Catching up with shifting winds of time.

Byline: Bob Welch The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran March 31, 2007): Bob Welch's column on Page F1 Thursday erred in saying the last commercial movie shown at the McDonald Theatre was "Castaway." It was "Cast Away."

We interrupt March Madness for the following message about March Minutiae:

Question: What was the last movie shown at the old downtown McDonald Theatre - and when was that?

Answer: Jan. 10, 2001. The 9:55 p.m. showing was "Castaway" with Tom Hanks, ending the theater's run of movies that had begun May 7, 1925. "Since then, it's been all rock 'n' roll," General Manager Kit Kesey says.

Question: What's the building going up near the Ferry Street Bridge, just west of Peabody's Pub?

Answer: You're referring to Jeff Wilson-Charles' project at Third Avenue and Mill Street. This is the first phase of a mixed-use development that'll include commercial space on the ground floor and swanky apartments above.

What makes it different is Wilson-Charles' attention to detail - he's using wood from hand-picked logs that were either blown down or hazards. He's using geothermally heated radiant floors, solar hot water heating and rainwater for irrigation, toilets and clothes washers. And he's building it to last at least 100 years.

Question: In Howard Hobson's book, "Shooting Ducks," about the history of UO men's basketball, there's a reference to Hayward Hall. Where was it located?

Answer: Hayward Hall was the new basketball gymnasium that opened in 1910 at the northeast corner of 13th Avenue and University Street. It was just north of what's now the EMU, where Columbia Hall now sits. Named for UO coach Bill Hayward, it was replaced by McArthur Court in 1927.

Question: How did Reed & Cross, the flower and gift shop on Oakway Road, get its name?

Answer: The business began in 1960 when Reed's Garden Center, owned by Reed and Maryana Voll-

stedt, merged with Cross Landscape Service, owned by Ed Cross.

The Vollstedts - you might recognize Maryana as a Register-Guard Entree columnist - sold the business in 1979, but the name lives on.

Question: What's that new art in front of the Eugene train station and who paid for it?

Answer: Called "Marker of Origin," it was installed last December as part of the renovation of the historic 1908 depot. Eugene taxpayers paid for it. It's part of the city's

"1 percent for Art" requirement.

Eugene artists Betsy Wolfston and David Thompson created the 30-foot high sculpture, which offers a whimsical and welcoming sense of time and place. It includes everything from flowered tiles to Eugene-centric history (`First Eugene Farmers Market 1915' ... `Civic Stadium Built 1938' ... `Jerry Garcia Dies 1995') to important distances from that point (`Willamette River 8 blocks ... UO campus 1 mile ... Tierra del Fuego 7,552 miles').

Check it out. It's cool.

Question: A recent "Looking Back" column in the City/Region section referred to a 1907 story about train service between "Eugene, Springfield, Coburg, Wendling and Natron." Wendling? Natron?

Answer: Wendling was a mill town near Marcola that began in 1896 when the Booth-Kelly Lumber Co. bought about 40,000 acres of land and built a steam-powered mill at that site. At one point, it had about 1,000 people, but it closed in 1946 because, well, they ran out of trees.

Natron, meanwhile, is a point between Springfield and Jasper. It was named by the Southern Pacific Railroad for the mineral Natrolite found in that area.

Question: In your recent columns about the best made-in-Oregon films, you mentioned a list of 278 such movies on the Web. Is it available to readers?

Answer: Yep. Go to www.registerguard.com:8080/movies/.

Note: In the February Q&A, we gave an incorrect answer to a question about the concrete pillar on Highway 58, along Lookout Point Lake. It wasn't a bridge pier but an old river-level gauging station.

Bob Welch can be reached at 338-2354 or at [e-mail].