The old Lovejoy Street ramp once elevated NW Lovejoy over the railroad tracks from NW Broadway to NW 14th Avenue. The ramp was removed in the late 1990s and it now reaches grade at about NW 9th Avenue, and Lovejoy is a surface street. This 1938 view looks west down the ramp with NW 10th coming in from the left side.
(City of Portland Archives)
Tags: Empire Builder, Envoy Apartments, Great Northern Railway, Marshall-Wells Co., Mercer Steel Co., Multnomah Batteries, North Coast Limited, Northern Pacific, Portland, Texaco
July 10, 2012 at 6:28 am
Isn’t that Broadway street coming in from the left ? 10th is several blocks away.
July 10, 2012 at 6:41 am
The good old day when you could ride on the bed of a truck, with no seat belts!
July 10, 2012 at 7:08 am
http://goo.gl/maps/dC6t
July 10, 2012 at 7:27 am
http://goo.gl/maps/KDGY
July 10, 2012 at 7:30 am
It is N.W. Broadway to the left ……. in the 1950′s & ’60″s there used to be a little hut like shack on the intersection above the railing ; during rush hour a PPD motorcycle cop would sit up there and change the traffic lights manually to keep cars moving and avoid backups ………….. he could see traffic flows from that ” perch ” and judge when to change traffic lights and occasionally record license nos. of red-runners who received a warning in the mail about a month later from the DMV in Salem ………….. living in N.E. at the time this was the main route to P.S.C. most A.M.’s @ 7:15 for 8 A.M. classes and maybe even a free parking spot !!!
July 10, 2012 at 9:01 am
NO, it’s not Broadway, it’s NW 10th on the left.
July 10, 2012 at 9:19 am
That is the 10th Avenue ramp. Go look– the Broadway ramp is still there, and is much bigger than this one.
I went through this intersection at least once a week in the 1950s, riding to church in the family car. At that time, that big billboard read, “Ship and Travel SP&S,” referring to the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway.
July 10, 2012 at 10:28 am
Of course it is/was the 10th Avenue ramp! It never was a very safe “intersection”, especially for those who way too impatient and didn’t want to bother paying attention to any signals!
July 10, 2012 at 10:31 am
I meant to say “…the 10th Avenue ramp to the left!” Sorry…
July 10, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Is that a barrel in the back of the truck on our left?
@Bud, interesting about the “manual” traffic control. Too bad cops are too busy/can’t be bothered to direct traffic anymore, there are certainly times/places when it would help.
July 10, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Based on the huge wheels and axels compared to the adjacent truck, I would think thats a concrete drum.
BTW, I miss the viaduct. Both above and working below.
July 10, 2012 at 7:18 pm
Yeah…Tad…I wondered about that barrel too! Of course, the first thing I thought of was Blitz and beer for some reason!!!
July 10, 2012 at 7:41 pm
Does anyone have info about the status of the Stephopolous Lovejoy Murals which were chalked on the columns underneath the viaduct? When the viaduct was razed, the art was preserved to be sited in a future park or some project that was kind of nebulous at the time.
The most recent thing I can find is this story from Willy Week in 2004:
http://wweek.com/portland/article-3815-pillars_of_the_community.html
July 10, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Some of them are at the Elizabeth Lofts, here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/morgonmae/216054314/
I noticed them just a couple weeks ago so they are still there.
More info:
http://www.debbiethomas.com/portfolio/the-elizabeth-lofts.html
http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portlandarchitecture/2005/10/more_on_the_lov.html
July 10, 2012 at 9:47 pm
they’re here! Rich’s cigar store in the Pearl. they have been in this courtyard area for the last few years. They still say they have other plans for them, but you can see them there.
July 10, 2012 at 9:48 pm
oops, here’s the link: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=rich%27s+cigar,+pearl+district&ll=45.525623,-122.681193&spn=0.007983,0.01929&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&fb=1&gl=us&hq=rich%27s+cigar,&hnear=0x54950a01f5945bf5:0x9091f715f00c4a94,Pearl+District&cid=0,0,7495468102171073709&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=45.525538,-122.681199&panoid=LzEu5QqtjUaiOet6810BTQ&cbp=12,95.51,,0,2.3
August 10, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Were the trains air-conditioned, or was Chicago? From the sign, you couldn’t tell.