Dave Knows Portland

July 9, 1990: OMSI Breaks Ground at New Location on Banks of the Willamette River

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OMSIThe Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, better known today as OMSI, was created by Portland Park Commissioner Colonel L.L.Hawkins in 1903, and began as merely a collection of odd artifacts scattered about in Portland’s City Hall.

The museum moved to a house in NE Portland in 1949, before finding a new home in Washington Park in 1957. The museum was a success, and by the mid-1980s a campaign began to build a bigger facility on the east bank of the Willamette River.

Ground was broken on that new, current, location on July 9, 1990.

OMSI opened at the new location on October 24, 1992. It is now one of the ten largest science centers in the country. The museum sports, in addition to hundreds of science exhibits, an OMNIMAX Dome Theater, a 200-seat planetarium, and even a submarine.

OMSI After Dark: Science Is Brewing (29-June-2011)

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OMSI After DarkOMSI After Dark presents Science is Brewing this Wednesday, June 29, 2011.

Treat yourself to childfree, brain-building science fun at OMSI After Dark! Check out live demos, new featured exhibitions, and old favorites. Sample tasty snacks and sweets along with beer and wine, and talk to regional food and beverage artisans about the science behind them. The OMSI Cafe will be open with a special dinner menu and cash bars will be available for those who want more than just a taste! It’s geeks gone wild!

Yup, childfree OMSI! With a bar!

Bring cash for the beer and wine bar. Enjoy special menu items at the OMSI Cafe.

Featured science demonstrations and activities include Physics of Beer Pong, Grain to Growler, and Microbrew Under the Microscope. Portland Taiko will perform, and test your beer smarts with Beer Trivia and What’s that Smell?! The Aroma of Hops.

Hours are 7pm to 11pm. Brew Package admission is $25 for nonmembers ($15 for members), and includes a commemorative pint glass and 10 tokens. You can buy tickets online (recommended), or at the door (no reservations necessary). If you don’t want/need the brew package, admission is $12 for non-members, and free for members. 21 and over only!

June 7, 1985: The Goonies Released to Theaters

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Oregon Film Museum (formerly Clatsop County Jail)The Goonies opened in theaters on June 7, 1985. The Oregonian film reviewer Ted Mahar’s description of the film appeared in the paper that day:

“Goonies,” is a whizzingly paced adventure comedy about eight misfits who have the time (and fright) of their lives when one of them literally stumbled across a pirate treasure map. But while pursuing the treasure, they are also fleeing two cretinous bandit brothers and their gun moll mom through a dangerous maze of caves.

Personally I would describe the film as “eight pre-teens screaming for two hours,” but apparently I’m in the minority with my distaste – the $20 million Spielberg-produced film grossed over $60 million.

Partly filmed in and around Astoria and Cannon Beach, The Goonies really hit a chord with a lot of people (i.e. pre-teens), and is celebrated to this day on the North Coast. In fact Astoria threw a Goonies 25th Anniversary Celebration in 2010, and Mayer Willis Van Dusen has declared today, June 7 to be Goonies Day in Astoria, Oregon. So, uh, happy Goonies Day!

Photo credit: The old Clatsop County Jail photo by Heather at Mile73.com. The film opens with the “two cretinous bandit brothers” escaping from said jail, which now houses the Oregon Film Museum.

Portland Memorial Day Weekend Amusements (2011)

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Lots of ways to enjoy the rain this holiday weekend!

Friday

Portland Art MuseumPortland Art Museum Free Day

Enjoy free admission to the Portland Art Museum on Friday, May 27, 2011 from 5pm until 8pm!

The museum offers free admission ever fourth Friday (5pm-8pm) of the month, so if you can’t make it this week, mark June 24, 2011 on your calendar! [more]

Fireworks!Rose Festival Fireworks Spectacular

The 2011 Rose Lighting Ceremony & Fireworks spectacular takes place Friday, May 27.

Festivities begin at 8pm at Tom McCall Waterfront Park with a special performance by the Curtis Salgado Band.

The Rose Lighting Ceremony takes place at 9:45pm, followed at 10pm by the one of the state’s largest fireworks displays. [more]

Saturday

John Gets WastedJOHN GETS WASTED’s World Premiere

ULTIMATE PORTLAND PREMIERE-Hollywood Theatre, May 28th, 7pm. This is it, kids, the real-deal premiere. 450 seats, a big-ass screen, beer. Several prominent local media people are already declaring this to be the movie event of the summer. [more]

Saturday-Sunday

Pee Wee's Big AdventureFleur de Lethal Cinematheque Presents: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

The third annual Pee Wee’s BIG Weekend takes place Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29, 2011 at the Bagdad Theater (3702 SE Hawthorne).

Portlanders love certain things: “movies, beer and dressing in silly costumes to name a few. But the bicycle – oh the bicycle – how we love the bicycle!” [more]

Saturday-Monday

Multnomah County Fair - Bunnies!Multnomah County Fair

The 2011 Multnomah County Fair takes place on Memorial Day Weekend at Portland’s historic Oaks Park.

Seriously, don’t miss this! Heather and I had a blast at the 2010 fair – what’s not to like about red necks, funnel cakes, and award winning vegetables? And bunnies!? [more]

Sunday

Portland TimbersPortland Timbers vs DC United

The Portland Timbers (5-3-2) aim to remain undefeated at home in league play when D.C. United (3-4-3) visit today for an afternoon match.

The Timbers have not been scoring like they did the first two games at home, which they won 4-2 and 3-2. But their defense has improved dramatically: they’ve won the last three home games with 1-0 score lines. [more]

Portland Youth PhilharmonicPortland Youth Philharmonic Free Concert

America’s first youth orchestra, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, celebrates their 87th season with a free concert on Sunday, May 29, 2011.

The program features: Giuseppe Verdi’s Overture to La Forza del Destino; John Caughman’s Sinfonietta; Howard Hanson’s Fanfare for the Signal Corps; and, the showpiece, Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 3. [more]

Monday

KBOO and Hall of RecordsKBOO’s Monday Sampler Live from Hall of Records

Join KBOO at Hall of Records (3342 SE Belmont) on Monday, May 30, 2011 from 2pm until 4pm for a special live remote broadcast of The Monday Sampler radio show hosted by Matthew Clark.

The Sexy Water Spiders will perform live during the broadcast, and from the Hall of Records tap, Hopworks‘ special KBOO IPA will be available. [more]

Witch of KodakeryHistory Pub

Trials and Triumphs of an Oregon Photographer: Myra Albert Wiggins 1869-1956, this month’s History Pub event , takes place Monday, May 30, 2011 at the Kennedy School (5736 NE 33rd) at 7pm.

“Carole Glauber’s book, Witch of Kodakery: The Photography of Myra Albert Wiggins, is the groundbreaking biography of Myra Albert Wiggins, the successful turn of the 20th-century Oregon photographer and painter with connections to New York photographer Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession.” [more]

Tuesday

Get back to work!

And for even more weekend events and activities, check out the Dave Knows Calendar, and visit Around the Sun, Blogging Portland on the Cheap, and PDX Pipeline!