My March Madness continued with people watching--a fine sort of sport--in the gusting, blowing wind outside the Rose Garden Arena

When this man approached from my right, just as he got even with me, his hat blew right off! "Your hat!" I hollered. He had felt it lift off his head and altered his course to chase it down. I had no hope after watching it flip a couple of times. Imagine my surprise when it landed just as you see it and sat there! I saw him later on inside the arena and said, "I'm so glad you got your hat back!" He replied, "I am, too. Where are you from?" I guess my Mississippi accent gave me away.


I saw these two coming and decided to take a photo just after they had passed me by. Look how the wind is plastering that man's pants to his legs! He's smart to hold onto his cap. She's probably wishing that she hadn't opened her umbrella which looks to have been a nice one for keeping the rain off. And how about the new part in her short hair, center-back-of-the-head? I had a blast watching people while waiting for the doors to open.


I hope the look on these three faces gives you an idea of just how cold that blowing wind really was. A cold that hurts. If I were the man in the red hat, I would have had my friends wait for a moment, turned my back to wind, and zipped up my jacket before taking another step. Does it look to you like the youngster on the left is pulling his hands into his sleeves? To keep them warm? He's wearing shorts, for goodness sakes, and he's worried about his hands?


Just after the man in the cap handed the Session 1 ticket to his friend who must be truly grateful that he has real hair and not a toupee, the man in the cap walked away to my left. The envelope flew out of his hand, and he didn't feel a thing! I yelled, "Something blew away!" His friend with the great hair had seen it and was fast after what turned out to be the envelope which held the rest of the duo's tickets. The man in the hat rejoined his friend who had retrieved the envelope. Smiling at me, he walked left again, envelope still in hand. If it blew away again, I didn't know about it.

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.

My March Madness began at the Bijou.

Cafe, that is, downtown Portland at SW 3rd and SW Pine. My table where I waited right about 7:30 a.m. Thursday, March 15, for my favorite restaurant breakfast which I knew would keep me from getting hungry too soon at the Rose Garden Arena. My goal, to enjoy all four NCAA March Madness Second Round games that day, feeling a minimal amount of hunger and a maximum amount of college-basketball-induced joy. I rode the 12 bus from home and willingly walked two blocks to the restaurant through the rain because I knew that my plan was a really good one.


My favorite restaurant breakfast, the Redwood Hill smoked goat cheddar French-style omelette. Inside the perfectly cooked, fluffy eggs, you find three ingredients. Crumbles of Redwood Hill smoked goat cheddar--maybe it's been riced, I don't know, but it's teensy pieces of big-flavored goat cheese. Small rectangles of crispy bacon. Slender, perfectly-formed ovals of paper-thin green onions. It comes with the crunchy salad greens you see here or with chunks of potatoes which taste like they were actually grown in the earth. And the muffin of the day or toast accompanies it. I always go for the muffin which I take with me in a square paper sleeve provided by the waitstaff. I always order one outta-sight-best-ever buttermilk pancake upon which I put two pats of butter and a small amount of maple syrup which I pour into slight grooves that I cut into the top of the pancake once the butter has melted. That lets the syrup soak right on down into the pancake, doncha know.

As I savored my first bite of the omelette, I turned to my right to face the counter behind which the cook(s) work steadily, smiled and flashed the cook the A-OK sign. He smiled back and said, "Thanks." After a fine meal, I walked in the rain again, this time three blocks, to catch a MAX train to the Rose Garden Arena, site of my planned college-basketball-induced joy.

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.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I don't get out to celebrate as such, but I will be wearing green today when I attend the Round 3 NCAA Basketball game at the Rose Garden Arena.


No doubt there will be gobs of people, all sorts of folks in fact, celebrating here at Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub in downtown Portland. Here's the link to info about their Annual St. Patrick’s Irish Festival, March 15-18, 2012.


