Born On This Day- July 8th... Artist Stephen O' Donnell

Artist- Stephen O'Donnell paints in what would have been the dining room of his charming 3rd floor walk-up in Portland's Nob Hill neighborhood. He shares the bohemian digs with his wife, writer- Gigi Little & his canine- Nikki.

I discovered Stephen O’Donnell’s astonishing paintings at a local gallery in my first month of living in Portland. I returned a few days later with The Husband in tow. The Husband was simply jaw-dropped in awe of the paintings. He would later design a penthouse bedroom for Portland’s Street Of Dreams around one of those paintings.

The Husband calls me out as a star fucker, with more than a little bit of truth, I own up to being undeniably attracted to people who possess unique, world class talents. I strive to be sly & undemonstrative in their presence, but I will end up gushing at some point.

As I sat opposite Stephen O’Donnell in a Nob Hill café, on a rainy, late spring afternoon, I attempted to engage the artist in regular guy conversation as my mind raced along with an inner-dialogue of: “Oh my, I am talking to my favorite painter in the world! I think I know him well from his masterful paintings, but I know so little about Stephen, I am looking right at him. He has freckles! He is so tall, masculine & sure of himself…”

During the chatty visit, I learn that O’Donnell has strong Portland roots, both of his parents grew up here, but he grew up all over California, including a stint as a singer in San Francisco.

O’Donnell told me of always identifying as an artist, drawing since early childhood, but never really dared to live his avocation until his late 30s, when O’Donnell in a grand jete of daring, showed some of his paintings to a Portland Gallery & promptly was given a show.

O’Donnell has no formal training & astonishingly, as a self-taught painter he possesses a sure hand with assured adroitness, clever command & fine, fanciful finesse.

O’Donnell paints in the genre of Portrait Historié, which is characterized by a recognizable subject, depicted in historic or mythological guise, such as a monarch, military leader, wealthy merchant, clergy or actor. His work is strictly portraiture, usually self- portraits, but not literal self-portraits. O’Donnell does not use photographic studies or even a mirror. He does extensive research & then reimagines the costumes & the settings. He is most often depicted in women’s finery of his own imagining, in a castle, chateau or citadel of his own design.

His paintings are masterfully mysterious, witty, gender confused pieces, with the artist’s beard line apparent & his chest hair visible above the brocade of the gown. O’Donnell: “More often than not, I represent myself in women’s costume. The female side of my personality is very developed, so it feels very natural to go with female costume, which is usually the most elaborate, the most picturesque.  & it’s also usually the most fun.”

O’Donnell’s pretty & charming wife, the Portland writer- Gigi Little, told The Husband that the details of threads, feathers, fabric & metallic elements that we admired do much, are audaciously technical, masterfully achieved with a brush with a single tiny hair.

O’Donnell’s current solo show- Des Jeux Sérieux de Beauté can be seen through August at Winston Wachter Fine Art gallery in Seattle. A Portland show will be available for viewing in Autumn 2012 at Froelick Gallery.

I am so shallow, I now claim Stephen O'Donnell as "my favorite painter & good close personal friend." My first lottery winnings will be spent on an original O’Donnell to hang at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia. 

Images used with permission from the artist

How Can You Explain It?

In 1988, I was flown to from Seattle to Portland to appear in a little film- Drugstore Cowboy, directed by Gus Van Sant. My 2 scenes were filmed at a motel near Hayden Meadows Racetrack in the Delta Park area of Portland.

I didn't know my way around Portland in 1998 & didn't really pay attention to the trip in the van that drove Matt Dillon & me to the location from the hotel.

Because life can be just so zany... in 2001, I settled down in Post Apocalyptic Bohemia, my little blue-collar Portland bungalow, in walking distance of the film shoot location- the Union Ave Motel, now torn down. If Matt Dillon had been portentous in Portland in autumn of 1998, he might have turned to me & stated: "Dude... in the next century you are gonna live your last days around here!"

Goings On At Post Apocalyptic Bohemia

North Portland is the 5^th quadrant of Portland, sometimes dubbed the “forgotten quadrant.” Considered by most citizens to be sketchy & unpleasing, those in know recognize NoPo to be the Brooklyn of the most Brooklyn of cities, outside of Brooklyn, NYC. My inner-circle taunts me about my inability to venture out of North Portland.  Since becoming a Stay-At-Home Mom, my universe has deflated to St Johns for the gym, Arbor Lodge for dog walking, Overlook  for friends & my clinic, & of course, Kenton, my neighborhood.

