Bruce Forster @ the Provenance Gallery.

The recently rehabbed building at MLK & Alberta holds two businesses: Sweet Thing Bakery on the ground floor, and It’s About Me Fitness upstairs. The hallways of the building downstairs have been converted to use an art gallery – Provenance Gallery, curated by DeAngelo Raines. Raines is a graffiti artist and promoter in town – here’s a video of him talking about graffiti art and murals:

One of the featured artists at the Provenance Gallery has been photographer Bruce Forster, who set out to document some amazing graffiti art that was about to disappear:

Forster’s website is here; and here, Brian Libby reviews Graffiti Funhouse, a 2009 exhibit of Forster’s photographs.

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Graham Street Lofts

In a city known as much for its love of earth tones as its love of organic cuisine, the neon orange and green lofts pulsate against subdued MLK Boulevard.

“I think neutral colors are a crime against humanity,” said Mackenzie. “I like bright colors. If you go to Ireland or Sweden, where the climate is similar, you have these great bright colors.”

More familiar accents are the building’s ornate cornices, which are made from native Doug Fir.

“A tall building needs a big hat,” Mackenzie said. “I liked having the timber on the exterior because it’s reflective of our environment and regionalism.”

–from a 2008 Daily Journal of Commerce article

“The perfect pairing of modern amenities with truly sustainable building practices,”  the recently-built Graham Street Lofts building contains street-scape commercial spaces, with lofts and penthouses above.

Ground-floor commercial spaces in the Graham Street Lofts have been full for some time:

You can read a neighbor’s review of the shops at Graham Street Lofts in the Eliot News Newsletter. Since that was written, Search Marketing Team (an online search engine ‘optimizer‘) has replaced the Great Magnet Recording facility at 2821 NE MLK. I’m planning to take one of my laptops to Happy Hamster for some repair work.

“If people in Portland are using the Clinton Condos as an example of bad high density housing that’s destructive to the urban fabric, I truly feel sorry for their ignorance. Why don’t they go take a look at the Graham Street Lofts on MLK Boulevard, a fluorescent orange colored, cloyingly neo-traditional monstrosity.”

–Brian Libby, responding to a comment at his Portland Architecture blog.

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