Jack and Jill’s Tavern operated from the early 1930s at least into the 1950s at 16321 Base Line Road (SE Stark Street now). The night club offered dinners, music and dancing, and stage plays. It’s the site of a pizza parlor now, whose building is listed on portlandmaps.com with a 1926 construction date. Probably the same basic building with many improvements over the decades. Thanks to Roxanne for sending this in.
(Roxanne Cummings)
Tags: Dining, Oregon, Portland, Supper Club, Tavern
September 11, 2012 at 6:52 am
I thought Papa’s pizza was a new building. Do you really think it could be the same place? (street view http://goo.gl/maps/VAGj2 )
September 11, 2012 at 6:54 am
I found a photograph my parents had taken here with another couple after Dad had returned from the Pacific. It came in a nice little folder with a drawing of the club, called ‘Jack and Jills Elations’. Just like that scene from ‘Best Years of Our Lives’ I did a lot of looking online and in the Oregonian online archives but this is the first picture I’ve seen of how it looked on the outside. Must have been a great place.
September 11, 2012 at 7:41 am
Even if it is a completely new building, I like how Papa’s Pizza used some of the original architecture styles and stonework from Jack and Jill’s Tavern. Somewhat of a fitting tribute to another long lost building.
September 11, 2012 at 9:02 am
My dad, who played drums, used to work gigs there. I don’t know what band it was but I do remember him saying he was working there. This would have been late 1950s or early 1960s.
September 11, 2012 at 9:20 am
Looks like at least that chimney is the original river-rock stone.
September 11, 2012 at 9:33 am
Continuing… funny that they say “3 miles east of Portland”… I bet nobody would have known what to make of an address number that big back then.
Also, looking at the historic plumbing permits on Portland Maps, it seems this place was “Poor Richards” through the 70s and has a permit for a “new restaurant” issued to owner “Pier 101″ on 4/22/82. The last reference to “Jack and Jill’s Silver $” was 8/14/67 when their cesspool was replaced.
This place was on a septic tank (which apparently required frequent replacement) until 1993!
September 11, 2012 at 9:41 am
Anyone know when Baseline was renamed to Stark? Was it part of the Great Renumbering?
September 11, 2012 at 9:45 am
Baseline Road, named after the Public Land Survey System. I wonder why Baseline got renamed and not Division?
September 11, 2012 at 9:56 am
Division was the new name. The old name was Section Line Road.
September 11, 2012 at 9:59 am
My family moved to Wood Village in 1970. I think that there were still signs near Troutdale that said Baseline then.
September 11, 2012 at 10:08 am
There used to be a book at the library on the history of Rockwood. I think it said that Jack and Jill’s was a speakeasy during Prohibition.
September 11, 2012 at 12:50 pm
It’s still called Baseline out in Hillsboro and Cornelius, although the road doesn’t track the actual baseline closely anymore.
September 11, 2012 at 5:27 pm
I worked at Poor Richards Restaurant(home of the Two-Fer) in Hollywood at 39th and Broadway in 1964-65. They opened in 1959 and one of the original owners kept it running till sometime in 2006. The new owner kept it open another 5 years or so before it closed in 2010 or 2011. I wouldn’t have thought there would have been another Poor Richards so close by.
September 12, 2012 at 8:17 am
Great work, Tad!
September 12, 2012 at 10:00 am
This building has been remodeled and added on to many times, but parts of it appear to go back to the 1920s. I remember eating there as a child back in the late 1970′s when it was Poor Richards, and again a few years later when it was Pier 101. Both were popular at first, but as with many large restaurants in that era, they became victims of the poor economy at that time. At some point there was a fire that destroyed a significant portion of the structure and they chose not to reopen. Pier 101 also had a location in Beaverton and they are still in business in Lincoln City.
September 12, 2012 at 9:33 pm
I lived just up the road off 162nd & Market from 1961 on. My parents would go to Jack & Jill’s because it was the only place out in east county
September 20, 2012 at 12:59 am
the Front entryway does look very similar to the current “Papa’s Pizza” I wonder if it’s just expansions/remodel’s over the years, but the address would be about correct for it being in the same spot. Had no idea it was a nightclub beforehand. Great find Roxanne!
December 24, 2012 at 3:10 pm
I have seen an old drink token “good foir 25 c at the bar” frolm The Elations, Portland, Oregon and dated 1941. It pictures what appears to be a stripper.
January 1, 2013 at 1:07 pm
My grandma Helen Willard used to work here as a waitress in the 50s or 60s. My mom and aunts remember getting to go inside. Grandma used to get together with former coworkers from Jack and Jills once a month for decades after it closed.
January 27, 2013 at 9:22 pm
My mom and her cousin danced there. She had wonder stories and pictures.