The Multnomah Villager

A couple of weeks ago, while waiting on line at Chevron over on 31st and Barbur, I noticed a sign for a new video game store had gone up at that one shopping center with Bellagio’s and Taco Del Mar. This would be a lot more useful as a post if I knew the name of the place wouldn’t it? That’s the sort of thorough blogger you’re dealing with, I guess.

Anyway, this is about gaming, not navigation. Jr. V and I, Nintendo DS in hand, popped over for a quick look on Sunday. Jr’s going through a serious “Mario” phase right now, and I’m on the lookout for places that I can pick up used games on the cheap for him, oh and the occasional XBOX360 title for certain other members of the household.

Play-n-Trade is a popular franchise, and this location appears to be owned and run by a Dad and son combo who were very friendly and courteous towards all the customers while we were there. Even Jr. V’s relentless sampling of various game titles (which the store encourages) were welcomed. They have a pretty wide range of titles for the various platforms, including some blast-from-the-past stuff that I always get a kick out of. Their collection of 360 titles is pretty complete, with a good range of used games.

The prices are only OK. The new games are at the upper end of full retail, and the used titles are not a whole lot cheaper, but since we’re only talking about a difference of three or four bucks it’s worth it to support someone’s shot at running their own business. Plus, unless you’re in the car headed to Fred Meyer (for only new titles), or in the car headed over to GameStop next to Safeway on BH Highway which has used stuff but not always very cheaply - there’s not a lot of options for video game buyin’ within walking distance of the village. Before I get lots of flames about how Play-n-Trade is a national chain…. I consider franchise owners pretty much the same as “independent” businesspeople - they have the same pressures and struggles to build a customer base locally as anyone else, and rarely have a “safety net” besides the perceived value of a national or regional brand name. So if you’re a gamer and you live in the Village, you should at least stop by the store.

Here’s the link to the local version of Play-n-Trade’s templated websites. This has the hours and location, etc.

And it’s right next door to Taco Del Mar, and seriously, video games and burritos? Need I say more?

The Wild West came to Thinker Toys yesterday, part of their ongoing 13th birthday celebration, which continues, pony-less, today.

It’s that time again, Harry Potter fans. It’d be pretty much impossible NOT to know that the 7th and final book in the series is going to be released this week. Of course, Annie Bloom’s Books will be having an event leading up to sales of the book at 12:01 AM Saturday morning. The fun begins at 10PM, in the parking lot behind the bookstore (that’s the Multnomah Boulevard side…). Annie Bloom’s closes at the regular time, but the event begins at 10PM and then everyone will troop around to the store and get their copies of the book at midnight. I remember two years ago when this happened there was a stream of kids heading home just after midnight, where presumably they stayed awake reading… The last book was great, so hopefully this one will be as good. I’ve been reading this series as well, and am curious as to what wil become of the characters.

Here’s the blurb from Annie Bloom’s site…

Please join us in celebrating the release of the seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Our party will begin at 10 PM on Friday, July 20th. The book will go on sale at 12:01 AM! First, we’ll have fun with a costume runway, fairground games like ring toss and horseshoes, a trivia contest, and an area for displaying your Harry Potter art - so pick up your pens, crayons, or paint brushes and start drawing!

Also, beginning at 7:00 PM on July 20, you can enter to win a trip for 4 to London in the “Independent Muggles for Harry Potter” sweepstakes.

You can pre-order Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows now. If you prepay, we’ll give you a coupon for $10 off your next purchase!

Our Harry Potter T-shirt raffle is over, but we’ve set aside a handful of child-sized shirts to give away as prizes at the Party.

Here’s the link to pre-order the book from Annie Bloom’s

Remember when this happened last time? I do, it was almost exactly two years ago: Here’s my post from back then..

Sweets Etc. is in on the fun as well, with costume contests and prizes. All starting at 10PM.

Jr. V and I stopped into Thinker Toys as part of our little research trip this evening, and although they are not having any late night events - they’ve got your Harry Potter merchandise needs covered. The stuff is right inside the door, to your right - so stock up on those last-minute costume needs ahead of time.

So, for the first time in a long time last week, I blew off the neighborhood association meeting. This is because I wanted to head up to Annie Bloom’s and hear Nanci Hamilton talk about her new book “Portland’s Multnomah Village” - the history of our neighborhood. I bought a copy of the bok, and Mrs. V and I have been having fun checking out the photos and facts that are inside.

• Three things that play prominent roles in the history of the Village: Cows. Masons. Switzerland…. and cars. Four, four things!
• Did you know that Capitol Highway was one of the first paved roads in Oregon? A fact that I find rather ironic considering our high concentration of unpaved roads.
• Multnomah Days were apparently originally staged to honor Chief Multnomah, and involved the populace dressing up in native American costumes. Can you imagine that going on here now? Related link: Who Was Chief Multnomah @ PSU Magazine.

