We’re moving just a bit northeast on NE Sandy Blvd, overlapping yesterday’s post, with the intersection with 28th Avenue in the upper left corner now. Dan Faulkner commented yesterday that today’s U-Store facility was at one time the Doernbecher Furniture Manufacturing Company. This photo verifies it and gives a nice overall view of the plant, the 28th Avenue viaduct, and the surrounding neighborhood.
(City of Portland Archives)
Vintage Portland 
Doernbecher became “Barkers furniture” at some point. I have an uncle who worked there in the 60’s.
I decided to walk past this area last night. A lot of the buildings, houses and even trees are still there from the 1930. I don’t normally do aerial views because they don’t fit, but here’s a good place to start if you want to explore. http://g.co/maps/u9dv7
I was 3 years old when this was taken and was enrolled in a nursery school. One of the owners of the school would pick me up from my SE Portland home each morning and drive me to the school. The 28th Ave. viaduct was part of the route we took and I vividly recall seeing the jumble of pipes and ducts on top the furniture factory as we drove past it each day.
oldwxwatcher – that extremely tall chimney pipe is really pumping out a lot of smoke. I think that’s what is obscuring the bottom right part of yesterday’s photo too. I wonder how the neighbors felt about that.
I don’t recall seeing much smoke when we would drive past but with that tall stack it could have been too high to see from the overpass. Besides, a 3-year-old usually doesn’t concentrate on one thing but looks all over, as everything is interesting at that age. But I do remember those pipes because they seemed to go in all directions and looked something like a monster. I also seem to recall that the furniture factory had a whistle that they would blow at various times of the day, probably for shift start/end times and for lunch.
Strange to see a big empty lot this close in to town.
A gang of us from Central and Holy Child – circa ’58-’59 – used to have ‘street dances’ under the 28th St. viaduct….after we’d been to Yaws. The car radios were tuned to the same station, the doors were wide open, so we could have full-on volume and dance to the likes of ‘Sixteen Candles’, ‘Stagger Lee’, etc.
So is that bare patch (lower right) Oregon Park?
I answered my own question. Oregon Park is one block south of the church with the immense facade (now Immanuel Christian fellowship), along 30th. There is a corner of the park just peeking out on the left side of the picture. That bare patch is now a parking lot for the Presbyterian church on 33rd.
I would like to see some photos of the area of: NE Sandy and 22nd ave.; 22nd around Oregon and pacific streets. This is the area that included Davidson’s Bakery, Part Pak Beverage, Wilson’s Sporting Warehouse, etc. I lived in this area before the freeway was put in and I revisit it when ever I can. I have a few family pictures I would be willing to share.