The Multnomah Villager

Stopped in to Fat City this morning for a quick breakfast. Fat City is bar far my favorite place to east breakfast in the Village. I am genetically drawn to these types of places, where you can sit at the counter (which I don’t actually like to do) and listen to a bunch of old guys talk about whatever it is old guys at diners talk about, and have two eggs any style.

I especially like the fact that you can have pancakes rather than hash browns with your breakfast and even better yet, they let me swap out for french toast! I am decidedly lowbrow in my breakfast tastes, but very particular at the same time.

Fat City is the kind of place that has a line outside the door on weekend mornings, although it is not as backed up as Marco’s. It’s small, and you need to get there early, particularly on the weekend, if you want a choice of seating. The walls are covered with old road signs, license plates and various ephemera. As well as really well-done paintings of the staff.

One thing that always amuses me is the laminated placemats, which you sued to see lot more back in the day, they’re maps of oregon that have little cartoons and facts about the different areas of the state. You can buy them for $2.50 each (just in time for Christmas!)

Oh yeah, no posting about Fat City would be complete without making the required mention of that time back in 1987 when then-mayor Bud Clark fired Police Chief Jim Davis over breakfast by saying “read my lips, you’re fired.” There. I’ve posted about it now, you all knew it was coming eventually. If you’re a Portland history buff, you can sit in the Mayor’s booth (there’s a small plaque) and read the newspaper article about this famous historical event that put Multnomah Village on the map, way back when.

Remember back in the day, when TV shows and movies used to show some sad kid inside, practicing his violin while all the other kids played outside? Well, I do. I don’t play violin, but in case you think I’m making fun of music students, I was in the band for like 6 years and took piano lessons most of my growing up life. Not that I skipped a lot of playtime to practice, but I understand…

If violin’s your thing - you can learn how to play in the Village, at Eliason Violin School, which I drove by yesterday and then noticed their ad on Craigslist this morning. Here’s a link to the ad [removed - its too old now, replaced with website link]. Don’t lose your rosin.

A link to the website instead

Tonight as I was walking my loop around Gabriel Park, I passed the baseball field for like to two thousandth time. “Rocky Benevento Field”. For some reason, tonight I decided that maybe I should find out who Rocky Benvento is or was, since I see his name all the time. Bear with me if “everybody knows this”, since I’m not a baseball fan, these things can get past me. So - for those of you who have or are yet to see the sign - here is Rocky Benevento.

Rocky is a member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, inducted in 1993 under the “Special Contribution to Sports” category. He shares space in this category with Phil Knight, Joe Loprinzi and the Pendelton Round-Up, among others.

Rocky was the groundskeeper at the Multnomah Stadium during the heyday of Portland minor league ball in the late 50’s. Here’s an excerpt from an article by Portland Jazz Musician Tom Grant about Rocky…

But when it did rain during or prior to game time, this was the special province of Rocky Benevento. Rocky was the diminutive groundskeeper (they called him “park superintendent”) for the Beavers and another fan favorite. He was all business in his starched white coveralls with the bright red “P” on it, rooting around the infield lovingly maintaining the natural turf that had been brought over from Vaughn Street. Rocky had been a friend of my uncle Smokey (Harry “Smokey” Rodinsky) who’s company, Lewis Bros. Meats, had supplied the franks and burgers to the Beavers. Because of that connection, I had a supply of autographed team baseballs, photos and occasional face to face meetings with team heroes.

This page on PGE Park’s history features a picture of Rocky moving the turf between stadiums.

There’s not much else available online. There are references to an obituary in the Oregonian dated 1969.

So that’s who the field is named after.

