Lost Portland

Old Town History: “Illumination #1” (4-7, 12-14, 19-21 December 2014)

December 3, 2014 by Dave Leave a Comment

For three weekends in December the 1881 Mariner’s Building (209 NW 3rd) will be the location, and canvas, for Illuminations #1, a site-specific work by artist Rose Bond.

[E]ducator and animator Rose Bond, will use the windows of the historic building as screens for still and moving images that evoke specific gestures, story fragments, and names to explore the identities of the Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, Roma, and other residents of Old Town and Chinatown.

Opening night is First Thursday, December 4, 2014. The project will be displayed from 6 PM to 8 PM on December 4-7, 12-14, and 19-21. The project is part of the “Illuminations Series” of the Old Town History Project, a community-based history, art and culture organization devoted to the preservation and revitalization of Portland’s oldest surviving historic district. Visit the Restore Oregon website for more details.

Revolution: DB Cooper (22 November 2014)

November 13, 2014 by Dave Leave a Comment

For the fourth year in a row, the geeked out history folks at Kick Ass Oregon History give us the straight shit on the NW’s most famous hijacker. Revolution: DB Cooper takes place Saturday, 22 November 2014 at Turn! Turn! Turn! (8 NE Killingsworth).

Revolution: DB Cooper is the exploration of the themes of counter-culture actions found in the DB Cooper caper, explorations conducted beyond a speaking of historical words. Ransom notes cobbled from Playboy magazines, clues in film and grooves from vinyl might be used to help shed light to this 43 year old case. Or might not in the least, either.

The evening includes a presentation by Resident Historian Doug Kenck-Crispin examining the D.B. Cooper case evidence in light of the themes of revolution, beating the system, and even Cascadia.

Film scholar Jeff Jaeckle will lead a hypothetical (and completely unsubstantiated) tour through the movies D.B. Cooper may have watched in 1971 to psych himself up for the heist of the century.

You won’t want to miss the raffle, and some Historical Interpretation. Through Vinyl.

DJs Hern Pong and Tommy Gunn have been digging through crates of crates to reconstruct possible radio sets from 1971. Cascadia Soul Alliance will be putting on their best drinking caps to sonically place you back in a time when AM was king, and 8-tracks were not a website but rather tangible objects. In doing so they are doing their part in attempting to help get inside the head of a person many fellow Cascadians desire to identify with.

Admission is only $6. Turn! Turn! Turn! is a small venue though, so buy tickets in advance if you can. Visit OrHistory.com for all the details.

Made in Oregon: 16mm Industrial Films from the Pacific Northwest (12 November 2014)

November 11, 2014 by Dave Leave a Comment

The Oregon Historical Society presents Made in Oregon, an evening of 16mm films produced by local area businesses on Wednesday 12, November 2014 at the Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy Blvd).

From the vaults of the Oregon Historical Society comes Primarily from the 1960s through the early 1980s, these films were created as public service announcements, training films and as plain old goofy advertisements. Learn why it might make sense to open an Organ Grinder franchise, how Son of Hibachi makes the party or why Homer Groening thinks we can make the world a better place. Some of the local institutions that will grace the big screen with their weirdness include: The Organ Grinder, The Oregon Zoo, Tektronix, Jantzen Swimwear, Blitz Beer and more.

The screening begins at 7:30 PM, admission is $8. Advance tickets are available.

“The Wake of Vanport” Premier Screening (15 November 2014)

November 10, 2014 by Dave Leave a Comment

The Wake of Vanport, multimedia works produced by the 2014 Vanport Multimedia Project, will be publicly screened for the first time at 2 PM Saturday, November 15, 2014 at the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church (3138 N Vancouver Ave).

“The Wake of Vanport” honors the death of a city and the viewing of its history through the collection of Vanport stories told by the voices of those who lived there. It is also a celebration of life after loss. Vanport is a lost city of Oregon with a rich history for all Oregonians.

Discussions with the survivors and producers will follow the presentation, which is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The Vanport Multimedia Project is a production of the North Portland Multimedia Training Center (NPMTC), which aims to to collect and archive oral history from individuals in the Portland African American community.

Exhibit Opening: Streetcars Build a City (7-September-2012)

September 5, 2012 by Dave Leave a Comment

Streetcars Build a City, the new exhibit at the Architectural Heritage Center (701 SE Grand), opens Friday, September 7, 2012 with a free showing from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

In Portland, our urban neighborhoods are a product of the pre-automobile era. Although far-slung suburbs may be a result of America’s love affair with the private automobile, inner city residential districts owe their location, street alignment, and pattern of growth almost entirely to the advent of the street railway. Current Portland roadmaps still reflect those early “streetcar suburbs.”

Portland and its street railway system grew together and expansion into the open spaces beyond downtown was rapid. Until the coming of the automobile streetcars were also the only easy means of getting around town and had become an integral part of most inner city neighborhoods.

But the heyday of streetcars only lasted a few decades. Already by the 1910s the automobile had begun to change the way people moved about the city. By the 1920s traffic around the city was frequently snarled by the volume of automobiles and the existing (and abundant) streetcar lines. The 1930s marked the “beginning of the end” as streetcars began to be replaced by electric “trolley buses” while the old rails were buried under layers of asphalt.

The guest curators are Dan Haneckow (blogger at Cafe Unknown) and Richard Thompson, author of Portland’s Streetcars (Images of Rail) (2006) and Portland’s Streetcar Lines (2010). Regular AHC hours are Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.