The Portland Railway, Light and Power Company’s Sunnyside streetcar #661 waits on SE Morrison at Water Avenue circa 1915. Note the elevated train crossing shack and warning bell another block east.
(City of Portland Archives)
SE Morrison & Water, c1915
June 19, 2013SW 6th Avenue, 1952
June 18, 2013It was 3:30 on a pretty summer afternoon in downtown Portland in 1952. You might have parked in the Meier & Frank parking lot on the left, crossed SW Morrison to the First National Bank, then on to some shopping at M&F. A classic mid-century Portland scene.
(City of Portland Archives)
SE Belmont & 55th, c1914
June 17, 2013The Mt. Tabor streetcar line tracks snake through the intersection of SE Belmont at 55th Avenue. The Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church is to our immediate left as we look east down Belmont, with the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company Public Station dead ahead.
(City of Portland Archives)
NE Oregon & 1st Avenue, 1949
June 14, 2013Today’s photo shows a neighborhood, and even a section of street, that no longer exists. Look east on NE Oregon Street from 1st Avenue today and you’ll be standing almost under I-5 looking at the back of the Oregon Convention Center. In the distance is the North Pacific Dental College building at 6th Avenue, probably the only thing in this image that’s still around today.
(City of Portland Archives)
Two Million Page Views!
June 13, 2013Thanks again to the terrific Vintage Portland community, the website has registered 2,000,000 total page views as of this date. We went over the one million mark in May 2012 so it’s been a great 13 months. Thanks to all and keep spreading the word!
SW 5th Avenue, 1950
June 13, 2013We’ve seen this view before, in a photo taken eight years later from the same vantage point atop City Hall. This photo show more of the surrounding buildings in this view north up 5th Avenue. Many buildings are familiar today but a few (Congress Hotel and Cole McElroy’s Ballroom for two) met their fates many years ago.
(City of Portland Archives)
Swan Island Airport, 1939
June 12, 2013Portland’s rudimentary Swan Island Airport is clearly illustrated in this 1939 top-down photo. It was common in those days of unsophisticated instruments to paint the city name on a roof so early pilots knew they had the right (or wrong) airport. Except for rail lines, Mocks Bottom appears to be completely undeveloped at this time.
(City of Portland Archives)