Next month’s (next week’s) First Friday (December 2nd) kicks off the holiday season in Multnomah Village with many of the retailers and other businesses adding special holiday themed events to the usual slate of First Friday revels. There’s posters about this up around town, and the schedule’s printed in the Connection. I’m going to quote their version and post this info for those of you who may not get this paper or see one of the posters before Friday. Note that I’m not typing everyone’s address since once you’re in the Village you can pretty much find all these people.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2nd
5-9PM unless noted

• Horse-drawn Carriage Rides 6-8PM. Load at Key Bank, 35th and Capitol Hwy. Donations accepted.
• The Savory Chefs offer tasty treats for the holidays, Sip d’Vine
• Watercolors by Ania Kocerek-Williams. Reception at Beyond Borders, continues Saturday.
• Trunk Show of custom jewelry by Sue Huston at Village Frame & Gallery, 2-9 PM, continues Saturday 10AM - 4PM
• Mediterranean Food & Turkish Coffee samples, live music and door prizes 6-9PM at Indigo Traders. Holiday sweets continue Saturday
• Open house with refreshments, door prizes and face painting for children at Fusion Cut and Color Salon, continues Saturday
• Enter a Holiday Raffle to win prizes; proceeds to support Neighborhood House’s Emergency Food Box Program. [NOTE: I've seen these boxes all over, but have not seen any entry forms yet]

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3rd
Enjoy Strolling Carolers and street performers.

• Breakfast with Santa, 8:30-10:30AM, Lucky Lab Public House
• get your face painted while waiting to vidit Santa at O’Connors Annex, noon -2PM
• Crazy Quilt demonstration and sample sale at Fibers in Motion, 1-2PM
• Personalized beaded wire ornaments - Free - at Village Beads noon-3PM
• Learn to make a Yule Log, 1-3PM, Jacqueline’s Found and Fabulous
• Kid’s ornament craft activity, 1-3PM, Thinker Toys

Now that sounds like a full slate of activity to me. Avoid the malls and come over to the Village this Friday to add some local flavor to your Christmas shopping this year.

So last Wednesday, I met Alicia of Digit 13 at Village Coffee, representing my “real life identity”. Digit 13 is Alicia’s web design company, about whose work I cannot say enough good things. She had warned me ahead of time that Village Coffee was her “office away from home” and the stack of her business cards next to the register backed this point up!

How can an area a compact as Multnomah Village support more than one coffee shop? Well, if you’ve lived in Portland for a while you are aware that coffee shops have their own distinct personalities, and customers that fit their particular vibe. Village Coffee is a great example of this. If Starbucks (less than a block away) is the yuppie coffee place, than Village Coffee would be the hippie coffee place. However, that’s far to simplistic a characterization. For me, Village Coffee feels like Portland coffee shops USED to be, before the ubiquitousness of Starbucks and their sub-brands took over every other corner.

It’s tight in there, four tables inside, and it’s always warm - which is a welcome thing this season. The most coveted seats would have to be the row of three old-style theater seats facing the window. Although the outdoor tables would come in a close second. When I was there to meet Alicia, every table was taken with people working, meeting and talking. The outside was full too, despite the biting wind, and of course there was a dog on the sidewalk. There is ALWAYS a dog in front of Village Coffee, or so it seems. There are also a core group of regulars. One of whom has had to move on to a different shop since falling victim to the infamous condo conversion of the Meditteranean Apartments down the street. I didn’t know him, but no matter when I drove by (which is often, since I live on 35th) that guy was outside. Day or night. They must have taken a revenue hit when he had to move!

Village Coffee features organic roasted coffee with several different flavors, and a huge wall of Torani syrups, if you swing that way. There are massive quantities of reading material, games etc. This is not the shop to pop into to get your fix on the way to work - although you SHOULD, since it beats standing on line at Starbucks, but this is a shop in which to linger - pull out your sketchbook or your laptop, try to score a theater seat and watch the village go by. The vibe is friendly and conversational.

Oh, a note about laptops - if you’re working on your computer, you’re working offline. No wireless. It’s OK, you can handle it. In fact, maybe leave the machine at home this time and savor the experience. Village Coffee is a hangout, and I mean that in the best sense of the word.

If you walk to Gabriel Park via Little Gabriel (at the end of Canby Street over by the Post Office), or via Nevada Street which is the quickest way from our house, you pass through the deep woods. You can continue through a short area of forest and brushy wetlands to get into the park straight away, or you can turn off onto one of the trails that leads into our own little deep woods.

We love wandering through here, especially in the morning when it’s all misty or in the summer when the trees keep the paths shady and cool. Since this is Oregon, there’s little underbrush in this section of forest and the hills and HUGE trees make you feel like you’ve stepped back hundreds of years, or into the pages of some fantastic storybook wood.

