The Multnomah Villager

So Jr. V and I were walking out to the bus stop the other day… We live on 35th, which is a pretty busy street, and when people come down the hill they can be going pretty fast. Idiots speeding down the road at well over the speed limit are a regular occurrence.

This truck comes down the hill and zips by us, not going too fast, but it feels like it, at 7:25AM.

Jr. V yells at him, at the top of his voice, “Speed down, you CHICKEN!”

So we won’t have to worry about THAT guy again. I’m thinking of having signs made….

Back before there were blogs, there were “mailing lists”. There were the real old-time ones, which is the way we all shared information in the days after BBSes but before it became easy to create a website for groups of like minded individuals. At some point during the dot-com boom there started a trend of people sending tips on hot restaurants, special sales, or fashion tips, or 10 hottest bars to some of their closest friends. Then just like the old shampoo commercials, their friends sent it to two friends, who sent it to two friends, and you ended up with… well, Hotmail. However, before I get too far down the rabbit-hole of technological nostalgia let me return to my point.

In new York, and other big cities there are these emails that will pop up in the inboxes of people into fashion, or trends, or nice restuarants, or sales, or the theater - with a small sampling of tips or insider information usually with a personal spin added to it. A quick read, a hotlist for this coming weekend. I’ve just discovered such a newsletter dedicated to Portland. It’s called “Portland Picks” and if you hurry, you’ll see said (Sue Augustyn Interior Design) as the #1 “pick” for this week!

It reads like a magazine, and for good reason, considering the editorial staff’s background. It’s a fun, quick tipsheet for things to see, places to go and great stuff you might want to buy (or eat) as you explore Portland. Here’s link to the Portland Picks website (bypassing the Flash intro). Give them a read and subscribe to their Friday email newsletter if it’s your thing. They’ve written about several Village businesses.

A post over at The Red Electic carries this snippet…

On Saturday night, after countless hours of volunteer work to organize a benefit auction, receipts-counters reported that Multnomah Arts Center volunteers grossed more than $26,000 at the “Give the Arts a Hand” auction attended by 240 patrons.

Nice!

So I’ve had a small number of old coins laying around for many years. Note that I don’t say “collectible” coins, since I am aware that the majority of these are worth nothing more than their face value… 1964 fifty cent piece anyone?. However, there are a few that are quite old and Mrs. V and I have been talking about taking them into a coin store for some time. Not so much to find some unknown pot of gold as to just get them out form underfoot. So today, I decided to take them up to the Coin Cottage on Troy, which is the street that runs along the back of the Village main drag. I’ve been driving by the Coin Cottage for a while, and I’ve always been kind of fascinated by coin stores, although mostly I have been intimidated by them, no being a collector and since most coin stores have the ambiance of a library, a really really secure library. Still, after spending some time on eBay to see what coins like the ones I had were selling for, I trotted up the street.

It’s not too intimidating a store - although any store of this type feels “clubby” when you walk in, almost as if you’re shouldering your way into an already underway conversation. That feeling didn’t last long, as I gave a few cursory looks around before deciding to go through with it after all and see what these coins were all about. The owner and I are from the same part of the country, that’s for sure. He spent some time looking through my small assortment of coins and then made me an offer, which he had stated a few times was not something I need to feel obligated to accept. I kept a few of the coins and sold the rest, in effect paying for the lunch that our family had eaten out earlier today.

I did keep my 1882 Morgan silver dollar, which my mom presented to me after my grandfather (her Dad) passed away many years ago. I wouldn’t have sold that one unless it was worth serious money. As is the case with most collectible items, the vast majority of things that are potentially valuable aren’t - but within that larger set is a small minority that might be worth fabulous sums, as long as someone is willing to buy whatever it is from you. I enjoyed my short visit to the coin cottage there are literally HUNDREDS of fascinating old coins, paper money, even some stamps filling the cases of the store.

I was surprised to notice that the Coin Cottage has a website, at www.thecoincottage.com and in fact the website came first, then the store. On the site it says “We selected Multnomah Village because it is conveniently located in a safe neighborhood, and promotes a pedestrian friendly “village” atmosphere. You can feel safe doing all your gold, silver and collectible coin business with us.”

