The Jupiter Hotel

Jupiter Hotel was ??, a photo by Dornoff Photography on Flickr.

The Jupiter Hotel sits along Burnside in Portland's gritty east side area. The motel typical 1960's motel that has been turned into a motel for the hipster crowd.

Have to enjoy the the contrast between the modern and the classic motor court in this shot. To the left is the restaurant called the Doug Fir that also includes event space with the lobby/gallery located directly to the right of the picture.

Tillamook Naval Air Station Administration Building

Tillamook Naval Air Station Administration Building, a photo by Dornoff Photography on Flickr.

Besides photography I have several interest including Urban Design, Architecture, Historical Buildings, and history itself. I see a building like this I can just see possibilities for it.

This building is part of the Tillamook Naval Air Station that is best known for its giant blimp hangers from WWII that currently houses the soon to move Tillamook Air Museum. The Blimp hanger itself has a clouded future as it needs millions of dollars for upgrades.

This building served as the Administration building for the Station and you can just image the history within these walls. Hopefully its future is brighter than its more famous cousin but we shall see.

You might want to visit this and the museum before they are gone.

Sometimes you just have to snap the picture...

The Coast Starlight leaving Portland with skateboarders along tracks., a photo by Dornoff Photography on Flickr.

There is times you just have to snap the picture even though you know it will not come out perfect.

In this case I was waiting to take pictures of Amtrak's Coast Starlight when I saw these two people walking down the tracks and then starting to skateboard down the crossing. I was already focused on the train so I went ahead and took the picture.

While the skateboarders were not perfectly focused it gets the point across. Hopefully these two learned their lesson about a five seconds after I snapped the picture and the engineer of the train blew the whistle. These two obviously not paying attention freaked out and then started running and started screaming "there was a train coming" over and over as they cross and started walking down the street.

What's your history?

Casa Del Sol formally Tastee Feeze??, a photo by Dornoff Photography on Flickr.

I love looking at buildings and trying to figure out their history. I love trying to see if I can figure out how the building started out and what has happened to it over the years. What is really fun is when you find some small clue that tells you a story.

Now this building I am guessing could have been a Tastee Freeze at one time. It looks exactly like the one I grew up with in Pasadena, CA that has now something else just like this building.

New buildings just don't have a history or character that these old buildings do. Maybe in 30 years when today's buildings became scarce they will be looked at differently but right now its just hard for them to hold a candle so something that has a story to tell.

Are you ready for winter?

UTA Gillig Advantage BRT 10014 in a snow storm, a photo by Dornoff Photography on Flickr.

Here is a shot I took Christmas Eve last year on a trip to Utah to get you ready for the winter season that will be coming soon.

A Utah Transit Authority bus has just left Central Station and is on its way to Murray via State Street in a blizzard. The bus is a 2010 Gillig Advantage BRT bus. The picture is taken at the intersection of 200 South and 500 West in Salt Lake City.

A different kind of fast food

Hawaiian Time formally??, a photo by Dornoff Photography on Flickr.

Ever get tired of the same old fast food every single day. While I try to eat at independents when I actually do have fast food which is a rarity these days, here is a fast food place that offers something different from the rest.

This place is located on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and I have passed by it many times before I finally took a picture of it. Of course the weather was typical Portland winter wet but the place still shows it unique flavor. While the building still shows its heritage as a chain fast food place the owners have set it apart.