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When the emergency demolition of the Centennial Mills warehouse in Northwest Portland began Aug. 17, some Portlanders worried about air quality. Some had to modify their commutes to zag around the closed blocks of Northwest Naito Parkway. Others decided to set up a 24-hour livestream of the spectacle and set the whole thing to bangin’ club beats.
The source of the livestream is perhaps even less likely than its existence: Oregon Medical & Laser, an aesthetic medicine practice located about a mile away on Northwest Pettygrove Street. The company offers Botox, laser hair removal, tattoo removal, acne treatments, chemical peels, lip fillers, and now, an irreverent lens on civic affairs.
Oregon Medical & Laser co-owner Arthur Woeste has a clear view of the Centennial Mills site from his waterfront apartment complex. He originally set up the livestream for the office staff, plus some friends and family, to be able to watch the demolition. The link, stream.oml.clinic, got shared around and went up on social media.
“The next thing we knew, we had 7,000 viewers and it became a, ‘what the hell is happening’ moment,” Woeste says.
As for the EDM soundtrack, that was also somewhat unintentional. Woeste was working with an information technology team in New York to make sure the livestream was up and running. The technician asked him to put on music in order to test that the stream was stable; they’d be able to tell there was a problem if the music cut out. Two days later, the chat feature on the side of the screen is filled with praise and little dancing emojis.
One commenter, identified as 24Hr Church of Elvis, says, “24hr watch party and house rave was not on my bingo card. Thank you OML and fellow ravers for being the heroes we deserve.”
Centennial Mills burned on Aug. 2 and the complex demolition began this week. The warehouse’s owner Stuart Lindquist has hired Staton Companies, a Eugene-based demolition contractor, to do the demo and structural engineering firm DCI Engineers to consult on it, according to the city.
After the water tower removal Aug. 17, the building already appears to be half-down Aug. 18. The city estimated that the removal will take two weeks.
Woeste plans to keep the livestream rolling until the demolition is complete.
“We didn’t expect to go from lasering vaginas to building demolition experts…. It’s been a weird 24 hours,” Woeste says.
