Up on the Roof: The Passing of an Era

When this old world starts getting me down,
And people are just too much for me to face—
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space ...The Drifters, 1963



Our house was built in 1938, a quarter-century before the Drifters sang the song that people my age crooned to themselves when they were feeling low and didn't want to. Not so long ago by some measures. 11 years before I was born. Built in the End-of-the-Depression, Pre-War optimism, as Stumptown became Portland. Today, the cedar shakes of 1938 and the asphalt shingles of who-knows-when were ripped off and hauled away. A new roof takes their place. At the turn of the next Century, some other couple will watch the work of of the early 21st Century be replaced by whatever the 22nd Century brings to 22nd Avenue.


Photos by Nancy Flynn