Author Archive

June 18, 2013

Experience a 100 Years of Hawthorne on the 2013 Pedalpalooza Ride about the Urban Architecture of Hawthorne

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The history of Hawthorne Boulevard is a microcosm of the history of the entire city of Portland. It reflects the city’s early beginnings in agriculture, its economic booms and busts, it’s housing expansion, and it’s movement from horse and buggies to streetcars to buses to personal cars. This Thursday, June 20, 2013, I will be leading a Pedalpalooza bike ride about the Urban Architecture of Hawthorne Boulevard, focusing on a 100 years of history from 1850 to 1950. We’ll be meeting at Albina Press on 5012 SE Hawthorne Blvd. at 2:00pm, we’ll roll at 2:30pm…Click here or here for more…

June 11, 2013

Portland World Naked Bike Ride Delivers Joy, Laughter and Community

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) may be old news to many Portlanders by now, as this year marks the 9th annual bike ride, but it was a first for me. It was an experience of a life time and one I’ll never forget. I love that while there are WNBRs hosted all over the world, Portland hosts the biggest. Last year, there were 10,000 people on the ride, and I imagine that this year was even bigger. People reported that they were still spotting riders at the starting point when they were almost to the end of the route. My…

May 28, 2013

World Naked Bike Ride!

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The World Naked Bike Ride in Portland is just a few short weeks away, taking place on Saturday, June 8th. Yes, people will be riding naked on their bikes, but for a good cause. The worldwide bike ride highlights “the vulnerability of cyclists everywhere and decries society’s dependence on pollution-based transport” and is meant to bring people together in support and celebration of cycling. A little bit of background: The first World Naked Bike ride took place in 2004, but before that, a lot of different organizations put on smaller naked bike rides around the world. In Germany, naked…

May 15, 2013

The Dalai Lama Highlights the Spiritual Dimension of Saving the Planet at the Environmental Summit in Portland

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The earth is our home. There is no other place for us to go. We can’t settle on the moon. So we must take care of it, not only for this generation, but for future generations. – His Holiness the Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama is very down to earth, laughs easily, and makes jokes even when he is talking about the gravest things like global warming or humanity’s tendency to deviate from its natural benevolence. I count myself fortunate to have gotten to see the Dalai Lama speak at the Environmental Summit at the Rose Quarter last Saturday,…

May 01, 2013

Is Phoenix a City or Just a Big Suburb?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I visited Phoenix a few weeks ago and I stayed with my parents in their home in Chandler, Arizona, a suburb of the city. I wrote the following in my journal about my experience of living in Chandler. I thought you might be interested in the unvarnished thoughts of someone who has lived in suburban Phoenix, then in Central Phoenix and is now living in the central Portland. [Excerpt from my journal entry from April 18, 2013…] “Trying to live an urban life in Phoenix is just depressing. Living a suburban life in Phoenix is perfect though. It makes…

April 27, 2013

Why You Should Go Watch “Paolo Soleri: Beyond Form” Tomorrow…

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet When I asked a few of my friends here in Portland if they knew who Paolo Soleri is, they said no. When I tried to jog their memory by mentioning Arcosanti, I was met with a blank stare and still had no luck. Some of these friends were even architects or in the building industry and they didn’t know Paolo Soleri. I found this to be tragic. I think everyone should know who Paolo Soleri is, not just in Arizona, but all over the world. He was such a visionary and an uncompromising original. Yes, he worked under Frank…

April 11, 2013

In Memoriam: A Timeline of the Amazing Life and Work of Paolo Soleri

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The legendary thought leader, architect, urban planner, author, lecturer, teacher and craftsman, Paolo Soleri died yesterday, April 9, 2013, at his home in Paradise Valley. In honor of his memory and achievements, below is a timeline of his inspiring life and work that spanned the globe and influenced many people, movements, aesthetics and ways of making. 1919 – Paolo Soleri is born in Turin, Italy 1946 – Soleri moves to the U.S. after receiving a doctorate with the highest honors from the Polytechnic University of Turin 1947 – Soleri enters into apprenticeship with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West 1948…

April 03, 2013

6 Reasons I Love The Waffle Window

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I live 528 feet away from The Waffle Window on Hawthorne. I go there every Saturday morning for my people-watching + waffle fix. Below are 6 reasons why I love this place so much. 1. It generates urban vibrancy. The Waffle Window is a people magnet. Imagine the crowds and energy at a busy restaurant. The Waffle Window generates this same kind of energy but right on the street. So the whole neighborhood gets to benefit from the vibrancy it generates. People anxiously awaiting their waffles on a lovely Saturday morning in March. 2. It turns a parking lot…

April 01, 2013

In Search for the Perfect Coffee Shop in Portland: Stumptown on Division

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today marks two months since I moved to Portland. And I think I have come upon a favorite coffee shop in the southeast after some searching. Up until now, since I hadn’t found the one, I had set up a rotation of coffee shops to work from, one for each day of the week. I went to Crema on Monday, Heart Coffee Roasters on Tuesday, Townshend’s Tea House on Division on Wednesday, Heart again on Thursday, Stumptown on Belmont on Friday, Fresh Pot on Hawthorne on Saturday and Oblique on Sunday. All of these are either within walking or biking…

March 11, 2013

The Story of African Americans and Other Nonwhites in Portland, Part II

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Yesterday, I attended a wonderful museum bike tour where we visited the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center that displays the history of Japanese internment camps in Portland. And later we visited the Oregon Historical Society, and saw the All Aboard: Railroading and Portland’s Black Community exhibit, which is running through April 21st. As we looked through these exhibits of past acts of discrimination that Oregon committed, including institutionalized segregation, there was some discussion as to how it’s had a ripple effect to today. One person joked that it’s hard to tell that Oregon isn’t segregated today, as Portland is so…