In the year 1848, Henderson Luelling, his wife, and nine children, having just completed a long arduous journey along the Oregon Trail, purchased land along the east bank of the Willamette River from a one Mr. Wilson and proceeded to slash out a 5 acre plot in order to settle down. Soon Luelling was joined by friend William Meek and the two men set to work establishing a commercial fruit tree nursery, building a saw mill, and raising a damn on the nearby Johnson Creek. Eighteen years later, 321 acres of the land would pass in a sale to East Portland resident Reverend John Sellwood. Sellwood himself has an interesting history, having first emigrated from England and settled in Illinois, he came to Oregon by land over the Panama isthmus under heavy duress as his group came under attack by Darlen Indians. The Indians killed the majority of the travelers and left the reverend shot, beaten, mutilated, and near death. “His nose was broken in with a club, one hand was burnt with powder, the other grazed with a ball, and through his body a bullet passed so near his heart that but for its contraction just at that instant would have touched it”. Following a long life preaching the bible on the west coast, he would die on August 27th, 1892 at the age of 84.

In 1882, 7 years after a freak Memorial Day horse and buggy accident resulted in him being dragged through the streets by a terror stricken horse, Sellwood would sell the 320 acre plot to the Sellwood Real Estate Company. The plot of land would come to be known as the town of Sellwood, stretching from the eastern bank of the Willamette about a mile east to (then) 10th Avenue near the border of the Oregon and California railroad line, with points north extending to Miller Street near what was then City View Park and Race Course, then south to the border of Clackamas county at Ochoco Street.

The land that passed to the Sellwood Real Estate Company was described by quasi-advertisements/articles at the time as still very much in its natural form, untouched by man, thick with centuries old fir trees and dense thickets, though several apple farms had already been established in the area as early back as 1859. A brief 1882 article within the Oregonian raises the possibility of Sellwood as a destination: “There is no more pleasant spot for family picnics near Portland, nor so free from intrusion, than under the oaks and in the groves of Sellwood”. The articles continued on to recommend that travelers go by dolly, but within a year Sellwood would replace the dolly with a steam propeller. By that year, 1883, nearly all of the 800 lots within the townsite had sold in just 9 months. In little short of 5 years over half of the townsite would be cleared with 3,000 cords of wood sold. From the start, challenges for the city included fire protection and the securing of a volunteer firefighter force; locating and securing a reliable source for drinking water; establishing an affordable means of transportation to surrounding towns; and the steady improvement of city streets, which included removing stumps, grading the streets, and installing sidewalks.

At that time Umatilla Ave, running east to west, served as the town’s main business thoroughfare. Residences were built on parallel streets, with names that you can still see to this day, including Nethalem St, Tacoma St, and Tenino St. Running north to south were avenues numbered 1st to 11th. This would change in 1891 when Portland underwent a full renaming and renumbering of streets, including the establishment of the 5 city sections: North, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest. Sellwood would sit in the Southeast and its north to south streets would all be bumped up by increments between 5 and 11 (e.g. 1st was changed to 6th, 6th to 13th, and 11th to 21st).

Sellwood was incorporated as a town in 1887 with an estimated population of 560, and in such a short time much progress had been made. One contemporary writer noted that “few who have never visited Sellwood can form an idea of what capital and enterprise combined have accomplished within a few years, and those who do take a stroll through the nascent town are filled with astonishment”. Storefronts would develop along 13th Avenue, centering at Umatilla, some of which remain there to this day. The Sorenson & Young Saw and Planing Mill (later the East Side Lumber Mill), built in 1895 on Spokane Street, served as an important place of employment for the town, as did other factories including a wool mill and door fabricator. By the end of 1887 a church, a school, a post office, several businesses, and almost 100 homes were constructed. In three more years the number of businesses had more than tripled, to include a blacksmith, a couple of hotels, two saloons, and a brewery (which, today, Sellwood is sadly lacking). Some of the more service-based establishments were still missing, like dentists, doctors and banks, which increased the residents’ desire for better transportation to the surrounding cities of Portland and Milwaukee.

