Seen at a MAX stop

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

Crowded corner. Lots of folks attempt to enter what appears to be an already stuffed MAX car. You can see the front view of a ticket kiosk, seen from its side in yesterday's post.  

 

Crowded car and sidewalk. One can't help but notice the ads on these two MAX light rail train cars for America's Builder, D R Horton, PDX. I Googled and found they still have a Web site, so I guess the recession didn't kill off their business. 

I took these photos on November 23, 2007, the day after Thanksgiving. I think it is so cool that I managed to get a single man pretty much in focus in each photo because people were going every which way. After work, I had watched the lighting of the Christmas tree at Pioneer Courthouse Square, then decided to make my way to the bus stop a few blocks away. As I approached the corner of SW Morrison and SW Broadway, I couldn't resist taking these two photos of the packed MAX train about to leave the Square. I'm always amazed at the number of shoulder-to-shoulder faces I see in one of these cars after some sort of well-attended event, like this one at Pioneer Courthouse Square or an NBA basketball game at Rose Garden Arena. Let me tell you, I alway feel so thankful that I do not have to ride a packed MAX train to get home!

Did you notice on the sign in the top photo that you could catch the Blue, Red or Yellow Lines at this stop which is westbound and located on the north side of the Square? (If you look closely, you'll be able to see the yellow circle beside the blue and red ones at the top of the sign.) Back in 2007, the Yellow Line left this top, went a few blocks, then looped south for a block and came back east, passing the Square on its south end before heading northeast out of downtown. Nowadays, the Yellow Line heads northeast from the eastern end of the Square. 

Portland's Christmas Tree, Seen at Pioneer Courthouse Square

No rain meant some folks were out and about at Pioneer Courthouse Square, having their photo taken in front of the beautifully lit Christmas tree after work Wednesday evening. I'm still not thrilled with my photos of the tree, though, so I hope to return and try again, maybe this weekend. I'll have to pay attention to the weather report and make a plan. I soon as I typed "make a plan," this entered my mind: There is a Blazers' game Saturday evening at 7 p.m.--if it's not raining too hard, I could head downtown early enough to take a few photos, certainly from a different perspective. Then I can catch the MAX right there across the street in front of the courthouse.

Waiting for the MAX

This couple chose to wait in their own way, one seated, one standing. The MAX soon arrived and they rode away, together.

About Provvista's Open House, Part Two, and more about the chemistry demo at the Portland Mini Maker Faire, not enough energy for either one of them tonight. Soon, though.

City Daily Photo Monthly Theme Day: Cobblestones

Cobblestones along the MAX light rail tracks near then PGE Park, now Jeld-Wen Field, of the Portland Timbers, our MLS team. The patrol car you see heading east is the Transit Police, on patrol. See other Theme Day Cobblestones posts here.

My March Madness continued with a trip to, then a wait at, the Rose Garden Arena

My NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball tickets for both of Thursday's sessions. I'm on the MAX light rail train, making sure for the umpteenth time that I actually have them with me, safely tucked into my wallet which is ensconced in my purse when I decide to take a photo to the two of them. Love how the holograms turned out, especially the one of the left.


Portland's picturesque Union Station, seen from the MAX train window through the rain.

I got off the MAX at the bottom of the slope and walked up towards my goal--the set of building doors closest to the intersection, where there existed a somewhat narrow overhang which I planned to stand beneath for the the 40 minutes until the doors opened.

As I neared the door, I stopped to ask an employee who had just stepped outside the building, "Is it true? What I heard on TV about everyone exiting the Rose Garden after the first two games and then coming back inside for the last two games." The man said, "Yes, but you can just get back in line once you exit." What a relief. And if the rain had stopped then, it would be nigh onto perfect. I figured that the line would be a packed crowd, but I also figured that since I had to do it, I surely did hope that the rain would be gone by then.


After a little while, the rain slacked off, and the wind kicked in. While I waited beneath the overhang at the doors near the fountain, which thankfully was not on because one thing we didn't need was more liquid in our lives, I noticed the trash bag blowing almost parallel with the courtyard. You can see a little water standing here and there, too. I proceeded to watch people in the wind.

Steel Bridge over the Willamette River, altered with Picnik

Westbound traffic lane and a vehicle, plus MAX tracks and a westbound MAX train emerging from the Steel Bridge; eastbound MAX train, and the Steel Bridge. Thanks to Flickr contact drburtoni for suggesting that I take the altered image you see below and make it black and white.


I took the original photo on October 8, 2011. This one is altered with the Picnik special effect HDR-ish.

