Like many cities, Portland, OR (PDX) is changing quickly. C’est la vie - I came late to the game myself. But my personal beef is with destruction of landmarks from Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy. They knocked down the St. Francis hotel, one of the more dramatic examples. And while I’m not positive about this, I believe the opening ‘home movie’ shots of the crew cutting up where shot under the LoveJoy viaduct, now gone. This used to be my bike route when I worked in the bottleshop of a nearby brewery. There is still a ramp off the Broadway bridge that leads in this direction, but it isn’t the great seedy view over warehouses the Pearl district still was in the late 90’s. I’m sure all those yuppifucks enjoy their current high rents, views and conviences, not to mention those fat developer’s bankaccounts, but anyway…

The good news is: common sense did prevail enough to be sure another artistic landmark was preseved. Back in the late 40’s, Greek railroadman Tom E. Stefopoulos drew these great chalk drawing on the concrete columns that supported the viaduct during his spare moments working as a switchman. The columns were saved and now sit half a block north of NW Everett and 10th in front of some flash condo building. True, what you see are large photo reproductions encased in plexi of the actual drawing that lie beneath, but in the name of preservation, this was most likely the best route to go. You can see some more of my personal shots of the columns in their new home here. Also, for cultish fans of the film, an exploration of “hats on beds” that ties into a C. McCarthy novel.