Another spectacular aerial view overlooking downtown Portland and all the way east to Mount Hood. The downtown core was ringed by freeways in the late 1960s but I-405 was not complete yet; there’s still a temporary bypass at West Burnside over the excavated freeway. The Vista Ridge tunnels would be completed in 1969 and 1970, alleviating traffic under the Vista Avenue Viaduct and on SW Jefferson Street (lower right).
(City of Portland Archives)
Tags: Bridge, Civic Stadium, Mt. Tabor, Portland, Reservoir, Washington Park, Willamette River
July 6, 2012 at 6:26 am
These aerial views are such gifts, all wrapped splendidly in the fact that we can zoom in and look and look and look. Can’t wait to get home from work later on and do just that! Thanks!
July 6, 2012 at 11:21 am
If you look closely, you can see the digging occurring for I-405, especially around Burnside.
July 6, 2012 at 12:50 pm
I recall the tunnels opening and it was a great day, to not have to drive through downtown, to go to the beach. I did miss Vista bridge ( suicide br).
As a small kid, I didn’t know the suicide br had another name!
July 6, 2012 at 1:07 pm
I was a little kid when the tunnels opened, and my brother and I had never seen ceramic tiles used anywhere other than in bathrooms. To this day, we still call the the “Bathroom Tunnels”.
July 6, 2012 at 2:36 pm
My wife lived in Washington County and she called them the Magic Tunnels because you’d be driving through the woods (West Hills) and after passing through the first thing you’d see coming out of the tunnel was downtown Portland.
*sigh* I’m doing it again aren’t I? At least it’s related this time. Here’s a gallery of 1970s Portland from the Oregonian: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150930641881973.411525.6321831972&type=1
July 6, 2012 at 7:32 pm
The best thing about the tunnels was as you drove east into town and came out of the east portal, Mt. Hood was hovering over the city. Then the top ten floors of the KOIN Tower were built and blocked that view. Thank you Channel Six.
But the good thing to come out of that was that the city codified view corridors such as Mt. Hood as seen from the Rose Gardens. That is why there is a gap in the taller buildings between the Morrison and Burnside Bridges.
July 6, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Every time I see a photo like this, I always look for my first apartment…1717 SW Yamhill…it was The Jonathan Lair Apartments, an ugly old avocado green building and the manager was one Mrs. Powell…as in Powell Books…or so I was later told! One hell of a landlord! $40.00 a month…that included everything…that was a lot in 1968…at least it was to me! Classic third floor walk-up, but I had a separate kitchen and a back door, one of only three in this three story building…but the bathroom and the tub were in two separate rooms down the hall that everyone on the same floor shared! All summer long, cheers and jeers from Multnomah Stadium, right across the street…and too many times, things got a little outta hand when we won a game!
Nice photo…good memories! Thanks…
July 11, 2012 at 2:20 am
About this time I was living in some apts at 14th/Belmont. And I had a 4th floor apt that actually had a window facing all 4 directions. Had a great view of downtown and north, not bad view to south west and restricted view to the east. If you opened all the windows in the bedroom, the breeze would about roll you off the bed. I miss that apt. The dark places in on the east side, would the rectangle be Lone Pine Cemetery and then the nots so tidy one far out on the left be Laurelhurst? I recognize Mt. Tabor of course. Nikki’s restaurant on the NE corner by the westbound east end of the Morrison bridge was there then and I think is still there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sometime these make me feel so old. I can remember when further reaches of Division were called Section Line. And I THINK Burnside might have been Baseline back then. Certainly when you got past 82nd you were entering the “wilds”.
July 12, 2012 at 8:17 am
Isn’t this more ’67-ish? I can’t see the GP tower, or any part of it going up.
And yeah, all I knew the Vista Bridge as a young child was as the ‘Suicide Bridge’. I used to go to the Rose Society meetings with my parents at the Garden Club building. I’d wander outside and walk the block over and onto the bridge…and wondered, as a child, why anyone would want to jump from the rail and go ‘splat’ on Jefferson St. below.
July 12, 2012 at 9:20 pm
Roxanne, Niki’s restaurant is no longer there. It’s been Dig-A-Pony for several years now. You need to get out more.