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PORTLAND’S BOOMER CASTLE ON BROADWAY

You don’t have to go to France to feel the grandeur of a beautiful room. Or a cathedral in Spain for the ornate. Walk into the Benson Hotel on Broadway for the same feeling of WOW. The size is different, but the details are wonderful. For an Old World taste in the New World, this […]

When The Lights Go Down In The City

The Neon Gets Better. On a cold, dark, night, a city asks for caution. Even the familiar takes on an extra foreboding. With others, or walking alone, the sound of footsteps behind you quickens your pace. Empty shadows carry secrets you don’t want to know. Some streets are just not very inviting. Even in the […]

Dear Facebook, Huffington Post Wants Your Action

From news.discovery.com: “Now that Facebook has gone public and is struggling to get a steady valuation, the company is looking to find new ways to make its money and prove its worth to investors. One option Facebook is exploring is enhancing ad sales by more effective targeting of increasingly specific demographic groups, using location data […]

Boomer Date Night: The Good, The Bad, The What’s This?

Spending time with someone you care about is one of the greatest relationship rewards. There you are, you and your sweetheart, enjoying an evening out together. Maybe it’s a regular thing and you’ve taken over, so this time you ask the other person what they’d like to do. You figure it’s only one night. What […]

Singing Through The Christmas Noise

Once the commercial side dies down, you still have to get home. Did you have a party? We organized singing. It lasted one Christmas carol. Someone misunderstood the rules of Karaoke. You need music with scrolling words, not scrolling words with guitar chords and no guitar. I don’t remember the song, but one Christmas spirited young […]

OHS Shows ‘What They Did’

On a wicked cold December night a man lectured from the stage of the First Congregational Church in downtown Portland. James Swanson spoke to a full house, breaking down the Kennedy assassination moment by moment from his book ‘END OF DAYS, The Assassination of John F. Kennedy.’ Swanson followed the characters and events from fifty […]

Boomerpdx Remembers Historian Thomas Vaughan

Most baby boomers who’ve worked for important companies never meet the big guy. You apply, go through human resources, or the personnel office, meet the department head, co-workers, and go at it for the next few decades. Thomas Vaughan met everyone before they got with the Oregon Historical Society program. He made it personal. How […]

Boomerpdx Discovers New Oregon History

And Roosevelt High School Rough Writers.  What pops into your mind when you hear the word “History?” Big books? Musty libraries? A gray bearded professor in tattered tweed? It’s all part of history, just not the appealing part. Why not make your own appealing history? Lay down the five pound doorstop of a book. Take […]

How To Black Friday In WA SQ Like Boomerpdx

It’s Not What You Think If You Know Where To Go Always start at Penny’s. You’ll save more there than Nickel’s or Dime’s, but not Dollar. Come in on Tigard’s Greenburg Road. There’s no more traffic than the usual stop light highway near a freeway off-ramp. Park on the edges for no crowd. You’ll see people standing near […]

3 Steps For Better Portland Baby Boomer Holidays

When you ask someone, “How was Thanksgiving,” and they say wonderful, what they really mean is, “boring.” But they won’t dare say that. The Boomer who says wonderful comes from a gathering where all ‘social filters’ are cleaned and set to high. Don’t talk any politics, no college loyalty, and most of all, no history […]