Back in the day: SE 13th in Sellwood.

On their Facebook page, the owners of the Black Cat Tavern in Sellwood announced that they are shutting down their bar on June 30. The property owners are most certainly going to demolish the bar and – I’m taking a wild guess here – are going to build mixed-use condos.

That might be a good thing for the neighborhood. More density, more shops on the ground floor, and for neighbors, the backyard section of the bar will no longer annoy them.

But, really, it’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s very bad.

It’s a typical neighborhood bar, bordering on dive, but not quite. They sell the usual bar fodder and offer shuffleboard, a popular attraction for patrons. But it’s more than a bar. It’s a part of a Portland that’s quickly disappearing. Portland’s blue collar heritage is definitely becoming a thing of the past – and so are bars where locals, younger families, and grizzled old Portlanders can rub shoulders and get a cold one.

When an establishment like the Black Cat gets clobbered, it’s gone, and so is the fabric of the neighborhood with it. Places like the Black Cat don’t get the ink that, say, a historically significant building would if it was threatened by the wrecking ball. But, they’re just as important to our communities and what makes Portland’s neighborhoods special and livable.

But what’s one neighborhood bar, right? To the immediate neighbors, they’ll notice, they’ll mourn and life goes on (and so does the new condo). But yet another bar or small restaurant or small mom/pop shop down the street or in another neighborhood gets bulldozed, and things start to add up. Until one day, Portland looks around and wonders what happened to its past, character and its place.

I work in Belluschi’s wonderful Equitable, er, Commonwealth on SW Sixth in downtown Portland. Across the street and with a direct view sits 400 SW Sixth. Originally constructed and designed by Stanton, Boles, Maguire and Church, at five stories, the building saw a major renovation in 1980 and was expanded to 11 stories. It’s an interesting section of the street, and the two aluminum-walled buildings create an interesting space (and some amazing light and shadows) between Washington and Stark on Sixth.  

Like James Stewart in Rear Window I had a front-row seat from my office and watched 400 SW Sixth having its lobby renovated most of the fall and winter. A few weeks ago, the large boards were removed to reveal the new lobby, complete (one assumes) with retrofitted (and stylish) lighting in the interior.

However, what struck me the most was the blank, lit display screen facing the street. Was it going to be a billboard? Ad for Mountain Dew (Do the Dew!)? Coke?

Nope, last week it was unveiled and it looks like it’s going to be some sort of art installation- an art wall? Whatever it is, it’s cool. It adds to the streetscape, gives the building a bit more life and gives me something to look at during dreary drizzly days. According to the paperwork filed for the project:

The proposal includes an internally lit art wall to be located in the center bay between the two entries. The art wall will create a focal point and add interest to the streetscape and will be lit from behind. The lighting is proposed to be integrated into the design and the light source will not be visible.

One of the installers mentioned to me that it was going to cycle out with the seasons- different colored leaves for different seasons? Even better.

And, here’s a video of the lobby where a hologram repeats the seasons. The leaves grown, sway in the wind, fall off and re-grow:

Honestly? We’d never heard of Flora. A quick search revealed that:

Flora is an unincorporated community in Wallowa County, Oregon, United States. It is located about 35 miles north of Enterprise, just off Oregon Route 3, and is considered a ghost town.

Check out this blog post of the town nowadays (well, in 2008). The town also has a  yearly event in June that celebrates old time skills (weaving, spinning, wood cookstove use and more). Sounds cool.

From ODOT’s historical collection.

Continuing our look at the Clackamas County Cultural Resource Inventory, we travel down the Trolley Trail to 4001 SE Roethe Road. On the site, there once stood a flour mill. The machinery, built in 1879 was imported from Muncie, Indiana. It was a full functioning mill until the mid-1980s, when it burned down.

The name Moore’s Flour Mill, might ring a bell, however. The owner of the mill in the mid-80s, was Bob Moore. After the fire, the company relocated to International in Milwaukie.

As Paul Harvey might say, “you might know it better these days as Bob’s Red Mill.”

Here’s a cool recollection from an Oregon Fresh post on Bob:

“I told Charlee, ‘you know, it’s crazy, but I think that’s an old mill.’ I could see the grinders and mixers; it had been closed for years,” says Bob. He later learned that a rail line used to carry grains to the mill, and when it was pulled out in 1957, there was no longer an easy way to deliver grains there, so it closed. Bob and Charlee made a decision to purchase the mill, and Bob’s Red Mill was born. They started with 11 employees, making 100 different products, including 10-grain cereal and cornmeal.

The mill represents our agricultural past and at time was the last remaining working mill in the Oak Grove and Milwaukie area – until the new Bob’s was built.

