Then and now. Currently houses Mi Famiglia Pizza.
Category: Oregon History
Public History Graduates (PHiG) is screening Lens on the Community, a series of free public programs presenting films from the Center for the Moving Image (CMI) from the Tom T. Taylor collection at the Portland State Library. These films that represent, interpret, and shape the distinct communities that constitute the greater Portland metropolitan area.
The program kicks off on October 9th at 2pm at 5th Avenue Cinema. PHiG will present the CMI film Riches of a City (1975), which documents the development of the Skidmore District and recounts the struggle to bring this downtown Portland neighborhood into the modern era while preserving its cultural and historical significance. Dr. Carl Abbott (School of Urban Studies and Planning) and Bill Hawkins (Architectural Heritage Center) will be the guest speakers who will offer insights into the film and the district, then and now.
Lens on the Community is made possible by a generous grant from the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition and the Oregon Cultural Trust and the cooperation of Portland State University Library’s Special Collections.
What: Len on the Community: Riches of a City
When: Sunday October 9, 2011 at 2pm
Where: 5th Ave Cinema, 510 SW Hall Street (between 5th and 6th)
Cost: Free
(aka, a reason to group unrelated cards under one post)
How Soon is Now? (Amato’s Portland, Ore.)
You Just Haven’t Earned It, Baby (Horseshoe Motel, Florence)
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (Jack’s Fine Foods, Biggs The Dalles ).
Click here for a more recent (1997) view.
I need advice…I need advice…nobody ever looks at me twice. (Town House, Newport)
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want (Trader Vic’s, Portland)
Nowhere Fast (Oregon Motor Hotel, The Dalles)
And if you ever need self-validation just meet me in the alley by the railway-station (Eastport Plaza, Portland)
Pretty Girls Make Graves, (Curio Shop, Pendleton)
Come hang out with the Kick Ass Oregon gang and artist Jim Hill as they discuss Danford Balch, the first man executed in the state of Oregon back in 1859, at the newly christened Jack London Bar.
The Jack London Bar, located beneath the Rialto, is self-described as a remodeled old betting parlor that has become a dimly lit lounge with comfortable couches, swanky cocktails and supper club entertainment.
Sounds like our kind of place. In fact, it looks like they’re going to be presenting weekly history talks, Stumptown Stories: History and legends of Portland, every Tuesday night. History and bourbon. Partners. For life.
The date is Tuesday 6/28 at 7:30, 529 SW Fourth.
Did we mention the mortician playing the saw and live sketching?
Go!
Author Michael Munk is releasing the second edition of his Portland Red Guide and has graciously written up a few blurbs on some of Portland’s more interesting historical tidbits of our progressive past. Here are some sites and stories from the new edition.
Radicals in Portland celebrated the Allied victory over fascism in 1945 like most Americans but with a twist: after toning down their union organizing and racial equality activism for the “duration,” they looked forward to rebuilding the progressive coalition of the 1930s for economic democracy in what they expected would be a peaceful world. They celebrated the leading role of the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany and counted on US-USSR friendship continuing in the postwar period.
- One early sign that the Cold War would break up that wartime alliance came in 1946, when a Soviet naval officer working in his country’s trade mission in the “Red Fort” at 931 SW King was arrested on espionage charges. He was acquitted after a defense by Portland attorney Irvin Goodman.
- And when the radical-led unions in the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) tried to resume their successful organizing drives of the 1930s they met strong opposition. The strongest CIO unions in the Portland area were the longshoremen (Local 8 of the ILWU) and the International Woodworkers of America, which had its headquarters in Portland. But the 1948 national CIO convention, held in what is now the Mark Building of the Portland Art Museum (began what became the expulsion of millions of workers who belonged to “Communist-dominated “unions) as defined by the anti labor Taft Hartley Act.
- Portland was still a racist city after WW2. In 1945, black war veteran Wardell Henderson was arrested in Vanport for killing a white man and executed in 1948 despite public protests against an unfair trial. Also in 1945, Ervin Jones, another black man residing with his family in Guild’s Lake, was shot and killed by Portland police who were looking for someone else. Irvin Goodman represented both Henderson and Jones’s family. Bennie Sellers, another Vanport resident was shot and killed in 1946 by Multnomah County sheriff’s deputies. They had earlier arrested white leftist and shipyard worker Sam Markson for visiting a friend in the “Black section.” Markson later lived at 2924 NE 28th and was elected president of the Portland Sign Painters Union. After he refused to cooperate with Un-American Activities Committee’s 1954 hearings in Portland, he was forced out of his leadership in the union.
- The former Waddle’s Restaurant off I-5 by the Interstate Bridge, brandished a “White Trade Only, Please” sign. According to black residents, in 1946, the Virginia Café on SW Park Ave (now moved to 820 SW 10th Ave) and the lunch counter at Newberry’s downtown on 4th Avenue were “open and welcoming.” Radicals organized protests against racist policies at Blue Lake Park and the Egyptian Theater at 2517 NE MLK Blvd. Paul Robeson’s concerts frequently were SRO at the Civic (now the Keller) Auditorium. He campaigned in Portland for the Progressive party and Vanport flood victims in 1948 but by 1958 he was blacklisted by local cultural institutions and gave his last local concert at Reed College. Portland students organized a “Fair Rose” campaign to endorse businesses which not discriminate.
