Portland Murals: 2007

Friday, August 31, 2007

VFW Mural

Here's a hippy dippy on the very manly VFW building at the end of Hawthorne. Hippies and veterans together? See, we can all get along!

These guys are plastered on the walls of a saloon on Hawthorne and SE 48th where I've been told Tonya Harding used to bartend. Tonya's moved on from the bar, ice skating, knee capping, and boxing to take up the meth life, but luckily for us the murals remain.

Sneaky mural

If you're wandering down SE 48th towards Hawthorne and not paying attention you're more than likely to miss this hidden mural advertisement for the Mt. Tabor Theater (brought to you by Coke!). The trees and mountains are wonderfully typical of so many murals seen around PDX.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Plaid Pantry Mural

This mural was a little hard to get to, it's squeezed between a tree and a bus stop. The mural lives on the side of a Plaid Pantry (Portland's equivalent of a 7-11) and is about the Buckman neighborhood. Lots of sun, flowers, and trees; but what it doesn't depict is the Sassy's strip club that lives just on the next block.

3 Murals on SE Belmont

These murals all live on the exterior of a ramshackle garage(?) on SE Belmont near SE 32nd. The first mural reminds me of the fight scene from the Borat movie, the third mural reminds me of something out of Yellow Submarine. My favorite, though, is the second one. I think it's a nun crying out, "Eeeeeaaaarrrrreeeeeeeghhhhh!" which is nunish for, "I'm tired of this hat!"

Dixie Mattress Co.

Ok, this doesn't really qualify as a mural but I found the sign so intriguing that I just wanted to include it. I have a mental image of Bo and Luke (and Daisy!) buying their mattresses from this store. Do you think they ever cared about sleep numbers in the old south? I think Roscoe just slept in the back of his car with Flash, no mattress for him.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Outside a Pool Hall

I came across this mural as I was walking down Sandy Blvd. It's contains various scenes: a proprietor in a newspaper shop, a cat in a window, and guys playing pool. It's kinda hard to see but it's worth the eye-squinting effort.

Walgreens Nature Scene

Here in Portland even our apothecaries like to have nature plastered on the walls of their businesses. This mystical landscape that includes two deer, one with it's head propped up ("Is that a bear I hear???" it must be thinking) is found at the Walgreen's on 39th and Belmont.

Spanish Mission on Sandy???

For those unfamiliar with Portland's Sandy Blvd, it's one of those American wasteland thoroughfares lined with fast food restaurants and assorted mom & pop stores, clubs, and carpet cleaning businesses. Above a store that sells walkers, larks, and canes for people with disabilities is a lone Spanish Mission. I think before it sold old people stuff, the building housed a store. But I don't believe the store was even Mexican! Life is a mystery.

The Mural that Started it All

This mural is located just down the street from our house. It's kinda faded, kinda weird, kinda cool. If you can see, the mountainscape is painted to look like it's framed and hanging from a nail. Hmmmmmmm...not sure what was going on there....

Kids' Murals

These are a couple of many murals located on a wall at a local elementary school. Which it is, I'm unsure. Sorry, but can get back to you on that one if you'd like. I was just having fun walking in the sun and taking pics.

Alice in Wonderland

Here's another mural from the SE. I wonder if the person was commissioned to do a scene from Alice in Wonderland or if he/she are just big fans and painted what moved them. It's not what I would've chosen, but so what. It does make me think of that Tom Petty video...Oh yeah. Sorry about the shadow. Damn sun and telephone pole!