This Week in the Mercury
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Portland / Crime / Neighborhoods Pagodaless
Posted by Will "the Intern" Radik on Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 5:33 PM
No more Pagoda for you, Hollywood! The project to erase one of the neighborhood's iconic buildings is well underway.
As reported previously, Key Bank purchased the
More wanton destruction after the jump. (Wanton. Get it?)
If you're wondering where to get your own little slice of unhistory, I informally suggest you check here:
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Great. Just what Portland needs... another bank. We've already got them on every corner. They are more prolific than coffee shops, and they do not contribute to the local economy.
Very sad. But the "wanton" joke may make it worth the destruction.
Guess who's never doing business with Key Bank?
By the way, in kinda related news: FUCK Chase Bank. Fuck them in their stupid asses. Give me back my WaMu.
I still get confused when people say Hollywood. And then the picture of the pagoda and I was reading this whole thing like it was about LA. And then I thought about narcking you out to the editors for writing about LA, but then decided we were friends and I wouldn't do that. Except I'm also friends with Alison too and I had to weigh my loyalties. Brain trust or karaoke? BRAIN TRUST OR KARAOKE.
And then I remembered about the Portland neighborhood.
Christ, it's not the bank's fault. I'm not some spokesman for a big banking business, but in reality, not everything is always someone else's fault.
The Pagoda was architectually unsound and saving it would have cost MORE than building a new one, something the owners obviously couldn't afford.
Sad, but true.
The owners ARE the bank. Are you telling me the bank can't be slightly original, sink a little money into the project, and do a little historic preservation at the same time?
Count me in as another Hollywood resident & business owner who will NOT patronize any company who chooses to destroy rather than preserve an interesting old building, even if it costs a bit more to do so. The short-sightedness of corporations astounds me-had they spent the additional funds to preserve this landmark, it would have paid off ten-fold in goodwill and increased revenue from grateful customers. Pisses me off every time I walk by this corner-brilliant marketing strategy, Key Bank.
We were at the neighborhood business association meetings when this was discussed. Unfortunately, the owner of the Pagoda had left the place in total disrepair. Someone would have had to have torn down and recreated the structure as it was totally out of building/fire code.
As it is a bank going in and not a chinese restaurant, the structure will not be recreated.
Blame the previous owner, but don't blame Hollywood or Key Bank.
Leslie and The Badgers
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