL PROUD MARY

Old painting of a rower An early morning walk by the Willamette showed the sort of Portland people see before they move here. A calm scene, placid water, with sun breaking through scattered clouds for a blinking reflection. With the Ross Island Bridge on the left, and the actual Ross Island in front, dog walkers […]

MICHAEL JORDAN WORKED PORTLAND ONE LAST TIME

Michael Jordan and the Portland Trail Blazers will always be linked. Every sports fan knows the story of Jordan in the ’84 NBA Draft. But no crying over spilled milk here. No, I’m crying over the time I saw him play in Portland toward the end of his time with the Bulls. Where’s my hankie?

A BIRTHDAY, VE DAY, FLYOVER PORTLAND DAY

My dad’s birthday is May 8, so it was a big day before I learned about Victory in Europe, or anything in Europe. It’s still a big day. Sharing his day with the end of the worst war in the history of mankind, where industrialized death became the accepted norm, can’t be easy. Just ask […]

PORTLAND FOX THEATER HISTORY UP IN THE AIR ON A RAINY DAY

For Portland history, or any history, like the Fox Theater history, the events remain the same. It’s the interpretation that changes. This is why you trust your sources in regard to what you hear and believe, and what to reject. Primary sources make the difference. But what is a primary source? Take this, for instance:

OLD PORTLAND BECAME NEW PORTLAND RIGHT AFTER I MOVED THERE

The term Old Portland usually applies to the city with pictures of a flood, like the flood of 1861, or the floods of 1894, 1948, 1996. By the way, it rains in Oregon, sometimes a lot. Will that ever change? No, but attitudes will change, have changed. But that’s not the Old Portland on boomerpdx.