I turned 63 today!

I took this photo on November 7, the day my dear brother turned 60. The window is at Funny Bone, 617 SW Washington, downtown Portland. I catch the 15 home half a block from this store window. On November 7, I was on my way home from So You Think You Can Dance, the live show in Portland.

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.

Pietro Belluschi's Equitable Building

On Saturday, Jan. 9, after a Tour Guide Committee meeting at the PCPA, I roamed SW 6th with two things in mind. Find A. E. Doyle buildings and find Belluschi's building. First for you, Belluschi's building.

How many times have I walked by this building, on SW Washington at SW 6th Avenue? For most of the last three years, five days a week after work. Rushing from one bus to make the connection to another one, I never realized I had been that close to such an outstanding example of architecture, right here in Portland. I had seen photos of it, but those were taken when it stood tall alone.

Cold, blustery, those two words described the afternoon for the most part. If the sun hadn't struggled to shine now and then, I would have boarded a bus home and given up my quest.


Taken on SW 6th Avenue, looking southwest towards an amazing looking building in downtown Portland.



This isn't the corner I walked by all those times, but I love how the color of the glass shows in this photo.

From Wikipedia:
The Commonwealth Building is a 13-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 expanded to 13. 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.

Taken on SW 6th Avenue, looking northwest at the Equitable Building, now known as the Commonwealth Building. This is the corner I walked by so many times, noticing the businesses but not the building.


Consumed with the desire to be artsy, I walked to the sharp corner of the building, the brown column between the green umbrellas, and took this photo.


I found these two images on the Internet--they show the Equitable Building in the late 1940s.

Perspective #1

Breezy balloons draw attention to Funny Bone on SW Washington

Downtown, walking for a few minutes from one bus stop to another, looking here, looking there, enjoying the slight breeze even if it felt a bit cool--that was me Wednesday on the way home from work. Looks like these balloons enjoyed the breeze, too.