Here’s where the mill was approximately located:

Last month there was a discussion on the Oak Grove Facebook page about the empty lot on River Road and Courtney next to the handsome house that sits next to the corner. A commenter mentioned there was – at one point  in time – a church on the corner that had the same style of the well-kept home that sits on the (almost) corner.

Some sleuthing revealed that – indeed – there was a church where the grassy lot now sits. Pouring through the Clackamas County Cultural Resource Inventory book I found a photo (albeit a shitty, Xeroxed one) of the church that had once stood on the spot.

Long-gone church on River Road and Courtney Avenue.

(The book, by the way, is an amazing resource for local historians and building nerds. In 1983, the county sent out letters to residents asking them a few questions about their property (year built, style of home, etc.). The purpose of the inventory was to provide the State Historic Preservation Office with information for possible inclusion in the statewide inventory. Sadly, many of the buildings in the book are no longer standing- like the corner church.)

But back to the photo – it’s not a great photo, but you can clearly see the tip of the existing building in the middle as well as the unique “steeple” above that. Described as “Western Falsefront-Bungalow,” the building was constructed in approximately 1901- 1910 and was still standing in 1983.

What else has Oak Grove – architecturally – lost in the last 30 years? Plenty, if flipping through the inventory is any indication. We’ll occasionally post some of our lost treasures – with the hope that they inspire us to save what we currently have.

Portland Penny Diner’s new signage wins Sign of the Year, hands down!

From the restaurant’s website:

In 1845 Frances Pettygrove and Asa Lovejoy determined the city of Portland’s name with the flip of a coin. And we like to think that after the toss they walked into their favorite diner, or as they called them in that time “lunch wagons,” for a celebratory bite to eat. The Portland Penny Diner embraces that spirit, brings people in from the rain and artfully combines the culinary traditions of Northwest immigrants and natives.

What else is there to say? Was the food good? Hardly. But it was more than just a restaurant- it had a great bar, signage, and vibe that is quickly disappearing. Another part of old Portland that’s gone forever. Check out some photos from its life, here.

My apologies for the poor pic – I snapped it from the morning bus commute. I’ve been noticing this structure being built since the late summer and it’s really starting to take shape.

A bit of digging revealed it’s a public art project. Managed by the Regional Arts and Cultural Council, the project is described as:

Inversion: Plus Minus is a set of towering site-specific sculptures created by artists/architects Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio. Using weathered steel angle iron, the artists are presenting “ghosts” of former buildings at two similar sites along SE Grand Avenue. One site, at Hawthorne Boulevard, will feature a matrix of metal that almost appears as a solid building. In the artists’ words, “The sculptures reference the outer shells of ordinary industrial buildings found in the Central Eastside Industrial Area like those that once existed on the project sites.

Here’s a rendering of the final product which is targeted to be completed by end of the year:

And, here’s the wiki entry.

I first met Doris on Twitter earlier in the year. I started following her because her tweets were interesting – she wrote about Portland, its politics, her trips around town, and stops at local attractions.

Oh, and yeah, her tweets were from the mid-1920s.

No, Doris didn’t time travel, nor did I. Doris is actually the great aunt of author Julia Park Tracey. “Doris” is Doris Baily and she passed away last year. Park inherited her diaries and they were so chock full of great material, Park created a Twitter account for her late aunt. Lucky for us.

Each tweet (@TheDorisDiaries) gives a glimpse of Doris’ view of the world, of Portland, of America in its teens. As a self-proclaimed local history nerd, her tweets offers me a perspective of Portland living that goes beyond drawn-out history books or long, snoozy tomes. These tweets seem real – because they are – right from Doris’ diary. Sure, many of the tweets are about being a teen but many bring local Portland history to life, such as:

Went to town again for lack of any other excitement. Saw Art Young, and he walked from the entrance of Meier & Frank’s to the fifth floor.

The Meier & Frank building (now Macy’s) is a wonderful structure in downtown Portland. I see it every day, yet reading the above entry confirms its existence – it really was there in the 1920s – and people saw it then and probably thought it was a handsome building then. It’s this kind of “macro history” that really appeals to me.

Portrait of Doris

Based on these tweets, Park Tracey has now compiled them into a new, wonderful book,   “I’ve Got Some Lovin’ To Do: The Diaries of a Roaring Twenties Teen.” It’s a must-read for Portlanders, local history buffs and those interested in how one Portland teen lived in the 1920s. It mixes Doris’ thoughts with local history tidbits and uses photography to tie it all in. Doris’ father was also a Portland architect and  family photos help illustrate chapters (the Portland photo from her father’s office is a stunner of a never-seen photo).

Doris died at home, with her dog and cat nearby, at age 101 in March of 2011. She was a remarkable teen and later a full-of-life adult. We’re fortunate that Park Tracey came across her diaries – we can only hope there’s more from Doris and another book in the wings.