Holiday at The Lakes in September

This morning John bought our tickets to England for an 8 day hiking trip in the Lake District.

So here is the sequence of how this plan evolved:

• 7/2/09 John received an email from one of his college friends, also named John, that the previous day he had accepted a new job and he and his family will be moving back to Sidney, Australia in early 2010. John B, his wife Nicolette and daughters Ellie and Jasmine currently live in London. He works in finance and will be opening the Asia /Pacific office for his new company.
• 7/2/09 John N : Congrats... hope all is well.
• 7/2/09 John B: any interest in one last trip to Europe before we wander out
• 7/27/09 John N: hey Bert found cheap flights what does September look like for you? (I started looking when I realized we most likely aren't traveling to China in 09)
• 7/28 John B: Pretty open after 1st week
• 7/30 John N: We booked flights ... here's the dates. Initial thoughts are fly in, take train to Lake District and meet up with you later in trip. Look forward to seeing you, Nic and the girls.
• 7/30 John B: Cool. Been too long. We can recommend stuff. "Believe it or not, the girls are driving up to the Lake District as I write this... I'm joining them tomorrow evening for the weekend so we should have plenty to discuss. Cheers.
• 7/30 John N: "great. gladly take the advise of the 'advance party' "

So we have been having so much fun reading and researching this trip. Here is some of what I have learned:

The Lakes District, also known as The Lakes or Lakeland in 2,630 square miles located in rural northwest England. The population is about 500,000, unemployment listed as 2% and about 63,000 people are employed in the tourism industry. Tourism is the largest source of income for the region. It is estimated that about 14 million people visit the Lakes annually. Interestingly the sheep population is estimated to be around 2 million. This area is a mix of lakes, mountain, forests, woodlands and a whole lot of quaintness in general.

Here is what The Lonely Planet Guidebook we bought today suggests to bring for this trip:

1. good hiking boots with plenty of tread
2. good rain jacket "all those green pastures and lush dales come at a price; the Lake District is officially the wettest place in England and receives twice the national rainfall average"
3. comfortable day sack to carry goods
4. up to date map
5. binoculars (we just got some good lightweight ones from an event earlier this year), camera (now I really have a reason to get one w/ a functioning flash), and spare memory.
6. plenty of spare socks
7. taste of warm ale
8. calm attitude for queues

The Lake District is one of 14 National Parks in the United Kingdom. The Lakes lies entirely in the county of Cumbria and is one of England's few mountainous areas. This area was made famous during the 19th century because of poetry and writings such as William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter.

Baby's 1st Bathing Suit

Today I bought this bathing suit for Audrey at Castle House, a designer kid's store in Hyde Park. The 70% off banner hanging in their front window is what lured me in. I drive by this store regularly on my way to the grocery store and have avoided stopping for weeks. So today when I did go in this shop I assumed the selection would be picked over and I would avoid buying anything. Yeah right. Anyhow, I bought this bathing suit for $11. It was the only 12 month size that was not pink. I not anti-pink (one of my friends is) but I definitely prefer something different. I also bought this Lili Gaufrette shirt for $15. I had never heard of this vendor before. My first buying job was in infants and toddlers. Ok, that was 20 years ago and I worked for a department store, not a boutique. But seriously I can not imagine someone paying $50 for a shirt for an infant. During my corporate retail career I also bought handbags. I googled this vendor and here is what I found out: "European children clothing line that has a chic and trendy style between fashion and revisited fashion", "one of a kind designer baby clothes". I find that crazy and amusing. I can't help thinking how funny that would sound in a funding proposal considering today's economy.

Well both of these purchases fit in Audrey's hat box where I have all the clothes I have purchased for her. This box is pretty full now. We have tried to buy as little as possible prior to our referral, mostly because of superstitious reasons. By we I actually just mean me since I don't think John has bought her anything yet. Anyhow, the hat box was my grandmother's. I have 6 of grandmother's hat boxes (and 4 hats) and I use the other 5 to store my own clothes. My grandmother was such a lady. She had 13 grandchildren and we all adored her. She loved to dress to the nines and despite the fact she was legally blind she worked (own a real estate company) up until she died at the age of 89 in 2004.

Next to the hat box are the books I've bought for Audrey so far. Book purchases are a different story. When I see one I like I buy it. Since this is a category I buy for the conservatory gift shop most of her books came from Krohn. Right now I'm up to 37 books, which considering we have been waiting for 3 years and 2 months shows considerable restraint on my part.

The chart behind the hat box is a "hundred good wishes" growth chart, a Christmas gift from Mom-mom and Grandad in 2007.

This bunny t-shirt is one of my favorites.

The next (very out of focus) picture is of Audrey's room. The poster is the ABC's of Cincinnati. Her bed will go where the black chair is now.

This room used to be a fantastic walk in closet. It has looked like this for almost 3 years now. After our dossier was logged in I wanted to paint it right away so it could air out and she wouldn't breath that new paint smell when she came home. Obviously that turned out to be a non-issue.