From the Internet:

The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double lift bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries road traffic (on the Pacific Highway West No. 1W, former Oregon Route 99W) and light rail (MAX), making the bridge one of the most multimodal in the world. It is the only double-deck bridge with independent lifts in the world and the second oldest vertical-lift bridge in North America, after the nearby Hawthorne Bridge. The bridge links the Rose Quarter and Lloyd District in the east to Old Town Chinatown neighborhood in the west.

The bridge was completed in 1912 and replaced the Steel Bridge that was built in 1888 as a double-deck swing-span bridge. The 1888 structure was the first railroad bridge across the Willamette River in Portland. Its name originated because steel, instead of wrought iron, was used in its construction, very unusual for the time. When the current Steel Bridge opened, it was simply given its predecessor's name.

The structure was built by Union Pacific Railroad and the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company at a cost of $1.7 million. It opened in July 1912 to rail traffic and on August 9, 1912 to automobiles. In 1950, the Steel Bridge became an important part of a new U.S. 99W highway between Harbor Drive and Interstate Avenue. Harbor Drive was removed in 1974 and replaced with Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Between 1984 and 1986 the bridge underwent a $10 million rehabilitation, including construction of the MAX light rail line.
In 2001, a 220-foot (67 m) long and 8-foot (2.4 m) wide cantilevered walkway was installed on the southern side of the bridge's lower deck as part of the Eastbank Esplanade construction, raising to three the number of publicly accessible walkways across the bridge, including the two narrow sidewalks on the upper deck. The bridge is owned by Union Pacific with the upper deck leased to Oregon Department of Transportation, and subleased to TriMet, while the City of Portland is responsible for the approaches.
The upper deck was closed again for summer 2008 for maintenance and to allow a junction to be built at the west end for the MAX Green Line. The lower deck of the bridge was threatened by major floods in 1948, 1964, and 1996.

The lift span of the bridge is 211-foot (64 m) long. At low river levels the lower deck is 26 feet (7.9 m) above the water, and 163 feet (50 m) of vertical clearance is provided when both are raised. Because of the independent lifts, the lower deck can be raised to 72 feet (22 m), telescoping into the upper deck but not disturbing it. Each deck has it own counterweights, two for the upper and eight for the lower, totaling 9,000,000 lb (4,100 metric tons).

The machinery house is above the upper-deck lift span with an operator's room suspended below the house so that the operator can view river traffic as well as the upper deck. The average daily traffic in 2000 was 23,100 vehicles (including many TriMet bus lines), 200 MAX trains, 40 freight and Amtrak trains, and 500 bicycles. The construction of the lower-deck walkway connected to the Eastbank Esplanade resulted in a sharp increase in bicycle traffic, with over 2,100 daily bicycle crossings in 2005.

Great technical diagrams at this link, as well as photos.

Waiting, with Loyalty, #2

I noticed just this much visible of the waiting dog. I couldn't resist taking a photo of what I felt represented a fine slice of life. I love how the dog could care less about that nearby orange and red fire hydrant.


A few minutes later, the dog's man came out and they walked north on SW 6th Avenue, downtown Portland.

About the Green Line MAX public art on the Transit Mall which you can see most of there between the woman with the red bag and the man with the black backpack:

Continuation, 2009
ARTIST
Michihiro Kosuge
LOCATION
On 6th Avenue, between Columbia and Clay streets
DESCRIPTION
With the five sculptures that make up Continuation, Michihiro Kosuge reused red granite from an earlier sculpture and fountain installation on the Portland Mall. To create relationships between the sculptures while allowing each one to stand on its own, the artist sculpted pieces with interconnecting visual elements that include repetition, tension and stability.

Enter for your chance to ... ? Monthly Theme Day--Electricity.

Monthly Theme Day at City Daily Photo - Electricity. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.



I'm riding on the MAX Light Rail train on the right, the red and white one you can see curving to the left. I love how these two tracks lead to a gentle 400-foot serpentine when two trains meet along NW Hoyt and NW 3rd Avenue, on the west end of the Steel Bridge.

I can't tell from the reflections exactly what one could win if one entered whatever--surely it's not crab legs. Nor can I tell what sort of bottles of beer appear.

I took this photo on September 20, 2011. It's been altered at Picnik with the Effect HDR-ish. I think it works well for Theme Day.

Altered with Picnik, Focal B&W, No. 1

Focal B&W Special Effect. I took this photo on March 12, 2009 with my backup camera, a Coolpix L12.

At the time renovation of the downtown Portland Transit Mall, which goes south on SW 5th and north on SW 6th, nears completion. On this particular day, the lane lines must have been painted; crews had placed bollards alongside the lines to keep vehicles off the paint prior to its drying.

