Dave Knows Portland

History Pub: Stories from our Native Ancestors (27 July 2015)

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Stories from Our Native Ancestors: Killing Bigfoot, The Giant Beaver, The Coast Range Goblin and How Clam Got His EyesStories from Our Native Ancestors: Killing Bigfoot, The Giant Beaver, The Coast Range Goblin and How Clam Got His Eyes is the latest History Pub, on Monday, 27 July 2015 at the Kennedy School (5736 NE 33rd).

Presenters Dr. Jason T. Younker, Associate Professor of Anthropology and assistant vice president and advisor to the president on sovereignty and government-to-government relations at the University of Oregon, is a member of the Coquille Indian Tribe. Dr. David G. Lewis, an educator, author, and anthropologist, is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon.

For most western Oregon tribes, their generation is the last to have lived part o their life as a terminated Indian. Despite great cultural loss, many things endured. Stories about their existence and landscape are but a few. In the presentation, they will share stories about the creatures of western Oregon that have lived on land and in culture for generations stretching far back into the past.

History Pub is free, and open to all ages. Doors open at 6 PM, and the talk begins at 7 PM.

A Hootenany Windig Art Unveiling at Erickson’s Saloon (23 July 2015)

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Hootenany Windig Art Unveiling at Erickson’s Saloon

A Hootenany Windig Art Unveiling at Erickson’s Saloon (NW 2nd between Burnside & Couch) takes place on Thursday, 23 July 2015 from 4 PM to 7 PM – with the unveiling at precisely 4:47 PM.

Join the artist team of James Harrison, David Laubenthal, and Evan Holt – with historian Doug Kenck Crispin and guest artist Natalie M. Ball – to celebrate a grand unveiling of Works of Art for the newly renovated Erickson Fritz Apartments.

Erickson’s Workingman’s Club, also known as Erickson’s Saloon, was a Portland landmark opened in the 1880’s by August “Gus” Erickson. Taking up most of the block between Burnside/Couch and Second/Third Avenues, Erickson’s was legendary for its 684-foot bar and free smorgasbord lunches with a five cent beer. It boasted five elegant entrances, a grand pipe organ, and 50 bartenders. When the river rose in 1894, Erickson’s served patrons from a barge at NW 2nd and Burnside. Fred Fritz operated several of his own establishments in Old Town, including Fritz’s Theater and Saloon, a grand theater known for its cabaret performances. Fritz was an early investor/partner of August Erickson and eventually took over ownership of Erickson’s in 1907.

Innovative Housing (IHI) has transformed the historic saloon and hotel into 62 mixed-income apartment homes.

After the unveiling and grand opening, IHI will hold its 2015 FriendRaiser from 5 PM to 7 PM – guaranteed to be the best progressive party in Portland this year! Join us as we celebrate IHI’s friends and supporters, the future of two historic buildings, and the vibrancy of present-day Old Town.

The combined event is all ages, free, and open to the public.

Stumptown Stories Presents: Bombs, Vice, and Little Beirut (14 July 2015)

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Stumptown Stories

Bombs, Vice, and Little Beirut, the latest installment of the venerable Stumptown Stories series, kicks off at 7 PM on Tuesday, July 14 at Jack London bar (basement of the Rialto, SW 4th and Alder).

Join us for a night of kabooms, vice raids, and protests at the Jack London Bar. Our squad of history nerds has a full night of factoids and stories for you for July such as: . . .

–Heather Arndt Anderson (Breakfast: A History, and Portland: A Food Biography) on the Vice Clique Scandal, which rocked Portland’s gay underground.

-Host Joe Streckert (Interesting Times) on why this city was once called “Little Beirut.”

Stumptown Stories, batshit crazy stories from the murkiest, weirdest, and nuttiest corners of Portland history, takes place the second Tuesday of every month at Jack London bar (basement of the Rialto, SW 4th and Alder).

Update: Heather Arndt Anderson informs me that Finn J.D. John (Offbeat Oregon History) has stepped in for J.B. Fisher, who is unable to attend this month’s Stumptown Stories.

Stumptown Stories: Gimme that old-time religion … on second thought, don’t. (13 April 2015)

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Stumptown Stories: Gimme that old-time religion ... on second thought, don't.

Gimme that old-time religion … on second thought, don’t. is the title of the 13 April 2015 edition of Stumptown Stories hosted by the Sellwood Public House (8132 SE 13th).

There’s some weird stuff in the back pages of Oregon’s spiritual past. On this Monday night presentation, pop historians Joe Streckert and Finn J.D. John will talk about two of the weirdest: The 1915 election in which Oregon first banned booze, and the Bride of Christ Church of Corvallis/Waldport (a.k.a. “The Naked Ladies Cult).

The show show begins at 7:30 PM.

Stumptown Stories: Mighty Celilo Falls! (9 March 2015)

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Celilo FallsMighty Celilo Falls! on Monday, 9 March 2015, is the latest installment of the venerable Stumptown Stories series. Sellwood Public House (8132 SE 13th) is the host.

On March 10, 1957, the nation’s oldest and most important Native American fishing grounds were eliminated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Join Stumptown Stories as we discuss the silencing of the “echo of falling water.”

Presenter JB Fisher will regale us with the story of Alzamon Ira Lucas, a psychic, healer, and psychologist in early 20th-century Portland who reappeared in the 1950s as Chief Rising Sun and single-handedly spearheaded an effort to save Celilo Falls from the dam. Heather Arndt Anderson will share her research on the foodways of the Indians of the mid-Columbia, their salmon-lore, and the way they ate in the City of Roses before Lewis and Clark poked their noses into everything.

The presentation begins at 7:30 PM – admission is free!