The iconic 30-foot high martini glass that has shined from a home in Portland’s West Hills for nearly 40 years has returned better than ever after a three-year hiatus.

Architect Aaron Hall, who bought and fully reconstructed the home from the foundation up, added a final touch Friday: a new, 30-foot-high, 30-foot-wide martini glass complete with a green olive with a red center.

He plans to keep his creation lit night and day until about Jan. 6, he said. It is lit with ultra-low-wattage LED lights so it uses just a fraction of the energy the old glass did.

A longtime Portland resident, Hall knows how much the martini glass mattered to local residents and he vowed when he bought the home to continue the cherished holiday tradition.

But, as with the house, he updated the styles and materials to today's technology and aesthetic. He not only switched it to LED, he also upgraded the glass's design, creating a deeper and wider bowl to better match the proportion of the stem. It looks sleeker and more professional than its predecessor. And it is anchored more solidly to the home's three decks, along the entire back rather than at one corner.

The true story behind Portland's holiday martini

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into the history and meaning of the iconic 32-foot-tall lighted cocktail

The three-story-high drink glass first was created and hung in the mid-1970s by a high school guy and his buddies to replicate a smaller display they'd seen in their neighborhood. It was rickety enough to need several redos and repairs.

It became a family tradition for one-time car dealer Merritt "Bud" Meadows and his son Monty to erect the gigantic cocktail glass each year.

Hall bought the home in 2013 and began a full tear-down of the 1960s-era home, which he has painstakingly replaced with a larger, sleeker and more modern house.

As normally happens with a big remodeling job, it took a lot longer than expected.

But it's now 99.99 percent done, Hall said. The martini glass will get its first big up-close unveiling when Hall and his husband, Gary Giroir, host a holiday party Friday for Giroir's co-workers from Providence Milwaukie Medical Center, where Giroir is a nurse.

They plan to serve a variety of festive alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. But yes, martinis will be served.

-- Betsy Hammond