Repairs to the sidewalk at NE 17th Avenue and NE Tillamook Street, 1969.
City of Portland (OR) Archives, NE 17th Ave and NE Tillamook St, A2012-005, 1969.
NE 17th Avenue, 1969
Vintage Portland
Repairs to the sidewalk at NE 17th Avenue and NE Tillamook Street, 1969.
City of Portland (OR) Archives, NE 17th Ave and NE Tillamook St, A2012-005, 1969.
Vintage Portland 
First things first. You better get that tree off your truck before you start working on the street.
Those residences are still there obscured by trees.
Is there a theme to your recent postings of boring infrastructure photos or is this a focused collection that will end soon. Usually, they are more interesting.
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The historic Bowman Apartments are across the street.
Unlike rossjoan, I like these public works shots. They are a peek at what these neighborhoods were once like. There are always interesting things to look at in photos if you study them. I always hope to see my 1910 home in one. 31st between Ankeny and Pine, wink wink😃
At least they didn’t plant another big-leaf maple. Looks like the took down the one next to it as well.
You can spot The Fontain condo hihgrise in the background. Built in 1963
I too sometimes look at the more mundane photos, or what seems to me ‘way too recent’ for vintage photos, but what first appears unimportant still leads to a pretty rich stream of conversation casting out things I miss in the first views. (Examples such as: the ‘building in the background’, electric wires, trolley tracks, and such. Parts of everyday life.)
This is precisely what will make future archives more valuable and richer with minutiae that may seem run-of-the mill today but was ignored 100 years ago and lost to the ages, save for these few photos.
It is in this way I applaud this site, mundane, or spectacular.
Rossjoan,
This website is owned and run by the Portland Archive and Records Center (PARC). A vast number of their images are from documenting city infrastructure projects.
I like these images, too!
The apartments shown in the VP Archives photo were built in 1913 by Irvington-area builder-contractor Frederic E. Bowman and Co. A blurb in the Oregonian from that year advertises the new project and includes the architectural drawing which I hope will reproduce with the below citation. Some apts. in the building were renting from $45 to $75 in the late teens thru the mid 20s and included some with two stories and 7 rooms. I suppose the property is fully condo-ized today?
Yay! I live there. They are beautiful apartments.
Cool post!
And all the cars in the pictures are neat also. In front of the truck is a ’63 or ’64 Rambler SW and across the street is a ’67 Plymouth Fury.
I too like these photos: for the reasons Mike G stated but also since I used to work for a public works dept and it is interesting to see how things were done in the past.
It seems like it used to be standard practice when replacing a sidewalk to cut right through the tree roots to get the sidewalk nice and level and straight. Eventually the weakened tree would fall. It looks like in this case the tree got its revenge on those who cut its roots instead of waiting for a storm.
Richard C
Adjusting for inflation, $45 to $75 in 1913 comes out to around $1,124 to 1,873 in 2017 dollars. Maybe Portland’s rent prices haven’t changed as much as we think.
I enjoy the public works photos for several reasons. I like to see how construction was done in the old days and am always amazed how labor intensive construction was back then. People were cheap and equipment was expensive in the depression years. I nearly always find something of interest in the background of these photos, as other commentors have.
Incidentally, the fallen tree in the photo looks like it had been unhealthy for at least a few years, and the roots look rotten and the bark appears to be peeling. The crew cutting through a few roots was all it took to topple it.
I love the public works photos. I love all he photos. But I agree, 3 or 4 in a row is a lot. I think if possible, changing it up with subject and/or date day to day makes sense. I’m sort of fascinated with the person who runs this. Your doing a great and I assume it’s a responsibilty of the poition? Very cool!
Get settled, Grab coffee and post a new pic? Thanks!