Comments for LOST OREGON

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10/22/11--18:14: Comment on If old Oregon postcards were Smiths’ songs (or lyrics) by schlockstar (chan 1869102)

Good one.


10/22/11--19:57: Comment on The Barbary Coast at the Hoyt Hotel by don (chan 1869102)

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.


10/23/11--12:06: Comment on A.E. Doyle up-close by Marcia (chan 1869102)

It was a modern looking building. Also remember when we had First National Bank of Oregon in downtown. The Canadian Bank where you could exchange money before taking a trip north.


10/24/11--21:28: Comment on A.E. Doyle up-close by Lynette Hanson (chan 1869102)

An inspiring photo, to be sure. This is one of my favorite buildings downtown.


10/30/11--08:14: Comment on The Clothes Horse on Broadway by Gregory (chan 1869102)

Ok, so here is the scoop: The family of ownership was the Horenstein family, specifically Earl Horenstein. He had two stores; Portland and Palm Springs. Earl was a great guy and would do anything he could for you. He did believe in the extravagant. Three sons, a beautiful wife, a home to die for and the best family parties imaginable. I miss each and every one them. His boys are Brad, Rick, and Doug. And I miss those days.


11/04/11--10:56: Comment on The Stirrup Room in the Hotel Multnomah by Dave (chan 1869102)

When did the Stirrup Room and the Hotel close? We still have 2-3 of the coffee mugs that are pictured, as well...


11/07/11--13:13: Comment on The Scribe – Portland’s 70s Underground Newspaper by Judith Haemmerle (chan 1869102)

The Portland Scribe was started by Michael and Mary Wells: Michael, IIRC, went on to become the manager at KBOO radio. The paper had close ties to KBOO, which was across the street at the time. I did radio shows at KBOO and also wrote (not much) and did pasteup at the Scribe - for a while, a lot of the calendars were my layouts. I remember David Calhoun (now in Seattle and the person who got KBOO started) taped my radio show (Sunday nights, about 9-11) one night. Then instead of shutting the station down, he put the tape on broadcast, and we went across the street to paste up The Scribe while listening to the show. We finished at about the same time as the show, which ran 3 hours that night. Good old fashioned pasteup, with a paintbrush in melted wax in an electric frying pan. Everything got typed on an IBM typewriter with proportional spacing so that it would look like typeset. David and I rented rooms in Michael and Mary's house for a while. It was a pretty tight alternative community. Good times.


11/08/11--08:38: Comment on Oregon Centennial Expo, 1959 by David Higginbotham (chan 1869102)

I was 10 when my dad took me. Don't remember much except walking thru a lot of buildings. Dad bought me a few novelties. I do recall that during that time a lot of men grew beards to commemorate the event (you know...the pioneer thing) which, btw, segued neatly right into the up-coming Civil War Centennial which lasted much longer.


11/16/11--20:17: Comment on If old Oregon postcards were Smiths’ songs (or lyrics) by The Cedar Chest (chan 1869102)

Great post! I love using the songs to title postcards.


11/18/11--18:19: Comment on D.B. Cooper Night – This Sunday! by adventure! (chan 1869102)

Hope I can scrounge together the $5 and make it. Though going to this event might be Matt Love Overload, since I'm going to try to make his talk at OHS during the day on Sunday.


11/24/11--17:46: Comment on Oak Grove: Evolution of a small Oregon town by Janet Slonecker Switzer (chan 1869102)

Marian was a classmate and pal of mine and often visited me at my home on Woodland Way. My parents received one acre for a wedding gift, half of my grandparents' property (15100), built a post-war Cape Cod house (15200), and my father raised rhododendrons and azaleas. He was known internationally for his hybrids, irrigated by runoff water from Fred Meyers' cooling system. I miss Halloween the way it was, safe to go anywhere unaccompanied by parents, safe to eat any cookies or popcorn balls the neighbors gave out. Nobody worried about us kids riding the streetcar by ourselves, either. My parents had a friend who worked for the state highway department in the fifties. Mom complained that a stop light was needed at McLaughlin and Oak Street (Oak Grove Blvd) but he said that "not enough people had been killed there yet". You bet, she prevailed, and the light was promptly installed.


11/25/11--16:04: Comment on Portland’s restaurant heritage by Bongodaddy (chan 1869102)

Good memories of Top of the Cosmo, Bush Garden, Trader Vics, Jazz de Opus and Hillvilla on Terwilliger. Had our prom at the River Queen.


12/06/11--22:07: Comment on The quintessential NW boy’s room – 1968 by Armin (chan 1869102)

It wasn't struck by lighting John you should know the truth


12/09/11--15:04: Comment on Portland’s restaurant heritage by tim callicrate (chan 1869102)

Thanks for the Jazz de Opus reference! Couldn't recall the name but loved going there for backgammon and White Russians!!lol...pre Lubowski days. Had a Sigma Tau Omega frat dinner/installation @ River Queen-back when the grain mill was still working and the pigeons would cover the Broadway Bridge.


