Craving New York Deli, Scary Dark Ride Devil Head and O Death Poster

The October weather was so beautiful today, the husband and I headed to Portland for a little one last chance excursion before the rains truly come. Our first stop was at our excellent and most wonderful printer, Richard Gwinner or Ryan Gwinner Press who is a wizard at running offset printing press (old school).

I did a quick search and found a link here that has more info about his shop, (really, you have to see his place, it is amazing!) but I will warn you that he is in the process of moving and the old shop (a house which has been in his family for years and years) is going to be torn down.

After many requests from clients, we went ahead and had the O Death poster printed up on parchment and if I do say so myself, it looks a thousand times better, yes?

If you are interested in more info about this poster,
please click here to go to my website.

-------------------------------------------------------For a few months now, I have been craving a trip to New York City and specifically for the deli food (considering there really isn't any serious deli food here on the North Coast). You know the food I am talking about, brisket, chopped liver, corned beef, pastrami and sandwiches piled nearly up to the ceiling, fresh bagels the size of inner tubes, cheese blintzes, potato knishes, and of course, a chocolate egg cream to wash it all down with. Yummy.

Then...I found Kornblatt's Deli, located right there in Portland! So of course, since we were headed to Portland for a sort of mini vacation, I thought it appropriate that we each sacrifice a left ventricle for some serious deli.

We split a Reuben (which was more than plenty), and it was absolutely heaven. The bread was grilled to perfection with Swiss cheese, crunchy sauerkraut, and just the right amount of Russian dressing. We also noshed on cheese blintzes, potato knishes (which were ok, the ones I bought at Coney Island on the boardwalk from the ancient Russian ladies were a thousand times better), macaroni salad, a bucket of sour pickles and my much anticipated chocolate egg cream.

The husband proclaimed that the Reuben he inhaled was the best he had ever eaten in his entire life!
-------------------------------------------------------After our lovely respite at Kornblatt's, the husband and I went to the Portland Expo to look at stuff, and the moment we walked in, we found it. We didn't know we were looking for it, but as soon as we saw it, we knew we found exactly what we didn't even know we were searching for, and we bought it (but not without some good old-fashioned friendly haggling, which amounted to $100 off the original price).



It is a very large (huge, actually) Papier-mâché devil head beast. The seller claimed that this piece was originally part of a Scary Dark ride that was from the now defunct Playland at the Beach in San Francisco. This piece now hangs proudly in the foyer.
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I received an email wanting to know more about the background on this image below:

The image is a self-portrait of me while I was living at SCUD (Subterranean Cooperative of Urban Dreamers) in Belltown. I actually found some pictures that reference the illustration beautifully:


Here you can see a lot of what is in the drawing, including the desk I sat at while having consultations with prospective tattoo clients. The large red frames were literally rescued in the nick of time from the rubbish heaps. These window frames originally graced beautiful old brick buildings before they were torn down willy-nilly (such a pity, Seattle tearing down all of its history).

The gold columns were also rescued from yet another building torn down in Belltown. They (I think anyway) currently reside in Cyclops on First Avenue.

My old trusty typewriter and a wooden ball I stole
from a Coney Island game back in the 1980s.

A great shelf nook piece given to me by
Art Chantry, filled with strange gee-gaws.
On the top sits an empty Absinthe bottle.

A close up of my tree decorated with
hunks of hair tied with ribbons, skeletons,
X-mas lights, and razor blades.

Here is the wall that would have been to my left.

Spike, the mummified cat, who was the
official mascot of SCUD.

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Today I got a piece of mail from the place where my Dad's body was donated to science. They said that my Father's "gift to the medical community is complete," and that I am to expect his cremated remains to arrive by registered mail soon. His cremains will be packaged in a heart-shaped biodegradable urn.

My Dad and Mom spent every November 11th (his birthday) at the ocean, going on nearly 30 years. Last year, they decided not to make reservations at Lincoln City, but instead to do something closer, like Seaside or Cannon Beach.

At the very least, he will be here in time for his birthday. And I can't wait to see him.
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