 Look familiar? This photo is from 1929, via the Multnomah Historical Association.

To quote the introduction:

This book gives readers a glimpse of what makes this place unique and special, qualities that the neighborhood retains despite change.

Despite their steadfast refusal to respond to either of my emails requesting to be added to their affiliate program, I am linking to Annie Bloom’s anyway, so you can buy this book from them here.

OK, I’m shamelessly copying and pasting this text from the email that just came in via the Multnomah Villagers Yahoo! group (no relation to me), sorry Bernadette - consider yourself a “guest poster”

Author event on Tuesday evening at Annie Bloom’s:

Here is the event link:

Time: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 7:30 PM
Location: Annie Bloom’s Books
Title of Event: Nanci Hamilton presents Portland’s Multnomah Village

In this pictorial retrospective, author, longtime Portland resident, and historian Nanci Hamilton has gathered more than 200 images from local collections of vintage photographs and other visual memorabilia to trace the unique story of Portland’s Multnomah Village.

Once rolling countryside and bucolic dairy farmland, the area that became Multnomah Village was transformed when the Oregon Electric railroad line connecting Portland to Salem placed a station here in 1908 and brought Multnomah within 15 minutes of Portland’s downtown core. The electric train opened the way for individual families to build the charming homes of their dreams. Over the next 20 years, as the rise of the automobile transformed transportation options, the village continued to grow and thrive, with its own post office, grocery stores, pharmacy, movie house, churches, school, and bank to meet the needs of those living nearby. The subsequent rise of shopping centers and large retail grocery chains led to a change in the character of the village, which was annexe  piecemeal by the city of Portland beginning around 1950. The former village center is now an eclectic yet dynamic mix of shops, restaurants, and galleries tucked into the storefronts of a generation ago. The “bones” of the village as it was in the past remain visible.

This sounds pretty interesting, and I’m definitely going to buy a copy of this book. I’ll try to get up there Tuesday night, maybe I’ll see you there!

Curses! We won’t be back in town in time for Jr. V to score some Pokemon cards….. Well maybe - sounds like if you’re into garage/yard sales that this one is worth stopping by, and it helps our Maplewood.

Big MV Neighborhood Sale
Sat, July 7, 9 - 4pm

12+ homes in walking distance:
clothes, furniture, books, Pokemon cards, toys, etc. for sale
and food and beverages for sale

Part of proceeds donated to Maplewood School

32nd Ave, 33rd Ave, Florida St
Enter from Vermont or Capitol Hwy

Thanks, Cate!

So my Mom and Stepfather have been in town over the last couple of days, as they are preparing to leave on a huge driving tour of the west and parts of Canada. We all walked up the Village Sunday morning and managed to avoid the every-ten-minutes rainstorm. We hit all the open stores, starting at Switch Shoes and then crossing over to Peggy Sunday’s where Mom picked up a thing or two for my notoriously hard to shop for Grandmother. We popped down the hill to pick up another great boquet from Kelly’s and poked around M Antiques and talked to Heather for a bit. Then we meandered down the street to the bookstore and poked around in there for a while during a HUGE downpour. Thinker Toys of course was our next stop, where Jr. V was captivated by his latest obsession, “Ugly Dolls“. We wandered a bit and hit up Birdie’s where Mom scored a nice handmade card for Grandma and then we made our way home. We’re going up to Journeys for a beer later tonight. I ran into Brian on the sidewalk and he tells me that the new food menu is up and running!

So several weeks ago I got the heads up in my comments that a new boutique called “anne bocci” would be opening up in the old G/M Galleries space along the Village’s main drag. We noticed the storefront window filled with all kinds of cool-looking stuff after leaving O’Connor’s one recent Sunday morning.

Here’s a lousy picture of the front window with way to much reflection….

So a couple days ago Anne sends me an email and introduces herself, and asks me to stop by sometime and introduce myself. In the “careful what you ask for department”, today I stopped by at lunch to say hi. Quickly getting over the shock of having some big nerdly guy hanging ’round her hip boutique, Anne and I had a nice conversation about her store while a woman fresh off the plane from Chicago took full advantage of Oregon’s lack of sales tax to pick up several pieces of jewelry and perhaps an outfit as well. Anne turned her on to several of Portland’s hotspots while she was there. This is a great little store filled with all sorts of unique pieces of jewelry, artwork and clothing by local independent designers. It’s a great addition to our Village, another oasis of hip shopping that contributes to our overall mix of unique and fun places to buy gifts or that certain something. And within walking distance of our house!