Several years ago, before we even thought about adopting, we bought these shutters at an antique store in Bloomington for next to nothing. They sat in our basement for a while until we decided how to use them. We framed them and attached a cork board for our baby's room. We thought this could provide some fun storytelling possibilities. At the top of this picture you can see the pie pan where an old potbelly stove was vented from this room a very long time ago. Our home was built in 1874 so it is interesting to imagine who spent time in this room. Some day I want to try to research our home's history.

This picture with the shutters open shows what we currently have on the board which is a poster of "Butterflies of Krohn Conservatory" on top of a map of Mt. Adams.

This is the first sweater Mom-mom (the name my mom's 1st grandchild gave her) knitted for Audrey in August 2006. Audrey will be my parents 15th grandchild and John's mother's 2nd.

The second sweater she knitted in October 2006.

The 3rd sweater from Mom-mom.

This is John's baby sweater and booties from 1964.

Oh, this dress is an exception to the hat box. I bought this in February 2007 and it is hanging in my closet on the 3rd floor.

Movie Night in Mt Adams July 2009

Last Thursday was another fun movie night in the neighborhood. The weather was unseasonable cool, 70 and no humidity. John and I brought chicken pad thai and spring rolls (from Teak) and got to Seasongood about quarter till 8. The band started around 7:30. It was a 15 people jazz orchestra and they were fantastic. They played mostly 50's music, in theme with the movie which was released in 1955.

Many more dogs attended this movie night than the movie night last month. The band encouraged people to dance. These 2 kicked off the dancing.

These little girls seemed to have a good time dancing in front of the band and lead singer.

Neighbors catching up.

The raffle before the movie included: fishing lessons at Mirror Lake, tickets to Playhouse in the Park, Art Museum membership, gift certificates to a Jeff Ruby restaurant, a big screen tv and amusingly a free movie screening (like the one in this picture) at your home. This was amusing because most of the audience does not have a backyard big enough to handle this screen, or for that matter a yard at all. In fact the winner of this prize (who is acutally in the picture on the stage pulling raffle winners) live in Highland Towers and has no yard at all.

Picture of John. After dinner and the raffle we opened the bottle of syrah we brought.

Dinner from Teak with my husband, a free movie and wine with the neighbors on a beautiful night in a great park all within walking distance of our home is my kind of fun.

The cartoon before the movie was Bugs Bunny Goes to Mars.

We got home around 11:30. Lucy was not amused when we put the glow necklaces on her.

Next movie is Philadelphia Story (1940) with Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart on Friday, August 21st.

Zoning Overlay and Oregon Street

I spent almost 3 hours preparing for a meeting we had with a City Planner regarding proposed zoning changes. I found out Friday this was a complete waste of time. It is complicated but although our properties on Oregon Street would be included in the proposed Zoning Overlay for historic and view corridors to the current zoning laws we won't be affected in our current height variance of 35'. My concern was when the real estate market turns around and the condo's being developed on either end of this street begin to sell again, more development would mean more on street parking will disappear. This would de-value our property unless we could add a garage which would require our current building height to go up to allowable 35' tall. John and I have no desire to do these additions but if forced to sell we obviously don't want to sell short because of a zoning change. In the end this is a non-issue. It looks like these zoning changes will go to City Council in September and most likely pass.

Here are some of the pictures I took of Oregon St for this meeting.

Monastery Apt was where John lived in the 90's for a couple of years.

View looking up Oregon Street from Monastery entrance.

Only 1 of these $800.0 K to $1M condo's have sold in 3+ years. The retaining wall supposedly cost over $1M. There were planned to be 12 units.

The retaining wall view Oregon Street residents, including our tenant have out their front door.

425 Oregon St... demolition was at least a year ago... the construction is slow. I just looked up the listing for this on huff.com today : "3500 square foot gem with rare 22X19 2car side by side garage, granite counter tops and elevator. Hurry still time to make interior changes." All this for $1.3M.

I believe this building will eventually need to be torn down.

Our little apartments on Oregon St. On the right hand side (415) is the first property I bought which was in 1990. I lived there for 10 years. John actually lived down the street in Monastery Apartments but we never met while we both lived on Oregon Street. I bought the attached property (413) in 1999. They are both really cute on the inside and rent well.

City View Tavern has a colorful past. I am going to post the article Jim Steiner wrote about City View in his Hill Yes column of the Mt Adams Newsletter from September 2008 at the end of this blog entry.

The house next to City View and one of the 5 buildings (including our and CV) that are only 1 story. This is where the incline used to come up the hill. It is such a bummer not one incline was preserved. Pittsburgh saved one of theirs and it is still operable and used today.

Condos (bay windows) and apartments (brick). One of these condo's is for sale,listed today at $239.5 for a 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom and no parking.

The Oregon Street Highland Towers apartments on the non-view side of the street.

