the Clown House.
(File photo)
Yes folks, it’s true. Tonight at Last Thursday on Alberta Street, the Clown House (at NE 24th and Alberta) will play host to hijinks and fun for the very last time.
Due to rents that have shot far beyond a clown’s wage, Dingo, Pinga, Chlorine, Will, and the rest of crew are looking for a new place to live. Ironically, they’ve been forced out of the neighborhood due to the gentrification that their presence helped hasten.
I’m sure wherever they end up, they’ll become the same bastion of busking, irreverence and silliness that they’ve become known for on Alberta.
From Dingo’s banjo playing to a clown wedding and tall-bike jousting, the Clown House gave me and my family many fond memories. I will definitely miss it.
Regrettably, I won’t be there tonight (my girls will), so I hope everyone shows up and savors the fun!
Below is a collection of my Clown House photos from April 2005 to June of this year.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Thank you Clowns for all the good times! I hope you settle into a new home soon…
[Read Dingo’s blog for the latest (and funniest) clown happenings.]
If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.
once the community hub is gone people will search for something else, something to fill the void.
perhaps getting folks to sign a petition to make last thursday car free would do the trick, that way at least if we cant have clowns than we have the space to do some awesome things
godsped sweet clown
\”Ironically, they’ve been forced out of the neighborhood due to the gentrification that their presence helped hasten.\” BikePortland.org/Jonathan Maus
There\’s no malice intended in this instance, but that guilt-trip rationalization for the phenomena of gentrification has been often repeated elsewhere to quell voices raised against \”progress\”, \”change\”, \”high density\”.
Maybe the Clown House will be able to locate new lodgings in the neighborhood. Barring that, as Alberta moves relentlessly towards chicdom, maybe renegade appearances on last Thursdays by the Clown revue will serve to drive home the fact of Alberta Street\’s gradual devolution away from its soul as obsession with property value rises.
…\”gradual devolution away from its soul\” ??? Give me a break! The clown house is not a part of its true soul. they were just looking for a house to live in and a place to do their schtick. The true soul are the families and small businesses that made up the area in the 40\’s thru to the late 70\’s…in my opinion. The clowns will find a place to call home, and if you see them unloading their u-haul down your street get ready for it.
Hopefully they have enough friends that they won\’t need a U-Haul.
I remember stumbling onto alberta st shortly after I moved here. I had just done my first zoobomb, so needless to say when I rolled up the the clownhouse yard I was flabergasted! I stood there, as I\’m sure many do, looking at all the bikes trying to take them all in.
Sure enough, I soon knew many of the clowns and ended up participating in many of the antics that they bring to the area! Here\’s me and cupcake and some sort of boogeymudman wrasslin in thhe mudpit!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrielamadeus/337602479/
Those clowns stole my hamster cage and leg warmers.
Dingo is my mayor.
agree with comment #4 DK
that\’s the best comment I read since someone responded to a \’pave all roads\’ story with \’hey wait – the gravel is cool to ride over!\’
Timo, I want to be mayor only to have access to the \”Button\” push the red button!
PUSH THE RED BUTTON!
Dingo