We drove up to Portland for Easter dinner with son Ted and his GF, who own a house in the Montavilla district in Portland. It was originally a little village and development out past the east side of the city, at the foot of Mount Tabor. Ted is an excellent cook, and while the leg of lamb was roasting in the oven, we went out for a little walk in the neighborhood. Like Eugene, Portland is CC nirvana; if I had shot everything suitable, it would have slowed down the walk to a snail’s pace. So here’s a sampling of the most colorful ones, starting with this hearse that lives in front of this re-muddled house. Very suitable; they’re taking the job of Keeping Portland Weird seriously, even if that’s an oxymoron.
This Malibu coupe is the antithesis of weird, having once been one the most common sights on the streets. Where have they all gone, other than the ones that have been resto-modded with a 502 under the hood?
Next up was this rather tough and self-assured-looking Chevy pickup. What’s that on its front fender?
Aha; keeping a tally of the ‘kills’.
The guy who lives here know what he likes, and they both start with the number ‘9’. He has two 928s and two 9-3s, one of which he was using just then.
Joe Isuzu retired here some years back. There’s sometimes as many as five Isuzus in the drive and out front; only three today. Maybe he and the wife went separate ways that day.
This is the new barber shop that just opened recently. Very hipster, naturally. Nikki wanted to go in and get a hot towel shave.
Younger son Will said whoa!, did those seats in the back of that thing come with it originally? Yes they did. It was the seventies…
Japanese compact cars; then and…more recently.
A nice study in contrasting shapes.
These are newly-arrived neighbors, and they brought with them a ’70 Ford convertible that was in the process of getting fixed up. A good way to spend Easter Sunday.
As was the lamb and the other Middle Eastern dishes to go with it.
I have found certain towns in Michigan just as weird, safe, and CC-friendly as Portland and Eugene seem to be, yet I lack the courage to do a walk-and-talk in these towns. Someday, someday…
Yes, I’ve never seen such a concentration of vintage cars in a state with so much salt on the roads.
That yellow Corolla (?) looks,like a Bitter from side-on.
+1 good spot Don
1313 Mockingbird Lane…. 🙂
The thing that always strikes me with Paul’s pictures of local neighborhoods are the vast quantities of vintage cars to be found………most with intact, cancer-free bodies. All along I pictured the Portland environment as a damp one, but I now wonder with these curbside classics to be found. Back here in the east, this simply is not the case. The application of road salt and brine on our winter roadways does in even the latest in Detroit and foreign cars and trucks.
I like that sense of humor that pervades your area as well, the Hearse and the “Kill” marks as proof…
The Pacific Northwest is usually damp in the Winter, but I think only 50 miles or less of Oregon’s public roads are salted. Older cars can develop leaking problems, but rust not so much.
The Saab in the picture is a 900. Probably of the early NG years.
Does Joe Isuzu only own I-Marks?
That 69 Malibu looks mint.
“Does Joe Isuzu only own I-Marks?”
No, the truck is a P’up.
I would have thought Joe would have a slightly less modest home.
Wow – that 70 Ford convertible is a rare one. Someone near me has a pristine white one that only rarely comes out of the garage.
That 69 Malibu brings back memories, as it is quite like one that a friend asked me to look over around 1980 or so to see if it was worth buying. I wasn’t that well versed in Chevys, but it drove decently and they bought it. A gold 2 door hardtop, black vinyl roof and those wheelcovers. 307/Glide, like most of them were.
Agreed. Even out here in the no-rust zone, for some reason ’69-’70 big Fords are exceedingly rare. Now I’ve caught two in about as many weeks.
Yes, everything that exists in the north american automotive universe can be found in Portland. The more eclectic neighborhoods are definitely home to the more eclectic cars. Just yesterday driving through Sellwood I must have seen 20 cars worthy of a CC write-up. Thanks for opening my eyes to how spoiled for choice we Oregonians are!
What’s strange to me is that Beetles are rare. I thought they would just keep on tickin. At least here in NYC.
I see at least one Beetle every time I drive in Portland. When I buy a CC again, it’ll be a Ghia or Beetle. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen many Ghias here at all.
The damn _kids_ killed off the Air Cooled VW’s ~ the only way they last is to keep them close to stock .
Kids don’t have good reasoning skills so they modify them and then flat refuse to do even basic maintenance much less to extra necessary to keep any modified vehicle going so they die and then the same kids break them for parts….
it’s hard to imagine now but Air Cooled VW’s used to litter America like cheap Toyotas do now .
-Nate
Come down the coast a few hundred miles and air cooled VW’s are everywhere. I dont have a phone with a camera right now, but Ive posted a bunch in the CC Cohort photographed on the streets of Redondo Beach. Long Beach and LA Harbor areas have huge numbers.
I thought the frigid Northeast would be where Beetles would still be common. I remember all the neighbors getting together to lift one out of its snow bound spot.
I saw a Tesla that was parked and being charged on SW Corbett the other day. The light was terrible or I would have snapped pictures and written up a CC post.
Nice indeed and since I used to live in the North Tabor neighborhood at 5712 NE Glisan Street I see Paul and I have found some of the same cool sights. Pretty sure I photographed that Brat last Flag Day, but maybe it was another Brat. Oh by the way Paul, you missed the house that has 6 Studebakers parked around it, it is pretty cool. Love the funny photo in front of the barber shop. Wonder why the Chevy pickup has such a gap between the bed and cab?
Montavilla and North Tabor sure are an interesting place since they are east of Laurelhurst, but the copious amount of street trees do not exist in the same manner as they do in Laurelhurst. Unlike Laurelhurst there is a wider variety of buildings in those neighborhoods, there are more concrete roads, dirt roads, and it is easier to have stuff laying around like you would see in the countryside. You can really see the interesting changes in architecture as you drive/bike Eastward on Glisan as it progresses from early to mid to later 20th Century the closer you get to 82nd Avenue and Deep East Portland. It boggles my mind to think that North Tabor and Montavilla were once the Eastern edge of Portland with countryside between there and Gresham.
Lived on SE 79th st. between Division and Powell at the base of Mt. Tabor in the 60’s. The neighborhood still looks much the same, but all 3 neighborhood schools have been closed since then. Mt. Tabor was our playground, it was a short walk from the house. I remember there used to be a Soap Box Racer track on Mt. Tabor that is now long gone. Shame they have to remove those beautiful open water reservoirs that are about 100 years old. I believe the primary school building that I went to is now used as part of a special needs school. Beautiful neighborhood.
Middle Eastern food on Easter. Something I could only get my dad to agree with actually doing.
Would it be as fun as it looks to ride in the backseats of that Brat?
Re-muddled! Great word for a house that’s trying to be Dutch, Italianate, Victorian, and Cape Cod all at once. Complete with a picket fence on the witch’s hat. Crowned by a weathervane, lightning rod, 1950 antenna and 2000 antenna. Four centuries of roof equipment.
The Dandy Warhols ” Bohemian Like You ” started playing in my head as soon as I saw the hearse. Wasn’t the music video filmed in Portland?