November 5, 2016
We started the week in Venice and will end it in Portland. I think Venice has nothing on us – if you go out and look at both the old and the new lamp posts that brighten our city there is much to admire. Then again, there always seems to be room for complaint…. as wittily recounted in this article from last year which describes the history of change in Portland’s illumination. It is a fun, quick read.
http://www.oregonlive.com/history/2015/12/joseph_rose_remembering_portla.html
And I quote:”Long before then, back in the uncultivated frontier days, settlers white-washed stumps to keep horse-drawn wagons from careening off rough roads after sunset. By 1852, Stumptown had mounted lamps burning whale-oil eight feet above sidewalks. They really didn’t do much good, giving off about as much light as six candles.” By 1914 you had this:
Third St (now 3rd Ave) \: The Great Light Way….
I favor the old fashioned posts that you find in Old Town, Chinatown, and some of the bridges. What’s happening on the newer bridges, for example on the Sellwood bridge, might be economically efficient, but surely lacks beauty. Then again, we have all this light art adorning our bridges from the sides at night, so I am content.
Some of my favorite views of lamp posts are in the small pools at the waterfront, where they are reflected in various ways throughout the year. Chinatown with its vivid red colors are a close second. 
And, of course, we have all the light beams at Oaks Park!
Martha Ullman West
The LED lights in the Park blocks, which I often watch come on at night and just now watched go off, are not as aesthetically satisfactory as incandescent ones, but they can look mysterious, and even romantic at the right time of year, particularly this time of year, what Poe called “the lovliest time of year, when the leaves they are wither’d and sere.” I like this montage very much indeed, Friderike. Thank you.
Carl Wolfsohn
Your photos light the way!