Little Fox, Navy and Cocoa Beanie here. As the resident tour guide at the ranch, I decided to take my pals Navy and Cocoa out for an exploration.
First stop: Saint Stephen Church. This church was built when the neighborhood was being developed around 1907. Back then the neighborhood was kind of affordable, now....not so much.
A nice old church (they have lots of good google reviews as well). Anyway, time to explore.
Ooh, this could be fun. Of course we missed it, but perhaps we can convince the roommates to make us nachos. Us stuffies can be very convincing when we need to.
We found an old fire station that they turned into a fire museum. Sadly, it was closed today and the humans didn't get a picture of us in front of it. I was a tad worried since they have this notice about the unreinforced masonry being a potential problem in an earthquake but Navy was unphased. His words exactly: "I survived the tsunami at Mouse Island, I can tour an old building."
On our exploration we found these cool murals.
Every stuffie chose their favorite mural.
Cool stores up and down the streets in this part of town. Found a vintage store that had the audacity to sell this lawn chair for $39.00. The metal bar where the back and seat meet is almost rusted out.
Still a lot to explore. Cidery, Acai Bowl Restaurant or see a movie (while having a beer and eating tater tots) at the neighborhood theater.
Good Morning World. Little Fox here at the International District in Seattle. The Smith Tower in the background and this cool dragon on the power pole.
The large gate welcomes you to the International District. The gate has been up and running since 1999. The Portland gate has been open since 1984 and the San Francisco gate has been up since the 60s.
This fox is hungry I think I am going to pass on the squid hot dog but definitely going to try the pastries.
Now that I'm fortified (also got some Dim Sum) and it's time to explore more of the city. On my way to Pike Place Market I stopped at the remodeled King Street Station (Seattle's Amtrak Station).
Yipee, the train station is remodeled to it's grandeur. Back in the 1940s and 1950s they put acoustic tiles to mitigate sound and had less than original seating.
Onward. I found a cool location to stop and enjoy the view (and got a pear biscuit for breakfast tomorrow).
Pike Place Market was packed (shocker....) so no pictures for me. Time to get back on the light rail back to my place.
My final day in Seattle actually was in Olympia. To escape the wet weather we decided to explore Olympia (even though the original plan was Seattle). Found this cool toy to play on.
Hiya Gang, Little Fox here hanging out in Tacoma for a while. Today, I have been called into action by the University to explore and document Vashon Island.
To get to Vashon one needs to drive onto the ferry. It's a quick crossing from Tacoma about 15 minutes but plenty of time for me to explore the upper decks.
Mt. Rainier decided to put on a nice display today as the boat leaves Tacoma. The weather is supposed to be clear for about 4 hours.
Today, I am traveling on the MV Chetzemoka (named after a friendly Native American chief who influential during the white settlement of Port Townsend).
Once on the Island I had my orders to explore the Point Robinson Lighthouse District. You can see the old lighthouse in the background (it has a red roof). The lighthouse has been replaced by an electronic beacon operated by the coast guard.
The lighthouse quarters are available for rent. Not this time for me, but maybe a future trip?
Besides getting to stay in a historic structure this is the view from the front porch. Puget Sound and Mt. Rainier.
Lot's of old buildings to explore. This one was the lighthouse operators workshop. It's locked, but maybe I can arrange a tour?
Nope, no tour but I can take a peek into the windows.
The Point Robinson Lighthouse sits on 24 acres that was purchased for a 1,000 in 1884 and the lighthouse construction began in 1885. The light arrived from another lighthouse in Oregon in 1887 and the lighthouse was put into operation.
The last uniforned lighthouse keeper left the lighthouse in 1989. Time for some lunch. This foodcart's display intrigued me but it's starting to rain and there is no covered place to eat. Sigh, any food cart that displays stuffies seems like my kind of establishment.
Time to get back on the ferry, this fox has lots more exploring to do.
Happy Holidays Blog World. It only seems appropriate to write this post about a mall as the holiday season winds down.
Recently, the local news mentioned that Lloyd Center (an urban mall) is slated for redevelopment and probably the wrecking ball. This mall is an icon and it was explored a few years ago by my pal Drunk Fox.
When it opened in 1960 it was the largest mall in the Pacific Northwest, (and the mall owners claimed to be the largest mall in the US at the time), Richard Nixon was at the opening and the mall it did a heck of a business until 2015 or so.
Now the mall is pretty quiet (even during the Christmas season).
Another entrance to the mall that is basically dead. This courtyard used to be near Nordstrom, a fancy department store, and Stanford's restaurant which had an amazing happy hour.
Most of the doors are boarded up for protection.
More emptiness.
Inside, it's a little livelier. Emphasis on the word little. Although I do appreciate the time taken to decorate for Christmas.
By January 2021 there were 37 empty store fronts in the mall, all the anchors were gone and most of the food court was closed.
The mall opened in 1960 and was open air. Around 1988 it was remodeled to an indoor mall.
This staircase is pretty modern looking (edit: this staircase was part of the 2015 remodel). It seems to flow nicely from the remodeled portion while still maintaining that 60s vibe.
There used to be 2 movie theaters in Lloyd Center. One in the mall, one outside. Both have been closed for many years.