I did celebrate in March, 2005, when I got to march in the Mal's St. Paddy's Day Parade in Jackson, Mississippi. I was what is known as a Sweet Potato Queen Wannabe Wannabe. That's me in vintage SPQ green sequins and pink satin, plus the requisite long, curly red wig, cat's-eye-rhinestone sunglasses and the tiara. I think the ladies with me were from somewhere in Missouri--exactly where escapes me. Oh, and I should say that Boss Queen Jill Conner Browne spells pink p-a-n-k, just for fun. The SPQ now participate in what's known as the Zippity Doo Dah Parade. Both parades raise money for the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children at the University of Mississippi Medical Center which is located in Jackson.

Click on the link that is her name to read my 2004 interview with Jill, published in the Jackson Free Press.

P. S. Believe it or not, in the mid to late '70s Mama and Jill worked together at the Sears credit department in downtown Jackson, Mississippi. I discovered that glorious fact in 2005 when I reviewed Jill's non-fiction book “The Sweet Potato Queens’ Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide" for the Jackson Free Press. Once I read the name of the person to whom Jill had dedicated the book and verified immediately with Mama that, yes, when she was at Sears she had worked with a tall young woman named Jill, back when Lamont was a little bitty boy, I called Jill right up on the phone. She and Mama reminisced for a while about the good ol' days--so cool!

Waiting. Nope. Saying hello. And a bit with Mama.

At first I noticed just the man in the yellow shirt and the golden retriever, obviously very happy with each other. All of a sudden, the woman appeared and sat down, just as the man in the striped hoodie appeared with the black lab on a leash. The dogs didn't waste any time saying hello.

I took this photo on July 29, 2010. I was inside a Zipcar about to start it up and head right at the corner so that I could circle around to our one way street and pick up Mama for a trip to the Lucky Eagle Casino in Washington. We wanted to play the penny machines. We had fun, although I'm sure we lost some money. Mama thoroughly enjoyed the ride there, the playing, the eating, and the ride back home.


Here we are, later on downtown before we headed out of town. We had stopped by the downtown Zipcar offices for the Grand Opening at their new location. Gosh, it's hard to believe that on that particular day she had only a little over five months left to live.


This is the Zipcar, a Scion xA Artale. My first thought as I pulled out to turn right was "This is like driving a windshield!" Not one bit of the hood is visible as you drive.


And here's Mama, about to get back into Artale after our visit at the Grand Opening.

Waiting, with Resignation. #3

I took three photos--this is the last of the three.


Here's the first photo I took when the dog and I both had noticed each other. What a beautiful glossy coat!


In the second photo, the dog's turning his head to his right, away from me. Seems to be asking, "Are you sure you have to take my picture? I shall ignore you in hopes of discouraging your efforts."


With resignation, "Oh, well. It didn't work." Here's the last of the three again, the original of the top photo in this post. You can see how I altered it using Picnik's contrast, sharpness, and HDR-ish.

I took these photos on October 30, 2010. I didn't have a clue where the two of us were, so I searched through my Flickr Photostream and am convinced that I took this photo on NE Broadway, between NE 15th where I got off the bus and NE 16th where I went into a building.

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.

Waiting, with Loyalty, #1

Downtown Portland, September 27, 2009.

Looking through my older photos taken when I worked in Southeast Portland and lived in Northwest Portland which made for a visually interesting commute twice daily has made me realize I need to get out and about on weekends more, on the hunt for photos to shoot. You see, since Mama died in January, 2011, and I moved, I still work in Southeast Portland, but I live in Northeast Portland. My twice daily commute offers somewhat less variety, especially during the winter. It's good for me to have a goal. How to you operate best? Setting goals for yourself?

Vehicle windows and dogs, #3

Dogs grin. You can see for yourself, looking at this little cutie. Grinning, enjoying a sunny July 9, 2009. That's all there is to it, for the little dog anyway. I think that driver is on her cell phone, which is illegal in Oregon.

Vehicle windows and dogs, #2

Same dog, turned the corner. Did you expect those cute ears to point so sharply forward? In this photo, the dog just radiates curiosity to me. Do you think it's the sights, smells or the breeze the dog most enjoys?

I believe this dog is an Akita. What do you think?

Vehicle windows and dogs, #1

Check out that pink tongue. Someone's enjoying a backseat ride downtown on sunny June 23, 2009.