This notice was posted on an abandoned rehab building. The rumor (from City View) is that the contractor ran out of money and the IRS has been unsuccessful in finding him.

According to this notice the fire department has declared the building a fire hazard and the police noted illegal activity is going on inside.

When the market does turn around I bet someone will buy this building for cheap. Added bonus will be that the neighbors will welcome the construction inconvenience.

The adjacent completed condos are pretty and have stunning views. The only thing I think is odd is that the contractors did not level the floors.

But the brick condos on the end on stunning. This picture shows how they condo's on Oregon and lower street Baum accommodate views with the hillside. Building on "stilts"the Mt Adams new construction way.

These condo's began after the modern ones at Monastery entrance to Oregon and sold out quickly and completely. Part of the reason probably is they are on the view side of the street. Additionally could be side by side parking garage. At any rate they sold in the $800 - $1M range so it wasn't that they were less expensive. One of these condo is listed for sale today at$895.0 for 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom 2 side by side garage and elevator. These are the homeowners that will most welcome construction traffic when someone buys the abandoned rehab building.

I wonder if this will get developed in the next 20 years. I bet it will...some of the best views of the river and downtown. At the end of Oregon are 10 condos called the Palisades.

These are the most expensive condos for sale in Mt Adams. They start at $2.3 million.

This drawing from one the Palisades sign's makes me a little nervous b/c of the yellow line drawn on the street. If Oregon St becomes 2 way that would take all the off street parking.

Close up of one of the Palisades garage entrances. Now the article about City View

Hill Yes!

A look back at Mt. Adams

Jim Steiner

Urban myths have a way of getting a life of their own. I had always heard about Charlie Manson and his time on the Hill. He was banned from the City View Tavern for getting wasted on tequila and starting fights. Was it true or was it legend? I decided to see what I could find out by interviewing Deb Henning, the current co-owner of the City View Tavern on Oregon Street. Why Deb? She bought the place from the guy who was the owner when Charlie frequented the establishment. Deb and I met in the Tavern and began a conversation.

The building that houses the City View was built circa 1875. In 1891, it was owned by Thomas Spain, a coppersmith who lived on Celestial Street. Mr. Spain ran a grocery store; he added a couple of bar stools and began selling beer as a sideline in 1901. Bernard Recklingloh bought the place in 1906, and it became know as Recklinloh's Grocery. Beer was still sold. Today , we put an Arby's in a gas station and think we're doing something new.

In 1917, George Lagemann, a butcher who worked for Mr. Recklinloh and lived above the grocery, bought the place. George raised his family on the second floor while running the grocery and saloon. One of George's sons, Ted, took over the place when George could no longer run it.

During the Christmas holidays, Lagemann's sold trees as a family project. Everyone pitched in and helped. There was a cousin who was, in the vernacular of the time, "slow". He was a good worker as long as he had specific directions. After Christmas 1946, as was the custom, the remaining trees were burned in the backyard of the grocery. Ted told the cousin to take care of burning the leftover trees. Unfortunately, he didn't tell him to move them from the side of the building. The second story of the building was destroyed by fire and never replaced. After the fire, Ted added a porch to the back of the grocery and renamed the place City View Tavern.

Ted ran the business his way. he did not tolerate foul lanquage as there were children around, and he wanted to encourage family business. He closed at 1 am because his philosophy was if you couldn't get a buzz on by then you weren't really trying. He also discouraged drunks from hanging out because he believed they chased his good customer away.

Ted didn't believe in Happy Hour; he felt that it was always happy hour. Ted had the song "Sweeter than the Flowers" by Moon Mulligan placed on the juke box in honor of his wife Murt. He played the song all the time; it's still on the juke box today. In the early 1960s, Charlie Manson lived on Oregon Street near the corner of Oregon and Monastery. He frequented the City View and drank exclusively tequila... lots of tequila. One evening, he tried to fly off the back porch. Ted stopped him and then banned tequila from the place because "It wasn't Charlie who was the problem; it was the tequila." This event is known as "The Legend of Charlie and Jose Cuervo." You still can't buy tequila today at the City View Tavern.

Ted's health deteriorated in 1985, and he told Deb Henning that he was ready to sell the place to her. She bought it and began the process of cleaning it up and restoring the facade to reflect the way it looked in 1917. She retained the old tables and chairs and the knotty pine paneling. There are lots of old pictures and memorabilia that Deb treasures. She replaced the porch with a deck in 1990. Deb took on a business partner, Silas Evans who began work at the Tavern in 1999 as a bartender.

Deb worked for Ted from time to time before buying him out and learned much about the bar business from him. She continues to practive many of the things Ted taught her and his memory can still be felt at the City View Tavern.

What started out as a story on the urban myth of Charlie Manson, tequila and the City View Tavern ended up being a story of Ted Lagemann, his very special tavern, and his legacy passed down to the present.

Stop by the City View and enjoy the ambiance. Order a Big Ted burger, which Ted named after himself, but do NOT order tequila.