North Portland is a diverse mixture of residential, commercial, & industrial. It includes the Portland International Raceway, the University of Portland, & the massive cargo facilities of the Port of Portland.

NoPo is a peninsula, with the mighty Columbia River on one side & the north flowing Willamette on the other. The confluence of the 2 rivers, at Kelly Point Park, is the end of North Portland & essentially the most northern point of Portland.

The Columbia Slough, a narrow waterway, about 19 miles long, is about 10 blocks from Post Apocalyptic Bohemia. The slough is home to more than 150 bird species including eagles, 26 fish species, otters, beaver, & coyotes.  It is one of the nation's largest freshwater urban wetlands.

Lewis & Clark actually landed & walked around North Portland after learning from Native Americans that the neighborhood was on the upswing, with many gay couples & plenty of fun spot to eat & explore.

My favorite structure in Portland, The Saint Johns Bridge is located in the North Quadrant, as is the Boys’ Fort in my back garden & BOYS’ FORT, The Husband’s retail shop & design studio.

Just to challenge myself, I took the Husband on an adventure, penetrating deep into SE Portland neighborhood of Sunnyside for shopping & lunch. We stopped to spend some time knocking around with The Husband’s buddy- Bret at the Old Portland Hardware, one of the most “Portland” of my city’s retail outlets. Bret constructs & fabricates furniture & lighting from re-purposed materials. He is keen to my vintage photography collection & had held on to some choice pieces just for me. Old Portland Hardware is a special spot that you deserve to check out.

Nothing soothes being unemployed like spending a little money on something you don't need. I was thrilled with the vintage photos that I picked up to add to the collection.

On This Day In Portland History- May 30th... Vanport

I enjoy riding the MAX train. The bus always seems to have the odor of diesel, sweat & a slight hint of wet wool, & the MAX train is electrically powered & clean. I find the sound of the train pleasing. There is an on-going fantasy that I live in Westchester County & work in Manhattan, with the wife & kids picking me up at the station, in reality the wife is a husband & the kids are canine & except for the whiskey, my life is not Mad Men.

Living a life with low grade Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is not for the faint hearted. I feel a driving need to have “my seat” on the MAX: right hand side, very front behind the driver, the only single seat on the train. If I don’t get this spot I can become grouchier than usual. I start my trip in either direction just one stop from the beginning of the line; I stand a good chance of securing my favorite place. 


On a cool, rainy, spring weekday, I boarded the train & found my seat occupied by a hipster. I took a moment to center myself & breath, & then sat close to my favorite place in case it should become vacant.  I was joined in my seat at the next stop by a beautiful African-American woman of an indecipherable age, chic in her hat & gloves. 

With my nose in my book so that I would not have to engage in conversation, this woman dared to ask me: “What is that you are reading?”  I showed her the cover of Just Kids by Patti Smith & prayed that this elegant lady would not ask me to explain Robert Mapplethorpe & Patti Smith.

I have always held that everyone’s story is interesting if you can get them to open up. I told my seat partner how lovely she looked. She introduced herself as Coral.


10 year old Coral moved to Portland, from Texas, with her parents in 1945. They lived in Vanport, at the time, the largest public housing project in the USA. It was home to 40,000 people, mostly African-American, who worked in the Kaiser Shipyards. In a dramatic parallel to Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans, on May 30, 1948, at 4:05pm, a dyke holding back the Columbia River collapsed during a flood, killing 15. The city was underwater by nightfall leaving its inhabitants homeless. Like Katrina, the government misled the population into believing that the damage would be slight. Many have attributed the poor response, in both cases, to the racist attitudes of officials, who neglected to respond appropriately to the destruction of a mostly black community. Amazingly, I now live in walking distance of what was once Vanport, now named Delta Park. 

Vanport before & after the flood

Coral spent 4 days searching for her parents. She was eventually reunited with her mother & father at a church shelter in NE Portland's Mississippi neighborhood. They settled in that part of Portland,  still a stubbornly segregated city. 

Coral would eventually graduate from high school & attend beauty college. She found employment at a downtown Portland salon that catered to colored ladies. She worked her way up to manager & when the owner retired in 1965, Coral bought the place & gave it the name- Coral’s House Of Hair.  

