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re:PDX is written by Ron Ares, broker and market analyst affiliated with M Realty LLC in Portland, Oregon.
Phone: 503-460-7992
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Friday Fun – Portland At Night, Time-Lapse Video
I’m a sucker for time-lapse video, especially if Portland scenes are involved. Here’s a beaut:
Photography by Lance Page. Music soundtrack provided by Andrew Parish.
Friday Fun – We Love our Timbers
Major League Soccer fans across the country know that Portland has the most rabid, passionate fans in the league. Sure, the Blazers are the top game in town, but the Portland Timbers are giving them a run for their money when it comes to promotion.
Coach John Spencer is a big part of that. And whenever I need a laugh, this Alaska Airlines ad does the trick:
Friday Fun – “If Public Art Could Talk”
Another Portland-y vid from Mike Vogel, this one titled “If Public Art Could Talk“.
It’s mostly safe for work.
Friday Fun: ‘Tiny Portland’
I just love this 1-minute-long, a-day-in-the-life video montage of Portland.
Produced by local film maker Mike Vogel. Music by Trevor Bennett.
Midcentury modern fans get a Rummer fix
Modern home enthusiasts, take heart.
While the popular Street of Eames home tour ended its 5-year run last spring, Atomic Ranch fans can still get their fill of California modernist design with the Rummer/Oak Hills House Tour, scheduled for Saturday, May 21 between 10am and 4pm.
Sponsored by the Historic Preservation League of Oregon, the tour features inside peeks at 8 Robert Rummer-designed homes in the 256-acre Oak Hills planned development just north of the Sunset Highway at Cornell Road. In addition, tourgoers get a midcentury modern architecture lecture and a Q&A session with Mr. Rummer himself.
Hat tip to M Realty’s modern home specialist, Marisa Swenson.
Find Your Badass Portland Neighborhood
As a Realtor, it’s not uncommon to field questions about which neighborhoods have low crime, good schools, ‘like-minded’ neighbors (either politically or demographically), and other personal preferences.
Unfortunately, Fair Housing laws limit our ability to guide or ‘steer’ people into specific neighborhoods based on our opinion of a neighborhood’s racial complexion, family-friendliness, safety, and other social factors. Often, we just point them to the raw data, where available, and let them come to their own conclusion.
Over the years, sites like PortlandMaps, Walkscore, and others have made this process a lot easier, through geomapping and other visualizations. For example, I love M Realty’s Walkscore heatmap view for searching in highly walkable neighborhoods.
But what if someone wants to know where Portland’s badass neighborhoods are?
I have little to no hipster in me, so I wouldn’t even know where to start. But a couple local dudes apparently do and have created the city’s first bad-assness index.
The factors:
- Public transportation availablity. Good.
- Property values. Yes.
- Bike access. Sure.
- Beer availability. Still with you.
- Coffee locations. Makes sense.
- Food cart proximity. I suppose…
- Pinball availability…um.
- Strip clubs…no comment.
Pull together the data, geocode it, and turn it into a heatmap, and voila — Portland’s badass neighborhoods (PDF).
Areas of town get ratings from from ‘Hella Badass’ to “Flannelville” to ‘Vancouverish’ at the low end (sorry my Clark Country friends). The Boise neighbhorhood gets top prize, followed closely by Goose Hollow and Oldtown/Chinatown. Your mileage may vary, as they say.
Shout out to Rick Turoczy at the Silicon Florist for the find. From Dillon Mahmoudi on Vimeo.
Portland: A City Where Young People Go to Retire
Fred Armisen pokes fun at Portland and its hipster scene in his new show, Portlandia.
(Media link here if video doesn’t appear below.)
You’ve got to admit, some of it’s true 
It would be more funny if it weren’t so painful
Jon Stewart has a knack for putting a fine point on it. Actually, a serrated edge:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Foreclosure Crisis |
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And there’s more:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Mortgage Bankers Association Strategic Default |
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Sigh.
Wipeout Weekend
Completely off the real estate topic today, but I bumped into this video posted at oregonlive.com, courtesy of the Windell Camp.
It’s two minutes and forty-seven seconds of epic flameouts. Enjoy.
Ouch.
Chickens Out, Goats In for 2010
To stay on the cutting edge of Portland’s urban farming scene, you’ll need to trade in your chicken coop for pygmy goats, according to the latest Willamette Week.
Here are 14 people (including one of my current clients, very cool) and trends to follow in 2010.
(Photo courtesy of Monterey Bay Equestrian Center.)
