Portland has its share of nicknames. There's City of Roses, PDX, Rip City, Stumptown, and P-Town, which is the most commonly used name by locals. You may also hear Portland referred to as Bridgetown due to the cluster of bridges in the center of town. There are a total of eight bridges within walking distance from downtown.
Most of the bridges are quite historical, dating before 1926. The oldest is Hawthorne Bridge (1910), which is my favorite. It also happens to be the oldest vertical-lift bridge in the United States that is still in use.
One of my first Habit of Art blog posts was on a simple embroidery piece I had done of the Hawthorne Bridge.
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| Hawthorne Bridge |
Here are a few more photos I snapped over the years of Hawthorne Bridge and other Portland bridges.
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| Stalled on Hawthorne Bridge due to the lift. |
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| Broadway Bridge |
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| Burnside Bridge |
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| St. Johns Bridge |
My nine year-old daughter is currently learning about Portland bridges in her class. For a class project, she chose to paint the Sellwood Bridge. She worked hard on the painting, and I love how it turned out!
4 comments:
thanks for sharing your bridges with us Cathy! My hubby is an engineer so when we travel (which is not often nowdays!) bridges are high on our list - although being scared of heights I did chicken out trying to walk across the Golden Gate!
We have a fair share of small bridges here in Ithaca, but nothing like the Hawthorne bridge, which is much more majestic in scope. Blogs are wonderful bridges too, as they virtually connect people across culture, time and space.
One question: Did your nine-year old really paint the bridge? Wow, tell her, I'm so impressed and love how it turned out! What a wonderful painting.
Sally, I'm not a huge fan of heights myself. I do love visiting San Francisco, but I have never considered walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. I imagine it'd be pretty windy!
Kathrin, yes, blogs are very much like bridges. I also view art in this way. Art bridges cultures and generations.
I will definitely pass the message along to my daughter : ) I did coach her on how to create shadows and highlights, which really makes all the difference. She does love to paint. She tells me all the time that she wants to be an artist when she grows up.
Your daughter should be so proud! I loved growing up with an artist mom and am glad that your daughter wants to follow in your footsteps when she gets older. Seeing how my sister and I turned out, I'm sure that's going to happen in one form or another!
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