I didn’t know when or if I’d ever be able to check Oregon off my list. I don’t make it to the west coast very often and even more rarely to the PNW. I have been in Washington a few times but never close enough to the border to race over for a day trip to check out some platters. But a unique opportunity presented itself to do some work in Hoquiam. The flight times available were already pretty bad and after a few days of contemplation, I decided to book two separate one-way tickets. I’d fly into Portland on a Wednesday and make the 2.5 hour drive to Aberdeen where I’d be staying that night. At the end of the week when it was time to go home, I’d drive the two hours to Seattle to catch a flight home. I’d be in the car for about 120 minutes each way no matter what I did. This was a slick excuse to not only look at records in a new state but also to check out a city (Portland) I have long wanted to investigate.
I arrived around noon and I simply drove downtown with no destination in mind. I found parking and grabbed lunch at Rogue Brewing which was the first of many thrills that day. I grabbed a bike share and did 5 miles around town on a day with absolutely perfect weather. It couldn’t get any better, could it? Of course it could – records awaited me!
Well they awaited me…somewhere. I had glanced at Google Maps before I left home and saw that there were so many record stores in Portland, I decided not to even choose one in advance. In the end, I chose Landfill Rescue Unit for a few reasons:
- The name, which is excellent. I couldn’t help but think of ‘Radio Friendly Unit Shifter’, or someone digging in a garbage dump for vinyl (sounds like the story of my life).
- It was not far from my current location (less than 1 mile walking)
- It had not many reviews on Google Maps and I’d rather check out a smaller or less popular place then the busy spot where everyone wants to go
The shop was the tiny, low ceiling place I adore. There were two other customers and a gentleman behind the counter who never looked up from what he was doing. I poked around for a few moments to get the lay of the land then got to work in the jazz section.
I found a handful of decent albums and prices seemed to be pretty good. Eventually I came across ‘Three Way Mirror’ by Airto, Flora Purim and Joe Farrell. According to discogs I have 42 releases either from these artists themselves or as appearances on albums (surely there is some overlap where more than one is on the same album). Not bad! I have wanted this for a long time but never saw a copy. $25 was to my memory about market value but I decided to leave it behind. Of course, now I regret that. It wasn’t an issue of the price, I guess I just decided I didn’t want it. Or need it. Though those reasons usually do not preclude a purchase, historically speaking.
I poked around a while longer. The proprietor never looked up and every couple minutes I’d hear the sound from his iPhone making a purchase via Apple Pay. Having finished my hunt with sufficient evidence of a visit, I started my walk back before the parking meter on my car ran out. Three hours in Portland only scratched the surface, but it was indeed a good day.
