Tanasbourne Community Advantage Magazine June 2023

TANASBOURNE

NEXT UP FOR THE RESIDENTIAL REALTY TEAM, HERE’S MATT!

Broker, Licensed in Oregon 503-358-6821

bretrealtorpdx@gmail.com

My journey into real estate has been an interesting one. I’m originally from Chicago, (Fly the W, Bear Down, LeBron will never be Jordan), and moved out to Beaverton when my dad got his dream job with Intel. When you’re the new kid on the block you do what your new friends are doing, and for me that meant getting involved with theatre at school. I thought this would be just a fun way to spend time with new friends; little did I know that this new hobby would turn into a full-time passion. I began acting in plays and films whenever possible in the area, and got a B.A. from Linfield College in theatre arts/political science. For the last 12 years I’ve been a working professional in the Portland theatre and film community, and have loved every minute of it.

Throughout the entirety of my artistic career, I also flirted with real estate. There’s so much between the two that go hand-in-hand. You have to enjoy varied projects, people, the highs and lows of an ever-changing community. In 2019, my friend and fellow Residential Realty NW brother, Matt Brugman, finally convinced me to get my license and join the brokerage, and it’s been wonderful. Since then, I’ve specialized mostly helping in first-time home buyers, and have gotten very good at navigating the stress and difficulties that come with making the biggest purchase of your life. I’ve also become an expert in the Tanasbourne/Beaverton area, and know that I can make your home sale or purchase journey a much smoother one.

Broker, Licensed in Oregon 503-705-0379

msunder89@gmail.com

In my free time, I still work in the Portland theatre and film scene, run weekly tabletop role-playing games, and get outdoors as often as possible.

“We’d love to learn more about you and your real estate needs, so give us a call or email at any time.”

- BRET & MATT

Superb Customer Service Since 1971

Continuing the commitment to community

“We are extremely thankful for our guests, the community, and our Beaverton Toyota family. What a great ride: we couldn’t have done it without you! We believe our greatest strength is listening to our guests and team members. In fact, we transformed our business model to “One Person, One Price” in 2014 based on years of guest feedback. We call it CLEAR — a simple, fun and transparent purchase and ownership experience. We are here to listen and advise you on the best ownership experience for you!”

Striving to make Beaverton Toyota “the best” in service, Russ Jr. hired Service Director Jim Waters to head up the department. “The goal was to serve customers the best, be the best place to work for our employees, and be the best company in the community,” Jim relates. As a result of the Service Team’s combined efforts, Beaverton Toyota is now the seventh largest Toyota Service department in the nation and the largest in the state of Oregon. As proud as they are of this accomplishment, it was achieved by simply wanting to be the best. “I’m honored to be the

By Patti Jo Brooks, Contributing Writer

Photos by Malaina Kinne

Beaverton Toyota has served the community for the last 52 years! Since 1971, when Russ Humberston Sr. opened Beaverton Toyota in its original location in West Slope, just a few miles from where it is today, they have been a mainstay of the local community. Russ Humberston Jr. took over the dealership following his father’s passing in 2014, bringing the company forward into the age of technology and continuing the traditions and commitment to the community.

head of this team, but they do the work,” Jim acknowledges. “I manage a wonderful team that makes all this happen.”

To help build that “wonderful team,” Steve Roos, the resident historian and senior employee, provides the orientation and training for all new hires; that training includes interesting historical trivia about Beaverton Toyota, as well as the means to properly take care of their customers. “Customer service is our No. 1 priority,” Jim emphasizes, saying, “We respect our customers’ time. We want to be sure we’re working hard for them, doing the right thing, sticking together as a team and having fun while we’re doing it. That’s what we live by!”

Stop by Beaverton Toyota, located at 4300 SW Murray Blvd. For more info, call or text (503) 626-7200, visit their website beavertontoyota.com, or email service@beavertontoyota.com.