As the population increased and travel to Sellwood gained in public interest, businesses grappled with a better way to connect Sellwood to Portland proper across the Willamette River to the West and points north to Mount Tabor and Vancouver—a struggle that in many ways continues to today. At the time one could access Sellwood by steamboat, ferry, or launch. The initial improvement plan in 1887 called for a line of horse, steam and engine cars expanding out from the city center across the Morrison Bridge and then branching out to points east, north, and, of course, south to Sellwood. The following year a one Mr. H. C. Campbell stepped forward with an offer to build a street railway from East Portland to Sellwood for $12,000 by fall of 1889, which residents considered but did not pursue. For many years after there were periodic rumblings of a coming electric railway from Portland through Sellwood to Oregon City, but none of these were backed up by action. Then, with the East Side Railway Company having purchased a franchise to extend through town land, a 16 mile line was finally extended to Sellwood along 13th street in 1892, and fully built through to Oregon City by 1893, servicing both freight and passengers. The East Side Railway Company, through a long line of consolidations and mergers, would later become TriMet, thus making the Sellwood line the trailblazer in what would soon become a wide net of long distance interurban electrical train transport from Portland to surrounding towns and cities.

With the streetcar now in place and prosperity continuing, population growth exploded. In 1890, the population was at 800, but by 1893 it had more than doubled to 1,800. Rumors of a pending incorporation of Sellwood into the larger city of Portland shortly followed. The sudden fiery demise of Sellwood’s electrical station in November of 1892 may have precipitated this movement towards annexation, as Sellwood was left in the dark for months without electric street lighting and one of the promised first measures upon incorporation was for Portland to furnish electric lights back to the town. Sellwood was incorporated into the larger city of Portland in 1893 and by May the electric company announced plans to extend power lines down to Sellwood. The next year residents would petition for other benefits that came with being city tax payers, including coming under jurisdiction of the city pound, the extension of city water to the neighborhood to the benefit of about 1500 people, a reduction in street car fares from 10-cents to 5 (the going rate for other Portland residents), and better fire protection via a chemical engine (as well as the added fire protection that would come with the city water line extension). By January of 1895 progress on these fronts was rapidly moving forward, including about 20 volunteers secured for the fire department, a promise of Bull Run water (the watershed that serves Portland) arriving to the neighborhood by spring, and a litigation case under development in order to reduce the 10-cent fare.

Events quickly developed from there. In February a building was secured on 5th street near Umatilla for housing the fire department along with a wagon, some fire extinguishers, ladders, axes, other tools, and even their first live fire drill, which involved extinguishing a small chimney fire. By late May the Portland water committee agreed to extend five miles of 10 inch wrought iron pipe from 20th and Division Street, down Milwaukee Street, to Sellwood at the cost of about $27,000 and the projected revenue of between $2,500 and $5,000 a year. Along with the pipe, fire hydrants would be installed along the length of Milwaukee and across Sellwood. The pipe arrived by the end of August, ground broke on September 9th, and work completed in less than 2 months. By that time in 1895 the fire department held about 100 volunteers and had just been promised delivery of a new wagon with a hose reel and hose. And though I cannot confirm the actual date, a historic ticket stub from the early 1900’s for a 5-cent fare to Sellwood confirms that at some point residents were successful in reducing the 10-cent fare.

In the next several years other advances would fail and succeed. In 1897 talks of a free Sellwood ferry sputtered to life then were quickly squashed. Then again in 1898. But this public service, as a free service, was seen by some Portland officials as one that was “not essential to the public interests nor one which it is incumbent upon the taxpayers, as a duty, to provide”. By the end of 1898 a new golf course was under construction on the old Luelling fruit orchard land adjoining the South border of town. Improvements included ground clearing, the extension of water from Sellwood pipes, and construction of a clubhouse “with every convenience used in a modern clubhouse”. Originally chartered in August of 1896, the Waverly Golf Club, now Waverley Country Club (note the added ‘e’ to the name), was originally located near 39th and Powell and moved to its current location along the Willamette River starting May of 1897.

Finally, in what now could be considered a quaint scandal, in the summer of 1898 a group of residents in town petitioned to remove Sellwood from Portland city pound jurisdiction. This action would in effect eliminate the policing of Sellwood pounds by pound officials, which residents found to be molesting in nature, resulting in “thinned flanks”, the ruin of the “pastoral beauty” of the city, and “thinned ranks of the bovine population…to an extent that threatened to stamp out the dairy industry in [Sellwood]”. The pound council acquiesced to the delight of Sellwood residents, but by early 1899 events turned foul. It seemed that without enforcement of pound law the cows ran amuck, due to the fact that the cows, which owners…

“had hitherto kept…within reasonable bounds through fear of the majesty of the law, issued forth into the streets and overran the place like the rats in the ancient village of Hamelin. They invaded gardens and feasted on vegetables that were intended for the dinners of their betters; they trampled up lawns like plumbers; they broke down fences, and made themselves unbidden guests of other and reputable cows, whose feed they devoured, like pour relations”

This poor bovine behavior lead to a quick reversal of the petition and a plea by some residents (mostly non-cow owners) to pound officials to visit Sellwood and maintain order once again. One writer in the Oregonian reflected that “a pound man came to Sellwood to see what he could do in the way of suppressing the lawlessness of the hobo element among the cows”. The cows were placed on 60 day notice, following which they would need to obey pound ordinance or risk the repercussions of the pound man—that is, they would be impounded.

