Unraveling the weirdness of the Portland Film Exchange building

I spent my first 30 years growing up in California, and the state abounded with great architecture, even though California isn't generally that old of a place. There is the Gamble House in Pasadena, the Case Study houses in Palm Springs, and then all the midcentury modern stuff in Bel Air and Hollywood Hills I'd see back when I worked at UCLA. Santa Barbara's mission style is so strong that every building for miles around looks identical to the next in white stucco, arched doors and windows, and red tile roofs. When I lived in San Francisco, I especially loved the Palace of Fine Arts but I also lived a couple blocks from the Painted Ladies. There's even a few Frank Lloyd Wright buildings dotted around the state.As I got older and traveled to different parts of the country, I enjoyed seeing things I'd never seen before but were considered common in other places. Stuff like soapstone countertops in New England kitchens that were sourced from local quarries, or how driveways are often…