If this post seems like deja vu all over again, it’s because I’m re-scanning many of the images that were lost when Stumptown Confidential took the dive.
The Barbary Coast Lounge at the Hoyt Hotel helped fuel the Roaring 20s revival back in the 1960s. With Harvey Dick at the helm, guests were treated to the nostalgic decor of the “Gay Nineties” and 77 custom-made gas lamps [that would definitely make me keep an eye on the fire exits] and Gracie Hansen’s fabulous review.
The restaurant was open 24 hours – and what I’d pay to see the 3:00 am crowd. Here’s a shot the Hotel at night – if you look at the ground floor in the middle, you can see the Barbary Coast. Click on the photos for a larger view:
![The Hoyt Hotel [yeah, I know the sign says Hotel Hoyt] in all its nighttime glory.](http://lostoregon.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/hoyt-night.jpg "hoyt-night")
The entrance looks like an alcoholic ice cream parlor.
![The old broad was kind of in bad shape - and showed signs of some wear and tear during the daylight hours [no offense to the old broad readers].](http://lostoregon.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/hoyt.jpg "hoyt")
The old broad was in bad shape near the end- and showed signs of some wear and tear during the daylight hours [no offense to my old broad readers.
Read Isaac Laquedem’s piece on Harvey Dick and some of the personality he brought to an original Portland hangout. From Laquedem’s post:
The men’s room in the bar had a long urinal that could be used for target practice, of a sort: “When hit in the right place with jets of sufficient velocity, bells and sirens sounded, a noisy tribute to the aim and power of the beer drinker responsible.”
I’m with Isaac: “Portland could use another showplace like the Hoyt Hotel. No one takes their out-of-town friends to check out the lobby at the Hilton or the Marriott.”
Zanderdog said:
When I was a very little kid, my father would take me for breakfast on Saturday mornings to the Hoyt Hotel. They had talking birds in cages located in the lobby. Occationally they would utter various four letter words. I was later told that the “skid row” crowd was known to teach the birds the colorful banter.
Still it was great, I think a five or six year old was a fairly uncommon site for the folks at the Hoyt in ’71-72. Everyone was very nice.
Omi said:
I worked @ the Barbary Coast night club in “68″. I danced in the club. What a great summer job. I’d forgotten about the birds.
Omi
Robert Braxton said:
Thats really kool. I just got a book on the Hoyt hotel from amazon.com. Who knows? the book might have your pic in it
Melanie Mathieson LeBlanc said:
Agreed. My Grandpa took us to Breakfast there on the weekends. I was endlessly fascinated with the swinging doors in the bathrooms! It was colorful weirdness.
old broad reader said:
no offense taken … i’m showing signs of wear and rear during daylight hours, too
Brad Eaton said:
For a number of years KLIQ Radio broadcast talk shows from a studio in the lobby of the Hoyt. I hosted a show from there for a few months in 1971. We always had to keep the studio door closed so none of the mynah birds’s obscenities would go on the air. (That would have been an interesting case for the FCC!) It was a great hotel! Harvey Dick was an interesting fellow and always very nice to me.
Isaac Laquedem said:
I remember Brad Eaton’s show, and occasionally called, as well as Harvey Dick’s, Jerry Dimmitt’s, and Pete Wheeler’s shows. I was young enough then not to know what the mynah birds were saying.
Chapps said:
Always interesting to see stories on my grandfather’s hotel and club. I didn’t know him (Harvey Dick) very well, but my mother would tell me all the stories of the hotel, particularly the men’s restroom (you got points for ‘hitting’ a mockup of Fidel Castro) and my grandfather’s legendary row with Eartha Kitt. That’s actually my grandfather in the pic above, holding open the door to the Barbary Coast.
Thanks!
Steve Chappell
lawrence kenski said:
I want to hear about the Eartha Kitt row.
daryl said:
I have an unopened sounds of the barbary coast record in mint from 1965 with frank elliott at the fotoplayer-Im taking offers-if intrested please call me at 503-2626697 afternoons only please thanks so much Daryl
Chris Williams said:
I remember the Hoyt Hotel going past the Rose City Transit bus windows and we went through “old town” when I was a kid back in the 60′s. I used to take the bus from downtown to the Lloyd Center to see friends and I remember that once you crossed Burnside everything was cluttered with billboards, almost blocking out the sky if memory serves me well.
Richard Larson said:
Art Glass Windows to the Hotel Hoyt?