You can get to this area from the winter season dog park by just passing by the gates and heading straight into the woods.

In the interest of full disclosure - we’re still in Portland, so this area is best enjoyed before dark.

We are losing the war on weeds! (Here’s the backstory)

So we were all witness to the power of celebrity last night at the MVNA meeting, as the popular City Commissioner Sam Adams (website, blog) drew around 20+ people to the normally small monthly meeting. Discussions of sewers, traffic speed and of course the infamous tram ensued.

The theme of the night was likely “Capitol Highway is a deathtrap”. This was aided by the unfortunate rear-ending of a village resident’s car in front of West Hills Early Childhood Learning Center. Since Jr. V was at West Hills for nearly three years I can attest to the adventure that is pulling in and out of their parking lot, not to mention any of the adjacent homes’ driveways, which was the case last night. Lots of talk of sidewalks and ways to reduce speed of traffic.

This has particular resonance for me, since I live on 35th, which is just as much an arterial street and LOTS less improved than Capitol. Speeders are a regular thing and Tri-Met is the worst offender. Although in their defense I think they have to build up speed to get up the hill. I would very much like to see the stop at 35th and Logan Street made into a mandatory safety stop, just to slow down the buses.

Sam is the commissioner in charge of, amongst other things, Arts and Culture funding and Sewers. (Insert your own joke about arts funding going down the drain here.)

I enjoyed his comments. He seemed in command of the wide ranging topics and the labyrinthine system of City versus State and Federal funding on a number of projects. No mean feat. He presents well, and I can understand why he’s become such a celebrity of the local political scene, if there is such a thing.

In other meeting notes, the attendees were a refreshing cross-section of ages from hippie twentysomethings to hippie sixtysomethings and beyond, and a wide range of in-betweeners such as myself. We nominated and elected officers to the four positions. All candidates ran unopposed. The new Secretary was a young woman who came to her first meeting and said something along the lines of “I’d like to get involved”. Well, she’s involved now! It’s good. It’s nice to see more people taking an interest in our neighborhood.

With that said, there is a “placemaking” potluck being hosted at the Multnomah Post’s office this Thursday the 10th (tomorrow) at 7PM. Placemaking is a concept taking hold in some Portland neighborhoods, particularly in Southeast, and is probably most famous for creating decorated intersections that become neighborhood gathering spaces. There has been some momentum lately toward creating a “center” for the Village - a sort of town-square sort of place. This is another step on that road. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, stop by. Here’s a link to the City Repair Project’s About Us Page which gives more info about the organization behind this event , and the theory behind the organization.

So I’m driving out Capitol to Barbur on Friday night, about 9:45 and what do I see walking along the side of the road? A coyote! I’ve seen them up in the hills, and on the golf course at Red Tail, but never so close to the village. I guess it makes sense though, with the expanse of woodlands and parklands that we have right around Multnomah. Still, I was suprised.

Mrs. V, typically, does not believe me and is convinced that I saw a dog. Mrs. V vastly underestimates my powers of animal identification.

Today, our five questions are answered by Pamela Alexander, of Multnomah Village Massage.

1. How long have your business been in Multnomah Village?
   I opened Multnomah Village Massage in May 2000. 5+ years.
2. Why did you decide to locate your business to the Village?
   I had been practicing massage for a day spa in Beaverton and was looking to get closer to Portland but not downtown exactly. During my senior year at Lewis and Clark College I worked at Annie Blooms. I remember the village feeling very cozy and looked to return to this in opening up my own massage space.
3. What would you like to see in the Village that we DON’T have?
   My husband Kyle wants to put in his request for a “Brew-n-View.” (Like the Bagdad or Clinton Street) And a mascot!
4. What do you think is the biggest challenge facing our neighborhood?
   Keeping the cozy village feel amidst all the growth.
5. What is your favorite thing, or favorite place in Multnomah?
   Multnomah Village Massage of course! Oh and I am fond of upper Gabriel Park on the backside of the Village.

My previous post about one of my recent visits to Pam is here