NW Hoyt Street was paved with Belgian blocks when this 1917 image was taken. You can still find a few streets in the area paved with these natural stones but Hoyt is all asphalt now. A couple of buildings are still with us in this view to the west looking through the intersection at 11th Avenue.
(City of Portland Archives)
A 1949 Mack pumper truck sits in front of Fire Station 3, at 1425 NW Glisan, in this 1950 photo. It’s still a fine looking building retaining much of its 100 year old character. It now houses the restaurant Touché.
(City of Portland Archives)
The NW Lovejoy ramp once met the west end of the Broadway Bridge and then came down to grade level at NW 14th Avenue. The ramp, here looking east, and most of what we see in this 1939 photo, is gone, replaced by Pearl District development. A bit of Union Station, featured yesterday, can be seen at the extreme upper edge.
(City of Portland Archives)
Sixty years ago the Oregon National Guard Armory building occupied a full block in the heart of Portland’s Industrial Northwest district, surrounded by breweries, auto and truck supply and repair businesses, transfer and storage warehouses and other blue-collar industries. Today the building covers only the north half of the block; it’s now a theater and is surrounded by posh condos with restaurants and shops that cater to the Pearl District’s residents and visitors. This view looks northwest at NW 10th at Couch.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
The western-most North Bank Freight Depot building on the northwest corner of NW Hoyt & 11th is shown in the 1917 photo. The building (and its sister across the street) is still with us, a fine luxury condo building in the Pearl District. The remnants of that sign on the end of the building can still be seen.
(City of Portland Archives)
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)
Since its opening in 1901 the US Custom House on NW 8th Avenue between Everett and Davis Streets has been home to the US Customs Service and the US Army Corps of Engineers. It’s currently the site of the police headquarters in the TV program “Grimm.” The building recently sold at auction with future plans for the building not announced. The streets appear to still be unpaved in this 1904 image.
(City of Portland Archives)