I am currently involved with a renovation of the original church of St. Mary Magdeline in Northeast Portland. Built in 1912 the church went through many changes through the years. Sometime in the past 30-40 years some (9) art glass windows were sold out of the old church. There is a rumor that the missing (sold) windows all went to the Hotel Hoyt and resided in the bar or possibly the Barbary Coast Lounge. If anyone has knowledge of this or if you know where these windows are I am very inteersted to talk with you.
Richard Larson 503-710-7638
Kristi Johansen said:
I found out about the Barbary Coast/Hoyt hotel from watching Petticoat Junction. Where did the train fit in? In the credits to the show, they say the train was the property of the hotel?
I am always having fun learning about Portland since I moved here as a teenager in 77. So a lot of these places and things were gone by the time I moved here.
Omi said:
One of the cars from the train was shown in it’s own room. I worked there , the summer of “68″. Such a cool hotel. What a pity it was demolished!!
Nick Cook said:
Actually it was the wooden studio mockup the Hotel owned & NOT the real train. It was built for the 1949 film Ticket To Tomahawk. All the scenes in Petticoat Junction involving the cast around the Train were using this “Fake” Engine. One of Petticoat Junctions Producers saw it as it was being prepared for shipping to Oregon in 1964. He made a deal with Harvey Dick (who was going to place the Engine on the Hotels roof)to use the mockup for studio use in the show, the proviso being that the Hoyt Hotel be credited as the owners in the closing titles. I am not aware whether Mr Dick actually did end up using his Train after the show was cancelled because I came across a Rail Road site with recent photos of the studio Engine on display under a makeshift tin roof. She looks GREAT & is STILL the same colour as 44 years ago. SO…Im thinking he didnt. Google California Part 2 & scroll down the page to see the MAJESTIC Property of The Barbary Coast Hoyt Hotel Portland Oregon – The Hooterville Cannonball. Hope this info helps.
Pete said:
Actually the locomotive was at the Hoyt for awhile (about 1965)
. It was at street level behind a huge picture window. My dad, who worked for the Southern Pacific, always took me by it so I could get a look before stopping at Union Station, a couple blocks North of there.
Nick Cook said:
I just bought on Ebay 2 Swizzle sticks from the Hoyt. One is red in the shape of a lamp post with Barbary Coast in raised letters along its shaft & the other is white with a boy peeing on the top with Roaring Twenties along it. Very Funny & typical of the period. Little piece of History for only a few Bucks.
don barker said:
i RECENTLY FOUND a letter written on staionary from Hotel Hoyt, dated aug 7 1922 w/empossed pic on envelope.if anyone is interested. thanks DON BARKER CONOVER NC
Laurie Chase Kruczek said:
My dad worked at the Hoyt Hotel for years and years. He has a million “Old Harvey Dick” stories. He has told me many times of the bells and whistles on the urinals. I need him to give me something else to share with you!
Elizabeth said:
Hi Laurie,
Just curious what is your dad’s name? My mom worked there and I always loved hearing stories about the roaring 20s.
Kimberly Hill said:
My stepfather was the bar manager or head bartender in the Barbary Coast for many years up until the hotel was sold/closed…His name was George Galik. He took my mother and my sister and I on a tour of the hotel early on a Sunday and we saw almost everything (except the men’s room)! And almost every day he had a new story to tell about his customers/co-workers or events. Portland really lost an icon…
Cory said:
My Mom, Melba Lynn, played the Barbary Coast room for years in the late 60′s to early 70′s for Harvey Dick. When the grand old place was torn down, we were able to keep a metal sign that was from the front of the hotel that was about its history.
All The Best,
Cory Cooper
Elvis Historian, Consultant, Technical Advisor
ElvisExpert@aol.com
775-835-3909
Dave C said:
Does anyone remember the name of the large mechanical “band” that was in the bar? What happened to it? Somewhere I have a copy of a LP record with many of the songs from that “band”.
Don said:
Wow, if you have an LP that would be amazing to see and hear. Have you located it? I’m writing a play about Gracie Hansen and this would be a great addition.
Don
Brian Lord said:
Are you the Don January from KOL many moons ago?
don said:
Hi Brian. No, I was too young to go to the Hoyt and now have made dear friends with a lot of the singer and dancers from the Hoyt…even the band leader! The play is about Gracie but I want to honor all of those from the past. Do you have the LP? I believe the “kids” (that’s what I call them) would LOVE to see/hear it.