BIRTHDAYS & CREATIVE LEARNING MINIFIG HIDEOUT IN THE

By Patti Jo Brooks, Contributing Writer

Photos by Malaina Kinne

Days are getting longer, kids are almost out of school, and summer birthday parties are upon us. Bricks

& Minifigs

Beaverton has assembled all the necessary elements to build a truly unique LEGO® themed birthday party experience. The Guest of Honor and friends will enjoy a full 90 minutes of fun, socializing, and play in the Minifig Hideout party space. Bins of loose LEGO and DUPLO® bricks and tables topped with base plates await these party-goers’ special creations. The Minifig Hideout with each of its (mostly) primary-colored walls—red, blue, yellow, and green— is the perfect setting for children of all ages (four and up) to enjoy putting their imagination to work.

Voted Beaverton’s Best Toy Store and Place for Kids’ Birthday Parties in 2022, Bricks & Minifigs Beaverton is located inside the Cedar Hills Crossing mall and easily accessed using the entrance near Starbucks. The Minifig Hideout party space is situated just across the aisle from the main storefront and occupies its own mall space of approximately 1000 sq. ft.—a welcome amenity for parties in progress! Bricks & Minifigs’ owner, Lynnette Scott, has realized her dream goal of providing a safe and stimulating environment for

birthday party entertainment. The Minifig Hideout is her brainchild. “I wanted a party room with walls of primary colors,” Lynnette relates. As for calling it the Minifig Hideout, “I thought it was a fun name!” she says.

Parties in the Minifig Hideout can be scheduled 7 days a week and include the option of having a trained Bricks & Minifigs Host for an additional fee. The Host will run the games and activities for approximately the first hour of the 90 minute party. Employing a host frees up the parents or adults to focus on other aspects of the get-together. Party guests will enjoy an opportunity to build their own MOC (My Own Creation) by digging through LEGO bricks randomly spread out before them—how fun is that?! At the end of the party, each guest will take home either a Container of LEGO Pieces or 1 Special Minifig in a Bubble. The Birthday Guest of Honor also receives a Birthday Certificate and a T-Shirt. Party times are available all days 12:30-2:00 and 3:00-4:30, with a minimum 7-day advance booking. Visit their website for additional details, and to schedule a party online, select the “Plan Your Party” button and fill in the form provided.

School field trips are another popular use for the Minifig Hideout party space. Take advantage of this specialized learning opportunity

and have your child’s teacher schedule a time for the kids to Participate, Imagine, and Create in the safe and secure environment of the Minifig Hideout party room. “As a previous elementary school teacher, I’m all about education,” Lynnette relates. She tells how the kids can get really creative when building their favorite vehicle, whether that’s a race car, flying chicken, or a TV on wheels. Bricks & Minifigs Beaverton will also venture off-site to bring this handson experience to the classroom. Lynnette

tries to incorporate an activity connected to what the children are learning. For instance, 3-4 year olds were learning numbers and letters, so the kids used LEGO bricks to build their favorite number or letter. “It’s just a matter of getting creative with the kids,” Lynnette explains. “Some of them have incredible creativity.”

All ages love LEGO! Whether you’re 2 or 82, Bricks & Minifigs Beaverton has a universal appeal that brings every age group through its doors. “It’s pretty cool,” says Lynnette. “People need to know that they all have a creative side.” To see some of the truly stunning and imaginative customer creations, take a moment to scroll through Bricks & Minifigs’ Facebook photos.

Bricks & Minifigs Beaverton buys, sells, and trades your favorite LEGO sets, Minifigs, and loose pieces. Shop the hundreds of Minifigs displayed neatly by theme: Star Wars, Super Heroes, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Ninjago, and more. Sift through inventory of loose product for needed or missing pieces, and peruse the shelves for built sets (most are retired and discontinued builds). Come visit today!

Bricks & Minifigs Beaverton is located at 3205 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., # 44, inside Cedar Hills Crossing (enter near Starbucks). Call (503)644-5701, email beaverton@bricksandminifigs. com, or visit their Instagram @ bambeaverton or Facebook.com/ bambeaverton. To book a party, visit their website, bricksandmininfigs.com/ beaverton. For your convenience, the store is open Mon–Sat 11:00am-6:00pm, Sunday 12:00-5:00pm.

CHILDREN’S CANCER ASSOCIATION

Come to MWNW and help support JoyRX!

