consider this a reminder:   Leftbank is leasing space.   Beautiful, crafty, inspired space.    A lot of folks have been asking for more pictures of the inside… and my exalted comrade Justin Gorman recently obliged.    The following are some recent shots. more

PDOT recently made a handful of moves to improve the safety of the Broadway/Flint intersection, in an effort to reduce the number of bike/car collisions at what is one of the most accident prone spots in the city…   There’s a nice article from Jonathan Maus on BikePortland.org that gives good background and insight into both the issues and present day solutions (not to mention big props to PDOT’s Greg Raisman and our neighbor Betsy from the Paramount Apartments).   If you ever move through the area, it’s definitely worth a read.  These moves are largely the product of a series of meetings organized by the Water Bureau beginning last year, and seem to run the gamut of ‘what can be done right now’.       Regarding the long term, the coming streetcar improvements have the potential to truly transform the area and offer a tremendous opportunity to fix the issues here once and for all.   A broad group of folks gathered last fall (I spoke to it a bit in an earlier post, here) to identify just what that might look like, and it was a productive session, for sure.     There’s a healthy conversation growing out of recent threads on bikeportland.org, too, and as far as streetcar improvements go, the time to share your thoughts is now.    We’ll be sure to spread the word when any streetcar meetings come up and in the mean time, ride well…

At the request of some friends, we’ve put together a list of reasons why people might call this ‘green’… more

The mezz is the super dynamic extra layer between the ground and upper floors… it involves a loading dock, a catwalk, a triangle shaped room and some of the most visible space in the entire building. It spans from the northern corner of the old Hazelwood building to the far end of the storage building, connected by a new catwalk through the lobby. more

Leftbank is conceived as point in the city where many of the great threads of Portland culture weave together… early on there was a sketchbook, and a scribbled list within whose first word was “bikes”. Many moons later there are stamped drawings of showers and locker rooms, and loads of space dedicated to long term parking… and plans for the framebuilder’s shop, and for the school where she learned to do her thing. Somehow connected to that came the so-called ‘big event’, too, which should probably have another posting on here somewhere. Our hope is to make a tangible contribution to the nascent conversation about what buildings and bikes have to do with each other. more

On the second floor of the Hazelwood building, one finds the single most iconic space in the entire Leftbank district. It is a triangular shaped room flanked by half moon arched windows on its’ northern and western ends. These windows make up the top of A.E. Doyle’s great brick archways; visible to any eyes traveling from downtown today (or southbound on the flint avenue bike sneak) and trace the same elegant lines undoubtedly taken in by Thelonious, Satchmo and so many others in times past. They’re what make this building a landmark in Portland. The space was originally the site of the bakery in the Hazelwood Creamery, and houses a man sized safe, among other things. Maple floors, exposed rafters and high ceilings… and then there’s the view. It’s good. more

Seen from above, Leftbank, Greenroom, and the triangle lot in front of them form a wedge-shaped island that splits traffic into 2 directions just east of the Broadway Bridge. The plans to bring the Portland Streetcar across the river have marked the tip of that triangle as the first stop on the east side. It’s true now that a walk from Leftbank to the Pearl District or Old Town takes just minutes, but the easy connection that the streetcar makes is bound to affect how people think about that distance. more