By the end of the 19th century Sellwood had indeed grown, in just 18 years, from a forested unpopulated picnic destination to a thriving and fully serviced town. In the next 111 years the neighborhood would experience more opportunities and challenges, many of which echo those experienced in its infancy, while following a similar trajectory of other towns and neighborhoods across America during this time, as the automobile gained favor, competing neighborhoods developed, a series of wars rocked the world, and the shadow of the Great Depression descended upon the United States.

Furgersen7:  Actual Pain — Chasing My Pain

 
WD4D X INTROCUT: Dub of Def

*Most of these musicians offer some or all of their songs for free. Please consider supporting them by electing to purchase their music, should it strike your fancy.

netBlock describes the release as follows:

To coincide with the launch of Lawrence Lessig’s new project Rootstrikers.org – a place where people can share their personal stories of how corruption has impacted their lives, with ideas on how to fix it, in April ccMixter held a remix event called “Strike The Root”. For this event, mixters were invited to  ”contribute spoken word, pellas, samples and remixes based on the Henry David Thoreau quote: There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. ~ Henry David Thoreau”.

It’s been a while that we’ve wanted to prepare a special ccMixter themed netBloc release. The “Strike The Root” event seemed the perfect reason to do so. To help spread the word about Lessig’s important project, we’ve compiled “netBloc Vol. 34: ccMixter Strike’s The Root”.

Thanks to ccMixter and all participating artists! Thanks again to you for downloading & listening! Remember, keep the music moving share it… blog it… podcast it! If you’re in radio… support truly independent music and broadcast it!

Download and listen to the release here: http://blocsonic.com/releases/show/netbloc-vol-34-ccmixter-strikes-the-root-1

About blocSonic: blocSonic is netlabel music, it’s creative commons music. We spotlight the best of creative commons and netlabel music. blocSonic represents the next phase of the netlabel revolution. We release compilations and original releases featuring the best netaudio music from our homebase in the State of Maine.

blocSonic URL: http://blocsonic.com/

That said, I’ve been to Sharky’s at Daytona Beach. I’ve witnessed the horrible debauchery. I will never go there again. First impression = final impression. Read into it what you will, but if your first impression includes some form of physical, mental, emotional or spiritual assault then I would say that it is true, you blew your first and only chance at making a good impression. However, most first impressions are not this extreme.

Fact of the matter is that you only have one chance to make a good second impression and only one chance to make a good third impression. Suffice it to say, as many opportunities that one gives you, you have that many opportunities to make a good impression. It would seem more appropriate to say that you only have one chance to make a really bad impression, because after that the person with whom you made this aforementioned impression will likely never give you another chance. The prevalence of immediate and omnipresent opinion-based websites like Yelp! help to amplify this effect.

If I were to extrapolate from my own use of Yelp!, one is most likely to post a review following an extremely good experience or a somewhat to extremely poor experience. To not quote Tolstoy, but to paraphrase and “make my own”, one can only create an extremely good experience in one way, while one can create a poor experience in many ways. Bad waiter = bad review. Undercooked flesh burger = bad review. Somebody dropped a bomb in the bathroom and used it as the material for street art = bad review. And once the review is posted it is likely not to be altered by said reviewer despite potential subsequent and less negative experiences. So the review may not represent the full view of the reviewer but there it lies, nonetheless, in stagnant form on Yelp! And what are we, the public, to make of it?

My god, this is a long introduction. This tends to happen when I am DWW. Drunk While Writing. I usually only get drunk when there is good beer within the reach of my massive stank hair-paws. But alas, I am foreshadowing.

I preface this review because I think that Columbia River Brewing has gotten a bad rap based on bad first impressions. Much of this can be tied to their soft opening in the summer of 2010, where they somehow launched from the old Laurelwood space in Hollywood, Portland in the matter of a week after Laurelwood jumped ship. Customers coming into the brewery found a space identical to the one Laurelwood previously occupied except for one thing – the children play area was no longer present. This was a huge slap in the face to parents that were willing to pay for overpriced food and tepid stank beer so long as they could drink in a space not directly occupied by their annoying and socially irresponsible offspring that were not in any way capable of sitting at a table without crying or puking. What to do now that there is no kiddy play area? My god, must I now sit at the same table as my child?