Speaking of lanes, let me explain them to you. Automobiles are allowed in the leftmost lane only and may turn left only (except for one intersection whose location I do not recall). You can tell from the recessed metal tracks that the MAX has priority in either the center lane or the right lane, depending whether it is making time or boarding and/or de-boarding passengers. Buses are the only wheeled vehicles allowed in the right lane, but of course they may not go there if a MAX train is there. All of the bus stops are on the sidewalk beside the right lane. This is SW 6th, looking north in the middle of the block south of SW Madison. I am at this intersection most days after work now that the Mall has reopened.

A few more views from on high

August 23, the afternoon found Milton, Kay and me in downtown Portland on the 30th floor of the Big Pink, at the Portland City Grill. After a snack and a drink, I stood up and walked from the bar to the dining room to take a few more photos.


Looking northeast across the Willamette River. The rust-colored bridge is the Broadway Bridge. The sweeping arched bridge is the Fremont Bridge. And in the foreground is the magnificent Union Station which is undergoing some sort of work on its exterior. I altered the photo in Picnik with the exposure and the sharpness tools.


Looking more north than east across the Pearl in the forefront and a sort of light industrial area that brackets the train tracks as the head north out of downtown Portland, not far from the river. See there in the distance where the hills meet the river? Two dark, upright shapes? Just to the left of the leftmost one, there's a dimmer upright shape. And between the two dark, upright shapes there is a dim shape that goes from the dimmer upright shape on to in between the two dark, upright shapes and parallel with the surface of the river. OK. The two dark, upright shapes are part of the Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge, a truss bridge with a vertical lift. The dimmer upright shape and the dim shape parallel with the river are part of the St. Johns Bridge, a photo of which is included in my September 19 post. When I rode the SP 4449 on July 3, we crossed the Willamette River using that railroad bridge. Milton and Kay crossed it as they entered Portland. I altered this photo with the HDR-ish effect and put a frame around it.


Looking straight down to the east at Voodoo Doughnuts' original location on the corner of SW 3rd Avenue and SW Ankeny Street. See the tiny people in line from the red truck, along the front of the building and ending almost beneath the pink sign? Those are a few people in line for doughnuts in the middle of the afternoon--that's the hold that Voodoo has on folks, some folks anyway; to tell you the truth there are usually a whole lot more people in line. And the small, almost school-bus-colored items side-by-side in SW Ankeny are actually wooden picnic tables, while the black and white spots farther on are actually umbrellas over additional picnic tables. Portland decided in late July to make this portion of SW Ankeny car-free, a sort of patio area. The bit of a bridge that you can see on the left is the Burnside Bridge. See the MAX train in the trees, about two thirds of the way up from the bottom of the photo? It's crossing alongside the Skidmore Fountain in what's known as Ankeny Plaza. All through those trees where the three cars are parked you'll find the Portland Saturday Market which continues to the white arches topped with bricks and across the street and beneath the rest of the trees. The gray area between the trees and the river is the sort of plaza just south of the rest of the Saturday Market.

Candid #3

A young and fashionable woman in downtown Portland, seen from the MAX on July 9, as I rode over to Lloyd Center to exchange the extra battery for my new camera--the man sold me the wrong one. She's standing outside a part of Pioneer Place, a huge indoor, multi-story shopping center.

Cast Iron Colonnade in Skidmore/Old Town

The Saturday that I rode the MAX to shop at the Dress Barn, I took this photo from the window. As I looked at it closely, deciding if/where to crop it, I noticed that gaggle of guys to the left beside the lamp post. Immediately I wondered, "Just what are the three of them looking at the one on his knees doing?" Then I noticed the women looking over their right shoulders towards the guys. Surely those two women are wondering, "Just what are they doing over there?"

The canopies which you see between the arches are a small bit of the western most part of the Saturday/Sunday Market. And that's an even tinier bit of the crowd out on a sunny day!


I love that guy's black and gray checkerboard shirt and pants! Now that I look at the photo again, I'm wondering, "Is the man in navy blue angry, or did I catch him at the moment of pushing his glasses up on his nose which made him look angry?" So I've cropped it closer. What do you think? Is he on one of those hands' free phones?

I found this information, and lots more about the area here, to share with you: In 1984 a colonnade consisting of cast-iron components salvaged from the North Wing of the New Market Theater by the Portland Friends of Cast Iron Architecture was erected on the site of the original building.

I found a note about found objects--all due to Good Samaritan serendipity.

Saturday I got off the MAX Red Line at the wrong place in downtown Portland and ended up catching a Blue Line so that I could then catch a Green Line to make it closer to my ultimate destination, the Park Blocks in front of the Portland Art Museum. More about that tomorrow. If I had not made that mistake, I would have missed this amazing note, taped to one of the benches at the MAX shelter.


The wide shot of the bench, altered in Picnik to zoom in on the note.

