Portlandia’s Tiny House

It’s a bit strange to hear that the tiny house trend is hitting Midwestern cities, but it probably makes sense in a place like Portland. In this clip, Kumail Nanjiani tours one on the IFC show Portlandia. Enjoy!

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Pioneer Motor Bearing Co./Stark Motor Co. Ghost Signs in San Francisco

I came across this two-in-one ghost sign combo at 798 Eddy St. just off Van Ness Ave., San Francisco’s old “auto row.” The Pioneer Motor Bearing Co., with its jaunty arrow, is fairly straightforward. The older sign? I think it says Stark Motor Co.

Elsewhere

Uncover the Stories Behind the Union Terminal Murals: WOW! Check out the photographic sources for mural imagery as well as the stories of the people in them.

Make Cincy Yours: a bit of Queen City pride in video form.

Important Buildings We Lost in 2013: a sad architectural roundup.

The 10 Most Dangerous Places in New York City: a fantastic romp through film locations in NYC.

Who Put the O in Portland?: simplified circular maps from Archie’s Press.

Suburban Corporate Wasteland: on office parks in suburban Connecticut and beyond.

The Same Little House from the Same Camera Angle Over a Two-year Period: beautiful.

Elsewhere

3CDC Shows Preliminary Plans for Next Big Over-the-Rhine Projects: major plans for 15th St. from Race to Vine.

Meet Cincinnati USA – We Do What We Love.: randomly, I just met Mr. Yellow Pants last weekend.

What It Means to Keep Chain Stores out of San Francisco: “This is not about, is this good for my business? It’s about, is it good for the neighborhood? That’s more important to us than foot traffic, or even profitability.”

Diary: Google Invades: “neatly dressed, uncool, a little out of place, blinking in the light as they emerged from their pod” — tech workers emerging from a Google bus in San Francisco.

Priced out of New York: on the shame of having to leave Manhattan for Brooklyn and then for the scary world beyond [in this case, Portland].

Ask a Native New Yorker: How Guilty Should I Feel About Being a Horrible Gentrifier?: “If you ask most of my native New Yorker friends this question, they’re going to tell you that you should feel guilty about gentrifying your neighborhood, and the best thing that you could do is ship yourself back home to St. Paul or wherever ‘the fuck’ it is that you’re from.”

Transparent House in Japan: a see-through home in Tokyo, designed by Sou Fujimoto Architects.

Elsewhere

Cincinnati 2012: how lovely to end the year with a time lapse showing downtown, Over-the-Rhine and much more.

How to Have Your Heart Broken Every Year: on the perils of gardening in Over-the-Rhine.

Paige’s Favorite Things: wow, we’re in a great company in this roundup of Cincinnati-centric goods, courtesy of Cincy Whimsy.

Habitat for Humanity Takes a Modern Tack: inspiring homes built in Charlottesville, Seattle and Portland.

The Oldest Photo Ever Taken of New York City: a daguerreotype of the Upper West Side from 1848.

Strong Towns: “passionate about the future of America’s cities, towns and neighborhoods.”

Unmiserable Cleveland: just that.

Cincinnati Constellation by Caleb Charland

Cincinnati Constellation is a photo installation by Portland, ME-based Caleb Charland and a team of ArtWorks apprentices. Installed in October as part of FotoFocus, it is on view inside Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati through December 2012.

The Art of Matte Stephens

Manhattan by Matte Stephens

Portland, OR-based Matte Stephens is sort of the love child of Georges Damin and Mark Coomer, with a hint of Nicholas Takis and a touch of Jim Flora in the mix, sprinkled with a garnish of early Charley Harper. His gouache paintings are very much rooted in the forms and colors of the middle of the 20th century, and I especially like his scenes of different cities.

Elsewhere

Straight Off the Vine // Restoring Community Connections: a short documentary on the Cincinnati community group Spring in Our Steps.

Renewed Pleas to Clean Up Crosley Building: Criminal Charges Filed: an update on the abandoned building in Cincinnati’s Camp Washington neighborhood.

11 Things That DO Work in Ohio: from a transplant to Cincinnati, first came a list of things that don’t work and now some things that do work well here.

Dogwood Wedding Inspiration: the Wedding Chicks like our seed bombs as wedding favors.

The Fall of the Creative Class: a harsh critique of Richard Florida’s popular theory, with anecdotes from Portland, Madison and Minneapolis.

An Artist Reinvents Architectural Photography via iPhone: a profile of Lynette Jackson, who makes magic happen with her iPhone.

The 2,800 Hour Studio: the designer Elliott Earls worked with Cranbrook Architecture students on the design and construction of his summer studio on the shore of Lake Leelanau.

Elsewhere

Cincinnati Enquirer Mistakes Downtown Marietta for Downtown Cincinnati!: umm…

Film Screening: Urbanized by Gary Hustwit: Monday night at the Contemporary Arts Center in downtown Cincinnati.

The King Street Lots in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York: the history of a community garden in Brooklyn.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Heller House Hits the Market Today: only $2.5 million for a well-maintained 1897 beauty in Chicago.

Deciduous Lampposts by luzinterruptus: an amazing temporary public art installation in Madrid.

SOM Chicago Wins Competition to Design the Wujiang Greenland Tower: insanity featuring a 30-story tall operable window.

Brokelandia — Did You Eat It?: for fans of Portlandia, this definitely counts as meta humor, but it’s well done.

Elsewhere

Holiday Gift Guide: Goody Two-Shoes: our seed bombs in Foam Magazine.

Vine Street Circa 1973: courtesy of Fuck Yeah Cincinnati.

Mercer Commons Design Gets Thumbs Down: the struggle to add appropriate infill to the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati.

What’s Your State Good at?: Ohio “currently ranks first in the production of Swiss cheese.” Who knew?

It’s a Google Streetmap of History: How Our Famous Landmarks Looked Up to 170 Years Ago: British streetscapes, now and then.

A Hope VI Gallery: examples from Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Atlanta, Seattle, Philadelphia, Knoxville, Portland, San Francisco, and St. Louis.

Swedish Treehouse Hotel Imitates Shapes Both Real and Imagined: bizarre but respectful architecture suspended among trees in the Swedish village of Hrads.