12/11/11--22:31: Comment on Oak Grove: Evolution of a small Oregon town by Evette Page (chan 1869102)

The grocery store on Oak Grove Blvd./River Road was called "George's." The owners, a Japanese family had two children, a boy and a girl. The eldest was named Sherrie/Sherry/Shari, and the son, Scotty, I believe, both a few years younger than myself. The store was torn down and rebuilt into a new Thriftway sometime during the 70's. Imbibing must have not been a stranger to 'downtown' Oak Grove, as there was the tavern and a pharmacy that carved out a corner in which the State liquor store operated. Considering the size of the small town those two businesses represented a large portion of the downtown real estate, as did the Oak Grove Methodist Church, ironically. There was a machinery company on the east end of 'downtown' Oak Grove Boulevard, a t-intersection. I believe the name of the business was Cranston (?), though this is a vague memory. On the south side of the Boulevard, across from the machinery company was a 'modern' dentist and medical office built in the 60's. Dr. John Bauers was in that building and was our family physician. I remember Mrs. Ernst worked in the Oak Grove Post Office. Her son, Norman, was a classmate of mine at Oak Grove Grammar School. My Mom, Helen Page, a school cook at both Oak Grove and later North Oak Grove, took my brother and sister and me to downtown Portland via streetcar, but I was quite young when buses too over to serve transportation needs. It was safe to walk or ride your bike alone, and we did so liberally without issue. School lunches were a pleasure, back then. Everything was made from scratch, the hot yeast rolls, fruit cobblers and frosted sheet cakes, friend chicken (fried in butter), mashed or au gratin potatoes, green salad and its dressing, carrot and celery sticks, macaroni and cheese (made with real cheese), spaghetti, deep dish meaty/cheesy pizza, etc. -- no shortccuts. Mom and Mrs. Harold were full time cooks at Oak Grove (Mr. "Shorty" Harold was the school janitor), and Trudy Pennell and possibly someone else came in during the busiest lunch hours. The school had a high percentage of students preferring the hot lunches rather than sack lunches. Mom was head cook when North Oak Grove was built, and she, Trudy and one other woman who helped them part time during lunch hours continued with the popular lunches. The school received government commodities of butter, cheese, flour, meat, and more. Mom was always trying to figure ways to use up the free provisions. Parents would ask her how she made her spinach because their children would not eat it at home. Butter made everything taste great, but as research rolled in about saturated fats she felt bad that she may have helped develop some discriminating taste buds. At last year's 40th Rex Putnam H.S. class reunion two classmates made of point of asking me how Mom made the pizza that they so loved. Mom retired from North Oak Grove when North Clackamas School District went to centralized kitchens, introducing such fare as reheated chicken nuggets, corndogs, and other junk food to the children and staff who much preferred Mom's home cooking. It's possible that Mr. Gutendorf or one of his cohorts delivered our daily Oregon Journal. We lived on Courtney and Schroeder in a tarpaper-covered tutor house that was built by my Dad, Leslie F. Page. Mom and Dad took on home projects when they had the cash to pay for the materials. It took a long time for the home to get finished. Actually, he built the house onto a very small existing home. Mom and Dad were recycling pros long before it became a green practice. Dad made a sign with a Boston Terrier dog image that hung over the front gate, as my Mom bred and showed her dogs. He made a rotating mailbox with granite and an old wagon wheel that served all of north Schroeder and our house. I remember that Oak Grove School had the most incredible carnival fundraisers for the PTA. There were no rides, just booths that parents and teachers had put together. Things like ring tosses, having your profile drawn, popping balloons with darts and other simple games. They were held in the gymnasium during the fall. I remember winning goldfish each year it was held. Cake walks were conducted on the gym's stage, overlooking the event. It was great fun. Such a simple and safe time. I feel fortunate for having grown up in Oak Grove.


12/12/11--21:28: Comment on Oak Grove: Evolution of a small Oregon town by schlockstar (chan 1869102)

Thank you so much for sharing this Evette.


12/13/11--01:50: Comment on Oak Grove: Evolution of a small Oregon town by Marian Ely (chan 1869102)

Your mom was a great cook! I remember her lunches at Oak Grove.


12/13/11--11:06: Comment on Oak Grove: Evolution of a small Oregon town by Janet Switzer (chan 1869102)

Cranston is the name I remember for the machine shop. I always wondered what went on in there. One time the cafeteria received a supply of white beans. Nobody liked them, and for some reason the uncooked ones wound up on the playground. A certain bunch of us had already picked the grounds clean of every fragment of "agate", or quartz. We did the same with the beans.


12/24/11--15:30: Comment on Morrison Bridge and downtown Portland at night, 1958 by Pete (chan 1869102)

I would like to let you know that I think this may be 1958 rather than 1962. The reasons are: if you look at the billboard at the center, bottom, it says "homecoming 1958" also, I don't see a single car newer than a 1958.


12/24/11--15:33: Comment on Morrison Bridge and downtown Portland at night, 1958 by schlockstar (chan 1869102)

Good eye! (I scanned out of a booklet from 1962 - should have looked a bit more.)