Healing the
Lorraine
Healthcare Blues
Hansberry’s Wisdom
Stage set for
annual Inner City
Blues Festival
Oregon Shakespeare
Festival revives African
American play
See Local News, page 3
See Metro, page 11
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Two passers-by take in the ‘Jumptown Video Wall’ at The Magnolia, a new housing complex on 3250 N.E. Martin Luther King Blvd. iPod Touch screens embedded
changing neighborhood6 bU'ld'n9 SCro11 between ima9es and video of the neighborhoods vibrant jazz scene of years past to present day reflections of the ever-
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Harry James’ song “Jump Town.”
The initiator and installer of this wall, Pamela
Blended into the façade of Innovative Housing’s Chipman says she looked to pay tribute to the Eliot
newest housing complex are literal lenses to neighborhood’s “golden years” which she refers to
Portland’s African American past. Between the as 1941 -1957 when jazz and a vibrant black commu­
bricks at The Magnolia, 3250 N.E. Martin Luther nity was nearly inescapable.
King Jr. Blvd., are four iPod Touch units that run
“I wanted to pay tribute to what was lost from this
continuous loops of historical photos mixed with neighborhood. All the music, the jazz,” she says.
recent footage.
Innovative Housing contacted Chipman before
Deemed the “Jumptown Video Wall’’ the name construction of the affordable housing complex
comes in tribute to trumpeter and swing-band leader when the non-profit organization was planning an
Historic neighborhood
flickers between the bricks
art installation as part of The Magnolia’s design. A
northeast resident since her arrival in town some 20
years ago, the freelance artist jumped at the oppor­
tunity to tell some of the neighborhood’s history.
The never-ending slideshow displays black-and-
white photographs from the 1940’s and 50’s, mixed
with 15-minute videos she captured from the
neighborhood’s present-day environment of people
biking, driving, playing tennis, playing saxophone —
continued
on page 4