We've had several sunny days in a row now, so wonderful. Rain comes back and stays for a while. That is OK because the sun will return, bringing our amazingly long days.

Seen on the street, September 18, 2009

Something I never thought I'd see, a Pronto Pup trailer. Wonder what county fair it was headed to or from? State fair? Can't remember exactly when it happens here in Oregon. However, I do remember enjoying Pronto Pups at the Mississippi State Fair while growing, heading there with my Mama who had three goals--Pronto Pup, a pineapple ice cream cone, and some Malone's State Faire Taffy! She loved those three goodies! And she even worked at Malone's once, when I was a toddler I think. Anyway, some folks call 'em corn dogs, but they'll always be Pronto Pups to me.

I took this photo back when East Burnside was a two-way street at this location. The cross street is MLK. Looking at the original size photo and seeing Fishels, a furniture store in the building on the corner in the background, with vehicles heading west to cross the Burnside Bridge is somewhat disorienting. I mean, for the entire time I've lived in Northeast Portland, about 14 months, there has been nothing but east-bound traffic beginning at this intersection.


Love the vivid colors which show up much better once I took a photo without practically looking straight into the sun.

Northwest Hills, March 6, 2012

Deja vu? Sort of. Here's the same view as yesterday’s post. No snow. The Portland Oregon sign's not lit. Still, that bluish tint near the tops of the hills caught my eye, so I had to get my camera out and take a few shots. I am so blessed to have that camera with me in either my backpack or my purse. Blessed. Taking photos adds a large part to however sane I am at any given time.

Northwest Hills, March 1, 2012

I change from one bus to another at the intersection of SE MLK and SE Couch. I'm standing in Northeast Portland when I wait for that second bus. Often I look west across the Willamette River, towards the Big Pink and the venerable Portland Oregon neon sign. The Big Pink is south of West Burnside, so it is in Southwest Portland. The Portland Oregon sign is north of West Burnside, so it is in Northwest Portland.

This particular morning snow had fallen at the higher elevations. The wintry view enticed me to quickly get my camera out of my backpack and take a few photos. Would that I had had more time. Alas, the bus arrived. My responsibility--to get to work on time.

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.

On the street, animate. Seen from the bus on East Burnside. October 8, 2011. Portland's just plain interesting.

Almost anachronisms abound. Left to right.

(1) The need for a box fan in Portland in October--see it in the doorway. It's usually in the low 60s, or cooler even.
(2) People sitting out from under cover--the two men closest to the curb. In October in Portland, it's more than likely to be raining.
(3) People smoking near the entrance of the Grendel's Coffee House. The Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act prohibits smoking in most public places and places of employment. Additionally, smoking is not permitted within ten feet of any entrance, exit, window, or air-intake vent.
(4) The USPS corner mailbox beside the brick column. According to a Sept. 8, 2011, article at Seattle PI dot com, in 1985 there were 400,000 of them out and about, now 160,000 remain. Actually the article is pretty informative.

Image cropped and altered with Picnik Effect HDR-ish.

October 17, 2008, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Jimmy Mak's, an easy walk from home

Solo time. Sound so low that my skin vibrated with the deep timbre of the saxophone.


I walked to Jimmy Mak’s at 221 NW 10th Ave. (between Davis and Everett), just 12 blocks from the apartment where I used to live ...


... on a great Friday evening filled with funky, outta sight live music and a house packed with fans of the band.


You see, I knew the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, having enjoyed them outdoors a couple of times in my hometown of Jackson, Mississippi.




Women came on stage at the invitation of the band ...

... to dance ...

... and groove to the music.

Impossible to remain still. Fine fun.My older son Lamont joined me once he got off at 3 Doors Down Cafe, the restaurant where he used to work. Always great to enjoy live music together, always.

After the show he walked me to the bus stop a few blocks away on Burnside in front of Powell's Books. Not long after, I boarded the 20 and rode on home.

The Missed Call and our All Star, LaMarcus Aldridge

LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Durant, 7.2 seconds on the clock, the questionable call of goaltending came with 6.0 left, tied the game, overtime, Blazers lost, January 6, 2012, the Rose Garden. This is not goaltending. Rotten ref. I took this photo from my seat at the other end of the arena.