The MAX slows to stop on SW Morrison at Pioneer Courthouse Square

The MAX train will not completely stop until its eastern end, the one that you can see here, has cleared the sidewalk where these two men walk. I took a whole series of photos as the train crossed the intersection at SW 6th Avenue and SW Morrison Street. It didn't take me too long to decide to just post this one--I like the motion, the numbers of people visible on the sidewalk, the way you can see some of the Macy's store beyond the end of the train as it heads west. Did you notice Santa sitting there on the brick wall? The blurry pedestrians who have crossed at the corner?

Another favorite sight of the season

The photo, altered at Picnik. I took it on December 17, after work. Pioneer Courthouse, a bright moon overhead, and lots of folks waiting for the MAX.


The original photo.

SW Morrison, downtown Portland, all lit up for the holidays

People waiting to cross the SW 10th as the MAX to Beaverton Transit Center pulls to a stop on SW Morrison, across the street form the Galleria, one of Portland's downtown terra cotta facade buildings. I took this photo on December 16, looking east, not too long after the Zipcar Christmas party where I left an unwrapped toy and spun the wheel for driving time--won $10--hooray. I enjoyed a thorough chat with a nice young Zipcar man whose name escapes me, all about the various sizes of nearby vehicles and whether or not we might be able to fit Mama's wheelchair into them.


Looking the same direction as the next MAX train approaches. It's easy to see why this stretch is one of my favorite holiday sights in Portland.


The lights on the trees continue to the west for another block.

Interesting facts in a reverse timeline, about the Galleria:
About $7,000,000 was spent on improvements in 2003.
In 1976, the Galleria won "Award of Merit" award from the AIA, Portland Chapter.
In 1978, the Galleria won the "First Honor Award" from the Downtown Development Award.
The upper floors were converted from retail space to offices during the mid-1980s.
Initially opened as the Olds, Wortman and King Department Store.
Naito Properties acquired the completely vacant structure in 1972.
The structure sits on top of a full-block site.
The building has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since February 20, 1991.
The local supervising architect was A. E. Doyle.
The third floor sky-bridge connects with the adjacent parking garage.
The Galleria was the first department store in the Northwest to take up an entire block.
It was erected in 1910. The interior was notable for a full interior atrium and grand staircase.

Working in sunshine, whoa oh.

A Clean Scapes man concentrates on moving those leaves off the sidewalk on SW Morrison. I shot this photo from inside the MAX train on my way home, early on December 3, to take Mama to a doctor appointment. Usually when I go by here, whether on the MAX or on the bus, it is already dark. So it was a real treat to see this action happening in the bright sunshine and to be able to get the photo.

Colorful walks beside the MAX

Once again I'm at the MAX station near the Lloyd Center Mall. Only difference between this photo and the others with the colorful hair is that this time I'm on the same side of the fence as her.

Colorful rides the MAX

I couldn't get focused quick enough to get a photo of this woman before she got on the MAX. However, I did manage to get this one that shows her vivid pink hair after she had taken a seat. And how about that autumn leaf stuck on the fencing? It sort of looks like a feather, stuck there on purpose. By the way, this is the MAX station near Lloyd Center, a shopping mall, and it's where I saw a cute girl clown with shocking, neon, sort of purplish pink hair.

Sunday evening, corner of SW Broadway and SW Washington, waiting for the 15

After an excellent, exciting, wonderful SYTYCD live show, we rode the MAX from the Rose Garden into downtown. Leslie got off at the Big Pink--her significant other works on the 30th floor at the Portland City Grill; we enjoyed Happy Hour there before we rode the MAX to the show--and I continued on to Pioneer Courthouse Square where I got off and walked to this corner. I can't count the number of times that I've waited here for the last bus home, the 15, after work, after volunteering, after watching the lighting of Portland's Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving, after walking downtown streets looking for those special sights to photograph.


Looking north at the same intersection. Where I wait is beside Pazzo Ristorante which you can see there on the right corner of the photo. Just out of sight to the right and around the corner on SW Washington, I wait in front of two huge windows which are in the bar section of the restaurant. There's an awning and lots of light at that particular spot, a perfect place to wait for a bus in the evening. The irony of how often I wait here rests on the 11th floor of the white and brick building on the left side of the photo--the one with the well-lighted exterior stairwell. That's the Benson Hotel, the place where Mama and I stayed for our first visit to Portland in 2004, from June 30 through July 9. We never had to turn on the air conditioner, never had to shut the windows AND there were not any screens. No bugs, no mosquitoes, no humidity. I mean I knew I wanted to move to Portland when we got off the airplane and onto the MAX for the ride to the Benson, but the fact that we didn't have to turn on the AC, that we didn't have screens, that we never saw a bug--wow! Totally sold me and planted the seed of moving here firmly in Mama's mind.