Cool stuff that’s too small for a big article
Just like it says, Popcorn Shorts is about the kind of things we think are really interesting, but don’t really need a large article to explain them. From the sublime to the ridiculous, check in here for crunchy bits of info you’ll love to munch. By the way, much (but not necessarily all) of our delicious Popcorn comes from articles we’ve posted on our Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook, please stop by and “Like” us and we’ll keep a fairly-constant-but-not-frequent-enough-to-be-annoying stream of these coming to your virtual door!
Campers of your twisted dreams
Messy Nessy Chic is always a good source for the interesting and unique kind of things we look for in our Popcorn Shorts, and they came through yet again. In their “Compendium of Crazy Campers” our fave, the Corvette Camper, is joined by station wagon popups, gigantic log campers from the 1920’s, tiki campers from the 60’s, aquatic ones from the 50’s, and many more. If you enjoy these, you may also enjoy a look at “Fantastic French Publicity Caravans of Yesteryear”, or “10 Vintage Trailers up For Sale just in time for a Summer Road Trip”. Summer’s never over if you’ve got a camper!
The Sellwood Community Center is ours now!
The Sellwood Community Center opened in 1910 and is the second longest continuously operating community center in the city of Portland. For most of its history it’s been managed by the Portland Parks and Recreation Department but the City recently decided to close the center for budget reasons. The Friends of Sellwood Community Center, a subgroup of Sellwood’s SMILE committee, formed to take over the facility and its programs and now the Sellwood Community House officially opens September 1. Click here to get the latest on this old-yet-new community resource. (There’s a rumor going around that a local auto shop will be teaching car care classes for civilians. We’ll keep you posted!)
Scenes from the “adult” soapbox derby
Portland is famously where young people go to retire, and you can always tell a retiree by their ride. Thousands of people gathered to watch scores of these ‘retirees’ show off their rides at the most recent Portland Adult Soapbox Derby. Racers build their own gravity-propelled vehicles and race them from the top of Mt. Tabor to either glory or medical care. If you missed this year’s Derby then make plans now for next year, but in the meantime enjoy these galleries from the Portland Adult Soap Box Derby, Willamette Week, or the Southeast Examiner.
The bombings we’ve forgotten
We live in a world of random violence and paranoia, and the very real threats from active shooters or crowd bombers stay with us long after the act is over. It may be hard to recall now but during the 1970s protest bombings in America were commonplace, especially in cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Nearly a dozen radical underground groups set off hundreds of bombs during that tumultuous decade—so many, in fact, that many people all but accepted them as a part of daily life. As one woman sniffed to a New York Post reporter after an attack by a Puerto Rican independence group in 1977: “Oh, another bombing? Who is it this time?’”… depressing echoes of today.
