It’s been the Main Street Collectors Mall in downtown Milwaukie, Oregon, for years – and astonishingly –the soda fountain and counter from its former Perry Pharmacy days is still there (where then-Senator John F. Kennedy sat at the soda fountain during his campaign- yes, there’s a sign). And now the entire building (and the one next door) is up for grabs.
As the flyer says:
The sellers are wanting to sell the property all together and As-Is. It could be restored, but the best use may be to redevelop it into apartments with retail below. The property would have a great view of the river for apartments/condos above the first floor.
From the street level it don’t look like a big footprint but it’s a huge space. Noted that the older pic shows a grocery next door. Downtown Milwaukie could use one these days.
Last one to know I guess but Gold Dust Meridian wasn’t always a cool, cozy bar. Its previous life was a Realtor shop. Then maybe accountant offices? The interiors have a solid mid-century vibe (love that roofline) and it feels like it could’ve always been a bar. So, kudos who saw that vision to make it so.
What I did discover though was a newspaper clip from the mid-50s titled “Art Murals Can Add Color to Modern Offices,” that mentions Nelson Sandgren ( a painter and printmaker who taught at Oregon State University for thirty-eight years, from 1948 until 1986) and a mural he created for the once offices, described as “12x3 foot mural decorating a wall in the office of Preferred Properties.”
The mural is described as a “well designed to incorporate forms suggesting the city—house plan, plot of city area, churches, public buildings, residential areas, parks, business and industry.”
I’m gonna guess it’s long gone. I’ll guess I’ll have to go back and order an Old Fashioned and ask around.
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Transforming Paris 'pitched' rooftops into green and accessible spaces
The big challenge: An estimated 70-80% of Paris buildings have zinc roofs that not only actively contribute to rising temperatures by absorbing the sun’s heat, but they also slope.
The solution? One organization want to start with wooden platforms fixed across the sloping panels to create roof gardens, terraces and even walkways.
Read how Roofscapes— a startup from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, founded in 2020 by MIT graduate students—says adding roof terraces to French capital’s buildings could boost biodiversity and tackle summer heat.
Micro is the perfect companion for new entrepreneurs looking to take those first steps or for those who want to stay small and agile.
Not ready for brick and mortar? How about a micro coffee cart? I snapped this pic on a walk through a Portland neighborhood and it inspired this post. It's got good foot traffic and I bet it's going to do well at that spot. And if not, move to a better location. (Don't get me wrong, I still love sitting in a coffeeshop but this is a great alternative.)
I guess I’m late to the party but here’s a word I just learned about: streeterie.
Sure, there’s “parklet,” “outdoor dining,” and temporary (well, not-so) outdoor dining for Covid.
Streeteries, I learned are:
“outdoor extensions of restaurants or cafes, primarily designed to provide additional seating for diners. They are meant to enhance the dining experience by allowing customers to eat outdoors. Typically owned and operated by the restaurant or business they are associated with, they existed before the COVID-19 pandemic as a way for businesses to expand their seating capacity and provide al fresco dining.”
So, yeah, basically, tables set outside.
However, Covid dining spaces on the other hand were created in response to the pandemic to
“facilitate safe dining during lockdowns and social distancing measures. They served as a way for restaurants to continue serving customers while complying with health and safety guidelines.”
Often set up by local governments and municipalities in collaboration with restaurants, they usually involve closing off sections of streets or using public spaces for dining (with much gnashing of the teeth!) Though they were intended as temporary solutions, they’re sticking around - which I’m all for.
The only distinction I really see is that streeteries are typically permanent or semi-permanent extensions, where COVID outdoor dining spaces were temporary measures implemented during the pandemic—but in many cities have stayed put and become permanent.
The photos below were shot in April and May 2020 around Portland, Oregon. Quickly constructed, each one of these are still up and running - and each have been built out as more permanent structures. I frequent each a lot as well, yep, even in winter.
These types of dining options—though criticized for their designs - have created more spaces for diners, have brought back street life and built community. And as they evolve, yes, so has their design.