pdx tales

"Wessinger brothers brew for gourmet quaffers", May 30th 1977 A profile of the brothers (and great-grandsons of the company's founder) behind Portland's Blitz-Weinhard Brewing, which at the time was one of the nation's few remaining independent, family-owned breweries. The article explains that the company's new Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve was an upscale niche product. Which was actually true at the time, given the state of the beer market in those days; the article begins "It may be hard to visualize a six-pack of beer as custom-made". Clearly the year 1977 was a dark and primitive time. The old brewery was turned into upscale condos and offices a few years ago. I hadn't bought their products for years, but I still miss the brewery aroma wafting over downtown.

Incidentally the space probe that visited this comet is finally returning to Earth's neighborhood this year. A team of volunteers is busy reviving it, and if all goes well it may be sent off for further adventures.

Ship arrival schedule, Import Plaza, July 21st 1963. The chalkboard listed what ships were coming to town and when, which distant seaports they were coming from, and what exotic treasures were on board. It's a terribly romantic idea, from back before container ships and globalization made everything boring. Cheap, and boring. Romantic or not, I count my lucky stars I'm not a 1963 sailor, braving the stormy Pacific on a rickety freighter full of brassware and gongs.

Assorted Portland courtroom items from April 30th, 1930. Divorce cases, child support, a bust for violating alcohol & weed prohibition, and a guy who signed a fraternity petition "unconsciously".

The bio indicates that after retiring from the force, Biggs opened an antique store and later wrote an unpublished manuscript about psychic phenomena. FWIW.

"An Automobile Climbs Multnomah Falls" (February 21st, 1932) In which somebody drove a tiny Austin 7 sedan up the Multnomah Falls trail and parked it on the Benson Footbridge for a photo shoot. You might be able to pull this off with a Smart Car today; it's just that they'd arrest you afterward if you tried it.

"Unfortunately," he said, "it is equally easy to argue that those men who SHAVE regularly are so badly disturbed psychologically that they can only be described as obsessed with ideas of suicide. Another common speculation has it that anyone who places razor to chin is indulging in a shocking sexual perversion."

"Web of Newsprint", a modern sculpture that once sat in tiny Oregonian Printing Press Park, SW 1st & Morrison. It was unveiled April 1st 1970, and removed in May 1983, replaced by today's boring cobblestone plaza and historical plaques. I wonder what happened to the old sculpture? Did they just bulldoze it, or is it in a dusty county warehouse somewhere just waiting to be rediscovered?

"Mayor for Dance Ban", December 23rd 1924. The Multnomah County commission had recently banned all public dancing on Sundays. The city began receiving complaints about Sunday dancing, so Mayor Baker announced his support for the Portland police enforcing the new law within city limits. One of the complaints veers beyond Footloose-style puritanism into downright creepiness: "The petitioners also complained that the Jewish Neighborhood House operates Sunday dances and that the dancers are not restricted to Hebrews.". By February 1925, the police were raiding sites suspected of illicit Sunday dancin' and carryin' on. By July of that year, the law had already been overturned; as it turned out, the county lacked legal authority from the state to ban Sunday dancing entirely, since contemporary state law only banned dancing between midnight and 6 am.

"Some suggest," he said, "that while we're ahead now, we're losing our grip. I've been in the Soviet Union. And I've seen the United States. Anybody who says the Soviet Union is going to catch the United States just doesn't know what he's talking about… If they think the United States has stood still, who built the Lloyd Center?"

"Shipment of Volkswagen Beetles parked by color at the port of Portland, 1965" via @ClassicPics. (As usual with 'Pics' Twitter accounts, the photo isn't credited to who actually took it, which is frustrating.)