Joe Biel (founder of Microcosm Publishing) is working on a short documentary about Portland bike art for From Portland with Bike Love II. It will focus primarily on the infamous bike lane stencil characters but will touch on other bike art in Portland as well. Joe will also explore why this town is so full of great bike art to begin with.
He’d love some feedback about the bike lane characters. What are your favorites? Where are they? What do they say about Portland’s unique bike cultural landscape? (For more on Portland’s bike lane characters, check out this post and this photo gallery).
And don’t miss Joe and all of Microcosm’s great bikey t-shirts, stickers, posters, zines and patches at the BikeCraft Faire on December 7th!
Thanks for reading.
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Kind of tucked away, but over by the Bull Ring (NW 27th and Upshur) there’s a great one of a rider with a -fake?- arrow through his/her helmet. A nod to the Brody Theatre folks, maybe.
HI.
I must make a comment about the “infamous” bike path figures.
There was a huge stink recently about the removal of the martini glass from in front of the Benson Hotel. People didn’t want it removed, I saw a lot of letters and comments in a number of places.
Now, we all like fun little things like that. It is nice to see new things that relate to bicycling in Portland.
I must comment that I agree with the removal of the bike lane character (or part of it) outside of the Benson hotel.
I do not know how many of you realize that the Benson hotel is one of the leading characters in the play I like to call” Abuse of Bike Lanes”
Daily, in fact a number of times a day, the Benson Valet parkers either double park outside the hotel (where they have the whole length of parking under their control), or park cars IN THE BIKE LANE!!!!
They also seem to encourage their customers to park in this manner.
I can not tell you how many times that I have dodged door jobs, yelled at parkers, and actually stopped and verbally complained to the valets.
I have even gone so far as to stop a policewoman. We both looked at the abuse of the bike lane, and then she looked at me and told me they were allowed to do this. Which, I know, and you all know, is not the case!!!
I would love nothing more than to start keying cars, hitting them with my lock, etc. etc.
But I will not. Oh, I want to…. Real Bad!
There must be someone out there who can do something about this problem. Citywide.
Because if the police are ignoring it, it will never be fixed. Someone must confront the benson, and heathman, hotels about this problem.
I will point out to everyone that we lost pur great friend and messenger, Kristen, 1 or 2 blocks away, in the bike lane, this year.
I don’t know how they get away with it.
I don’t even know if this is the place to make this comment, but, I have done it.
Please help me, and all of us. And yourself.
There must be one of us with the power to fix a problem like this…..
I know what Charles Bronson woulda’ done…. Street Justice
far be it from me to suggest a simple and nonviolent solution but has anyone ever tried talking to the door guys? this isn’t over
ps i am wiating for the HIGHLY offensive bike lane stencil characters… can it be long before we have the amos and andy series
pps i also love hearing about these things (like a track on my next bike DVD) via bikeportland!
er, the last part of the first paragraph should have looked like this {Charles Bronson} this isn’t over {/Charles Bronson}
i mean wtf! why dosn’t html have tags for charles bronson?
Dabby, I agree that this is a big problem. There is a guy in Toronto with a blog called Toronto Bike Path Blockers. He takes a time-stamped, digital photo of the infraction and writes a description of it. This way, there is documentation that can easily be shown to politicians or others that might be able bring attention to the problem.
If a few messengers and other riders downtown got together to contribute to a blog like this…the powers that be could not ignore the problem.
Me again.
First let me say I am looking for a personal editor, so as to cut down on my ofensive comments. Apply within….LOL
I also have registered a domain name(this weekend actually), and one of my plans is to start posting photos of violations.
Also in regards to talking to the door guys, I have personally talked to a number of them, who either:
Didn’t care.
Walked away.
Wanted to fight.
They make alot of tips illegally stacking cars for the smegs. They will not be the ones to get this change done.
Also, one last note, there is already a highly offensive bike path icon, I beleive , on sw madison.
The bicyclists has a gun in his waistband , if I remember correctly.
I must make a statement that some of my posts may be totally off the subject that I should be commenting on. I appologize for that.
After thinking of my ranting comment, I reccomended to Jonathan that he remove it from the page, as this may not be the time, or place for my rants. This comment area was for a Art project with very good intentions, that I highly endorse.
If I have offended anyone with my vigilante thoughts, I appologize.
If I have opened any eyes to problems you didn’t even realize were going on, I am over-joyed.
I believe that Jonathan is on track here with Bikeportland.org to help us all live long, happy lives on the streets of Portland.
I still like to ride my bike…..
Yes, to be clear “From Portland With Bike Love” is the esteemed Rev. Phil’s project, even though it sounds a bit otherwise here.
I did some perliminary shooting for this, across southeast portland, with the benefit of the helmet-cam on the esplanade, and will do a bit more this week.
Now is the time to speak up and help shape this little short.
Who are the experts on this subject other than the city commissioned people who make the images?
The man to talk to would be Roger Geller. He’s the Bicycle Coordinator for the city and if he can’t tell you what you need to know, then he’ll be able to point you in the direction of someone who can. Here’s his email: roger.Geller@pdxtrans.org
it would be nice to get the city to put down some paint for the polo court… kinda like marking the territory.
so the biker with a gun is not a cop I guess… but is that really offensive? isnt there a confederate biker somewhere out in gresham or something?
I got an interview with Kirstin Byer, the woman in charge of the painting for next Tuesday. Questions, anyone?
More importantly, who else should be interviewed? Who are the experts on bike art in this fine city?
Oh yeah, inside every cyclist there’s a cop. I think that’s the deeply profound message of the cyclist with the gun.
The polo court does not need paint. It just needs a leaf blower and plaque proclaiming it ours. I’d also accept a skydome.