Saturday, June 20, 2015

Bumpity, Bump

As I've mentioned in a few previous posts, there are still a few relics of city streets of the past. Here is one such cobblestone thoroughfare. It runs down to Commercial Street, and if you are hankering for a taste of what streets in the city were like and why alignment shops probably did a brisk business, this would be my Exhibit A. A trip down this short lane can still make your fillings rattle a bit. All I can say is placing these stones on the streets of Portland must have been a painstaking process. They had to be better than a dirt lane, right?
Get ready for a bumpity, bump trip into the past.

17 comments:

  1. There are two streets in Stanwood with brick streets. One in the older part of town which is called just 'Stanwood' and one in East Stanwood and Stanwood isn't a very big town. It was two towns years ago and consolidated back in the 1960s. Blocks apart.
    I scrolled through the last several days of your blog and enjoyed the festivities.
    MB

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now really. Would you rather have concrete or asphalt? I have a feeling you love these old streets just like we Texans love our red brick streets!

    ReplyDelete
  3. there's a few of those in dallas, still. yes, it'll rattle the fillings from your teeth!

    ReplyDelete
  4. There are not many streets like this left.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I understand what you mean about rattling one's fillings: we still have some of these here too...

    ReplyDelete
  6. A bumpity trip into the past sounds pretty good to me :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks and probably feels just like Versailles (which in itself is a trip into the past!)

    ReplyDelete
  8. A good street for a dentist's office, then. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. A bit bumpy! We have cobblestone pathways in a number of courtyards here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Just imagine the number of hours it took to lay those. And it has outlasted any asphalt road that was that old !

    ReplyDelete
  11. From previous experiences, I can feel that street in my bones way down here in Florida. I think such streets are very attractive, though and those that can should be made into pedestrian walkways.

    ReplyDelete
  12. One yard of bricks is about all they can stand at the Indianapolis Speedway, but then I suspect you drive more slowly, especially on these cobblestones.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am a pretty traditional old guy, and I like streets like this.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I like the way that these cobblestone streets look, but maintenance couldn't be very easy. Traversing them in high heels is pretty tricky, too

    ReplyDelete
  15. It seems like all city have small relics of the past if you know where to look. I often wondered about brick streets. Each brick had to be placed by hand. Plus bricks are not that strong in the over all scheme of things.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I've been watching workers laying in sidewalk bricks on Commercial Street (heading east from Starbucks). They seem to make them & cut them right there before laying them in. Yes, painstaking...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Awesome work.Just wanted to drop a comment and say I am new to your blog and really like what I am reading.Thanks for the share

    ReplyDelete