Big Pink, another modern piece of architecture which totally fascinates me.

I cannot remember the term used to describe what's going on with the building in the left corner, the Embassy Suites which started out as the Multnomah Hotel. I believe the same thing impacts the building (a parking garage maybe) which stands between the hotel and the Big Pink. You see, my simple goal as I stood facing west on SW 3rd Avenue on Saturday, February 18, 2012, was to enjoy the glory of that huge blue sky, a sight almost unseen during a Portland winter. Naturally I noticed the Big Pink. Had to take photos, just had to take photos, hoping to catch the sky and the building at their best.

Once I had downloaded the photos to iPhoto, I noticed a bit of serendipity--at first glance the alignment of some floors of the Big Pink seem to meet the building to its left in the photo, the one which I think is a parking garage. Makes it look like the two buildings are connected, doesn't it? Actually they rise on opposite sides of SW 5th Avenue.

Image altered at Picnik, Basic Effects, Sharpen and Color.

Altered with Picnik, Basic Edits: Exposure, Sharpened, Cropped; and Effects: Advanced/Cloned, No. 4

Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland's living room. I cloned the young man's backpack out of the photo and a small round object which was in front of him on the bricks. Normally I wouldn't do such cloning, I'd try cropping it out. However, I decided, "Why not?" I've got little more than two months left with my beloved Picnik, so I'm going to go for it. I really like the results, too. I like the sunshine, especially below his right knee and the sort of glow around him on the bricks; the shadows following the concrete forms along the curve; and the glistening, rain-wet bricks in both patterns.

I took this photo on an unusually sunny winter day in Portland, January 21, 2012, downtown. It would have been my dearly departed husband LeRoy's 65th birthday. I was out and about after that morning's top-knotch lecture at the Architectural Heritage Center--one of the best lectures I've attended:
Real Estate Development and the Re-Shaping of Old Portland
Focusing on the early days of Portland, Dr. Tracy Prince, author of Portland’s Goose Hollow, presented a slide show of historic photos and maps to demonstrate how dramatically different the terrain of Old Portland (the west side—from the Willamette River to the West Hills) was from today’s terrain. This changed terrain includes: building the Great Plank Road which ran through the narrow and dark Tanner Creek Canyon; burying Tanner Creek, Johnson Creek, and Balch Creek; filling Couch Lake and Guild’s Lake; filling the 20-block long, 50-feet deep Tanner Creek Gulch; building streets upon 30-50 foot pilings in areas that today’s residents would describe as flatlands; and 1870s Oregonian stories about 25-foot deep cuts required when B Street (Burnside) was graded beyond the gulch. Such incredible alterations to Portland’s natural landscape were seen as necessary for growing a young frontier city and to accommodate real estate development.


The photo as it came out of the Nikon D50.

B after B after B, Saturday a week ago. Killer Burger on NE Sandy Boulevard at NE 47th

Barq's Root Beer, one fine fountain drink.


Basketball, NCAA basketball, on the TV at the back of the room, sound turned off. Blues blaring, down home blues blaring from the restaurant's speakers. As I ordered at the counter, I mentioned to the young woman taking my order, "Blues, basketball, and burgers. It doesn't get any better." She chuckled and agreed.


Bun, burger, bacon. I forgot to ask that there be no cheese on my Classic Burger, so I ate it--I'm OK if I only eat cheese once in a blue moon. I have two B words for the fries--bountiful and best.


Bites. Burger on bun with bacon going bye-bye, along with cheese, lettuce, tomato and grilled onions. I did remember to ask that there be no Smokey House Sauce and pickle on my Classic Burger.


Busy, busy at the building which houses Killer Burger on the southwest corner of the intersection.


Bus home, the 12 Barbur/Sandy. I left with a bellyful of Bs.

More about the building peaking between the columns and the wall in Friday's post.

Vintage photo, found online. On the right, the U. S. Bank and its massive columns which I posted about Friday and had in the background of the post on the Thursday; on the left, Pietro Belluschi's Equitable Building. Looks to me like the vehicles are late 1940's vintage. What do you think? By the way, today it is known as the Commonwealth Building.


