Dave Knows Portland

Northeast Portland Sunday Parkways (25-September-2011)

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Sunday ParkwaysThis year’s fifth and final Portland Sunday Parkways takes place in Northeast Portland on September 25, 2011.

Spend your Sunday afternoon (noon to 5pm) winding your way on bike or foot through mostly residential streets free of car traffic, from one park to the next.

This year’s 8 mile loop connects Northeast Portland’s Woodlawn, Fernhill, and Alberta Parks with marketplaces at Durham Street and Rigler School. Enjoy food, music and activities at all the stops along the route.

Download the PDF map, and find more details, at PortlandSundayParkways.org.

Video Interlude: Portland Aerial Tram

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This video, which I found on Vimeo, is by Litmus Films.

It had been a couple of years since I had taken a ride on this thing, and I got a couple new picture styles for my 60d so I figured I would go out and get a few shots. This was shot, edited and graded this morning. The custom picture styles for canon DSLRs are amazing, flat out awesome really. They make color grading/correction much easier and you end up with a very rich finished product. This was shot at/on the Portland Aerial Tram, at OHSU South Waterfront. Check it out, its pretty impressive.

Belmont Street Fair (10 September 2011)

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Belmont Street FairThe 15th Annual Belmont Street Fair takes place Saturday, September 10, 2011 from noon until 8pm. The fair extends from 20th to 48th on Southeast Belmont, with car free blocks from 33rd to 37th.

Sponsored by the Belmont Area Business Association and the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association, the fair features over 150 craft booths, multiple music stages, food vendors, and activities for the kids. Free shuttles take visitors to various stops the entire stretch of the festival from 20th to 48th.

This is one of my favorite Portland street fairs. Car free streets make it more pleasant than the Hawthorne Street Fair. Most of the fair activities take place within a few car free blocks between SE 34th and 37th, so it’s easy to take in the whole thing. And the Belmont Street Fair is not nearly as crowded as the Mississippi Street Fair.

I had a great time at the festival the past two years – here are my reviews: 2010 and 2009.

September 5, 1986: MAX Light Rail Debuts

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Newer MAX train at a stop - with famous Dave Knows Portland ad!TriMet‘s first Metropolitan Area Express light rail line (better known as MAX) opened to the public on Friday, September 5, 1986 (The Oregonian, 6 September 1986).

Tri-Met’s long-awaited light-rail system opened Friday under sunny skies and an aura of good will as thousands of local residents took advantage of free rides and crowded aboard the sleek new trains for a trip on the 15-mile line between Portland and Gresham.

“MAX is open for business – let the rides begin,” said James E. Cowen, Tri-Met general manager, as he officially opened the system to the public at 12:26 p.m. at Pioneer Courthouse Square following a round of opening ceremonies at various stations along the line.

Since 1986 the system has expanded from its original 15 miles and 30 stations to 52 miles and 85 stations on multiple lines.

August 31, 1997: Low-Floor MAX Cars Debut, Two New Stations Open

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On Sunday, August 31, 1997 TriMet celebrated the debut of the new low-floor MAX trains at brand new Kings Hill Station. Yards away the Civic Stadium (now Jeld-Wen Field) MAX station also opened that day (The Oregonian, 1 September 1997).

Tri-Met introduced Portland to the nation’s first low-floor light-rail cars Sunday, putting smiles on the faces of riders, especially those who use wheelchairs.

The low-floor vehicles, costing $2.5 million each, eliminate the steps and mechanical lifts needed to board MAX’s high-floor cars. Within a year, every two-car train will have at least one low-floor car on the expanded rail system from Gresham to Hillsboro.

The first of the low-floor cars went into service Sunday, the same day Tri-Met opened two new stations on the line heading west of downtown.

“This really eliminates having to use wheelchair lifts and having to slow the system down,” said Bob Pike, sitting in a wheelchair on a low-floor car. “It enables someone in a wheelchair to get on the train in the same way everyone else does.”

MAX was the first light-rail system in North America to use the low-floor cars, which were manufactured in Sacramento. The Kings Hill and Civic Stadium stations debuted a year before the Westside MAX Blue Line opened.