“The debate could come down to a wordless, back-lit sign of a big white apple with a bite out of it. It would measure 5 feet 3 inches by 6 feet 4 inches,” Fred Leeson reports for The Oregonian. “The logo of Apple Computers is becoming a worldwide symbol, like the golden arches. But does it belong, at that size, in the historic Alphabet District of Northwest 23rd Avenue [Portland, Oregon]? It’s an issue that could confront the City Council if the sign or exterior of a proposed Apple retail store at 437 N.W. 23rd Ave. flunks a test at the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission. Architects have tinkered with the design since an advisory meeting last August, when the commissioners used such words as ‘leaden’ and ‘incompatible’ to describe Apple’s preferred stainless steel retail box. Architect Jeff Stuhr will return with a revised plan that scraps the stainless steel in favor of stone but keeps a modernistic flat exterior skin.”
“The proposed store would replace a former clinic and retail building that dates to 1982, so nothing historic would be destroyed. But city design guidelines adopted in 2000 say new buildings ‘will seek to incorporate design themes characteristic of similar buildings’ in the historic district,” Leeson reports. “Apple doesn’t comment on building plans. The company has built more than 135 retail outlets since 2001. Many are in shopping malls, but the company also looks for older traditional locations. According to an independent Web site that tracks Apple stores, the company dropped plans for a store in New York City’s Flatiron District after a historic review council rejected the design. The company presently faces opposition in a historic Boston neighborhood, but it managed to build an ultramodern store behind the facade of an 1898 building in London. ‘Just being modernistic is not the issue,’ says John Bradley, chairman of the Northwest District Association’s planning committee. ‘It’s going to depend how well it fits in.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s going to depend how well it fits in? Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. – Apple Computer, Inc.
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Related articles:
The somewhat overlooked locomotive that pulls Apple’s train: Apple’s growing cadre of retail stores – January 12, 2006
Photos of Apple’s $9 million 32-foot-by-32-foot New York City Glass Cube – January 01, 2006
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Apple drops small NYC Flatiron store to focus on much larger Apple Store in GM Building – October 17, 2005
OH MY GOD!!
Boot Camp bug turns Mac’s into pernament PC’s!!
Argh! Apple has given in to the Redmond Devil!
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125393,00.asp
Gary, it’s a bogus report. FUD.
Macdude was a crazy machead but MDN banned him anyway.
Walk the walk and don’t talk the talk my father used to say.
Gary,
That is why it is BETA software!
Duh!
Not FUD. It’s a bug.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=432603&tstart=0
It’s not a bug, it’s a undocumented feature.
Welcome to Windows, we got you now.
The proposed store would replace a former clinic and retail building that dates to 1982, so nothing historic would be destroyed.
But we’ll lose our ’80s heritage! That beautiful piece of 1982 architecture will be lost forever. Our kids won’t be able to see it and revel in the genius and spirit of the 1980s.
What is it with Jobs’ obsession with destroying historical landmarks?
Only Jooop would consider a asbestos filled building built in 1982 as “historic”
Historic generally relates to buildings that are over 100 years old or contain such character that is almost impossible to replace today.
I sit on a historical board.
Welcome to the world of Beta testing!
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I know… wrong thread but the topic is a bit more interesting than the portland “crisis”. I for one think that the Portland law is awesome. Cities are more and more looking like ugly corporate patchworks. I love the Apple store design but what about McDonalds, Verizon etc… UGLY. Not in my neighborhood.
Overzealous ‘purist’ preservationist types are a pain in the a*s. The next thing you know they will try to get shotgun shacks and outhouses listed. I’m for reasonable preservation, but property owners should have reasonable latitude and discretion with property that they own.
Half of what is listed is not worth preserving. The proposed Boston Apple Store location mentioned is in the shadow of the Prudential Center– a mammoth pile of cookie cutter crap. It’s about something other than preservation– more often just a bunch of manipulative pols.
My office is right by the proposed spot. The current building is ugly, but I agree that the neighborhood would not benefit from a big metal box. I thought apple did a fantastic job with their SOHO store in fitting in with the surroundings.
Attention to these details is one of the many reasons this is a good place to live.
Portland is beyond redemption. Peking on the Willamette. Can we give Portland to Washington State? Please?!!!
MikeR, do you mean you are currently squatting on a 100-year-old 2×4?
Oh, that kind of historical board, I get it.
They do have shotgun shacks listed on the historic preservation lists in the old mining town turned ski resort of Park City, UT (home to the Sundance Film Festival).
http://musobs.blogspot.com/
MikeR, I believe that Jooop was posting tongue-in-cheek. Also, you should have stated that you sit on an historical board. Our crazy language requires an in front of historical instead of a, although I don’t know why…
Just a shot of objectivity here…. but if we keep demoing buildings because they are not 100 years old and “historic”, how will we EVER get 100 year old buildings to be historic? Stands to reason if you keep demoing buildings that are 20-40 years old, they will never see 100 and become historic. Guess we need a “Pre-historic” society to help save some modern buildings so they can become historic.
The Dude abides
NW Portland is kind of the gay part of town….not that there is anything wrong with that.
But one must make sure the Apple store does not clash with the Pottery Barn and the Food Front Cooperative Grocery (Fred Meyer shopper myself) or Anna Bananas clothing.
And don´t forget Sammy’s Restaurant & Bar – Where A fine steak or lamb chop on the boulevard will have you feeling like you are in Beverly Hills at this chic Portland restaurant.
And please only black leather clad and pink iPods in the Apple store windows.
Apple Stores are not cut out to be in the middle of “historic” districts. Apple is about looking ahead, not catering to tourists reveling in the past.
The Oregonian is a disgusting rag, but this is nothing compared to what Apple went through about five years ago in Germantown, TN (Memphis). Apple clashed with high falutin’ rednecks who had unbelievably restrictive signage codes, including one that forbid the depiction of any food item on a sign!
Yes, they were applying that to the Apple logo.
It’s cool they’re opening another store here, pretty close to Pro Photo, which sells a lot of Apple stuff.
BTW: I don’t have an Intel-Mac, but if I did, that bug wouldn’t affect me. Why? Because I’d never be brave enough to install XP on the same HD as my OS X install, nifty partitioning software or not. I can see installing XP, but I’d want to put it on a non-OS drive.
I’m really paranoid about losing the ability to boot. I always make sure my PowerMac has at least two bootable drives (not just partitions), for example.
Germantown, Tn (suburban Memphis) has a uniform signage ordinance that keeps the community from looking like the suburban sprawl of about 90% of america. No gaudy outsized, kitschy signage. The Saddle Creek Apple Store in Germantown that resulted looks nice, is obviously an Apple Store and blends in well.
As to your characterization of residents as rednecks, you just show how ignorant you are. Smith & Nephew, FedEx & International Paper Executives, College & University Professors, Professional Musicians, Lawyers, CPAs, Doctors, Senior Medical Researchers from St Jude Children’s Hospital and other professional people hardly qualify as ‘high falutin’ rednecks.
I know all about Memphis, dumbass. I grew up there ande spent 15 of my adult years there, as recently as ’02. Ever got busted for speeding in Germantown? If you’re black, you definitely have been pulled over there.
“The logo of Apple Computers is becoming a worldwide symbol, like the golden arches.”
Blasphemy! Apple is about as opposite to the golden arches as you could hope to get – politically, culturally, industrially and environmentally.
MDN, that was SJ, not apple computer who came up with that quote..
If they use the old rainbow logo, the historic issue goes away, the gay community thing goes away, and the customers go away. problem solved.