Flip 9--SE 9th and Mill

12/1/2007 10:45 AM Saturday

Location: SE 9th and Mill

Days like this, with their cutting, wet cold and gray overcast, remind me of a Portland I remember from years ago. So does this neighborhood, with its mix of industrial buildings and slightly shabby houses, like other parts of town before they were redeveloped.

There's an old church on this corner, a drab taupe structure with chipping brown paint. It doesn't look like it's used as a church anymore. Instead it's the World War Post Memorial Building of the VFW Post 907 and Auxiliary, which meets on the first Wednesday of the month, according to the sign. It's also, according to another sign, home of the "Oregon Piper's Society".

An American flag and POW/MIA flag hang limply at the top of a pole, at the base of which is a memorial plaque.

There's a little travel trailer in the driveway of the parsonage. It's plugged in so I assume some one's living there. The porch of the attached house is decorated with Christmas lights and wind chimes. There are a couple of flower pots, too.

Across the street bicycle tires hang from the boughs of the trees, and there's a bike rack bolted into the sidewalk in front of the house. There are old easy chairs with the stuffing coming out, and a can of PBR on the windowsill. An HRC sticker is on the mailbox.

Down around another corner is Free Geek, a computer equipment recyclery. Large cardboard boxes on the sidewalk sort the detritus of the digital age: keyboards in one, printers in another. A young woman receives cars and minivans that pull up at the curb, sorting and directing the donations, and issuing tax receipts. An elderly man follows her around; he's training to be a volunteer.