Customers also found a menu that was not fully formulated and beers on tap that were not from Columbia River.
Much of the kinks from the initial weeks were worked out in the following months as Columbia River had opportunity to brew its own beer and establish a new proprietary menu. However, the initial poor reviews in Yelp! were already recorded and the damage done. Since that time Columbia has been in the process of repairing its reputation, and for the most part it has done a decent job at it, but bad reputations die hard.

First off, and most important, their beer. Their beer is tasty, existential, and mind-altering. Today, as I sit outside on a picnic bench within the heart of Hollywood with the cool Portland breeze gently stroking my Hipster mustache and my thick, bear-like leg hair, I am savoring the Stumbers Stout as if it were a lactating virgin of 18 years built of honey and tanned muscular skin and I a fat heaving infant engorging on the milk of life. I have already pounded down their immaculate Black IPA like it was a score to be settled between two rivals and high noon was but seconds from expiring.

Second off, like most pubs that serve food, their prices are high without the quality to reconcile with the price. So high, in fact, that I would only consider getting an appetizer if it were happy hour and thus I could take advantage of their happy hour discount. Aside from that, there is precious few vegan options available on the menu and their fries that were previously vegan are now made with a beer batter that has egg or milk in it. Not sure which, but what fucking difference does it make?

Sidebar – I’ve been asked why, as a vegan, I find an exception to eating eggs or dairy when the animals themselves are not killed. Do some research. Do you really think that cows lactate, and thus produce milk, just because they are happy cows? No. They lactate because they are pregnant and they are pregnant because farmer Jim forcibly impregnated them with a mechanized gun full of bull sperm. So, what do pregnant cows give birth to? Female and male cows. Sure enough. And can a male cow produce milk? No. So what does dairy farmer Jim do with the male cows? One word. Veal. And eggs? What do you think the farmers do with chickens that are too old to produce eggs? Do you think they keep spending money to feed them until the chicken dies a natural death? Fuck no.

So here’s the rub – the beer is fantastic and the food okay but overpriced. What’s a brother to do? Compromise. Come to Columbia River Brewery. Order one beer for drink, a second beer for your meal, and a third for dessert. At some point, maybe, they will evaluate their menu and ask the question, ‘why would anybody want to pay these prices for standard pub food?’. Sure, in most towns and cities across the US an establishment can get away with gouging their patrons with subpar crap-food. But not in Portland, where you can get a bucket of deliciousness from any of the numerous nearby food carts at 3 bucks a pound. So if CRB is seeing clearly they will recognize that the answer is ‘not a fucking soul will buy this standard fare’ and perhaps from that point they will alter their menu. Perhaps add some Vegan options. Yah baby! (‘Not a fucking soul’ is a bit strong. Actually, many people come here to eat; I just don’t see the reason why. I am simply suggesting that a menu that is more unique may differentiate the brewery from other establishments in the Portland area and could perhaps attract a more steady and far-reaching customer base than the one that it currently attracts.)

Oh, and the Silent Monk, my god, the Silent Monk Belgian Dubbel… So very flavorful. So very strong. May this brewery live a thousand years.

DEC Arp: Glowing

 

 

Japaness Wallpaper: In Progress

 

Distressing recent events on the Interweb as Amber Rose accomplishments have taken over the finite blog space typically reserved for celebrity pregnancy pics.  Natalie Portman, luv ya darling, you must be looking marvelous in your third trimester.  Tweet me a pic, sweetheart, I’m just longing to see that well-formed baby bump.

In other news, prevalence of ‘Steps Out Without Make-up‘ sightings are trending upwards.

Today we rev up our appetites by watching this homemade feature film. Filmed and directed in true Mumblecore fashion. Gritty resolution, shaky camera-work and what appears to be unscripted yet truly authentic acting. Yet the laughs that this masterpiece provoke are totally earned.

mirF. : Asiatic Panoply: Everything is a Collage

Stac

The original album and then some remixes.  Check out the Beedle remix.
 

 

 

 

*Most of these musicians offer some or all of their songs for free.  Please consider supporting them by electing to purchase their music, should it strike your fancy.

Geronimo Getty

*Most of these musicians offer some or all of their songs for free.  Please consider supporting them by electing to purchase their music, should it strike your fancy.

