Wet Paint

An artist adding some new paint to the side of The Asylum.

It is a rainy day

This is from Quarry Road, near Morrill's Corner. Quite a view! Please click the picture to make it much bigger. Note the cruise ship at the State Pier looks like part of the skyline.

Old Port: Full

Also, nice to see all these bikes around on a beautiful summer day:

Mellen Street Market

Mellen Street Market is conveniently located on Mellen Street. This is in the Parkside neighborhood.

DiMillo's

Dim Lo's

Sunsetting

This photo in no way endorses the Franklin Arterial. Please visit the Franklin Reclamation Authority to learn more and join the fight to fix this urban blight.

WCSH6 Sidewalk Art Festival 2009

Here are some pictures from earlier today of the Sidewalk Art Festival, a great event held every summer that stretches from the corner of Free and Temple Streets all the way up to where Park Street meets Congress Street. 7 city blocks of car-free entertainment. From the event's website:

Approximately 300 artists and 40,000 visitors attend this festival. The WCSH 6 Sidewalk Art Festival is the oldest and largest one-day art show in Northern New England.

Urban Forest

These are a few shots of the empty lot on the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Forest Avenue. It was once home to a few houses, which were cleared for this Waterview at Bayside condo project several years ago, which fell through. The site was purchased by the same company, PowerPay, that is moving into the former public market building (source). They have yet to clear this little jungle (which is even taller since the time I took these pictures) but it is slated to become employee parking (despite the fact that the former public market building is attached to a parking garage).

Preble Street

If you're looking for volunteer opportunities, Preble Street is always welcoming help. Located in the Bayside neighborhood, but only two blocks from Monument Square, there is a large presence of social services organizations in this lower-income area. You don't see it in tour books or magazine articles promoting the city, but I would say that Portland has a pretty sizable homeless population, especially per capita.

Bonus picture from Oxford Street (just down the road from the above picture). I enjoy documenting sidewalks that are nearly impassable.

Leaving Town

This is the Granduer of the Seas, leaving after a day in Portland on Saturday. You can view the summer's cruise ship schedule here. About 70,000 people will visit town via cruise ships this summer, up slightly from previous years.

Around the Peninsula - August 18, 2009

Here are a few interesting things from around the local blog circuit that you may have missed...

• Portland Food Coma continues sharing some deep thoughts on local bars located within Asian restaurants.

• Tip of the hat to Portland Food Map on this post, reporting that Mainebiz reports on the old claim that we may have more restaurants per capita than San Francisco, maybe.

• Original Portland/Portland Photoworks proprietor Elliott Teel was interviewed in a Bollard story about the Parkside neighborhood, I recommend checking it out (the article, but Parkside isn't as bad as it used to be they report)

• Portlandtown covers the MS Harborfest of this past weekend with some great photos.

- Also, you may have noticed that I turned off comments for my new posts. I have been having troubles with some spam recently (I kept getting 30 different spam comments each day) despite having the word verification feature on. I'm working on the issue and will likely install the Disqus comment tool that is currently used on Walk Around Portland.

Details

Some details on the side of the Maine Bank & Trust building on Congress Street.

Italian Street Festival

From the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland's website:

St. Peter, Portland, will hold its 84th annual Italian Bazaar on August 15-16. The street festival is a celebration of the Feast of St. Rocco and the Assumption of the Blessed Mother. It includes lots of great Italian food including Italian cookies, games, music, a greased pole to climb, the annual raffle and more.

Here a few shots from last night. The event continues tonight from 4-9pm on Federal Street (India Street side).

Sit and Look

These are a few shots looking at Portland from Bay Shore Drive in Falmouth. In the first picture you can see Martin's Point on the right and the bridge that connects Route 1 between Portland and Falmouth. (Note, this was looking directly at the sun)

This is a more zoomed in shot of the middle area of the above photo. Munjoy Hill is on the left and East Deering is on the right.

Paint it White

I always enjoyed this house on Newbury Street, just off of India Street. I think the painted brick and sidewalk garden look pretty sharp, too.

Figa Restaurant

There are some signs in this window for Figa Restaurant, opening someday soon I gather. It is located on the same strip of Congress Street as Ferdinand and Eli-phant.

From the website...

"She (chef Lee Farrington) practices sustainability from the energy used to the recycled materials utilized in preserving a space for diners. This mission is not based on trend, but on her personal and true goal to be a sustainable kitchen in every aspect. And also to complete the circle, the way it has now been completed for her – cook fresh, clean, delicious food in the kitchen, provide a beautiful, comfortable space for diners, and ultimately return compost to the farm where the food was first harvested."

Novare Res Bier Cafe

This deck is in the Old Port is the outside portion of the Novare Res Bier Cafe. I've never been there but I like the location and hear good things.

Civic Center

Just playing around with a photo from a few weeks ago; I think this sponsoring deal would be a good financial move for the city. Maybe they could afford a new civic center then.

August in Boston

Just a few shots from my recent trip:

For more of Boston, I recommend this daily photo blog.

Some window work on the corner of Market and Federal Streets. The Press Herald building is on the right, which the newspaper will soon be vacating.

Cleaning

A couple semi-action shots today. This brave guy was washing the windows on the One Portland Square Building on Union Street. I would have thought they have a specialized window cleaning device that goes up and down the building from a small crane on the roof, but maybe it was broken or they haven't invested in that technology

He's in the top left of the building here, I used a wide-angle to show that it's a pretty tall building.

I will be in Boston for today and tomorrow and will likely share some pictures here and or on flickr of the town and the Paul McCartney concert if I can smuggle a camera in.

Cheers

Paving with Stone

It's nice wandering around downtown on a weekday. Although I live downtown, I work on the outskirts by the airport and the mall so I miss out on all the hustle and bustle of Monday through Friday.

Anyhow, as I reported on Walk Around Portland a while back, they are adding some strips of cobblestone to Exchange Street. The idea of 'adding' cobblestone to Portland's streets is kind of ironic (is that the right word?) since most of the paved streets still have original cobble beneath them. Here's a few shots from today's work:

Cheap Maine Lobster

I guess you can grab a lobster or two for dinner the next time you fill up your car.

According to this recent article on Yahoo!...

"Looking for an inexpensive change-up for your next backyard barbeque? Try lobster. "Per pound, it's less expensive than hot dogs right now," grumbles lobster-boat captain Mike Dassatt, who fishes the coast near Belfast, Maine, with his wife Sheila."

So buy a lobster and support your local lobster-folk.

Renovate

Work continuities on the library renovations facing Monument Square. The big red girders will support the glass facade that will enclose a new entry and cafe area.