PORTLAND, Ore. — There is a place in Portland guarded by droids and storm troopers.
This is Robot Alley. One part art installation. One part high tech fortification. 100% Robert Fortney's invention.
"I'm having so much fun doing this that I have to remind myself to get back to work," said Fortney who is an artist with a studio just steps away from the alley.
"And I would hear just the craziest things going on back there," Fortney said.
Most people might have settled for a motion sensing floodlight. Fortney is not "most people."
"This gives me so much joy and just keeps my synapses firing to try like new things," he said.
Robot Alley has become a tourist attraction.
"I mean when you see a cute golden retriever in kind of a space window, you're going to immediately be drawn to it," Fortney said.
Robot Alley is a throwback to the golden days when the motto "Keep Portland Weird" ruled.
"It's one of the main comments that most people say to me," he said. "It's so great to have this old Portland weirdness here, because I do realize that that is very endangered."
"The fact that it's here in Portland doesn't surprise me," laughed David Hohme, who discovered Robot Alley years ago and always brings first-time visitors here.
"The interactive nature is great," Hohme said. "And there's always someone here to scare you and take the experience to the next level."
"One of the main things people always say which still kind of surprises me is 'thank you,'" said Fortney, a born entertainer. But even he needs a break from Robot Alley once in a while.
"There are some times when it's like there's too many people," he laughed. " I can't get any work done so this is the weird bed that I have made for myself that kind of makes you always 'on' in a sense."
But as long as people show up, Fortney plans to put a show on with new attractions every year.
"Unfortunately there's only so many hours in the day so my hope is that it's going to keep evolving," he said. "As long as I'm here I can't imagine I'll ever stop."