The food court has two operating restaurants, a chicken place and a Dairy Queen. Both doing a heck of a business. About 12 food court stalls closed and/or abandoned.
The good news...there is a little life left in the mall. Some people out shopping and/or hanging out.
The mall also has an ice rink....go figure. It's kind of cool and it's one of the more popular things happening at the mall.
Stores have come and gone.
Some popular store over the years include JJ Newberry and Co (a five and dime), Nordstrom, Old Navy, Sears, JC Penney, Macys, Bests dept. store, and Woolworths.
One store has survived and is till going strong. A local place, a food establishment, and they sell one heck of a good product.
Joe Brown's Carmel Corn. Joe Brown's store has been since the mall opened in 1960. In fact, Joe Brown's has been around since 1932. George Brown and his son Joe opened a popcorn stand next to a movie theater. They did well, lots of locations around town and at the beach. During WWII all the locations closed and it wasn't until Lloyd Center opened up that Betty Brown (Joe's sister) opened up the location. Now, the location serves over 300,000 customers a year.
The popcorn is sold in a variety of flavors. Kettle corn, carmel corn, Oregon carmel corn, cheese corn and regular popcorn. All is good, but this fox got a fresh warm box of carmel corn.
Not a bad treat for $5.00. What's next for Lloyd Center? This fox isn't sure but hopefully the new development will pay some honor to the past (and hopefully Joe Brown's stays in the neighborhood).
Hiya Blog Pals, Little Fox here. I'm in the first room of the National Neon Museum in The Dalles (yes, the name of the town starts with "The"). In 1814 French trappers named the town for the slabs of basalt in the Columbia River Gorge.
I digress. Back the museum. I know, there is no neon in this room but we started our tour here to learn about the history of electric signs.
These signs had minimal words and are basically from the 1890s to the 1920s. The US had a lot of immigrants during that time so the idea of signs with a few words was designed so everyone could read the sign even if you were still learning the language.
Flash forward to the 1920s during the beginning of neon's heyday.
Some cool signs from the gallery.
This sign came from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
This fox hasn't had frozen custard but it's a popular dessert in Milwaukee. There were a ton of signs to take pictures of, the one I really liked is the Greyhound Bus Lines sign, but I didn't get a photo of it.
Sigh. Here's a close copy.
After my tour it was off to explore town.
First stop, St. Peter's Church built in 1898.
You are able to go inside during the hours of 1 to 3 daily. Today, there was a wedding going on, the humans went inside and the fox had to stay outside. Hmph.
This is a stock photo from the church but it's just as amazing inside. No trip to The Dalles is complete without exploring.
The Granada Theater. Built in 1929 of the Moorish Revival Style (do you see it?).
This was the first movie theater west of the Mississippi built specifically for the talkies. Unfortunately, the sound equipment ordered for the opening night was sent to The Granada Theater in Dallas, TX. Not The Dalles, OR. The Dalles theater owner contacted the theater in Dallas trying to explain what happened and the theater in Dallas kept the sound equipment and didn't send it back. The Granada in The Dalles opened with a silent movie instead of a talkie.
92 years later the theater is still up and running. They have concerts, dinner and movie nights, and all sorts of fun events.
The last stop on my tour is the Columbia Brewery. The Dalles had their own brewery for many years (since 1867) and this brewery operated until 1916 (prohibition in the US).
The building still stands....it looks safe and it's empty. This fox would love to explore inside of the building.....now I just need to find a tourguide.
I woke up today and the first two words to
come out of my mouth were urban utforska or urban exploring for my non-Swedish
speaking friends.
I don’t live in Portland but I live close to
it. Portland is known for many things but one of them is a dedicated bike
culture. There are bike routes
everywhere. In 2012 the office of
transportation decided to spice up the bike lanes by painting flags of the City
of Portland on certain routes.
Do you see the flag?
As mentioned, the flags were painted on in 2012 and it’s now
2017 so the flags are fading. I found a
couple around town.
This bike lane flag could use a "touch up" paint job.
I got braver when I was looking for the second
flag. That’s me sitting in a bike lane
in NE Portland. I hope no bikes zoom by
(or cars for that matter).
The neighborhood where these flags were
painted is called Lloyd District. In the
1950s a developer started buying all the houses in this neighborhood. Then the developer let them fall into
disrepair. When the other residents of
the neighborhood wanted to move and there was only one person interested in
buying….that’s right the developer.
Eventually, the developer owned all the houses, tore them down and built
the largest mall in the world (at the time, 1960) and it was dedicated by Vice
President Richard Nixon.
I know they do it but why would you build an open air mall in Portland Oregon?
The mall has a great
parking structure and I am hoping to get some photos on top of the parking
structure. I bet there are some good views if I can climb to the top of this structure.
Made it to the top but not the view I was hoping for. Let's see if I can find a better location.
Oooh, a better location. If you look closely you might be able to see the tower of the Oregon Convention Center in the background.
All this exploring has made me hungry. I can’t find a place that will make a good PB
& J sandwich but I did find a food cart that looks beary interesting. They sell Doner Kebabs and I am up for
anything.
Now that I am getting the hang of this "blogging" thing what will I do next?
