Earlier this summer, something in the street caught my eye while I was walking to the library and when I went over to check it out I was so charmed by what I saw.

A pothole filled to look like the beloved PDX carpet of yesteryear (#RIP, #neverforget)!!! HOW FUN!!! I snapped a few photos, texted them to a couple friends, made note of the friendship bracelet beads that spell out “BUFFALO POTHOLE BANDIT,” and went on my way. I thought nothing more of it until the other week when I came across another Buffalo Pothole Bandit installation while running an errand in Montavilla.

And then another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

At first, I was simply charmed. Now, I was also intrigued: Who is this person? When did they start making art of the city’s potholes? Why? Are there more of these little installations throughout the city?

The Buffalo Pothole Bandit is a street artist from Buffalo, New York, who began turning potholes into mini art installations in their hometown four years ago: “Since 2022—when they nearly twisted their ankle in front of Breadhive—the Buffalo Pothole Bandit has been turning local roads into public art. ‘I bought a bag of cold patch for $20 because I didn’t want to twist my ankle again.'”

In addition to Buffalo and Portland, they’ve made pothole art in Ithaca, Burlington, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Columbus and Cleveland, New Orleans; and Warren, Pennsylvania. There’s a map of all of their installations; it lists 156 as of this post.

From the map, I learned there are TWENTY Buffalo Pothole Bandit installations on the stretch of street in Montavilla, which means I spotted only about a third of them. There are also a handful of others throughout the city. Once I learned this, I decided to go on a side quest one morning last week to find them all.

First, I went back to Montavilla and hunted down the 14 I missed the first time around. All 20 are in the span of only two blocks and still it took me several passes to find them all. Some of them are so tiny!!

Then, I headed up to the two locations on the map in North Portland, across the river to the two locations on the map in SW, then back across the river to the two locations on the map in SE.

Before heading home, I stopped at the PDX carpet installation to get a couple close-up photos.

With the exception of the two-block stretch in Montavilla that’s home to 20 BPHB installations, all the other locations on the map have one or two—I think. I’m not sure. In all, I found 29 of the 30 in Portland. In theory, it’s possible one of the locations has three. One of these days, I’ll figure it out.

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In reading about the BPHB, my favorite thing to learn was that they were inspired to give back to Portland through their art at least in part by Portland’s Sidewalk Joy movement, which I’ve shared about before and which I also find so charming and fun and inspiring. One of these days, I’m going to make a side quest out of visiting some of the galleries, exchanges, and displays on the PDX Sidewalk Joy Map.