I’ve been meaning to stop in there for a long time. Glad I finally did.

So, don’t forget the Design Workshop this Saturday the 10th (tomorrow) from 9Am to noon in the Multnomah Center Gymnasium (the auditorium is booked). According to Brian Russell almost ALL of the proposal applicants have confirmed their attendance, even PDOT’s maintenance department. For those of you just joining us, this discussion is to share visions and concerns and (one assumes) develop an advisory document which will be furnished to firms and organizations submitting proposals to redevelop the Jerome F Sears site on Multnomah Blvd, which has been declared surplus by the Federal Government. More info about this is below.

Multnomah Village Post article about the meeting is here, although you will learn more about the real Jerome F. Sears than the process of re-purposing the armory, which is not a bad thing.

My earlier post (complete with cynical comments about the term “charrette”) is here.

And another of my earlier posts with the backstory behind the whole “surplus” thing is here.

In other news, the Neighborhood Association Meeting next Tuesday night will be a short one and it’s starting early (at 6:30), followed by the sure-to-be-adventurous” Multnomah Sewer Repair Open House at 7:00. I’ll be skipping THAT meeting, sorry.

The quest to get back up and running continues….

Rumor has it that Journey’s Pub opens on the 16th. I’ll be there.

Major speed crackdown coming down Capitol Highway the last two nights. Photo radar and motorcycle cops aplenty.

Still rebuilding, hang in there.

Not sure WHY the site is broken, it may have something to do with database outages and repairs at Dreamhost over the last day or so. I do know WHAT is causing it not to work, I think… Unfortunately, Im so swamped at work right now I can’t take the time to fix it right away. I still should be back up by the weekend. Sorry…

I’ve made several comments lately about how the type of development that’s taking place in the Village is changing. We were in a row house phase for a short time, and there was much angst about that, but now it seems like there’s two types of development. Multi-unit housing, and Big Expensive Homes. These days, if a single-family house gets torn down, seems like you’re most likely to get a whole building full of condos in it’s place…. Here’s an example of another multi-unit building, going sort of next to Grand Central Bakery on what will likely be one of the worst streets to have to drive to and from home on in the Village. Having a big bunch of people living there will be OK, but those people parking cars and turning out onto either 35th or that other street is REALLY going to cause some adventurous traffic. The intersection there by Marco’s on 35th is already somewhat dicey….

Still - I just had a conversation yesterday with a friend who was wondering about condo availability in the Village - so there’s certainly no lack of available customers for these places. Another couple of years and we’re going to have a LOT of people living ’round here.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that….

Still a little muddy over at Custer Park , but the playground at the Art Center’s a great place to stop prior to hitting up Starbucks for a chocolate milk. Plenty of folks had the same idea. Jr V and I went for a short walk (and scoot) up the hill and through the Village. Stopped into Thinker Toys, which does have Pokemon cards after all, and then headed up to the little playground at the Arts Center for a bit before heading home. Man, it’s nice to be able to go outside for a walk without having to layer up and prepare to get wet and frosty. Bring on the spring.

Actually, I should say that’s the WRONG URL. Here’s what I’m referring to…..

The new childrens clothing store that a few commenters have mentioned is actually a babies clothing store, offering “Luxury for Little Ones” according to their ad in the Multnomah Village Post. [EDIT] Well, OK clothing for babies through size seven, which if I had any clue about childrens’ sizing, I’d realize meant kids up to around seven years old. However, the ad has an incorrect URL for their website.

It SHOULD be www.babyohbabyshoponline.com instead of the way-too-long-to-type “babyohbabyshoppingonline.com”. Oops!

Baby! Oh Baby! is located at 7863 SW Capitol Highway next to Switch Shoes. Phone number is 503-245-0700.

Looks colorful in there - I was going to take a pic through the window after breakfast this morning in the now smoke-free O’Connors, but didn’t. Looks like we’ll be going for a walk later on today, so I’ll bust out the camera then. What a great day!