Celebrating 28 years in business, locally-owned and -operated Mattress World Northwest (MWNW) carries the largest selection that will fit your needs best, and the only store with the 4 major sleeping technologies: GelFlex Grid, TEMPUR® foam, Air, and Natural Latex. They carry major brands like: Tempur-Pedic®, Purple™, The Number Bed by Instant Comfort®, and Posh+Lavish™ Natural Latex. They’re all in-store, side-by-side, for your convenience! And they guarantee the lowest price and have a 90-night comfort guarantee, so you can take home a better night’s sleep with confidence. Their employees love working here and will always greet you with a smile, listen to your needs and concerns, and give you a great buying experience. On average, team members have worked here for 5+ years, and their management team 10+ years, so you know they are committed to this company and making their customers happy.

MWNW Rests On Its Core Values

At the heart of their business, lie three core values. First, is their sincere dedication to helping every customer get a better night’s sleep. They have the largest selection of name brand mattresses and specialty mattresses in the Northwest, from handmade to 100% natural latex, as well as adjustable frames. They carry every type of mattress for every type of sleeper!

Get A Better Night’s Sleep

Second, MWNW believes in empowering employees to live their best possible lives. Happy employees means happy customers, so you can trust you’ll be greeted with a smile and an attentive ear. Mattress purchases are done only a handful of times in our lives. That experience, good or bad, leaves a lasting impression. At MWNW, they have perfected the process to ensure that you get the best possible service and overall experience every time.

A Foundation of Philanthropy

Third, and perhaps most importantly, is their dedication to philanthropic work. Each and every month, MWNW supports local charities and schools in a variety of ways. To date, they have donated over $500,000 to local high schools and other charities! Giving back to the community is an integral part of what defines this organization.

Dedicated Charitable Support

During June and July, join Mattress World in supporting JoyRX, the mission delivery of Children’s Cancer Association, to bring Joy to thousands of seriously ill kids in Oregon. JoyRx programs are designed to relieve the sadness, anxiety, and isolation kids experience during hospitalizations. Through music, nature, and mentorship, their no-cost Joy-based programming has been providing emotional healing to children with cancer and other illnesses for over 27 years. JoyRx provides what every parent with a sick child so desperately hopes for: just a little bit of Joy to bring light to the dark treatment journey.

Family-owned and -operated, dedicated to providing customers with the best products at the lowest prices, and donating to and participating in their local communities – Mattress World Northwest exemplifies the very best of retail. Get a better night’s sleep and help support your community by visiting your local Mattress World Northwest location for more information, or you can order online at mattressworldnorthwest.com.

Feeling Is Believing.

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As

Experience The Bean.

Matt Groening Oregon Cartoonist

Once-struggling artist succeeds with worldwide hit “The Simpsons”

By Robert Matsumura, Contributing Writer

“D’oh!”

This simple catchphrase of Homer Simpson’s from the hit TV show “The Simpsons” is so famous that it’s been listed number six on TV Land’s 100 Greatest Television Catchphrases. The state of Oregon has contributed its share of inventions to the global community, from athletic shoes to more prosaic items such as the Tater Tot™ and Phillips screw. Perhaps the zaniest, however, are the creations of cartoonist Matt Groening.

Born in Portland, Oregon in 1954, Matt Groening (pronounced gray-ning) grew up in the City of Roses in a neighborhood near Washington Park. After attending Ainsworth Elementary School and Lincoln High School, Groening spent his college years up north in Washington at Evergreen State College in Olympia, which during the ’70s the cartoonist describes as “a hippie college, with no grades or required classes, that drew every weirdo in the Northwest.” At Evergreen, Groening served as editor of the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, for which he also contributed articles and drew comics. Inspired from a young age to draw cartoons, Groening has cited Disney classics such as “101 Dalmatians” to Monty Python and the works of Charles M. Schultz as influential in his development. At Evergreen, he was befriended by fellow cartoonist Lynda Barry who had impressed him by writing a letter to one of Groening’s favorite authors, Joseph Heller, and she actually received a response. Groening has credited Barry as being one of his biggest inspirations.

