Return to the 'Hood

The Old Sloat went back to the neighborhood where he was raised as a pup, many moons ago. Kennedy School was the next school up from the Old Sloat's alma mater, Faubion, 8th grade class of '65. At the time, Kennedy was a rather rickety building that had been in service for 50 years. Ten years later, it was closed. It lay empty for a while, then in the 90s McMenamins rescued it from the wrecking ball and did a remarkable renovation, adding modcons where absolutely necessary but keeping all the other ancient accoutrements-the grilled lights and bank of radiators in the gym; the blackboards in the classrooms converted to hotel rooms; the old floors and walls. The result is an amazing museum piece that's very comfy. A live band plays in the gym almost every night; the cafeteria is now a fine restaurant; the auditorium is a theater that plays nightly movies. There are three bars, and photos and memorabilia everywhere. I recognized a couple names from my childhood days; I played baseball and basketball with some kids from Kennedy. It's just really neat, especially to an old sloat who grew up in the neighborhood. Did I mention there's a brewery on the premises?

I couldn't hope to match the blackboard art left by previous occupants of my room. I especially liked this one.

I walked a lot as a pup...didn't learn to ride a bike til I was 12. I noticed that in Portland, almost every old sidewalk was tagged by the contractors who built them, especially in the first quarter of the twentieth century. This sidewalk is right in front of Kennedy, built a year before construction on the school began. I first noticed the Bechill Bros logo back around 1960. At the time, 1913 wasn't that far in the past. Now it's ancient by American standards. If you look closely, you can find rings embedded in some of the sidewalks of this era...used to tie up horses. Parking aids of another era. My time in Portland on this trip was very nostalgic.

Now that I'm getting old, for some reason old PDX is more interesting to me than it used to be. I reckon that's a natural reaction toward ones hometown as one ages. I had only spent one day in Portland in the past ten years, and this time I was amazed to see the changes...for the better. Many neighborhoods that had been nondescript or just plain bad 20-40 years ago have been rejuvenated and are now thriving...not necessarily upscale, but neat. In the parts of town in North, near Northeast, and near Southeast Portland maybe three fourths of the homes have been spiffied up and renovated since the 1970s. When I was a kid this Victorian on Mississippi and Skidmore was ramshackle...don't remember if it was empty but it could have been at times. You could see that it had been a classic at one time, but 40 years ago it was deteriorating in a bad neighborhood. Now it has been gloriously reborn, reflecting the blocks around it. It's bloody uplifting!