Journalist By Nature: Winter Walking

Blues Bros

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest teaches you to ignore the weather and get on with life. All-weather clothiers are plentiful in the Rose City so there's no excuse to prevent you from making every outdoor day count. Braving the scattered showers and wind we launched from Fernhill Park in N.E. Portland to make the 4.3 mile loop around Concordia University, Alberta Park, the Vernon neighborhood and the Kennedy School.

One of the greatest pleasures of city walks is the friendly people we meet as we explore different neighborhoods, showing an interest in the houses, architectural details, ancient trees and history of the areas. People come out of their houses to converse with us, delighted to learn new facts about the streets they live on. Today's new friend, Isaac, was walking his dogs when he encountered our group chattering about the English Cottages of the 1920's and the post-war houses of the 1940's and 1950's. He and his wife purchased a home in the area, in fact just around the corner he said, and remodeled it by adding a second story and new roof line more in keeping with the surrounding architecture. He gladly showed us progress pictures on his iPhone as we admired his star jasmine-espaliered alley fence and newly developed front yard. He then invited us to return in the summer to see his yet-to-be backyard. How friendly is that?

Chickens in the city were evident in one front yard, the hens strutting in their new digs. Yard art of repurposed items adorned many front yards in creative ways and unusual color schemes gave a fresh look to some of the older homes. Food carts pooled in empty lots but were sadly shuttered for the season. Sampling the ethnic offerings of these restaurants on wheels is a fine summer's activity.

Urban art, whether commissioned or tagged, colors up a number of walls in this area. The tagging was confined to empty lot fences and building utility boxes while the commissioned type covered entire walls of buildings. Killingsworth and Alberta streets offer a broad variety of little businesses and eateries, which considerably slowed our progress as we peeked into shops, asked questions of owners, pressed our noses against windows and eventually succumbed to the hustle of Halibut's owner Dave to come in, get warm and have the best fish 'n chips in town. Seating us in his jazz and blues bar he kept up a running conversation about every aspect of his menu, cajoling us to try this and that. The food was quite good so he'll probably get some happy hour business later.

A stop at the Kennedy School, a McMenamin's restoration project, was a trip back in time to the early days of grade school hallways. It is a place to eat, swim, meet, sleep or just stroll back in time. They offer free music concerts usually during the summer months. This particular property originally belonged to an early landowner, John D. Kennedy, who operated a gentleman's farm and stable. The school design was unique in its time for being a one-story structure and of a Mediterranean villa style. Read more details about it in Laura Foster's Portland City Walks book, which is the inspiration for our winter city walks. There is so much interesting history to absorb throughout the Portland area so put on your rain duds and get to walking!