The play opens on May 3rd 2012 and the new bio of Gracie is just printed and will be on sale next two weeks.
daryl said:
i have the record you are talking about. it is unopend in mint condition.cut by the hoyt recording co. 1965 called the sounds of the barbary coast. played on the fotoplayer by frank elliot. Im sure its a on of a kind and Im taking offers on it. if u or anyone u know is intrested please email or call me at 503-2626697 afternoons only please thanks so much daryl
Puerco said:
When I was 19-20 a friend took me to the Hoyt where we stood outside and watched drag queens and kings arrive for (I think) the Empress Ball. They were picking that year’s new empress. I’d never seen drag queens before and was shocked at how real they looked. I was very naive at the time. I was sad to see the Hoyt torn down. It was a Portland institution.
Vickiie said:
I remember going there with my Mom when I was little, and the mynah birds in the lobby, and kind of recall meeting Gracie Hansen. Was the Hoyt Hotel named after Ralph Hoyt, the same park superintendant after whom the Hoyt Arboretum was named?
Vickie said:
Correction: Hoyt Arboretum was named after Ralph Warren Hoyt, a county commissioner in the 1920s (found on Hoyt Arboretum’s website). So, same for the Hotel Hoyt???
Rachel said:
My dad worked there when he was in high school as a bus boy. He said thats the place where he learned to like salad, lol I think his step-mom Gracie Hansen got him the job there.
anthony sager said:
DOES YOU DAD KNOW WHERE THE TRIAN ID USED IN PETTICOAT JUNCTION??
Aunt Jeanette Gum said:
Rachel, please send me an e-mail or have your Dad send me one. I’d absolutely love to have him get in touch with me!! I miss him!! LOTS of old memories. Does he still have a Chevvy Empala? You were tiny when I last saw you…..
August said:
I still have 4 of those “ROARING TWENTIES” peeing boy swizzle sticks; too bad the place is gone, they don’t have places like that anymore anywhere…
Byron Anderson said:
I grew up with those pearly white swizzle sticks in my home as my mother worked at the roaring twenties as a cocktail waitress.
anthony sager said:
I was looking actually for the train used for the t.v show in the 60′s (pETTICOAT JUNTION) IN THE ENDING CREDIT IT SAYS THE TRAIN IS FROM THE HOYT HOTEL IN PORTLAND I FOUND THIS TO BE VERY COOL AND WANTED TO FIND OUT WHERE THIS TRINS IS ONW?? DOES ANY ONE KNOW??I’AM WRITING MUSIC A TYPE OF NASTALGIC TYPE OF TRAIN SONG ANS THE ONE OF THE SHOW WOULD BE PERFECT FOR THIS COUNTRY VIDEO DOES ANYONE KNOW IT’S WHERE ABOUT’S ? OF THAT TRAIN USED ON THE SHOW PLEASE LET ME KNOW ,,THANK YOU…THESINGER91962
Laurie Kruczek said:
Elizabeth,
My dad’s name is Dick Chase. He worked there through the 1960′s.
Deanna Gilmore said:
Gracie Hansen Was MY AUNTIE… BLOOD RELATED!
Great to see some people in Portland still remember her.
Keep Portland WEIRD!
Rachel said:
For as long as she was married to my Grandfather I didn’t know she had any brothers or sisters.
Deanna Gilmore said:
Grace had 2 brothers and 1 sister. My Mother is her sister.
Her little brother Carl Diana (same Father as Grace)died a couple years ago.
George Barner Jr her 1/2 brother and Jeanette Barner Gum her 1/2 sister both live in the Olympia area.
My Mother is trying to get in touch with either you or Thomas.. As Thomas if he remembers cousin Deanna..
Thanks
Deanna Gum Gilmore
Don said:
I am working on a play about Gracie. I think she is an untouched jewel and would LOVE to chat with family members about her.
Puerco said:
Two thumbs up on that, Don.
Puerco said:
I remember your Aunt Gracie Hansen. Not personally but as a local celebrity. I remember she drove around in a Rolls Royce that was either pink or gold. I have an old souvenir booklet from the ’62 Seattle World’s Fair and she’s even in that. Larger than life!
Aunt Jeanette Gum said:
Hey Thomas or Rachel — please get in touch. 360-786-8136 or grannygum@aol.
Scott Leverenz said:
I remember going to a mid-nite show at the Barbary Coast, in the early 70′s. We were still in high school at the time. I was proud to find my ‘aim’ was good enough to light up the little boys eyes!
