Inspiration Post #10: Portland

I’ve posted already about some of the places that inspired pieces of the Bones books. Today I’d like to share a few more.

This is Papa Haydn, a cafe in Northwest Portland. When Matty and Dylan go out to lunch in Buried Bones, they go someplace like this. The desserts are amazing. But Dylan is preoccupied, starting to worry because Chris isn’t answering his calls. Wonder what’s going on at the farm.

Dylan’s architecture firm is located in an imaginary building somewhere around here, in Southeast Portland. I took this photo just outside the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, which is located on the river, almost underneath one of the bridge approaches. This used to be an industrial area but has been evolving in recent years. It’s the perfect location for Stender and Associates.

And these photos are in Beaverton. Beaverton is a fairly upscale and absolutely ordinary suburb, the kind of place with chain stores and terrible commuting traffic on the freeways. Not at all the type of place you’d expect a pair of lesbian futon queens to build that… interesting house Dylan designs for them in Good Bones. I grew up in Beaverton. Went to Beaverton High School, in fact. We were, I am sad to say, the Beavers. Yeah.

Next week: Testicle festival