My photo from January 9, 2009. I'm not nuts about lots of what I think of as modern architecture. I miss the details which I enjoy on vintage facades. However, I adore this building. You can just see the corner of the U. S. Bank at the top right of the photo.

Here's a bit about the building that I found at americanwaymag dot com: Pietro Belluschi's Commonwealth Building, 1944-1948 (the construction years): Seemingly floating in the sky, this sleek glass tower, a vision of sea-green glass and gleaming metal, was the first of its kind, pioneering the way for other famous buildings like New York's Lever House and the United Nations Building. What set it apart? Among other things, it was the first to be sheathed in aluminum, be fully air-conditioned, and feature double-sealed glass windows (reducing solar heat and eliminating sky glare). It also set the standard for compact, boxlike structures.

Here's an article about the style of the building, from the Washington State Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation:
CURTAIN WALL
1948 - 1965

The Curtain Wall style refers to mid-20th Century buildings that use a prefabricated exterior wall sheathing system of glass hung to their frames. While the curtain wall system was used on portions of buildings, and the exterior materials varied widely, the Curtain Wall style refers to buildings which utilized a glass and aluminum system for a majority of the exterior facade.

The use of such technology dates back to the 1918 Hallidie Building in San Francisco, which is credited as the first building to use an all glass exterior wall system. However, it was not until post-WWII when advancements in building technology allowed these systems to become widespread.

The first major example of the style was the Equitable Savings & Loan Building in Portland, Oregon executed by architect Pietro Bellushi in 1948. As the world’s first fully enclosed air-conditioned building, this sleek 12-story structure quickly set the pattern for many post-war skyscrapers and small scale office buildings.

The curtain wall system is comprised of a repetitive grid of vertical extruded aluminum mullions and horizontal rails. Panels called spandrels divide the large expanses of glass horizontally to hide the floors and ceilings. These spandrel panels can come in a variety of materials. Early spandrel panels were made of heat-strengthened opaque glass fused with colored ceramic. The Pittsburg Plate Glass Company manufactured the glass panels under the trade name “Spandrelite,” and offered eight standard colors. The Libbey-Owens-Ford Corporation sold sixteen colors options under the “Vitrolux” brand. Colors ranged from “Hunter Green” to “Cavalier Red,” to “Charcoal” and “Suntone” Yellow. While customers could order custom colors, typical tones found in the Northwest included turquoise, pink and blue. Later, spandrels were available in other materials such as composite metal panels containing lightweight insulation cores, precast concrete panels, asbestos panels, thin stone veneer, and plywood panels (a material particularly popular in the Pacific Northwest).

Considered suitable for virtually any size commercial, government or institutional building, the Curtain Wall style became widespread by the early 1950s. Many post WWII buildings of varying styles also incorporated curtain wall systems into some facades but are not considered Curtain Wall style unless the majority of the visible facades are so constructed. The modular construction method used to construct the Curtain Wall style made it economical and popular for a time. However, by the late 1960s it was being replaced with a more smooth or Slick Skin application.

And here's a bit more about the building itself, found at Wikipedia:

The Commonwealth Building is a 14-story commercial office tower in Portland, Oregon, United States, located at 421 SW 6th Avenue between Washington and Stark Streets. Designed by architect Pietro Belluschi, it was built between 1944 and 1948 and was originally known as the Equitable Building. It is noted as one of the first glass box towers ever built, pioneering many modern features and predating the more famous Lever House in Manhattan.

The building, which was built as the headquarters in Portland of the Equitable Savings and Loan Association, was originally intended to be 12 stories high but was later expanded to 14. It is constructed of sea-green glass and was the first to be sheathed in aluminum. It was also the first to use double-glazed window panels, and was the first to be completely sealed and fully air-conditioned.

The Commonwealth Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places (as the Equitable Building) in 1976. In 1980, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) designated the Commonwealth Building as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. The ASME History & Heritage Committee bestowed this landmark status for the specific feature: the first large commercial building in the United States to pioneer the use of heat pumps for heating and cooling.