Dave Knows Portland

Archives for October 2009

October 24-25: Great American Distillers Festival and Wonder Woman Day

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I don’t have much for you this weekend, but I think a gol’ darn two day booze fest makes up for it, yeah?

Great American Distillers Festival 2009Great American Distillers Festival

Samples, seminars, and mixology competitions fueled by spirits! The 5th Annual Great American Distillers Festival takes place this Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, at the Bossanova Ballroom (722 E Burnside). More . . .

wwomanday4-100Wonder Woman Day

Celebrate Wonder Woman Day IV this Sunday, October 25th at Excalibur Comics (2444 SE Hawthorne).

It’s official, Mayor Sam Adams has declared Sunday to be Wonder Woman Day in Portland! More . . .

We’re entering the doldrums of Autumn, as far as festivals and major events go. This would be the perfect weekend to participate in the activities above, and then sate yourself with poutine (purveyors of which you can find at the Dave Knows sister site, Portland Poutine). Send your poutine reviews (with photos!) to pdxpoutine @ portlandpoutine.com.

October 25: Wonder Woman Day

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wwomanday4-250Celebrate Wonder Woman Day IV this Sunday, October 25th at Excalibur Comics (2444 SE Hawthorne).

It’s official, Mayor Sam Adams has declared Sunday to be Wonder Woman Day in Portland!

From noon until 6pm, fans can take photos with Real Live Super-Heroes & Heroines and see an exhibit of top Wonder Woman collectibles. And you are encouraged to bring your kids and dress up as a super hero.

Last year’s event featured Portland radio personality Daria O’Neill as the super hero. Her husband and former LumberJax and NLL star goalie, Dallas Eliuk accompanied her to the event dressed at Batman. And yes, there’s photographic evidence.

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SP 4449 returns to Portland today

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SP 4449

The SP 4449, the star of Portland’s National Train Day celebration last May, arrives back in Portland today after a summer tour of the Midwest.

The only remaining operable “streamlined” steam locomotive of the Art Deco era will be leaving Spokane at 8pm for the last leg of the trip.

Built in 1941, this trains is 110 feet long, 10 feet wide and 16 feet tall and weighs 433 tons. The engine puts out 5,500 horsepower and the train can reach speeds over 100 mph. In 1958 it was put on display at Oaks Park, but was restored in 1974 so that it could pull the 1975-1976 Bicentennial Freedom Train.

I doubt, though, it will reach 100 mph on today’s trip.

Follow SP 4449 on Twitter – I’m hoping they announce the Union Station arrival time soon.

Update: The SP 4449 will be passing through Vancouver, Washington around 5:15pm, so it should arrive in Portland not much later.

Rosebuds* 10/20/2009

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A different take on Portland’s Platting

In the 4000-year history of the grid, American incarnations are relatively new, appearing first about 300 years ago, frequently as a simple, orthogonal and often square (such as Portland’s) ‘Hippodamian’ grid, named after the planner of Miletus around 473 BC (Fig 1).

A session in the recent 2009 New Partners for Smart Growth conference focused on ‘The Beautiful American Grid — the Embodiment of Smart Growth,’ which lamented the fact that the grid ‘gets no respect’.

Beloved and Abandoned: A Platting Named Portland at Planetizen

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