Journalist By Nature: January 2015

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Risers, Radon and Ramona

Exploring the diversity of Portland's numerous neighborhoods affords our hikers an energizing outing to stay in shape for the coming mountain trail season, a broadening knowledge of our city's origin and development, and common experiences that bond our group. Today's five miler included 1,436 stair steps, ascending and descending between the levels of the Alameda Ridge in N.E. Portland, 62 city blocks and numerous chats with local residents about why they love their district. Sunny blue skies blessed our tour as we kept a sharp eye out for ivy-shrouded stairways tucked discreetly between gorgeous terraced yards. The staircases range from 50 to 127 steps each and connect homes on Alameda with those on Wisteria and Ridgewood streets.

The advent of streetcars opened up this area for greater development and the stairs provided quick and quiet access between neighbors. Beverly Cleary, famed author of the Ramona series, centered her darling character's antics around Klickitat Street. Thomas Autzen, president of the Portland Manufacturing Company and namesake of Autzen Stadium at University of Oregon, built a mansion in Alameda. Jacques Gershkovitch, founder of the Portland Junior Symphony and its conductor from 1924 to 1954, owned a magnificent Mediterranean-style house in the neighborhood. The original developers consulted with the Olmstead Brothers landscape designers as they planned parks and street layouts.

The radon issue is well known in this district. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless gas generated by the decay of radium in granite, as well as other substances. The granite of the Alameda area was laid down during parts of the Missoula Floods. Test kits are available to homeowners who wish to ensure residents' health.

Starting at the Sabin Hydro Park, we walked in the shadows of two giant green water reservoirs, cut through a playground area and glanced at the local community garden area, currently in its winter repose. Views to the east peek between houses and from the top level of the stairways, challenging us to identify the tall boxy buildings of downtown Portland and Pill Hill. It is obvious why homes were built on this ridge where the views can be outstanding but at the price of a steeply sloping back yard often devoid of accessibility. Without exception these homes are immaculately maintained in picture-perfect condition, lawns edged, flower beds completely leaf-free, windows sparkling in the winter sunlight. Ascending one stairway we spied a grand piano through one window, a breakfast nook through another. It is an exercise in self-restraint to not peek into the homes that are situated three feet from the cement risers bisecting each block.

Several of the houses on Alameda are on the National Historic Register. The average price of homes here is close to $600,000 with million dollar estates sprinkled in between. Property taxes run about $1000 or more per month. This is not a place for the thin-of-wallet, to be sure. The streets are wide although garages can be narrow. Smart cars are about the size to drive right into a garage. Because of the steep pitch of the land some homes have garages on a lower level and a walkway up to the house above. We wondered how quickly the weekly grocery haul would grow tiring in those circumstances.

Bergenia

Rock walls line many properties, lovely lavender Bergenia blossoms dotting the black and grey stones with spring color. Built to last, these walls remain steady and bulge-free after 75 years of holding back the ground. Exquisite Japanese maples stretch over some walls, showcasing their twisting branch structure prior to leaf breakout. Century trees with enormous girth quietly shade many of the parking strips and tall firs stand double the height of their deciduous garden companions. Spring bulbs of anemones and crocus are beginning to add color to otherwise dull brown garden spaces. The red berries on pyracantha, pink sprays of daphne and brilliant bursts of yellow forsythia herald the approaching season of renewal.

Stopping people out working or walking their dogs we asked what they like about this district. Without exception they all mentioned the stairs, the friendliness of the locals and the interesting varieties of architecture. Grand estates line the upper reaches of Alameda Street, providing a rich skyline view from below. English Cottage, Tudor, Bungalow, Dutch Colonial, Arts and Crafts, Mediterranean and Colonial Revival name some of the styles you will see here. The lower level of the ridge contains more modest homes of the working class in smaller Bungalow styles while some newer infill mimics the older architecture with an occasional modern style sneaking in. There are a number of remodeling projects in process and a large selection of For Sale signs fishing for customers along the parking strips.

One interesting point about this tour is the opportunity to see into the past as to how people chose to structure their housing spaces. Many of these neighborhoods had restrictions as to the minimum cost of a house and what types of people could not live there. In one section stables were prohibited and specific races of people were excluded. Snobbery was openly evident at the start. Now the only restriction is money, lots of money.

