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Monday, October 25, 2010

Portland Style, Late Aughts

[Updated!]

When you look at pictures of people in Portland, Oregon in the 1970s, you see fashion half way between logger and hippie. You might also see Volkswagens or pick-ups. Thirty-five years from now, when people look for iconic pictures of our era, they could do worse than the one I snapped this afternoon, annotated for posterity (click to enlarge):



  1. Rainy pavement (some things never change).
  2. Horse hitching rings, suggestive of transportation circa 1900.
  3. Bicycle, suggestive of transportation 2010.
  4. Prius, the VW bug of 2010.
  5. Fashionable cyclist, with accoutrement (keys on carabiner, shoulder bag, pocket lock, shorts in late October, tattoo).
  6. [Per insightful comments, blended] "Telephone pole with 11 million staples and the fragments of every local band flyer for the last 25 years of hardcore bands playing shows for no money at Satyricon."
Unfortunately, this cyclist has chosen a Pabst Blue Ribbon tattoo, which may ignite a debate among future scholars about the actual popularity of local microbrews.

9 comments:

  1. No mention of the electrical pole with 11 million staples and the fragments of every local band flyer for the last 25 years.

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  2. Yeah, the telephone pole should be annotated, "Markings from a thousand terrible hardcore bands playing shows for no money at Satyricon."

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  3. A terrible oversight! I liked both of your comments so well I blended them for the new #6.

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  4. Other things you missed; track stand, and no bar tape, all black

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  5. That's just freakin' hilarious!

    I miss the days where I hit up every $1 show at La Luna or better known as the Pine St. Theater...

    I remember a lot more VW rabbit pickups though.... funny how you don't see them today so much! The Dasher was cool too!

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  6. Yea.... I still trying to figure out how you can use the words Portland and Fashion in the same sentence!

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  7. PBR tat? Really? PBR tat? I mean I am all for irony and/or blue-collar chic, but this is too much. The white collar types at SABMiller in London must be rolling around with laughter.

    I think the anti-craft beer sub-culture backlash is coming! Perhaps I should be the tip of the spear: how about the Oregon Macro-Brewers Fest at waterfront park. All six!, on tap!, in one location!

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  8. Only in Portland would a hipster/fixie
    (hixie? Fixter?) ride with rain booties.

    ReplyDelete