The c1892 Coeur d’Alene Building and the 1883 Spaulding Building on SW 1st Avenue between Clay and Columbia are highlighted in this feature article in The Oregonian of August 1, 1965. The one-page feature, outlining plans for the a second urban renewal project just north of the South Auditorium Urban Renewal District, can be seen here.
(The Oregonian. Retrieved from http://infoweb.newsbank.com)
Tags: Oregon, Portland, S&M Cafe, Tavern, Urban Renewal
August 15, 2012 at 1:25 pm
It makes me mad that that IRA KELLAR is celebrated for destroying what would have been a great part of town (better than the Pearl ) with his urban renewal/ destruction in the 1960′s leaving us with that God awful boring mess there now! I NEVER call it any thing but the FORECOURT FOUNTAIN..
August 16, 2012 at 2:18 am
I love the reporting in this article about urban renewal. You would never get writing like that today. “Old men alive but idly involved in the long processes of death” or something similar. Wow. Can you even imagine if this were in the Oregonian today? You would have every pressure group and ninny in the world condemning the paper for writing that, even though I am sure the writer was using that as a metaphor for the death of the neighborhood.
August 16, 2012 at 7:19 am
I can’t recall where, but I read a different article in which the displaced South Portland elderly were interviewed by the reporter. When you juxtapose this reporting with actual interviews of the “old men idly involved in the processes of dying,” it does come across as condescending – metaphor or not. They may not have had money or influence, but, according to the article, many of these men were proud and did not want to be displaced to the Burnside area skid row.
August 16, 2012 at 11:25 am
The article said the renewal boundary was to Madison St including the block between 1st & 2nd Avenue. This block has finally been developed. I’ve been waiting for years to see something happen.-(I lived there until 1965). (it was used as a parking lot since the 60s)
August 16, 2012 at 1:28 pm
The pro-urban-renewal bias is nearly dripping from the page.
“PDC *must* offer relocation aid…”
“he will probably retire, although federal money is available…” (relocation aid is mentioned numerous times)
“exciting new…urban renewal project”
The old buildings are dirty, grimy, forlorn, sturdy, unsound/unsafe.