- William McClendon published The People’s Observer, a militant paper for the black community from his home at 2017 N. Williams Ave. A leader of Portland NAACP in 1945, army intelligence considered McClendon a “Communist party organizer”. The Vanport flood in 1948 displaced thousands of residents—many of whom were black. Radicals organized a “Citizens Disaster Committee” to demand better housing but liberals abandoned it when the police Red Squad smeared it as “Communist.” The Portland school board denied the Civil Rights Congress the Benson High School auditorium for a meeting.
- In 1948, leftist unions and groups opposed to the developing Cold War founded the Progressive Party led by FDR’s former vice president Henry Wallace, and campaigned to return to New Deal policies. Its campaign headquarters were in Redmen Hall, 916 SE Hawthorne.
- Several Progressive party candidates for state legislature from Portland also won Democratic party nominations in the primary election. The Oregon slate was led by Portland congressional candidate Peggy Carlson, widow of WW2 hero Marine general Evans Carlson. All were defeated in the general election which marked the effective end of the left’s political influence and ushered in the era of McCarthyism.
- Local sites associated with radical activities included Michael Loring’s El Rancho Village nightclub at 13045 SE Stark, the Methodist Federation for Social Action at 1919 NE Davis, the Friendly Forum, which hosted dissident speakers in the former YMCA building downtown and several of the ethnic halls, such as the Finnish, Polish, and Norse halls and other halls which were frequently rented by radical groups for speakers, dances and rallies.
- The McCarthy era saw many Portland’s radicals lose their jobs. When they (among many others) refused to cooperate with Un-American Committee at its 1954 Portland hearings in the Gus Solomon Courthouse, Fred Meyer fired John MacKenzie, Mitchell Brothers Trucking fired Bill Lewis, Inland Motor Freight fired Herb Simpson, Reed College fired professor Stanley Moore and Local 8 of the ILWU refused membership to Don Wollam. Wollam’s home at 3154 SE Salmon and MacKenzie’s at 6125 SE 86th were targets of vigilante attacks.
- Two Portlanders were deported from the US on charges of having been active in leftwing organizations. Hamish MacKay was sent to Canada in 1960 and William Mackie to Finland. The Oregon Committee for Protection of the Foreign Born organized their defense from 4616 SW Corbett.
- The danger from nuclear weapons testing was first recognized by the Oregon Committee to halt Nuclear Testing in 1958. Its members first distributed literature at the Guild Theater, which recently closed at 1219 SW Park Avenue. The Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, was organized by Rose Leopold at 1319 SE 32nd Place.
- Although they were not radicals, Portland briefly hosted the “Roses,” an all black baseball team in 1946. Owned by Olympic champion Jesse Owens, they placed in the West Coast Negro Baseball Association at the old Vaughn Street park when the Beavers weren’t at home.
- After McCarthyism waned in the 1960s, new movements grew for civil rights and against the Vietnam war. Survivors of the “Old Left” supported the younger generation, but the organizations that looked optimistically to the post WW2 world were instead crushed by the anti-Communist crusade. A broad left has yet to re-emerge as the national political spectrum shifted far to the right in the years sketched out here.
I received a press release from the Travel Channel promoting a new series, Mysteries at the Museum.
Airing on Tuesday nights, the November 23 episode [9 pm] will feature the Coos Historical and Maritime Museum and one of its displays.
From the release:
Located on Oregon’s rugged Coast at the Coos Historical and Maritime Museum, there is a peculiar object that looks like a piece of farming equipment, but in fact, it’s actually a piece from a diabolical weapon of mass destruction sent here by America’s former enemy. How did this artifact cause the only deaths resulting from enemy action to occur on mainland America during World War II?
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, here’s a hint. And another:
Downtown Oak Grove
My last post I talked about the present Oak Grove and where it might be headed during the next decade. Obviously, I’m curious about the history of Oregon’s cities and towns and am always looking for first-hand information from townspeople on what it was like.
I first ran into local photographer Tom Rutter, based in Portland, last year when he allowed me to re-publish some of his photographs from the infamous 1972 McGovern rally. I think I had originally stumbled on his site, Photomic, through a Google search for “Oak Grove” which landed me here. In his posts on Oak Grove, Tom talks a bit about his childhood during the mid-1960s – and some of the changes the neighborhood had seen during the past few decades. What’s interesting though is how much the area has stayed the same, like a museum of sorts. Our descriptions of the neighborhood’s population – his from the late 50s and mine from 2010 – sound almost alike.
I sent Tom a few questions on what growing up in and near downtown Oak Grove was like and he graciously answered my questions. His family lived in Oak Grove from 1956-1965, where he attended Oak Grove Grade School [now Sojourner] and then moved further south in the Concord School District until the 1970s.
