In anticipation of a weekend spent watching a LOT of figure skating with Sweetie (who really knows and adores the sport and makes it more enjoyable to watch with), I needed to take a little spin on my bike. I decided that, with the cold weather, a short neighborhood loop was in order.
I pedaled easily through Woodlawn and rode over to pal Jackie's house near Jefferson HS. Jackie makes fascinating portraiture art from recycled bottle caps:
(D. Boone by J. Sauriol. More examples can be found at:
http://ditsansoucy.com/BOTTLECAPS.html )
...and friends like me leave little bags of bottle cap offerings on her porch from time to time. After that I made my way over the N. Albina and then onto Mississippi Avenue.
Mississippi Avenue has undergone a gentrification so complete and hip it's spooky. It's still in process; taller apartment and condo buildings are still going up even as all the little boutiques have been up and running for a few years now. But ten years ago, Mississippi was still run-down, depressed and funky, with lots of boarded-up buildings and few viable businesses, and a population that consisted mostly of older people of color who had lived there for decades.
Today, North Mississippi just west of Shaver looks like this:
...and as I rode down Mississippi towards Fremont, I counted scores of white faces and only three black faces in a ten-block distance. Do black and latino people still live in the Mississippi neighborhood? Sure. They mostly live several blocks east of Mississippi, in small apartment buildings that are holdovers from the public housing projects of the 1970's and 80's, and in the handful of smaller rental houses that are still to be found in the neighborhood. It was a strange feeling, pedaling along easily on my bicycle in a place where bicycling is more than okay, it's actually hip; and feeling like we've overlaid a new facade and population on a neighborhood. On the one hand, the development probably saved a lot of these old buildings from outright demolition. On the other hand, quite a few of the neighborhood's former residents no longer live here; where have they gone? I don't know. The trend continues on Dekum, near our house, where buildings are being gutted and renovated and new businesses are posting signs advising of spring 2009 openings.
I turned left onto Fremont and discovered a new business called Flavour. Flavour serves coffee, ice cream, and hot waffles. Remembering the wonderful waffle I'd had at the USGP races last month, I checked in and discovered that Flavour indeed offers a Belgian waffle with Nutella folded into it. I made a mental note to treat myself sometime soon, while it was still cold enough out to enjoy it and I was a little more flush with cash. I continued on to Williams, turned left again and made a nice loop back to the house. It was a short ride, but very pleasant in the bracing cold air.
I pedaled easily through Woodlawn and rode over to pal Jackie's house near Jefferson HS. Jackie makes fascinating portraiture art from recycled bottle caps:
(D. Boone by J. Sauriol. More examples can be found at: http://ditsansoucy.com/BOTTLECAPS.html )
...and friends like me leave little bags of bottle cap offerings on her porch from time to time. After that I made my way over the N. Albina and then onto Mississippi Avenue.
Mississippi Avenue has undergone a gentrification so complete and hip it's spooky. It's still in process; taller apartment and condo buildings are still going up even as all the little boutiques have been up and running for a few years now. But ten years ago, Mississippi was still run-down, depressed and funky, with lots of boarded-up buildings and few viable businesses, and a population that consisted mostly of older people of color who had lived there for decades.
Today, North Mississippi just west of Shaver looks like this:
...and as I rode down Mississippi towards Fremont, I counted scores of white faces and only three black faces in a ten-block distance. Do black and latino people still live in the Mississippi neighborhood? Sure. They mostly live several blocks east of Mississippi, in small apartment buildings that are holdovers from the public housing projects of the 1970's and 80's, and in the handful of smaller rental houses that are still to be found in the neighborhood. It was a strange feeling, pedaling along easily on my bicycle in a place where bicycling is more than okay, it's actually hip; and feeling like we've overlaid a new facade and population on a neighborhood. On the one hand, the development probably saved a lot of these old buildings from outright demolition. On the other hand, quite a few of the neighborhood's former residents no longer live here; where have they gone? I don't know. The trend continues on Dekum, near our house, where buildings are being gutted and renovated and new businesses are posting signs advising of spring 2009 openings.
I turned left onto Fremont and discovered a new business called Flavour. Flavour serves coffee, ice cream, and hot waffles. Remembering the wonderful waffle I'd had at the USGP races last month, I checked in and discovered that Flavour indeed offers a Belgian waffle with Nutella folded into it. I made a mental note to treat myself sometime soon, while it was still cold enough out to enjoy it and I was a little more flush with cash. I continued on to Williams, turned left again and made a nice loop back to the house. It was a short ride, but very pleasant in the bracing cold air.