Oh Dog, you Sleuth!

There’s been a bit of a fun glut this last week. I thought I’d slowly parcel these photos out and thus ruin any freshness. Eh.

This was from the 2nd night Margaret was in town, when a big bunch of us went to the Hutch and played bingo for hours. I saw that Simpson’s last night where Bart and Lisa are hosting a bingo game at the old folks home and one player shouts, ‘You sank my battleship’ after each letter/number is called out.

Save the Parasol.

Yeah, I’m a Mason now! Here’s a clip from the top-secret first meeting.

Another reason to move to Japan.

Another subject of recent conversation, the Boom Box. You could spend the entire day reading this.

The amazing Fairley’s Drugs on Sandy Blvd., which still has a soda fountain that serves phosphates.

Check out the ‘Another Day In Paradise’ story on this guy’s site.

Also, if you haven’t received an email from me, I’m trying to start an online magazine of snapshots. All submissions in whatever form (email, CD, actual photos) are very welcome.

The Country Music Wax Museum is up to $200,000 on eBay! Eleven days left.

The trailer.

Tree houses of the neighborhood. Squint hard and try to see the satellite dish on the first one.

Shoulda taken this picture at night, when a store called ‘GI Joes’ seems most sinister. Last night I was waiting for Margaret at the airport and found myself perusing the magazines at a Hudson News stand. Two interesting tidbits were picked up: the Boregonian reports a ‘revitalization’ of 82nd street (based solely on the fact of one locally-owned coffee house opening there) and Portland Magazine reporting downtown Vancouver, WA as the next hot neighborhood. Huh?

Margaret made it into town fine last night and we’ve already eaten at a great pancake restaurant, played bingo and had a dance party.

But at the end of the day, all I want is one last party at Farrells.

Various recent Polaroids of favorite places along Sandy. I’m sure everyone is sick of this street. Tough!

Does anyone remember Farrell’s? It was a theme restaurant all over the country that kind of disintegrated in the late 80s. There was one in New Orleans when I was a kid. I was only thinking about it because I was looking for new things to do and found out there used to be a couple here in Portland. They’re closed now, but one (near the Lloyd Mall) is supposedly still open and running under a different name. I tried calling and didn’t get anyone to pick up the phone. So I’m doubtfull. Plus, I’ve driven past that damn mall enough that I would have noticed an ice cream parlour (I think).

I did find two old commercials that showed EXACTLY what my birthday parties there were like: here and here.

I went in here last week when I was taking pictures on Sandy Blvd. I though I’d buy a donut or something and then ask if I could take a picture. But I didn’t need to because there was a ‘Be Back in 5 minutes’ sign on the cash register, which I thought was great and snapped away. And the sign was printed out by a computer and laminated, which leads me to think the store is routinely abandoned. I remember walking into a corner grocery store in New Orleans one time when I was a teenager and the woman behind the counter was slumped over it and snoring. And there was no one else working in the place.

We watched a ton of movies this weekend, the best being Gothika, with the very believable story-line that a shrink has a car accident, gets possessed by a ghost (wackiness heavily ensues), she wakes up a patient in the same hospital she works in and then has to solve a crime while being committed to psychiatric treatment and a number of other unpleasant events. See it! Plus, we tried to watch a flim called ‘Sunburn’ starring Farrah Faucet and Charles Grodin. It was shot in Acapulco in the early 80s and seemed like it might be the greatest movie ever (I argued) and really sucked. There was one brief glimpse of the TWA terminal at JFK, which made me writhe because it had been closed down when I lived in NY and I never got to see it. But maybe this October, I’ll check this out.

This is a piece of art from Peter Arkle, an illustrator who lives in NY and has put out a zine for the last ten (?) years called Peter Arkle News. He lived in Brooklyn around the same time I did and I discovered his work at Printed Matter. I became friends with him right before I left NY and a ravenous collector of PAN because I really like his drawing style and writing. The picture above, which I proudly own, is one of my favorite excerpts from his work. I feel like Peter deserves the Pulitzer prize for depicting what it was like sometimes (most times) to try to do the simplest shopping excursion in Brooklyn. The fact that I had shopped at that Office Max many times makes it all the more richer. Am I right? Rachel? Bobby? Patrick? Kelly?
Hope he doesn’t sue me for the unauthorized use of his stuff. For the readable version of this, click here.

Usually Stephen recommends the bad places to go in Portland (Bodacious Classics and Mt. Hood Pizza, to name names), but tonight it was Kathy’s recommendation that led to tears. Jeremy and I waited 90 minutes at a place called Friar Tucks Fried Chicken in the SW (huh?!? it’s fast food). It was a very suspenseful wait because this band was setting up the whole time and it was obvious they were just going to do an ear piercing set of Creedance songs. The whole place reminded me of that ‘blues joint’ that Steve Buscemi goes to in Ghost World. After being promised that we were next, another table that came in afterwards got served and we split without paying for our water.

Tonight I rented Doris Wishman’s Another Day Another Man (one of the greatest sound tracks ever) and The Possesion of Joel Delaney.

The Grotto, a.k.a. the National Sanctuary of our Sorrowful Mother, was like one of those tourist traps you’d find in Tennesee (like Rock City or Ruby Falls).

The thumbnail story is about 100 years ago some kooky priest lost a wager to god and ended up building this crazy ‘holy place’ on the rocky slopes at the intersection of 82nd and Sandy (my two favorite streets in Portland, perhaps it really is a holy place). But it felt like we were much further out of town because the park is thick with tall fir trees, which still seem really surreal to me.
Being there with Jeremy, was like when I took him to New Orleans and had to explain why everything was so unusual, since I was raised Catholic and he wasn’t. Like, how the only thing saints love more than candles being lit for them ($5 at giftshop) is money. And that’s why there are little padlocked money boxes next to every statue and wishing well and reflecting pond.

But it wasn’t a ripoff to ride in this elevator to the top of the mountain. Inside, you hear the Pachelbel’s Canon as a woman’s voice gives you a little background about the Grotto.

On the mountain top, you get a really good view of the Cascade Moutains and Mt. St. Helens. There’s even nicer gardens and a monestary, but the real price of the elevator ride was the Meditation Chapel.

How else do you explain this very modern piece of cliff-dwelling architecture with a sci-fi glass encased virgin and child inside and a semi-circle of Lay-Z-Boys set around it for comfort in meditation?

The chairs were really, really comfortable. But having time-travelin’ Mary giving me the evil-eye was disconcerting.

There was a ton of stuff for sale in the gift shop. I needed some new holy water.

I got these Peeps for 25 cents at the grocery store yesterday. Serving size: 4 bunnies.

I guess it’s better than poodles.

You have to pronounce it ‘Bee-You-Tay’.

Maybe it was just because it was Easter Sunday, don’t know, but this town was dead. Walking around ‘downtown’, I kept expecting to see a heard of zombies turning a corner to attack me. One of the only pedestrians I spotted was a 40ish guy with a pony tail wearing a Whitesnake t-shirt. Not many drivers either, though there did seem to be an inordinate amount of middle aged guys driving mid-life crisis cars.

All said, both Jeremy and I REALLY want to live in this apartment building.

The Country Music Wax Museum Memorabilia Collection is up to $100,100.00! And there’s 22 days to go!