For this second of our two-episode look at Portland's one-of-a-kind midcentury modern arena, we double down on the Coliseum's history as the original home of the Portland Trail Blazers, and explore the Coliseum's artistry. The first interview is with the MVP of Portland's 1977 NBA championship: Hall of Fame basketball player and veteran ESPN commen…

It is one of America's only urban volcanoes, but Mt. Tabor park is all about greenery, water and respite. Opened in 1909, it's one of Portland's earliest examples of the City Beautiful movement and Olmsted-style park design, which in the early 20th century saw the sons of famed Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted take his vision across the …

It is known as the city's living room. Pioneer Courthouse Square is where Portlander's come to celebrate, to protest, to commemorate, and most of all to be together. The site's long history includes the city's first public building and, later, its first grand hotel. This episode features interviews with architect Mark Lakeman of Communitecture, mus…

It is arguably the most architecturally unique arena in the United States, offering 360-degree views from its seats: a pioneeringly pristine midcentury-modern glass box born from the optimistic days of JFK and the NASA space program. It has hosted some of the city's most memorable cultural moments, including the Portland Trail Blazers' 1977 NBA cha…

For 120 years it stood downtown between two park blocks. In 1991 it made a cameo in one of the most acclaimed films by Portland's favorite-son movie director, Gus Van Sant. In 2020, it was removed from its base and stored in a warehouse. Though it's just a tiny little statue on a traffic median, the "Elk" statue may be the city's most beloved publi…

This long-deserted flour mill complex along the Willamette River was once Portland's biggest economic engine, producing enough wheat to make Oregon one of America's biggest producers. For the past 20 years, it has stood empty, even as the Pearl District exploded around it. Can it be preserved, should it be torn down for affordable housing, or could…

Situated prominently on Broadway, the Ladd Carriage House is an anachronism standing next to two glass towers: a 19th century outbuilding that was once part of founding father William Ladd's mansion. Today home to the Raven & Rose restaurant, the Carriage House was nearly demolished just over a decade ago by the church that owned it — until a grass…

Over the past 125 years the city block at 10th Avenue and Alder Street has symbolized a changing city. Modest yet handsome early 20th century commercial and theater buildings gave way to midcentury parking lots. Then the block became an epicenter of Portland's street-food renaissance. Soon it will be one of Portland's tallest towers. In this episod…

One of the most recognizable buildings on Portland's skyline, the KOIN Center helped revitalize downtown in the 1980s, but only after its South Auditorium District wiped out a neighborhood. In the basement is the TV station the building's name, where for decades some of the city's most venerable newscasters have sat at the anchor desk. And long bef…

This four-story brick former hotel building in downtown Portland's West End dates to 1910, but the restaurant on its ground floor, Jake's Famous Crawfish, goes all the way back to 1892. Its fresh-caught seafood as well as its wood-and-polished-brass environs have attracted not just a who's who of locals but movie stars like Humphrey Bogart and his …

Completed in 1928 as a church annex, this Jacobethan-style building in Southeast Portland near Sandy Boulevard went on to host to some of the great names in music history during the 1980s and '90s, including Nirvana, Elliott Smith, Radiohead, Sleater-Kinney, The Replacements George Clinton and Ornette Coleman. Our first interview features local mus…

Poet Hazel Hall was once called the Emily Dickinson of the West, and her acclaimed poetry of the 1920s was written from a house in Northwest Portland near 22nd and Burnside that even inspired many of her poems. In our first interview, we'll talk with University of Oregon emeritus professor John Witte, who edited a collection of Hall's poems publish…

Arguably Portland’s most acclaimed work of 21st century architecture, in 2000 the Wieden + Kennedy Agency World Headquarters transformed a century-old former cold-storage warehouse in the Pearl District and made its architect, Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works, the city’s most celebrated. Our first interview features Cloepfil reflecting on the building…

Demolished in 2001 but living on in celluloid, the St. Francis Hotel at 11th and Main downtown began its life in the 1920s as lodging for business travelers, then for decades was a single-room-occupancy destination for the down and out. But the building is probably best known as a location for key scenes in Drugstore Cowboy, the movie that launched…

Perhaps the city's most beloved building, Multnomah County Central Library is not only a gorgeous work of early 20th century Georgian style by Portland's most acclaimed architect of the time but also a vital resource for a cross-section of citizens today. Our first interview features Philip Niles, author of Beauty of the City, the definitive biogra…

Dating to 1891, over its history the First Regiment Armory Annex (better known as simply The Armory) was been a place for military marching drills and target practice, a concert hall, and a beer-brewery warehouse. A 2006 renovation of The Armory gave birth to the Gerding Theater inside, headquarters for the city's leading theater company: Portland …

With its massive Portlandia statue and wild Postmodernist architectural style — resembling a wrapped birthday present or a Rubik's Cube — the Portland Building is our most famous building as well as our most infamous. Architect Carla Weinheimer discusses her firm's transformative yet controversial renovation of this 1980s landmark. And author Bob D…

Episode 3: Mercy CorpsOn Portland's downtown riverfront sits the headquarters for one of the world's leading humanitarian organizations, Mercy Corps. We talk with Hacker Architects' partner David Keltner of Hacker and Mercy Corps CEO Neal Keny-Guyer about how the building fuses 19th and 21st century architecture, and how to meet humanitarian and so…

Episode 2: Lincoln HallToday it's one of the city's most important performing-arts venues and part of the Portland State University campus, but this early 20th Century gem was once the high school attended by three legendary Portlanders: artist Mark Rothko, voice artist Mel Blanc, and poet Gary Snyder. We talk with art critic Jeff Jahn of PORT and …

Episode 1: Portland Art MuseumAn architectural landmark and art Mecca born in the Great Depression and continuing to expand, the Portland Art Museum was a make-or-break moment for the city's greatest architect, Pietro Belluschi. We talk withhis son, architect Anthony Belluschi, about this modest masterwork's timeless design. We also talk with the P…