Here’s a blurb about Anne, by Anne, cribbed from her MySpace page:

The doors are open to my boutique in groovy little Multnomah Village, in SW Portland, Oregon. I’m happy to be showing the work of one of the most amazing photographers, Elisa Lazo de Valdez. I adore her imagery, art deco aesthetic, romantic vision, and sense of light, and fashion. She has won many photography awards, and participated in many juried shows. I’m lucky to have her lovely images in my gallery.

My boutique is in the heart of lovely Multnomah Village, close to the super cool, independent bookstore called Annie Bloom’s Books.

For me, it’s all about supporting indie designers, apparel designers, jewelry designers, handbag designers, photographers and artists. You’ll find silk dresses from Black Label San Francisco, crisp looks from Suzabelle, Seattle, and retro bags from Mugwump, Portland. Stop by, say hello, and shop indie.
Oh, by the way the boutique is called “anne bocci.”

And those of you who get the Portland Picks e-newsletter have certainly seen this today but Anne is featured in today’s “issue”. (Unpaid placement, for those of you wondering. In fact, the Picks writer bought something while visiting Anne’s store). For those of you who don’t get “picks” - here’s the blurb:

We’re fond of Multnomah Village. Its narrow streets and small-town feel remind us of the good things in life. And now there’s one more good thing to add to the area, so good that we classify it as fabulous: Anne Bocci. Anne’s known round town for her jewelry designs, and now she’s finally set up shop in SW Portland to showcase some of the best indie designers around.

The new boutique is positively brimming with coolness, full of truly one-of-a-kind exquisite items like Anne’s Tahitian pearl earrings, Dolce purses from Seattle, adorable dresses by independent designer Suzabelle, hand-screened t-shirts of the perfect softness, bags made from board games and recycled fabric, snappy trenchcoats in time for the June rains—all this stuff you’re going to want, and you’re going to want it now.

Stop by Friday, June 1, starting at 6 pm for First Friday, showcasing the works of photographer Elisa Lazo de Valdez. And whew! It’s a good thing that Anne gets new stuff in every day—we don’t have to wait long to get our fix.

Anne Bocci
artisan boutique & gallery
7824 SW Capitol Highway
Portland, OR 97219
503.452.3711

A few months ago, I got a comment from Kelly Reed, who is the “Kelly” in “Kelly’s Flowers” announcing the opening of her shop within “M” Antiques, down on Multnomah Boulevard. Lately, I’ve been seeing her cards and posters all over the Village, and on the tables at O’Connor’s and everywhere else. I’ve ben meaning to stop by. To make this a total cliche, we went on Mothers’ Day.

Mrs. V came home from a walk on Staurday and mentioned that Kelly had some very nice looking boquets out in front of the store, for only $10 and we made plans to head on over there after breakfast and grab one on Sunday morning. Well, we went a little later in the morning and by the time we got there, the place was pretty much cleaned out! This is to be expected since everyone else had gotten their flowers ON TIME for Mothers’ Day morning, but that’s not the point here.

After a nice talk with the friendly Kelly about what brought her to the Village and how business was going, we left with the arrangement seen above!

An aside: The “M” stands for Heather McDonald, sorry guys, it’s not “MANtiques”. I may be the only one disappointed about this. Although I did snout around a bit while Mrs. V was talking to Kelly and there are some pretty cool things in there, at least capable of keeping the average non-antique-buying man interested while your companion is searching for just the right thing.

Oh by the way Kelly, stay away from Red Bull.

During our walk on Saturday, we stopped into said and had a nice talk with Sue. And yes, the name of the business is “said” - pronounced like “she said…” It’s an acronym for Sue Augustyn Interior Design, and is NOT pronounced “sigh-eed”. Sue shared an amusing story about that misconception that seems to involve the Department of Homeland Security! Amusing, that is, if she doesn’t find herself on the “no fly list”.

Asides aside, it is MUCH more colorful inside her space than even I though it would be. She and her hsuband have done a HUGE amount of remodeling to the space, and although it’s packed to the walls with accessories of every color (and lots of red) and shape it doesn’t seem overly crowded with stuff like some interior places can be. Um, be prepared for animal parts. There is quite an assortment of antlers, horns and hides in there. Now for my part, I like antlers, you know, as a concept, and Jr. V was captivated by some of them. But just so you’re aware. Killer furniture and art pieces.

This is the kind of place that I could very easily find a Christmas present for my Dad and Stepmother in, which is good. It’s the kind of place that makes you wish you lived in a new house, or had lots of money to remodel, or perhaps buy that killer modern house next to West Hills and fill it with interesting pieces of art. Well, until you remember the six-year-old, the cats, and all the Pokemon cards….

Sue was very gracious, especially considering the fact that we had Jr. V in tow, and I hope things go well. There’s very few “designer level” decor places west of downtown. Oh a piece of trivia. She used to be “Frills” in Hillsdale.