Neons are in! Once again, not exactly neon, but for sure we've got street level matching colors, No. 9

Here's the map of the intersection. Today's photo is of the corner at the Sizzle Pie. You can tell from the map that it's one of those intriguing triangle-shaped corners and/or buildings. I took this photo on May 19, 2012.



Standing on SW 10th Avenue at West Burnside, pedestrians wait for the traffic signal so that they can continue to walk north.

One woman wears a salmon orange top. Coming around the corner is a younger woman wearing the same color top, just muted a bit. Then you've got the dark reddish orange letters with golden yellow light bulbs which make up the letters Sizzle Pie. And then in the corner window behind the man in the green beret, a red or reddish orange vehicle is reflected in the pizzeria's windows, along with its red neon Pizza sign.

Plus that lady with the grayish-lavender knee-length shorts is wearing a gray top and gray cardigan which match the painted bricks at Sizzle Pie. Her shorts, the man's plaid shirt, and the woman coming around the corner wearing the purple cardigan all match, too, in that they're in the purple family.

All of the men are wearing hats. And at least six of the pedestrians are wearing denim jeans. Cool!

Neons are in! Street level matching colors, No. 6

Here's a map for you. I hope it will enhance your enjoyment of today's post, as well as those on the upcoming days. We'll start with Powell's Books, on the northwest corner, and then go counterclockwise from there.



First up, a man in bright red-orange shoes, wearing an orange jacket. He is walking north across West Burnside at the intersection of SW 10th (behind him) and NW 10th (in front of him). You see, Burnside, whether it be West Burnside or East Burnside, divides Portland into its northern and southern sections.

There's a good chance that he's going to Powell's Books which is on the corner he's headed toward. The red post and railing is in front of the store's main entrance. Powell's Books takes up that entire downtown Portland city block.

There's an orange sign on a pole just beyond the woman who has turned to look south, towards me. Although I can't quite read it when I click on the original size, I can see that there is the logo of the Portland Streetcar. Up the street to the north on the man's right, there appears to be a sign on a building which is red and orange.

Lots of matching colors to be found, thanks to the man's orange jacket and shoes. I took this photo on May 1, 2012.

Neons are in! Street level matching colors, No. 3

Last Saturday on the way home from a fine lecture at the Architectural Heritage Center and a rewarding trip to Powell's Books, I got off the bus for the block and a half walk to my apartment building.

On the corner, I noticed these two stacks of orange traffic cones as I crossed to wait for the traffic signal to change at the corner of NE Sandy Blvd. and NE 20th Avenue. "Hmmm," I wondered. "Is tomorrow's Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon coming by here?"

Then I saw the man approaching on the bicycle, wearing, of all things, an orange knit hat covering,  I imagine, a head full of dread locks. I couldn't believe it--orange and orange, right at the same instant that I stood on the corner, camera on its strap hanging around my neck.

Yea for serendipity!

(And more about the cones later on in this series.)

Neons are in! Street level matching colors, No. 2

Another bicyclist, seen downtown on May 5, pedaling north on SW 6th Avenue at SW Salmon. I'd call his bicycle is a muted chartreuse green which nicely complements the big leaves on all of those trees. I also like the orange traffic cone, the orange "Don't Walk" hand on the traffic signal, and in the distance west up the sidewalk, there's another traffic signal with the orange hand and that pedestrian wearing a muted orange, long-sleeved shirt. I like the silver horizontal stripe on the orange traffic cone which is reflected in the stripes on the stone facade of the building on the corner. Plus, there's the yellow Broadway Cab waiting there at the curb, and up the street a block is another yellow Broadway Cab waiting at the opposite curb--several hotels nearby mean cabs nearby.

Are you as curious as I am about what he's got in that wooden basket on front of the bicycle? It looks like a vehicle battery when I open the original size of the image and can get an up-close look. Bicyling the battery to the vehicle--ah, Portland.

Neons are in! Street level matching colors, No. 1

April 20, 2012, outside the Rose Garden Arena, I noticed a colorful sight, this young woman on her Day-Glo orange bicycle which has buttery yellow sidewall tires and even brighter orange wheels. There's even a narrow, swooping orange stripe on her creamy white-colored bicycle seat. She's wearing a bright chartreuse green safety vest. Her bicycle helmet has a matching orange stripe, a matching green stripe, and a soft blue stripe on its creamy white surface.

I saw her outside the Rose Garden Arena, pedaling north at through the intersection of NE Wheeler and NE Multnomah. Just to the right of the street lamp, up that slope, lies I-5, the southbound side of it. NE Multnomah crosses beneath the interstate.

I had a good time looking photo, noticing street level matching colors. Shades of orange--a streak at the base of the street lamp, rust on the fence poles, some sort of flaking sherbet-colored paint on the concrete wall. Shades of green--the new grass, the trees and shrubs, the flaking mint-colored paint on the concrete wall. I can't get myself to count the green on the street signs, though--it's just too different to count.