Even more impressive in racist Portland of the late 1960s, Coral & The House Of Hair became illustrious enough that she was approached to have her own 15 minute local TV show giving beauty tips to women of color. True Colors Of Beauty aired at 3:15pm, Monday- Thursday on KPTV. The show lasted 5 years. 

I was close to my stop. I told Coral that I had not expected to have such an enchanting & engaging ride into downtown. I gave her my card & offered to buy her lunch sometime. She has yet to take me up on the offer, but on the Max train yesterday, I glanced up from my book & outside of the window, & there was Coral, chic in hat & gloves. She smiled & gave me a wave. 

Downtown Kenton... A Film By David Lynch

This post is a repeat, but I am having a day low on imagination, famous gay people having birthdays or even new music. Will you please forgive me, dear readers? 


I am off to a meeting of The Kenton Neighborhood Association, of which I am seated on the board, a small step on my way to world domination.

Coming home, I get off the MAX train at my neighborhood stop- Denver Avenue/Kenton.  The first thing I encounter, & I mean, this is right at the train station, is Dancin’ Bare, the neighborhood strip joint. Portland has more strips clubs, per capita, than any other American city. I am proud of that statistic. It is a great that a young girl with right charms can make a living while practicing her art.


The sign is special to me because, not only does this business have a name based on a not so clever pun (like so many of Portland’s Thai joints & nail salons), but they spell out the joke for you on the sign? Twice. Funny, huh?


As I cross the street where North Interstate Avenue & North Denver Avenue meet, I am greeted by a giant Paul Bunyon (recently added to the Nation Register of Historic Roadside Landmarks). He was built for a 1959 Lumber Expo held in the neighborhood. I think he is hot. He was recently given a new paint job as part of a new neighborhood street improvement in Kenton’s little downtown, which includes widened sidewalks, a bike lane, street art & new trees & plants.

Miss Darlene

I then cross North Denver Avenue to 7 Bucks a Whack. The Husband & I both get our hair cut here by Darlene. Miss Darlene is in her 70s, with bleached blond hair piled high on her head. She wears a great deal of makeup, painted on brows & wears a satin black tube top & hot pants.


Darlene cuts hair with a cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth. As she puts on your apron she will announce in a deep cig & beer voice- “…what’ll it be baby? A number 1 buzz cut? You sure got a lot of hair for a bald guy.”  Darlene lives nearby on a houseboat & has been in the neighborhood forever. She will give you a running commentary on the politics in the Kenton neighborhood. Her little dog– Elvis hangs out in the shop & is dressed up in a variety of outfits, including full biker gear. She told the Husband that she likes to have lunch at Dancin' Bare because- "Baby, they got a delicious French Dip for just $5!". I somehow have trouble with Au Jus & stripper poles together. Darleen does my hair, goatee & eyebrows, plus the floor show…. all this for $7(I always give her $15)!

 Other neighborhood highlights include a Victorian mansion that is lit up with outdoor lights all year round, but not at Christmas & the lovely Laundro Mat & The World Famous Kenton Club.

The World Famous Kenton Club with a special claim to fame: a scene from 1970s Roller Derby film- Kansas City Bomber was filmed at the spot.

The Historic Kenton Firehouse

Downtown Kenton had one bar & one cafe- Kenton Station & many boarded up store fronts form the 1920s-1950s when we moved into the neighborhood a decade ago. But the neighborhood now boasts: the MAX line,  BOYS' FORT, a breakfast cafe, a Thai spot, a soul food joint, a coffee shop for mommies & babies, a flower shop, a terrific architectual salvage store, a world class bamboo nursery & bamboo objects emporium, a home brewing outfit, a paper/art supply store, a head shop, liquor store & police station at the same intersection, & an historic firehouse that is now the neighborhood community center & tool library. I even have my own favorite watering hole where I am greeted by name & my cocktail is delivered wiithout having to order- Pizza Fino.

I am including a few other choice pieces of signs, graffiti & a note I found posted at the MAX stop. When I get off the train, I think: “ah, it is great to be home”.

Things I Love About Portland

The Weather Machine is only a block from where I work & when I am lucky enough to be able to go home at noon, I get to see & hear it while waiting for the MAX train.

