Val C. Ballestrem
@pdxhistorian.bsky.social
History, architecture, Red Sox, cats, cooking, and occasional cocktails. Author of Lost Portland, Oregon (2018)
A nice story in the latest Oregon Humanities magazine about Portland freeways for which I was interviewed. oregonhumanities.org/rll/magazine...
On Tender Systems
An essay by Dawn Marie Knopf about the history of the US highway system, the costs of its creation, and conflicts over freeway expansion in Portland
oregonhumanities.org
December 13, 2025 at 10:59 PM
A nice story in the latest Oregon Humanities magazine about Portland freeways for which I was interviewed. oregonhumanities.org/rll/magazine...
Zira for the timeline cleanse. Happy Friday!
November 7, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Zira for the timeline cleanse. Happy Friday!
No Kings. - Portland, OR this Saturday 10/18.
Portland Indivisible and 50501. We Say NO KINGS! · No Kings share.google/0Y0WMKsGKD0t...
Portland Indivisible and 50501. We Say NO KINGS! · No Kings share.google/0Y0WMKsGKD0t...
Portland Indivisible and 50501. We Say NO KINGS! · No Kings
**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings. And here in Oregon, we say No Military Takeover of Our Communities.**
Our event - Portland Indivisible and 50501. We Say NO KINGS!
https://www.mobil...
share.google
October 14, 2025 at 2:01 PM
No Kings. - Portland, OR this Saturday 10/18.
Portland Indivisible and 50501. We Say NO KINGS! · No Kings share.google/0Y0WMKsGKD0t...
Portland Indivisible and 50501. We Say NO KINGS! · No Kings share.google/0Y0WMKsGKD0t...
With all this talk about Portland and plywood, this ad seemed oddly fitting.😀 Oregonian 9/25/1966
October 10, 2025 at 11:20 PM
With all this talk about Portland and plywood, this ad seemed oddly fitting.😀 Oregonian 9/25/1966
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
We’re eight days away from No Kings Day, and we have 2,500 protests planned in all 50 states and across the world.
October 18 is going to be the biggest day of nonviolent protest in US history — and we want to see you there. Find your local event: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
October 18 is going to be the biggest day of nonviolent protest in US history — and we want to see you there. Find your local event: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
October 10, 2025 at 12:48 PM
We’re eight days away from No Kings Day, and we have 2,500 protests planned in all 50 states and across the world.
October 18 is going to be the biggest day of nonviolent protest in US history — and we want to see you there. Find your local event: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
October 18 is going to be the biggest day of nonviolent protest in US history — and we want to see you there. Find your local event: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
"Portland police are antifa" is the funniest collection of words I've ever read
October 6, 2025 at 2:43 PM
"Portland police are antifa" is the funniest collection of words I've ever read
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
This piece is just an essential, important and excellent intervention as Coates' Vanity Fair essay was. One NYT column isn't that important, but an accommodationist mindset has spread in center-left elite circles. And it should be rejected forcefully. democracyamericana.com/posts/c5d024...
Where Is the Line?
On Ezra Klein, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the struggle to define the boundaries of what is acceptable in America
democracyamericana.com
October 5, 2025 at 3:48 PM
This piece is just an essential, important and excellent intervention as Coates' Vanity Fair essay was. One NYT column isn't that important, but an accommodationist mindset has spread in center-left elite circles. And it should be rejected forcefully. democracyamericana.com/posts/c5d024...
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
My neighborhood today.
October 5, 2025 at 5:25 PM
My neighborhood today.
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
Seventy (70) years ago today Portland’s Exposition-Recreation Commission selected Delta Park as the site for what we now know as Memorial Coliseum. My book on the site selection process will be out in the spring. Until then, here’s a primer I wrote back in 2017.
mikeaorr.medium.com/portland-mem...
mikeaorr.medium.com/portland-mem...
October 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Seventy (70) years ago today Portland’s Exposition-Recreation Commission selected Delta Park as the site for what we now know as Memorial Coliseum. My book on the site selection process will be out in the spring. Until then, here’s a primer I wrote back in 2017.
mikeaorr.medium.com/portland-mem...
mikeaorr.medium.com/portland-mem...
Sales for Hellfire Club tees ought to be going through the roof Portland! www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
October 1, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Sales for Hellfire Club tees ought to be going through the roof Portland! www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
IT’S OFFICIAL: We now have more protests planned for October 18 than there were back in June.
It’s not even October yet but you’ve already put 2,100 events on the No Kings map.
We hope to see you at the largest day of peaceful protest in American history: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
It’s not even October yet but you’ve already put 2,100 events on the No Kings map.
We hope to see you at the largest day of peaceful protest in American history: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
September 30, 2025 at 1:43 PM
IT’S OFFICIAL: We now have more protests planned for October 18 than there were back in June.
