The Market
This parking garage used to trumpet the call to the Portland Public Market located next door. The Market has moved to a new, smaller location at the Square, and this garage is still open but on a limited basis. We used to love to stroll through the Market on a lazy Saturday morning or afternoon. Grab the paper, a coffee and a sandwich at anyone of the many food stops. Fresh fish, deli sandwiches made on delicious homemade bread right out of the oven, soups for all tastes and sizes, aromatic pizza slices and exotic cheeses and wines to take home were all part of the draw. It was an unruly cacophony of smells that surprisingly, blended together to create a pleasing, warm atmosphere amid a cold January wind. Alas, about five years ago, it bit the dust, a victim of a struggling economy and exorbitant rent. These symbolic gates strike quite a pose.
All that remains is the sign, calling out a plaintiff plea, signifying nothing.
You're so right, Birdman, but your photo and post about the Portland Public Market represent its then and now significantly.
ReplyDeleteLove your Shakespearean closing . . .
ReplyDeleteI loved the Market so much & never thought it would disappear. I don't mind the new one, but it's not the same...
ReplyDeleteit was the public market that made us fall in love with portland and want to live there. we grieved when it left that location and have never really gotten over it though we've visited the smaller venue many times.
ReplyDeleteHas the new location lost vendors? Is the right mixtures of tempting smells missing? The lesson of the Zen masters is that nothing is permanent. Move on.
ReplyDeleteAt least that sign isn't full of sound and fury! All puns aside, that really is a shame. It sounds like it was a magical place to shop, relax, eat, and maybe even do a little people watching.
ReplyDeleteawww. it sounded like a great place to stroll.
ReplyDeleteSad to see establishments shutting shop
ReplyDeleteAgain, another sad closing.
ReplyDeleteThat's unfortunate. It's so unusual to see a parking area like this closed. The weekly Farmers Market here is very popular, even during the brutal hot and humid summer months.
ReplyDeleteSad, so sad.
ReplyDeleteA sign of the times I suppose. Too Bad. MB
ReplyDeleteI feel badly when ANY downtown attractions fail. It can be hard keeping old cities vital enough to encourage folks to come in from the burbs.
ReplyDeleteA plaintiff plea is what the people who started the lawsuit against the market's closing filed with the court. The sign's call was probably plaintive.
A sad sign of our times.
ReplyDeleteI mourn the loss of places like this and always encourage others to support local vendors and establishments. Cacophony is one of my favorite words.
ReplyDeleteOut, out, brief market.
ReplyDeleteSales are but a walking shadow, a poor merchant,
That struts and frets its overhead and rent,
And then is heard no more.
Sad to see the doors closed now!
ReplyDeleteLéia
Yeah, it is sad to see such relics anymore. We have a near deserted shopping center nearby that suffered the same fate. There it sits, mostly abandoned and falling apart. Sorry about the Patriots. They'll be back next year.
ReplyDeleteYou painted such a vivid image there Birdman, I could see exactly what it must have been like..I can see why you miss it.
ReplyDelete