The Weather Machine is a 33 foot tall metal column topped with a large silver orb. At noon each day, the following day's weather is announced with a fanfare of trumpets, flashing lights, & a spray of mist. The orb opens to reveal one of the following: a golden leaf sun, for a clear day; a silver great blue heron, to forecast a drizzly, overcast day; an open-mouthed copper dragon, when storms are forecast. Light bulbs on the side of the machine are reminiscent of a mercury thermometer & light up progressively as the temperature increases.

You Too Can Be A Portland Hipster...

I believe that one simply must be nice to oneself & holding that maxim close, I am on the hunt for new eyeglasses, very probably 2 pair because I like myself a lot. I have been poking about the cool frame shops in Portland trying on new looks.

I don't intend to get all Aschenbach on your ass, but they break my heart with their careless beauty & their guiless youth. I see this "type" around Portland: their skinny jeans artfully-casually tucked into really great boots that look for all the world to be from a Victorian farmer's mudroom, with a reveal of colorful socks. Add in the ironic tee shirt under suspenders & a vintage vest, a pork-pie hat, fedora, or newsboy cap to top off the "different" look, one of their many wallet chains, & then they are off to a dive bar to order a PBR & blend in with a bunch of guys just like them. I see them on the MAX train with their chunky Buddy Holly eyewear & I think to myself: "Could I be young just one more time?" I love the Portland kid's look; if I were to temper it just a bit to reflect my considerable experience & acknowledge my 6 decades on this blue, twirling orb, maybe I could I pull off a slightly more mature version of this look?

I slipped on the quintessential heavy framed glasses, letting  go of black frames & choosing a dark tortoise shell to go with my redhead skin tone. I took 10 steps with my back to the mirror & spun around to surprise myself with my much older version of a James Franco look, or the stylish, but lived-in face of Colin Firth of A Single Man, & there I was... a corpulent, crabby fossil looking like an enfeebled Jewish movie producer in a caftan, circa 1970. A gay Robert Evans or a butch Allan Carr, either way I am learning a valuable lesson: no chunky art school glasses, no Arcade Fire on any playlist & no pork-pie hat.

The dream: Adorkable Darren Criss of Glee... photo by Robert Caplin for NY Times

The reality: Truman Capote by Irving Penn

Born On This Day- January 2nd... Portland's Own Todd Haynes

In 1987, when Todd Haynes was 26, he began the first film that the public really noticed, though he’d been making films since grade school. It was a film about Karen Carpenter titled- Superstar, with Barbie & Ken dolls as Karen & Richard Carpenter. The mock documentary was made while Haynes was working on his M.F.A. at Bard College (his undergraduate degree is from Brown, where he studied art & semiotics). To represent Karen’s anorexia, Haynes carved away the doll’s face as the film unfolded. Superstar is said to be an intellectual exercise about roles & societal pressures, & the critical reaction was characteristic of all Haynes’s films. Academics loved it. Superstar was also an underground hit, shown in museums & clubs. The Husband saw it as a “secret feature” at the Seattle International Film Festival in 1988 & raved. Haynes received a cease-&-desist order from Richard Carpenter, a legal move that helped put it on Entertainment Weekly’s Top 50 cult films of all time.

Around that time, Haynes was living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, & had been a founding member of Gran Fury, the artists’ collective of Act Up, the AIDS activist group. With Christine Vachon, a Brown classmate, he ran Apparatus Productions, a set up for short independent films that eventually produced Haynes’s first feature film- Poison. This film established Haynes as a leader of the New Queer Cinema, a movement that was as significant for the gay themed stories it told as for the way in which it told them from a gay point of view. Poison is a film with 3 interwoven stories: an AIDS-inspired horror film, a mock TV documentary & a Jean Genet-ish story of a homoerotic experience at a French prison. It won the grand jury prize at Sundance. More infamously, because Haynes had received a National Endowment for the Arts grant, it was taken up by Congressional Republicans & conservative commentators, who called it “filth” & gay porn. Haynes little art film helped put a stop to federally funded films forever.

Haynes’s next film was Safe. Julianne Moore starred as a suburban woman with an undiagnosable environmental illness. It’s partly a horrifyingly intense study of suburbia,Wes Craven called it the scariest film of 1995, & a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic. Unlike Poison, Safe tells a straight ahead story. At the time, Haynes’s lover, Jim Lyons, was ill with AIDS, & Haynes visited him in the hospital in the mornings before going to the set.