Scott Edwards said:
I remember going to the closing of the hotel with my folks when I was a young teenager… the last hurrah of the hotel featured many guest performers. My dad sent me over to a couple of them as they were seated in the lounge to get their autographs on a cocktail napkin. I still have the autographs of Connie Haines and Jane Russell. I was able to set off the sirens and a water fall in the mens room by hitting the open mouth of a frog while using the urinal… it was awesome!
Julio Vera said:
The Fotoplayer from the Barbary Coast bar at the Hoyt Hotel is being restored in Southern California and hopefully will once again be made available to the public. I will post information about that on this site as we get closer to that event. In the meantime, however, as the curator in charge of this project I am searching for information from people associated with this hotel, the bar and the Fotoplayer (including its previous life at the Arcade Theatre in Hoquiam, Washington), and in particular for any photographs of it that may be out there. (We have the postcard image.) I would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone who may be of help with this.
Marcia said:
The best Crab Louie in town. $1.25 for a half size one. I would guess about 1/2 pound of good Oregon crab meat. Lots of fun was had at different times. Even after a wedding where there was no food served we would head for Barbary Coast for drinks. Nothing but he best.
Gary Thompson said:
Like new:
I have a pink and white round pin with:
Gracie Hansins ROARING 20′S
HOYT HOTEL
Portland’s Paradise (printed on it)
and a feather hanging off of it.
Does anyone have any information.
Gary
Don said:
Gary Do you live in Portland? I’ve been doing a lot of research on Gracie and the Hoyt as I’m writing a play and book about it. If you are near by…e-mail me so we can chat.
donnie28@juno.com
Suzan Wilson said:
Sunday and nothing else to do, so I’m surfing around on the computer. Came up with the news this morning of Darcelle and his alteration with the OLCC, and it brought back so many memories of the Portland that I remember. When I turned 21, my folks always promised me a night out on the town and my first drink at the Barbary Coast for dinner and to see Gracie’s show. I took my high school sweetheart, and gosh, what a fabulous night we had!! Gracie singled me out in the crowd and wished me a happy 21st, making some naughty but funny and well-intended comments LOL The whole room clapped and congratulated me. Everyone looked so great in their nice dresses and suits. Those were the days you could actually dress up (1971) and make a night of it. The show was wonderful with Gracie’s beautiful and glamorous showgirls. The dinner was perfect, and my first drink, a Tom Collins, is still my favorite drink of choice to this day, reminding me of those wonderful days. If I won the lottery, I’d do my best to open a place like the Barbary Coast was…bring some good fun to Portland again, some celebrity culture, a place where you could dress up and made to feel like you were someplace special, if just for the night. We don’t have that anymore, and it’s so sad. When the Hoyt was taken down, it was a gloomy time. The Barbary Coast and Gracie are very missed. We need to appreciate Darcelle more. He’s the last. Who is left to fill his shoes? No one.
April Irene Burris said:
I, too, remember the mynah. I don’t remember when we went, but I do remember looking forward to talking with the birds.
So, I was real young & don’t remember much, but I think the old Hoyt Hotel was where Harvey’s Comedy Club is now across from the Greyhound bus station?
This is great, I’m learning more stuff! I enjoyed watching Petticoat Junction, too!
How true. Darcelle is following in Gracie’s shoes. Thank you
John said:
As a young boy, I remember walking by a hotel or restaurant in NW Portland that had silver dollars imbedded in the building. I believe the silver dollars were covered with glass so no one could get to them. I am thinking it was the Hoyt Hotel or the Barbary Coast Lounge. Can anyone help me. Does anyone else remember this.
P Anna Paddon said:
I read your name on Petticoat Junction,Oct 04, 2011. Would you be interested n the Vancouver Island Raiway and building a Fast Train corridor into Portland from British Columbia Canada. I have also asked Russia to build their corridor to California. A Inter-continental rail service that crosses into Alaska, US, sold by them to you, along the coast, over, and connectig a few islands along the coast. To your Hotel that had Russian Settlers as well as French and British. the Orgegon Rail transportation infrastructure built the US, Canada. Russia is working on their infrastructure to support the Bridges and Tunnels to the US and Canada. Contact Vanciuver Island corridor, Graham Hill and Honourable Graham Bruce. The rail service is also partnered by the Aboriginal Community. A bridge wuld be built between Washington State and Esquimalt/Langford/Port Renfrew. P Anna Paddon@VanIsleDevelop Twitter
cmalbrecht said:
All I remember about the hotel is that, as a kid during the war, I got hired as a busboy. The very first day, when I was given my lunch break, I asked the cook for something to eat. He just gave me a dirty look and kept piddling around, although it wasn’t busy. After about fifteen minutes I took off my jacket and vanished. A kid could get really spoiled in those days because a block or so away, some other restaurant was waiting with arms out because all the able-bodied men were in the service. After the war I had to learn be a little less picky.