It’s not even October yet but you’ve already put 2,100 events on the No Kings map.
We hope to see you at the largest day of peaceful protest in American history: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
It’s not even October yet but you’ve already put 2,100 events on the No Kings map.
We hope to see you at the largest day of peaceful protest in American history: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
Said goodbye to dear sweet Clio tonight after 10 wonderful years. 😪
September 30, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Said goodbye to dear sweet Clio tonight after 10 wonderful years. 😪
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
There is no insurrection. There is no threat to national security. There is no need or legal justification for military troops in our major city.
www.klcc.org/politics-gov...
www.klcc.org/politics-gov...
September 28, 2025 at 6:57 PM
There is no insurrection. There is no threat to national security. There is no need or legal justification for military troops in our major city.
www.klcc.org/politics-gov...
www.klcc.org/politics-gov...
Thanks to all the folks from around the country speaking out in support of Portland. Out here on the front lines, the most dangerous place might be the Goodwill bins.
September 28, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Thanks to all the folks from around the country speaking out in support of Portland. Out here on the front lines, the most dangerous place might be the Goodwill bins.
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
Jesus Christ, how are you so unbelievably bad at this?
A deeply unpopular president is recklessly destroying our government, wrecking our democracy, covering up pedophilia and now threatening to use military force against our own citizens but you're tsk-tsking about protecting healthcare?
A deeply unpopular president is recklessly destroying our government, wrecking our democracy, covering up pedophilia and now threatening to use military force against our own citizens but you're tsk-tsking about protecting healthcare?
The Trump administration’s threat to deploy troops in Portland is unlawful.
Here’s a thought.
Focus on protecting the healthcare of the American people.
Here’s a thought.
Focus on protecting the healthcare of the American people.
September 28, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Jesus Christ, how are you so unbelievably bad at this?
A deeply unpopular president is recklessly destroying our government, wrecking our democracy, covering up pedophilia and now threatening to use military force against our own citizens but you're tsk-tsking about protecting healthcare?
A deeply unpopular president is recklessly destroying our government, wrecking our democracy, covering up pedophilia and now threatening to use military force against our own citizens but you're tsk-tsking about protecting healthcare?
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
I encourage all the media outlets who are about to send people to ”war ravaged” Portland to think twice. Some of the strongest extremism reporters in the country live in this region; journalists who understand the culture of the Northwest and the history of activism here. Do it right this time okay?
September 27, 2025 at 3:28 PM
I encourage all the media outlets who are about to send people to ”war ravaged” Portland to think twice. Some of the strongest extremism reporters in the country live in this region; journalists who understand the culture of the Northwest and the history of activism here. Do it right this time okay?
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
My office is reaching out to the White House and Homeland Security for more information. We have been provided no information on the reason or purpose of any military mission. There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm.
September 27, 2025 at 5:20 PM
My office is reaching out to the White House and Homeland Security for more information. We have been provided no information on the reason or purpose of any military mission. There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm.
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
Taken just a few minutes ago outside the ICE facility in Portland that Trump claims is under siege. My message to Donald Trump is this: we don’t need you here. Stay the hell out of our city.
September 27, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Taken just a few minutes ago outside the ICE facility in Portland that Trump claims is under siege. My message to Donald Trump is this: we don’t need you here. Stay the hell out of our city.
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
I hear the President has decreed that it is possibly a crime to refer to Americans as "fascists," but "fascism" is a word that has a relatively clear meaning that's worth understanding. Here's how an official publication of the US Army defined "fascism" in 1945.
The central point is that when fascism came to America it wouldn't call itself that, nor would it be wearing a swastika. It would call itself "patriotic" and "100% American."
September 26, 2025 at 3:53 AM
I hear the President has decreed that it is possibly a crime to refer to Americans as "fascists," but "fascism" is a word that has a relatively clear meaning that's worth understanding. Here's how an official publication of the US Army defined "fascism" in 1945.
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
Oregon Journal and Oregonian July 16, 1953. The first mention of an arena complex at the bridge site. Sneaky release of a plan by Councilman Nate Boody
September 3, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Oregon Journal and Oregonian July 16, 1953. The first mention of an arena complex at the bridge site. Sneaky release of a plan by Councilman Nate Boody
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
Help Put Portland Ahead!
via Portland City Archive, 1954
AD/22455
via Portland City Archive, 1954
AD/22455
September 3, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Help Put Portland Ahead!
via Portland City Archive, 1954
AD/22455
via Portland City Archive, 1954
AD/22455
Where can I find a Sandwich Rebellion T-shirt?
August 16, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Where can I find a Sandwich Rebellion T-shirt?
Reposted by Val C. Ballestrem
When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.
July 21, 2025 at 5:20 PM
When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.
RIP 🙁 "Feels so Good" always does.
July 25, 2025 at 2:47 AM
RIP 🙁 "Feels so Good" always does.