Man, sesquicentennial fever has gripped Oregon. Officially launched on Saturday with a kick-off party in Salem and lots of museums and organizations offering free admission, the party is just getting started – year-round events are planned all year to get people of all ages involved in the history of their state. And if the economy… Read More Oregon Centennial Expo, 1959
Here’s an ad from 1983 announcing an appearance by Nu Shooz at the Fat Little Rooster on 17th and Hawthorne – now The Barley Mill: A mere three years later the Portland duo’s hit song “I Can’t Wait” spent 15 weeks on the Top 40.
Sorry for the lack of updates – lots going on. Blanch Cooper and The Ambassadors – nitely. Whoa.
As part of Oregon’s 150th birthday celebration, The Architectural Heritage Center is asking for people to send a list of their 10 favorite Portland buildings. Whether it’s the “biggest Portland’s skyscraper or a favorite house in your neighborhood, old or new, we want to know which buildings you like most,” says their web site. E-mail… Read More Dancing about architecture
Score. Just when I think I’ve exhausted my 60s Portland finds, this sucker falls out of the sky. The Clothes Horse [no, not the Clothes Whore] was located at 721 SW Broadway and was billed as “one of America’s most outstanding specialty shops!” [The exclamation point is theirs.] The keyword here is “specialty” – based… Read More The Clothes Horse on Broadway
Ever thought what kind of damage a nuclear device would do to the Portland metro area? No? Well, wonder no more. I’ve always had a grim fascination with end times – especially on film or in written form- whether that’d be germ warfare that wipes out most of the population except for a few survivors… Read More End times
Once boasting air conditioning, ample free parking, color TV and direct dialing phones, the Riverside West Motor Hotel has been reborn as the swanky new Hotel Fifty. Here’s a shot from approximately the early 60s: And here’s the now shot: Me likey. Hotel Fifty boasts the H5O bistro & bar, and according to the web… Read More Riverside West reborn as…Hotel Fifty
Then: Now: Broadway in Portland is kind of a boring stretch these days. On the other hand, it also has more trees than it did in 1955 when the above postcard was snapped [my clue was the 1955 “It’s Always Fair Weather” being screened on the theater on the right]. Of course, The Jackson Tour… Read More The late, great Broadway
Lost Oregon 