Videos

Pop-ups are part of the latest wave of grassroots urban innovations hitting cities now (see also: parks on railroads, cultural centers in old houses, and a thousand other cool things across the country). They are a creative way to bring - on a temporary basis, at least to begin with - energy and economy to otherwise vacant space, be it an empty building on Main Street or a windswept lot nobody's building on anytime soon.

In their pop-up location in Old Oakland, Manifesto Bicycles owners Sam Cunningham and MacKay Gibbs highlight their selection of customizable bikes. (Top left photo: Eva Kolenko. Others: popuphood)

There are any number of kinds of pop-ups, but the most common are retail and event pop-ups. Retailers can lease or be granted space to see if their concept has real legs, or people can host things like parties or even bike-powered movie nights in spaces that sit empty every other night of the week. For retailers, if the concept is successful, a longer lease can then be signed.

Owners Nicole Buffett and Jake Bagshaw, both San Francisco native artists inside their'DIY California lifestyle' boutique Piper and John General Goods. (Photo: Eva Kolenko)

In the Old Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, a group called popuphood is leading the charge on pop-up retail space. Old Oakland is a charming tree lined historic district with brick sidewalks, Victorian architecture evoking its past as the original heart of the city of Oakland. But although there's been a fair amount of restaurant and residential construction and conversions in the area, Old Oakland still lacks retail volume. ... Read More →

David Garber

David Garber is the Coordinator of Blog Content & Outreach at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a native of Washington, DC, and loves the intersection of preservation, innovation, and sustainability.

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"All buildings have secrets to reveal, it seems. [...] Whether you're investigating paint or doing conservation testing, the idea is to try to understand what things are made out of, what the pathologies are, the layers sequence - and they can reveal quite a bit of information. It's about the relationship of all these finishes one to another, and their history: history of deterioration, history of change." - Jeff Greene

It's hard to be a preservationist and not hear the words "original paint colors" at least once every couple months. But while the concept itself may be easy to understand, the process of identifying those colors and finishes is much more involved (think scalpels and microscopes).

Check out this great video produced by EverGreene Architectural Arts on the practice of original finish investigation:

David Garber

David Garber is the Coordinator of Blog Content & Outreach at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a native of Washington, DC, and loves the intersection of preservation, innovation, and sustainability.

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