Portland Building & Portlandia
q Portland Building. 1980. Michael Graves (Teapots at Target;)
q Love/Hate relationship with Portlanders, many think it is ugly; some appreciate it as an architectural landmark.
q One of the first icons of Post-Modern architecture
q Portion inside resembles Grand Central Station, on the top is a modern replica of the Greek Parthenon (which you will have a better view of as you head down 4th)
q Portlandia, 35ft copper hammered statue, second largest (Statue of Liberty is #1)
q Sculpted by Raymond Kaskey, image used from the City of Portland’s city seal.
q Designed as welcoming figure, Kaskey has exclusive intellectual copyrights and may not be reproduced on any type of media. He has also refused suggestions to move the statue to a more prominent location.
q Base of the Wells Fargo financial center. One of the two largest “skyscrapers” in Portland at a staggering 35 stories.
q Judicial Area: City Hall, Portland Building (municipal offices), County Courthouses, Federal Building, Federal Court houses.
q Plaza Bocks (park blocks) have a history of orators and citizens assemblies. Still true today.
q Elk Bronze Statue (1900) in respect to the elk that used to graze the area.
q Pioneer Mall. Two sections. Oregon is one of those rare states that has no sales tax (except on hotels and car rentals). We do make up for it by having a fairly high income tax (9%). However, when you weigh the overall tax burden of Oregon, we usually come out about average of all the 50 states.
q Paddy’s Bar and Grill. Largest liquor wall this side of the Mississippi (or so they claim)
q Governer Tom McCall Waterfront park. If the square is our living room, this is like our backyard.
q At Taylor intersection slow down and point out small green shrub in median/island. This is Mills End Park. Smallest park in the world. Dedicated in 1946 by Dick Fagan who tended to the small plot of dirt and wrote about it in his Oregon Journal Column.
q Waterfront Park: 30 acres, acquired in 1927, home to several events throughout the year: Cinco de Mayo, 2 week Rose Festival in June, 4th of July Blues Festival, Brewers fest, Taste of Oregon and much more.
q Portland is a city of bridges. 10 bridges over Willamette (From the north: St. Johns, Fremont, Broadway, Steel, Burnside, Morrison, Hawthorne, Marquam, Ross Island and Sellwood) 2 over Columbia (Interstate 205 and Glenn Jackson (I-5))
q Original Morrison bridge was the first (1887) present design is from 1958
q Hawthorne Bridge is the oldest vertical lift bridge in the U.S. and is the busiest transit bridge in Oregon with 4,800 cyclists and 750 buses daily.
q “The Hunted” with Tommy Lee Jones and Del Torro was filmed on the Hawthorne
q Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
q In the tradition of the Deutches Museum in Munich and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, this two-story museum contains hands-on exhibits in topics ranging from natural sciences to brainteasers, human development and lifestyle issues, technology and more. IMAX theater, science camps. Great place for people of all ages.
OMSI: Reminder to be very cautious on the esplanade as it is a type of “bike highway”. Just as on any highway, slower traffic should stay to the far right. Gather everyone at the first look-out/viewing platform.
q Point out OHSU, Oregon Health Science University, “Pill Hill”
q The campus consists of three hospitals (Level I trauma center and general hospital, Doernbechers Children’s hospital and the Veterans Medical Center ) and a university for dentistry, medical and nursing programs.
q Point out the Tram (“pill” to “pill hill”), which connects the main campus to the new expansion on South Waterfront.
q OHSU is one of the top Portland employer with 12,000+ (other top employers include: Intel, Providence Health Systems, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Kaiser Health Foundation, Legacy Health Systems and State of Oregon.)
q More Info…….
q Portland Bridge Pedal: Portland is known as the City of Bridges, and it could just as easily be known as the City of Bicyclists. The Portland Bridge Pedal is what happens when you put those two things together. Or, as it’s officially known due to sponsorship, the Providence Bridge Pedal.
Once every year, all 10 of Portland’s bridges are covered with cyclists. It’s sort of like Critical Mass, only the Portland Bridge Pedal is sanctioned (and even charges an entry fee!). The event usually happens mid-August. Participants can choose to ride all 10 bridges (36-mile route), eight bridges (24-mile route) or six bridges (14-mile route). Included in the itinerary are routes across the top decks of the the Marquam and Fremont bridges
q Portland Park Blocks. 17 city blocks of park running north-south through the city. Only 6 developed blocks in between. Park Blocks were part of the original 1852 grid plan for the city. 1877 first landscaping. Idea was to create a “cathedral of trees with simple grass below”. Each block has artwork. Predominant tree is American Elm. Others include maple, lindens, oaks and sycamores. In 2004 PSU students conducted a survey to identify and determine benefit of park trees, including their estimated value ($3.5 million)
q Farmers Market, South Park Blocks
q Oregon Historical Society: Preserving, collecting, and publishing Oregon’s multicultural history through museum exhibitions, research collections, and publications. $10 entry
q Art Museum: Built in 1933 this is the oldest art museum in the Pacific Northwest houses a permanent collections of European and American art as well as a fine collection of English silver.
q Churches: Ornate homes and stately buildings have come and gone, but the old churches of downtown Portland seem to be eternal. Built with massive basalt stone, brick or wood, some have served their congregations for more than a century. Their steeples long a familiar part of the skyline, the historic churches are an important part of the city’s cultural life. “The Old Church” (1883) now a non-congregation community building.
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