Yesterday we went to hear Doug Decker (one of my three astonishingly creative brothers) give a talk at the Architectural Heritage Center (click here) about the history of his Portland neighborhood Alameda Park . Doug writes a blog about Alameda History that is well worth visiting. The lecture was at the AHC/Bosco-Milligan Foundation building at 7o1 SE Grand Avenue in Portland. A beautiful sunny morning lit up the lovely interior:
Doug began his lecture to a packed room of, I think, mostly people who currently live in Alameda and Alameda Park, or who grew up there.
The talk was filled with fascinating maps and illustrations of the area from before settlement through the present day, with the focus on the period of most construction 1910 to 1929. He highlighted builders, business history, cultural life and family stories as well as the history of the actual development itself, and though I don’t live in Alameda, it was interesting. Doug and Marie have lived in Alameda for twenty years and both of their children have come home to the house in Alameda Park, so it was nice that the talk began with Doug’s own house–a terrific craftsman bungalow:
The Architectural Heritage Center has a nice show currently running called “Artifacts & Archives”
which includes books, catalogs, photographs, drawings and other materials from the Bosco/Milligan collection. Included are also some wonderful artifacts–in this case sadly from buildings that have been lost to us
Well worth a visit if you’re out and about.
Looks pretty terrific. Glad he had a good turnout.
it is so great that a historian focuses on one neighborhood and documents it well. there is a life time of stories…both architectural and human if one looks closely. a beautiful post, thank you.
btw: have you seen the Roma part of Rose Park Cemetery? there is a lot of history there….Romas who fled Nazi=-fascist Spain and more. A very marginalized group that struggled to have identity and community.
BR: so many stories, so little time…that is the true thing. No I don’t know about that Roma group. I know of them mostly from Italy over the years, where there is kind of “protective prejudice” against them. Will have to go take a look.