Scuba. It sounds funny. Scuba.

I've never pre-ordered anything before.

Until now.



In some sort of indicator of our age of New Media, I've probably only seen 3 or 4 episodes of Venture Bros. at their regularly-scheduled time. And I haven't even seen a single solitary episode of Season 3.

-d.d.

Egg, Coffee & Bagel

I did this invite for a brunch we had. I really like Egg.

-d.d.

Old Eastside Firestations.

The ol' firestation at 1917 SE 7th.



This photo's from a nice resource of old Portland firestations available at Portland Online

that which is good in life

English muffin cheese toasties, w/ a dash of Tapatio hot sauce.

-d.d.

Science Can Cure You.

I love this sign.



I love this sign on this building.

I love this sign on this building, made of cinderblocks with little windows.

-d.d.

Graffiti Row

I'm not a particular fan of graffiti. But I concede that sometimes its really colorful and even a little awe-inspiring.



This photo doesn't really do this 2-block stretch of graff justice. This is looking SE from 14th ave toward the the Brooklyn-Gideon Pedestrian Bridge at SE 16th.

Since that teenager got killed by a train by the Lafayette bridge this summer, UP stepped up the "No Trespassing" emphasis on the train tracks. There's a well-trodden path beside the tracks between the NW Natural plant and the old Ford Motor factory that peds and bicyclists use to get from 11th to the 9th (where you can then access the Springwater corridor and the Eastbank Esplanade) that's now got a ton of no trespassing signs and even concrete barricades.

All by way of saying I began to feel nervous taking pictures of graffiiti on UP property w/ the train sitting right there - even clearly picturing the officer asking me questions ("why you taking pictures of graffiti? Recording yr work?").

-d.d.

Under a Stippled Sky

My scanner went out of whack again, and trust me, this is not remotely what the original photo looks like.



I would not want to be stuck on this road if this is what it looked like.

"Yeah, the Richards' farm is down the blood-red road, lined by pitch black fields under a stippled sky. You can't miss it!"

-d.d.

Club Rock Island

In regards to the demolished Castle, Schlockstar asked me as an aside if I knew anything about a dance hall that used to be on Elk Rock Island. I didn't know of any dance hall, but I have been to the island (which you can walk to in the summer, when the east channel dries up as the Willamette recedes) & noticed the concrete stairs & dock on the west side of the island & wondered at its purpose.

Turns out the dance hall was a Friar's Club, & a notorious one at that, involving lots of booze, gambling, & police raids.¹ Quite a large structure, too. For those not familiar w/ the area, that would be the modern-day Milwaukie waterfront park behind the island to the left.


Milwaukie residents steered clear of the hall of ill repute, but Portlanders came by the streetcar load, & then were ferried to the island - hence, presumably, the concrete landing on the west shore.²

I couldn't figure out the duration of the club's raucous operation. Grain export magnate Peter Kerr acquired the island in 1910, & Oregon went dry on January 1, 1916, & I doubt the establishment survived prohibition as a juice bar or somesuch.

Kerr donated the island to the city of Portland in 1940.³

As an unexpected bonus, it turns out the Milwaukie Museum has in its possession the sole surviving mule-drawn streetcar of the Portland Street Railway!


Established in 1872 by rail baron Ben Holladay, the PSR ran its diminutive streetcars up & down Front Street from Glisan to Caruthers & back. When Holladay died in 1887 ownership transferred to his brother Joe, who kept the line running the length of its entire franchise, which expired September 9, 1896, earning it the distinction of Portland's 1st & last horse-drawn streetcar company.⁴

Should you be so inclined, the Milwaukie Museum is located at 3737 S.E. Adams St. in Milwaukie, but is only open 11-3 Saturday + Sundays. Haven't been myself, but it seems a great small museum!

-d.d.


¹ House of History: Inside the Milwuakie Museum
² ibid.
³ Brochure, Friends of Elk Rock Island, Page 2
⁴ Labbe, John. Fares, Please! Those Portland Trolley Years. Caxton Printers, Ltd. Caldwell, Idaho. (1980) p. 23-26

The Shady Gap Electric Railway

I acquired photographs of someone's 1975 vacation trip to Orbosonia, Pennsylvania, + the Rockhill Trolley Museum located there. The photographer would seem to have been more interested in the steam locomotives & passenger cars kept there¹, as those are the abundance of the photos, but they did take these of an open-air car, numbered 1875.

This one's a little blurry but I like the sentiment.


I really like this one. The car's colors look good + I like the "car stop" sign at the upper left corner is a nice touch.


Like lightbulbs? The back of this one reads "Carson filament bulbs - trolley car, Orbisonia, PA Sept '75."


The car was acquired from Rio De Janeiro by the museum in 1965, & has had extensive work (including a new paint job) done on it since.²

-d.d.


¹ The steam locomotives, actually, are part of the nearby East Broad Top RR.
² The Rockhill Museum's website's really nice. A particularly nice touch is the mini-essays regarding each of the trolleys in their collection. Take, for example, this bit about open cars such as No. 1875:

Open cars were very expensive for the transit companies to operate. Unless the climate was always warm, the transit company needed to have a second set of cars for the passengers to ride during the winter weather. Rainstorms were also a problem, although curtains that could be drawn provided some relief. The public still loved the open cars in the hot summer months. It was necessary to have a crew of two people to operate an open car, a motorman to run the car and a conductor to collect the fares. This was a dangerous job for the conductor as he walked along the side running boards to collect the fares as traffic in the busy streets flew by him. For these reasons the open cars were replaced by closed cars or semi-convertible cars.

Negative Zone

I was scanning old photos & my scanner went all Norman Bates for a bit. I didn't notice at 1st + had to scan about 30 pics TWICE to get them right.

These 2, however, look kinda cool.





Cool, in a "oh-here-come's-the-forces-beyond-humanity's-comprehension" kind of way.

-d.d.