During that time I worked at the Town Tavern, Jolly Joan, Tik-Tok (and another little place the owner had on Sandy), the Hi-Mac Night Club, the Lo-Mac downstairs, Mannings, Leighton’s Cafeteria, The Broiler, the Hoyt, another nice hotel in West Portland whose name escapes me, and The Fifth Avenue Grille. I started as dishwasher, but convinced the chef — a wonderful woman named Mary Heigel (I’m not sure about the spelling) — to train me to be the sandwich/salad man and began to learn the business. She was tough, but kind. She taught me to make good use of my time in the kitchen. Then I got a real job with a detective agency, the thing I’d always wanted. Within months of that Uncle Sam came knocking on my door and I was headed to Texas for basic training.
http://www.cmalbrecht.wordpress.com
Byron Anderson said:
As a young child in the late 60′s through the mid 70′s, I remember my mother working at the Roaring 20′s and the Barbary Coast as a cocktail waitress. My mom introduced me and my siblings to Harvey Dick and Gracie Hanson. I got to see the Rolls Royce collection and the Pettycoat Junction train running up on blocks. I loved the ornate marble restroom and the talking minor bird in the lobby. My mom still has a photo of Duke Ellington with his arms around her taken from a show he performed there. I have very fond memories of the hotel and the people that I met there as a child.
Chris Tyle said:
My father played drums in the band in the Roaring Twenties room. I’m pretty sure it was Monte Ballou’s Castle Jazz Band. I saw Duke Ellington’s Orchestra there in the early 1970s. I was told they wouldn’t allow minors in for the concert, so I wrote a letter to Harvey Dick asking if there was some way some of my friends from the high school band could see the concert. They rigged up some seating in the restaurant so we could see the concert. It was a nice gesture – something they didn’t have to do.
I have some paper drink coasters and some ash trays from the Barbary Coast room and the Roaring Twenties. I also have a brochure from the Roaring Twenties. I remember when I was a kid (when my dad played there) we used to have some of the swizzle sticks but sadly they are long gone.
It’s a real shame what happened to the Hoyt Hotel.
Fran Baxter said:
What was the address of the Hoyt Hotel?
Jeffrey Kopp said:
614 N.W. Hoyt St Portland, OR
Becky said:
When they closed they auctioned off a lot of the contents. I wasnt there but my folks went and bought a old painting that had been hanging in the hotel. Anyone know how to get information about that auction and what was sold? I know nothing about the painting.
Stephen Chappell said:
I actually just got the Hoyt Hotel auction catalog from my cousin (Harvey was our grandfather), and I plan on scanning it. Loads of Tiffany lamps, stained glass and paintings. Sme of the sale prices were noted by my aunt, Harvey’s daughter, Susan. I guess I could post the scans in PDF format somewhere when I’m done.
Bea Dick said:
I’m Harvey Dicks niece but was never old enough to ‘enjoy’ the Barbary Coast/Roaring 20′s while it was open. I remember being taken on tours during the day that included the men’s room and the long urinal, with the bust of Castro, and cupids. In addition to the Petticoat Junction train he had what he said was an authentic 17th century chastity belt, with lock, hung on the wall. I seem to remember that it was hung behind a curtain that he would draw back for effect. I was also told the mahogany bar and mirror in the Barbary Coast room was one piece of wood from an old west saloon (I don’t know where) and that it still had bullet holes from gun fights. I seem to remember the Petticoat Junction train on the roof where he also had installed a gas ‘eternal’ torch (where it came from I don’t know).
He’d also managed to purchase an Electric Chair from an Oregon prison and intended to put it on display in the lobby of the hotel. I think he was even going to allow people to sit in it. I remember seeing the chair but I don’t think it was ever actually on display.
I was told that when the profits of the business started declining that he simply stopped paying taxes but continued to run the business. After a few years the business closed. I understood that after his death his girlfriend opened a restaurant on or near the site that was called Harvey’s Place.
Stephen Chappell said:
Hey, Bea – I guess you’re my mom’s cousin (she’s Harvey’s daughter, Virginia ‘Ginger’ Dick – now Ginger Chappell). Yes, Harvey’s girlfriend Joanna opened Harvey’s next door to the old Hoyt Hotel. I think she now has the bar from the old hotel. My cousin and I were just discussing this. I need to check out Harvey’s.
