Downtown Portland, Oregon late at night.
Here's a couple of friends I made while walking around. The fellow on the left is Frank, the fellow on the right is Paul. They're Vietnam veterans living on the street. We got along fine. I told them I was in town from Los Angeles and they started sharing stories of their own time in LA.
Frank and Paul were cool with their photos being taken. I told them they were going to be featured on the Internet. They say hello to the world by the way. I gave them a couple of bucks and turned on the flash to get a good picture of them. Nice folks here in Portland. Don't matter if they're living on the street or not, they're beautiful people.
My late night galavanting included some folks hanging out while one of the group played his guitar.
Here's a couple more friends I made here in Portland. From what they told me, they've been living on the streets for years. The guy on the left goes by the name of Beatbox. I can't recall the name of the guy on the right, but they were both cool dudes. I mentioned I was in town from LA for an animation festival and became an instant celebrity when I told them some of the projects I've done.
In case you can't make out what the sign says, it reads, "Ninjas kidnapped my brother - need money for karate lessons". I helped the cause with a couple of bucks, thanked the gents and moved on.
Portland has street cars!
Another road to explore.
This place started to hop later on. I think it was called the Living Room Theater.
There was someone sleeping in this doorway blocked off from the street by piling their earthly belongings for privacy. I didn't disturb them but tossed a couple of dollars over the barricade.
A picturesque building down the street from the hotel as I was making my way back. By this time I had pretty much given away the money I had in my pockets. Some of the people I met didn't want to have their picture taken so of course I respected their wishes. Later today I'll be at the Platform Festival building out this blog. Hopefully I won't be too out of it as I try to get a little sleep before the sun comes up. The Blogger Panel is in the morning. Thank you Portland for a great first night in your town. I enjoyed it and won't soon forget the experience. Thanks for your friendliness and hospitality. God bless.