A refreshingly splendid yet decadent meal requires little more than a pile of puppy heads and a power drill.  Take these down into your basement, bore out the goods, and in hours you can be frying up brains, tongues and cheeks to mash with potatoes and shallots for an exquisite “Puppy’s Head Shepherd’s Pie”.   Secure some bones from the carcass and bake them in brine.  Eat them as if excavating a tunnel: scrape out the roasted, jelly-soft essence with a spoon, inhale whiffs of truffle and tobacco, and then slurp it up.  It’s primal and sensual enough to make you blush.

Puppy meat, otherwise known as “bulb”, is fast replacing veal and lamb as America’s food baby of choice.  Some classic bulb dishes include: fried escalope, fried grenadines (small thick fillet steaks), stuffed “puppiettes”, roast joints and cherry dipped pawpsicles. As bulb is lower in fat than many meats, care must be taken in preparation to ensure that it does not become tough.

In addition to providing meat, the bones of pups are used to make a stock that forms the base for sauces and soups. The stomachs are also used to produce rennet, used in the production of cheese. The liver, sweetbreads, kidney, and bone marrow are prized. The head, brains, tongue, feet, and mesentery are also valued.   The tail can be barbequed and smoked for a surprisingly tender appetizer.

The Life of Bulb

The life of bulb before it reaches your plate is fascinating in its own right, and the care and focus given by farmers in order to raise the choicest cut of tender meat is to be appreciated.

Bulb is a direct byproduct of the canine milk industry, which is sustained by a human diet preference of milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products.  To produce milk, dogs must be lactating, and to be lactating, they must get pregnant and give birth. Approximately 50% of all puppies born in canine milk farming are male. Since female pups are used to produce milk, use of male pups is limited in the canine milk industry, outside of breeding, and thus male pups are segregated and sold to slaughter houses for food production.

Newborn pups are given a varied amount of time with their mothers, which can be anything from a few hours to a few days.  While pups are young and most vulnerable to disease, they are kept in hutches in order to keep them isolated and restrict movement so as to prevent muscle from developing, as the taste of bulb raised in this manner is considered desirable.  Individual housing systems are also important for disease control, and in reducing the possibility of physical injury.  Such housing allows for farmers to provide more personal attention to the young pups, being in individual crates.  House raised puppies require no housing, barns, or facilities aside from that of their owners. Puppies freely roam the home and the yard along with their mother and siblings.  Sometimes the farmer prefers to keep the puppies outside in fenced-in stalls and/or tied to a tree or stake in order to better restrict movement.

Milk-fed puppies consume a diet consisting of milk replacer, formulated with mostly milk-based proteins with added vitamins and minerals to provide a balanced nutritional solution. This type of diet relates to infant formula and is also one of the most common diets used for pups in the food industry.   Can-fed pups normally consume a diet of milk replacer for the first 6–8 weeks. The pups then move onto a diet of mostly canned food and kibble.  Commonly puppies are provided a supplement of hormones or antibiotics along with their food in order to ensure a healthy stock, especially under circumstances of crowded living conditions where the spread of disease is more common and more devastating to profits.

Bulb, In All It’s Robust Flavors

For those new to the bulb scene, there are a few terms that you need to know.  In particular, there are three types of bulb available on the market:

1. Bob meat: from pups that are slaughtered when only a few days old.
2. Formula-fed (or “milk-fed”) bulb: from pups that are raised on a milk formula supplement. The meat color is ivory or creamy pink, with a firm, fine, and velvety appearance. They are usually slaughtered when they reach 18–20 weeks of age.
3. Non-formula-fed (“red” or “kibble-fed”) bulb: from pups that are raised on kibble or canned puppy chow, in addition to milk. The meat is darker in color, and some additional marbling and fat may be apparent. Usually marketed as dog, rather than bulb, at 22–26 weeks of age.

Though difficult to find in many supermarkets today, look to your local butcher-shop for finding cuts of bulb.  Or, better yet, go green and purchase bulb locally from your farmer.  If they don’t currently carry it, request that they do.  I promise, after one taste of sweet and tender bulb, softer than the coat of the puppy from which it was ripped, and you will never go back to veal.

Parts of this article adapted from the following, none of which are affiliated with or in any way represented by the views of Biased Bohemian.

Winged Victory: With Little Bird, Le Pigeon’s Gabriel Rucker hatches another winner. by Karen Brooks.  In the March 2011 issue of Portland Monthly…

and the 21st century scholar’s most credible resource, Wikipedia