Portland buried in snow

Oh wait, that’s fog. And not today. Never mind. We do have a dusting of snow here on Mt. Sylvania, and apparently the roads are very icy because the Portland Public Schools just changed the call from a 2 hour late opening, to closed. Hmm… a car without chains just made it up the hill past my house with no difficulty. Whatever.

We think the building sticking up through the fog in the photo is the US Bancorp tower, at 536′ the second highest skyscraper in Portland, after the Wells Fargo building. US Bancorp was founded 1891 as the U.S. National Bank in Portland. The Tower was built in 1983, becoming known as “Big Pink” (also the name of an album by The Band). Its controversial size prompted new limits on height in the zoning code. The 30th floor hosts Portland City Grill, currently 56th in the nation for sales by an independent restaurant. That last site says the average dinner will set you back around $35. Portland Business Journal notes PCG is one of 27 restaurants under Pacific Coast Restaurants, including Stanford’s and Newport Bay, in four western states. The company employs 1,800 people. I’m more of an Izzy’s type myself – also a NW company, originating in Albany and Corvallis, currently with 25 restaurants.

And speaking of currently, it is now snowing. Good call, Portland Public Schools.

Update 1/13/07 8:35 a.m. – My parents-in-law treated us to dinner at Stanford’s in Lake Oswego last night, to celebrate my father-in-law’s 75th birthday. De-lish. I think I could become a Stanford’s type, with practice.