In order to quell our midday hunger we took the German alternative and dined at Gustav's Bier Haus adjacent to the well-known Rheinlander restaurant. Hearty food and beverages soon covered our table for eleven as we discussed our latest favorite reads. With a number of book club members there's always a list of intriguing titles to share. Once famished turned to full, we headed back along Alameda, minus the stairs, to more carefully inspect the homes we had missed on the stair climbs. Interesting details are visible when on foot that would be entirely missed on a drive by. With another Thursday Dryday behind us we are looking forward to next week's adventure in the delightful and captivating neighborhoods of Portland.

Take-and-trade street library

Hobbit House

1,436 stairs

Crom House

Crom House porch detail

Name that building

Cactus fronting a Mediterranean home

But it is about beer and sausages!

Rheinlander/Gustav's

Poetry boxes

Checkin' the stacks

Steed tie down

Century tree larger than house

Street library detail

Poetry stand

Koa wood garage door.

Smiles to match the sunshine

Copper whirligig

Private stairway

More stairs

Wall art

English Cottage style

Kiddo Art

Yes, more stairs!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Play It Again Sam

"Seeing it again for the first time" would describe our city walk through the St. John's area today. Last year (see my March 1, 2014 entry) we got soaked in a spring rainstorm and cut our soggy walk short to dry out by the wood stove at the McMenamin's St. John's Pub. This year the grey sky wore thin enough in places to reveal spots of "sun break" blue. We determined to complete the local loop this time amid talk of Glacier Park treks and new summer adventures on the Northwest trails.

Up and down muddy backstreets we searched for notable historical homes. They are becoming surrounded by modern infill condominiums and multistory houses squeezed into spaces formerly occupied by single family homes. The riverbank is easily viewed in the absence of leaves on the copse lining the swollen brown Willamette River. The city of bridges is a vague, dreamy outline of lego-shaped blocks beyond the black silhouette of the Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge and the arched Fremont Bridge farther upriver. The Railroad Bridge is one of a few swinging section bridges in the United States. Heading downhill towards the railway tracks we spied a flotilla of boats moored offshore in Willamette Cove. A water-logged dinghy was tied at the shore but no oars or motor were visible to give it power. From the looks of it, this was a scene of low rent housing.

The railroad tracks curve in tandem with the river's path and are currently used by robot-controlled rail cars to deliver scrap metal to the Columbia Forge plant. A great expanse of empty cement pads mark the former location of the McCormick and Baxter Creosoting Company, operated between 1944 and 1991. Due to the toxins used there and subsequently dumped into the river, the site became marked as a Superfund cleanup project. Although now clean, it remains a dead-looking area useful only to visiting youth and their various juvenile activities, the remains of which linger throughout the scratchy blackberry tumbles. A gravel pathway parallels the railroad tracks and is used by joggers and dog walkers who brave the loneliness of the area. Eventually the path wanders up to Cathedral Park, that great expanse of green lawn under the St. John's bridge where locals run their dogs and fishermen launch their boats at the nearby dock. The Water Pollution Control Laboratory showcases a natural water filtration system of native plants and rocky shelves and samples and analyzes various sources of water.

Rounding to the end of our walk we decided to add another mile to it and walk across the busy St. John's Bridge where sidewalks at the edges allow brave pedestrians a place to carefully tread amid the forest of green wire cables holding the towers upright and the road steady. Passing trucks and cars whiz by at 35 m.p.h., making the bridge surface rumble. The views from mid-span are exhilarating as you stand over the ever-moving river and gaze west toward the Coastal Range and east toward downtown Portland. In between these extremes are oil, shipping and dry docking businesses of Linnton. Read the details of it all in Foster's book Portland Hill Walks even if you don't want to make the walk. It's a fascinating part of the city's history.

Incoming clouds began to drop their load of water on us, a light sprinkle at first and then a more persistent spatter carried on the winds high above the river. Unfazed, we paused for photographs, a bakery stop and lunch at a Thai cubbyhole. There we challenged the patient waiter as we hemmed and hawed over selections, finally settling on a request to the chef to make us seven different dishes and just surprise us! A bona fide feast arrived soon enough and we passed around the dishes, inviting other diners to join us. When they declined we managed to clean all the platters anyway and groaned in cuisinal contentment. We prefer to ease into our summer trail physical conditioning gradually, mile by mile, plate by plate. Come trail time we'll hike off this winter fare as we search out new challenges in the forests of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic areas.