Haynes first visit to Portland, where his sister lives, was to write Far From Heaven, my favorite of his films & his first box-office success. The film was nominated for 4 Oscars. Far From Heaven is a tribute to Douglas Sirk’s melodramas of the 1950s & early 1960s. Julianne Moore stars as a perfect 1950s housewife who discovers that her husband, played by Dennis Quaid, is gay; she then falls in love with a black man, played by Dennis Haysbert.

I have spotted Todd Haynes around Portland. He has come into the store that I manage. This city is a lo-fi, a do-it-yourselfer’s paradise, a place where, your career is not necessarily your entire indentity. I have known people for weeks that never asked me what I did for a living. Haynes: “When I moved to Portland, I was more social & productive than I’d ever been in my entire life. I remember being at an opening, talking to Gus, & people were just saying, ‘Hey Todd!’ ‘Hey Todd!’ I just felt available, & I loved that feeling. In New York, if someone came & knocked on your door without telling you, you’d be like, ‘Get out.’" This Gus dude is my good close personal friend- Gus Van Sant, who directed me in Drugstore Cowboy. Van Sant also lives in Portland.

Haynes, who is openly gay, bought an old Arts & Crafts bungalow in the NE Quadrant, not that far from where I live. He planted a garden, painted, got out his guitar, & made movies. Portland is a cheap city, or cheaper than New York, which is a plus for the method that Haynes uses to make films. Randall Poster, Haynes music supervisor on Velvet Goldmine, another really terrific Haynes film states: “He lives in a modest way and that is ultimately very powerful, because he’s kind of incorruptible, & he has people by his side who will kill for him. These movies are very hard, & it’s a long road, but it’s ultimately very fulfilling.”

I am a fan of his work, because I am a Douglas Sirk freak, Far From Heaven is one of my favorite films of all time, flawless really. I always watch his homage to glitter rock- Velvet Goldmine whenever I happen on it on cable. I have yet to sit down for his 8 hour Mildred Pierce.

We almost share a birthday. I would really love to have him over for cocktails, & he can bring Gus.

Civic Pride

I have never made a secret of my support & admiration for the openly gay Mayor of Portland- Sam Adams. Back when the Mayor was a city commissioner, I sat on a committee that he chaired- Keep Portland Moving. I always arrived early enough to insure that I would sit next to him. I understood that he would one day be the Mayor & I had designs to be the First Lady of Portland, a dream dashed when I realized that I was decades too old for his taste. But, I was never bitter. Sam Adams has always had my support, even if he ended up not supporting me in the style that I fantasized about: going shopping in foreign cities while Mr. Mayor was speaking at conferences, cutting ribbons & christening ships, standing beside him at press conferences, fashion spreads in details.

It is a bit of thrill when the Mayor of Portland calls me by name. Yesterday, I was in attendance at a meeting of The Downtown Retail Council where Sam Adams gave an engaging, witty, upbeat update on the Occupy Portland situation. He got angry at a question once & I became so excited that I was unable to stand up from our table. He was strongly stern a few times, making my head spin... Yes, I was in a room with another 50 retailers & I was stuck being hard & dizzy at the same time, not at my best.

Just a few hours later, I stood with The Husband, Jake, & The Boys' Fort Artists as Mayor Sam Adams gave a speech about the holiday season in Downtown Portland & the opening of the 3 Pop-Up Shops. Standing at the door to the store, while thanking him for his words earlier in the day, I just tossed off that my Husband happened to be one of the 2 partners of Boys' Fort.

Mayor Sam Adams (looking mayoral & handsome): "Really? That is so great. May I meet him, Steve?"

Stephen: "Of course, Mr. Mayor... you know I would do anything for you." (the Mayor & Stephen walk together across the atrium, seemingly aglow, as if in a Merchant/Ivory film)

Stephen (in a cornflower blue shirt to bring out his eyes): "Mr. Mayor, this is The Husband..."

Mayor Adams (reaching for The Husband's hand & seemingly brushing up against Stephen): "So very good to meet you & congratulations on Boys' Fort. By the way, you have excellent taste in men." (the crowd goes silent as Stephen levitates)

The Husband: (dry & weary) Oh, don't I know it..."

Portland is all about Bikes & here is a nice shot of The Husband, The Mayor & Stephen getting ready to ride.