The Buddha in Hawthorne

Simmy was on call this weekend and I found myself exploring Portland's Hawthorne district this fine Sunday afernoon. Hawthorne reminded me of the West Village in Manhattan -really hip and filled with young people and activity -more blue collar than the North West and I was surprised by what I found. I had promised MK I'd work on the 2006-07 RPAs for my staff, I told the missus that I'd try to find some planters for our garden, and I told myself I would enjoy the outdoors, so I decided to explore this South East neighborhood in my own backyard in hopes of acomplishing all three. I found this buddha head on 36th ave right off of Hawthorne and it was serenely perched in the front of someone's home on a quiet residential street off of Hawthorne Boulvard in Portland.

I spoke to an aspiring film maker that was renting in the home for the past year and she related some of the urban legend around the buddha. Apparently the owner/landlord put the buddha head in the garden some time ago (at least a year -- that was how long the woman had lived there) and it seems that people passing by sometimes leave some small item of significance at the base of the statue. The area is filled with all sorts of strange things ranging from pictures to bracelets, toys, coins, and anything you could imagine. You are free to take something that you like and/or leave something behind. I have seen similair things overseas - particularly in Thailand around Temples -- but never state side. I didn't know quite what to make of it all. I could not find any information on the internet about this Budhha in Portland's Hawthorne district, so I figured I'd blog it so thatpeople might see (virtually at least) for themselves.

These are some other picture from around Hawthorne .