What shops and stores were on Oak Grove Blvd. [between River Road and Arista] when you were a kid?
The pharmacy with soda fountain and large selection of comics and paperback books was there throughout the 60s. Across the street there was a bakery, and a fairly nice small grocery store. I also believe there was a post office in that small cluster of buildings that are still standing. The south side of the street was tree lined with large chestnut trees back then. The small group of buildings at the Southeast Corner near Arista have always been there as far back as I can remember. There also used to be an old building on the west side of the tavern that has been torn down. The building on the South side of Oak Grove Blvd. east of Arista was a hardware store and lumber supply. Further down at the east end where River Road intersects with Oak Grove Blvd were two service stations and another larger grocery store. Both of the grocery stores were operated by Japanese families I believe their name was Miramatsu.
Was McLoughlin as busy as it is today? Many stores?
Much less developed though there were still large open areas. At Concord there was a large holly farm that covered acres. There were lots of large open spaces and there was the Super 99 drive-in that was still operating in the 70′s (the screen blew down in the Columbus Day Windstorm). Also a lot of trailer parks, service stations and small motels and a large lumber supply business. I remember when that McDonalds opened there probably around 1964, and the Fred Meyer in 1960-61.
What are some fond memories of Oak Grove as a youngster?
We had a very “free range” childhood. Free to wander in lots of wooded areas outside of adult supervision, ride our bikes all over and no one would have thought of a helmet. The interurban railroad tracks were a good way to go long distance north or south and my older brother claims he used to cross the trestle over the Willamette in to Lake Oswego. The film “Stand by Me” makes me think about growing up in Oak Grove in the 50s.
What were some of the seedier aspects?
In Phil Stanford’s “Portland Confidential” he says a lot of whorehouses were out in Milwaukie close to the county line. My mom said once that there was a run-down motor hotel just off McLoughlin where it was rumored a woman performed abortions.
I also remember a long-going feud between a family and their neighbors on River Road about the family’s run down property. It was a junk yard and it smelled. A neighbor would complain to the city and the father of the family would hire an attorney. That went on for probably 20-30 years well in to the 80s. The house isn’t standing anymore. I won’t mention the families name but if you ask around about it some old timers around there can probably tell you about it.
What I always remembered was the diversity of economic classes in the area. It was always like that, old established families in very expensive homes, some descendants of early pioneers like the Risley family, and other old established families living in shacks. Maybe not so much “white trash” but “working poor.”
There was little racial diversity at all. Everybody was white though there were some Japanese and Chinese families. My mother’s high school class at Milwaukie in 1939 had one black student. My high school class in 1971 had none.
I described Oak Grove Blvd. in the original post as once bustling – was it ever really? Or has it always been kind of sleepy?
The downtown core area was a tad more vibrant. I don’t know if I would have called it “bustling” in my time. The loss of the street car probably didn’t help.
Do you remember taking the streetcar from downtown Oak Grove to Portland? What was the experience like?
It ran along Arista from Courtney Road to Concord. I do remember when it was in operation probably in its last couple of years in 1957-1958. It ran right behind our home, we would catch it at the Silver Springs Station and take it in to Oregon City and to Milwaukie. I don’t recall how it proceeded north to Portland beyond Milwaukie but it probably ran through Sellwood. The rail bed is pretty visible from where River Road connects to McLoughlin which was called The Island Station, and you could probably walk or bike it south from there through Oak Grove all the way to Jennings Lodge.
After the trolley, Southern Pacific ran freight along it I know as late as 1968 and I remember sometime around 1969-1970 they tore up the rails and ties. The ride wasn’t like Max, I recall the cars seemed to rock back and forth a bit as they went along the track. Also they let out this piercing whistle that scared the crap out of me when I was little.
Arista Drive, south of Concord Blvd showing the rail lines, 1969. This is being re-adapted as the Trolley Trail.
You mentioned in one of your blog posts that your grandparents lived in Oak Grove – did/do they have any interesting stories about the area?
My mother’s parents were Czech immigrants who moved out West from Chicago in the 1920s. They lived in the area around Oatfield Road near Roethe Road. My father’s parents lived right in Oak Grove and both of the homes they lived in are still standing.
I’ve been interested in researching my maternal grandfather who was committed to the state asylum system in 1927 by a Clackamas County Sheriff named E.T. Mass. I haven’t been able to figure out exactly what he did to bring about such an extreme reaction by a local authority. I have most of the state’s documents, hospital records etc. but I’ve been meaning to check out the local newspapers from the area around the time it happened at the Oregon Historical Society library to see if I can find any clues there. It’s an ongoing project I’ve been working on.
Do you ever go back to visit?
I like to go back and walk or drive around the old neighborhood a couple times a year. My mother still goes to the same dentist office in Oak Grove and when I take her there for appointments I usually walk around the town and take pictures. I used to take bike rides from SE Portland out to Oak Grove at least once a year but I haven’t done that in a long time. I am always surprised at how the area where I grew up has changed very little.
Oak Grove has a large population of older and historical homes still standing.