Bea said:
I just spoke with Ginger on the phone after I’d heard Susan passed away. I hadn’t seen either of them for years. I don’t think I’ve seen you since you were in diapers. I was forwarded an emailed flyer originally from Brad for the April memorial and will try to make it (along with other family members).
Deborah said:
Bea, Harvey Dick would have been my Grandfather,Robert L Dicks brother. They were the sons of Paul Stephen Dick the chairman of the board of the United States National bank along with their other brother Philip V. Dick, a major in the us army. I haven’t been able to find much info on Harvey or Philip’s children or grandchildren. If you have any info on that please let me know. Thanks Deborah
Stephen Chappell said:
I just returned from the memorial for my aunt Susan in Depoe Bay, Oregon. Bea, thanks for calling my mom – were you there? I met so many family members that I didn’t know I had. It was a blast.
Deborah, so you’re Robert’s granddaughter? Via which of his kids? As I recall, he had two sons, Harvey and Paul (those two names crop up all over the place – gets confusing). I’m Harvey Dick, Sr.’s grandson. If you want to see a ton of info on the family, you can visit my Ancestry.com tree, as I’ve got a *ton* of info. If you start with Paul (the original one) Dick, you can trace up and down the tree: http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/79383/person/-2129823774. If you need special access, I can grant it to you, if you get me your email address. Bea, same goes for you.
I can certainly answer a lot of questions about Harvey Dick, Sr. and his kids and grandkids. I also took pics of a ton of old family photos when I was up in Oregon, so I’m slowly adding them to the tree. You’ll be surprised at what I’ve got. If either of you have great photos of Philip and Robert and their spouses and kids, that would be perfect. I’ll add ‘em in.
Philip’s kids from his second marriage were at the memorial, and I spent a lot of time with his daughter Barbara. His son Douglas really looks like his dad. They didn’t really know him because he died when they were so young.
Catherine said:
Really fun reading all the stories and people that are connecting through this blog! I looked it up because I found an old postcard at an antique shop and thought it was kind of cool! I’m an architectural historian so I collect postcards of old buildings. Anyhow, thanks for the great stories, sounds like quite the place back in the day! Loved Petticoat Junction as a kid too
Deborah said:
Hi Bea, I am Paul’s daughter. He had two children. I never really knew him though. He died when he was in his early 50′s. My father Paul had two brothers, one that was actually named after my Grandfather Robert’s brother, your grandparent, Harvey. I have some info on the family though my Mom. She new Susan and Ginger but never met Harvey Jr. She did know Harvey Sr. though. I have the obits of both Great Grandfather Paul and Great Grandmother Emma and a pic of their house in Portland….it is a current one. I don’t know if you use facebook but if you do you can go to Deborah Killebrew of Joshua Tree, Ca or you can email me at debncarlkillebrew@gmail.com
Stephen Chappell said:
Deborah – I’m assuming that you took pics of the Portland White House, which was my (our) great-grandparents’ house. I’ve got a bunch of pics showing Harvey, Sr., Robert, Philip, Harvey, Jr., Susan, Ginger (my mom) and of course Paul and Emma Dick in front of the house. I’m just starting to add all of these pics right now. I’ve got three pics of your father at the age of about six and sixteen. One was at the Dick’s home in Portland, and the other two were in Hawaii. We were all discussing him this last weekend, as I was trying to understand what happened with everyone. Your dad died young, but his brother Harvey died even younger (abt age 21).
If you want those pics of your dad or your grandfather Robert, or your great-grandparents, I’ll be happy to email them – or put in a drop box for you to retrieve, as the file size might be large.
Stephen Chappell said:
Bea, I’ve also been emailing with another cousin of ours, Daniel Coyle (Dick), Harvey Bennett Dick’s son, and Robert Dick’s grandson. Like a few others in our family, he changed the last name to his mother’s maiden name. Sometimes, having Dick as a last name is less than an asset in life.
Stephen Chappell said:
Whoops, I meant that to say Deborah. Geez, typing too fast.
Don said:
Hey you guys. Last year I wrote a book, actually several on Gracie Hansen and also the Hoyt Hotel AND even produced a musical about it. I’m glad you are all still discussing it. Many people who danced and worked at the Hoyt helped me with both.
Here’s a link to Lost History of Oregon: A Hotel named Hoyt http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Oregon-HOTEL-Volume/dp/1468021257