After graduating from Evergreen with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 1977,

Matt moved to Los Angeles to pursue writing. After enduring a “series of lousy jobs,” including bussing tables at a nursing home, landscape work at a sewage treatment plant, chauffeuring, ghost writing for a retired Western director and working as a sales clerk at Hollywood Licorice Pizza record store, he began sketching out cartoons based upon his experiences of living in L.A. This self-published comic book titled “Life in Hell” was partially inspired by a chapter in Walter Kauffman’s book “Critique of Religion and Philosophy,” titled “How to Go to Hell.” After distributing his “Life in Hell” comics from the book section at Licorice Pizza, he sold his first comic to avantgarde “Wet” magazine in 1978.

At a subsequent job for the alternative newspaper, the Los Angeles Reader, Groening convinced the editor to run his comic strip on a regular basis.

“Life in Hell” (1984) became a hit almost immediately. Groening’s then girlfriend, Deborah Callahan, who worked with Groening at the Reader, helped the cartoonist publish his first book, “Love is Hell,” which

was based on relationships. It was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings. The subsequent “Work is Hell” (1985) was also a hit. By the time his “Hell” series had run its course, “Life in Hell” had been carried in 250 weekly newspapers and anthologized in a series of books which included “School is Hell,” “Childhood is Hell,” “The Big Book of Hell,” and “The Huge Book of Hell.”

The stage was now set for Groening’s next big move. The success of Groening’s “Hell” series caught the attention of Hollywood director/producer James L. Brooks. In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening and began exploring working together on a production for television. What emerged from this creative union was the Simpson family, which Groening conceived while waiting in the lobby of Brooks’ office. He had originally intended to adapt the “Life in Hell” characters for television, but fearing the loss of ownership rights, he chose to move in a different direction.

The Simpson family was named after members of Groening’s own family — Homer the portly father (and in honor of the Greek poet), Marge (Margaret) the slender wife, and three children —

Bart the bratty son, Lisa the bright middle child, and Maggie (Margaret) the baby. Instead of naming the son after himself, which he felt was too obvious, he selected the name Bart which was an anagram of Brat.

“The Simpsons” originally premiered as a short cartoon on “The Tracey Ullman Show” in 1987. By 1989, however, “The Tracey Ullman Show” was on its way out, but “The Simpsons” had proved so popular that Fox (which aired the show) decided to produce an entire half hour program dedicated to Homer and his dysfunctional yet relatable family. In 1989, “The Simpsons” debuted on Fox on a weekly basis, and to Groening and Fox’s surprise the show became a smash hit. Groening’s goal of creating a show that offered the audience an alternative to what he termed “mainstream trash” took the world by storm. Considered by many to be one of the smartest shows on television due to Groening’s sharp satirical wit and complex characters, “The Simpsons” has won over 20 Emmy awards and now stands as the longest-running primetime

scripted show and longest-running animated series in American television history. Many of the characters and locales on “The Simpsons” were inspired by Groening’s Oregon roots. Springfield, the town where The Simpsons reside, has been revealed by the cartoonist in an interview with “Smithsonian Magazine,” to indeed be a reference to Springfield, Oregon near Eugene. Groening liked the fact that Springfield was such a generic name that audiences across the country could identify with it. As a tribute to its “Simpsons” connection, murals have been created at locales across Eugene-Springfield by a number of local artists. While many fans believe that Sideshow Bob Terwilliger was a reference to Terwilliger Boulevard, Groening has revealed that the character was actually inspired by Dr. Terwilliker from the film “The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.” Other names from the show, however, were derived from Portland street names such as Lovejoy, Flanders, Kearney, Powell, and Quimby. Chief Wiggum drew his name from Groening’s mother’s maiden name. Although Groening went on to create other inventive shows such as “Futurama,” an animated comedy series about life in the year 3000, “Krusty the Clown,” a Simpsons spinoff, and “Disenchantment,” a fantasy-comedy series for Netflix, none of these projects were nearly as popular or culturally relevant as “The Simpsons.”

If you happen to be a fan of Matt Groening and were ever curious about the inspirations for his zany creations which have literally shaped contemporary culture, look no further than right here in the Pacific Northwest. You may very well be driving on a street or through a town that gave birth to some of your favorite cartoon characters!

Photo courtesy of UCSB Arts & Lectures

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