Magic Carpet Ride

I will admit that I was a little late coming to the party for Seattle Seahawks fandom. I jumped on the bandwagon just days before they beat the 49ers for their first trip to the Super Bowl. I still don’t want to talk about what happened on their second trip.

There’s another bandwagon in and around Woodhaven, though, that I am proud to say I was riding in long before it was cool. That doesn’t happen very often with me.

The last time I was in the front seat of a trend was my fascination with sock monkeys. Before that, it was in the ‘80s when I had to rush to my pizza job and threw on my freshly washed Keds without laces. It wasn’t too long after that that I noticed I wasn’t the only one going laceless. It’s because these “I’m hip!” moments are so rare that I remember them so well.

So what's the current fascination that I was proudly enamored with long before it was A Thing?

The carpet at the Portland airport.

It’s such a strange thing to notice, carpet. Unless it is really vivid, like the carpet at The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Or iconic, like the avocado green shag carpet in the house I rented in college.

But in an airport? When there are so many other things to be concerned about, like restroom locations and baggage carrousels and 3oz bottles of liquids? Really, who notices carpet in an airport?

Well, I did. And apparently I had company.

I honestly don’t remember consciously noticing the carpet at first. My awareness of it just built over time. Sort of like aging. Or gnomes.

After we had lived at Woodhaven for a few years and traveled a bit, I started to realize that exiting the plane and casting my eyes on PDX's turquoise carpet with navy blue accents was becoming my first sign of Being Home. Whether we had made a quick trip to California to visit family or a long trip across an ocean or continent for a vacation, I always seemed to sigh contentedly when the acres of greenness greeted me amongst the people movers and gate announcements.

Eventually my joy at seeing the carpet was verbalized. I felt a bit goofy admitting my appreciation for it out loud, even to Rob. But he’s used to me finding happy in odd places.

So it was Rob, not me, who first discovered I’m not the only one with a crazy obsession with an industrial floorcovering. Mere seconds after Rob told me about a Facebook page dedicated to The Carpet at PDX, I eagerly joined the handful of fans, giddy and mystified that others understood the visceral peace evoked by a 1987 synthetic fiber graphic.

That page now has over 13,000 followers. Hello, bandwagon!!

The Carpet’s rise to stardom (seriously -- it's been in USA Today and everything) has been fascinating and weird, much like its hometown. In the beginning, there was a lot of “OMG – me, too!” about the shared devotion to the rug. Then people started taking pictures of it in various forms. I dragged Rob to the airport one night especially to snap this photo:

And then there was this favorite one with a friend who was visiting from the east coast. We share the ups and downs of living with chronic back pain. Meds and prayers and stares were involved in the taking of this photo:

Eventually the photos morphed into people taking pictures of their feet on the carpet, now deemed “Foot Selfies.” These days, you haven’t truly visited Portland unless and until you have Instagrammed or Facebooked a picture of your feet on the carpet.

But the photos are only part of the story.

True to the beauty of American consumerism and capitalism, it wasn’t too long before t-shirts and socks sporting the carpet's graphic were available. I was among the first to snag this walking favorite:

But then, just as excitement was building about the communal appreciation for the airport’s well-worn carpet, it was announced that it was going to be replaced. Yep, that’s right. Torn out, ripped apart, traded in for something new. Just as Portland had finally said, “I LOVE YOU!” the carpet was ditching us.

So Portlandia reacted as you might not expect. With this:

Yes, as quirky and old-fashioned and rustic and hipster as Portland would like you to think it is, it is actually filled with savvy entrepreneurs who can read a wave like a master surfer. And so the metro…and Woodhaven…have been flooded with Carpet-themed tchotchkes.

Earrings, phone covers, t-shirts, coasters, scarves, stickers, water bottles, baseball hats, wallets, key chains, magnets, luggage tags. And that’s just the swag I have. Seriously.

OH! Right. I also have a couple other Carpet Must-Haves: the carpet itself.

Yep. I now have in my possession actual remnants of the actual carpet that actually covered the actual floor of the actual Portland airport. You may gasp in awe.

OK, so I’m not the only one who has pieces like this. Way back in March, four local vendors were chosen to buy the ripped out carpet and do what they wanted with it. One of them was very prepared with a website and planned offerings, so I immediately placed an order for two doormats and a square suitable for framing. And have been waaaaaiiiittttiiiinnngggg ever since. First the stuff had to be carefully taken out, then transported, then repaired, then cleaned, then cut, then bound, then finally shipped to Woodhaven. I guess four months isn’t so bad to wait for a piece (or three!!) of iconic
Portland history?

Naturally, I have been trying very hard to get some paw selfies of our two cats. This has been unsuccessful because they are cats. I will persevere and will post a picture in several years when I am finally victorious.

In the meantime, if you come visit Woodhaven and all the old carpet in PDX is gone, you can still get a foot selfie in our living room. Your Facebook friends and Instagram followers will never have to know.