The Oregon Oyster Co. on SW Ankeny Street between SW 2nd Avenue and SW 3rd Avenue, 1975.
City of Portland (OR) Archives, Oregon Oyster Co on SW Ankeny St between SW 2nd Ave and SW 3rd Ave, A2012-005, 1975.
SW Ankeny Street, 1975
Vintage Portland
The Oregon Oyster Co. on SW Ankeny Street between SW 2nd Avenue and SW 3rd Avenue, 1975.
City of Portland (OR) Archives, Oregon Oyster Co on SW Ankeny St between SW 2nd Ave and SW 3rd Ave, A2012-005, 1975.
Vintage Portland 
I came from Idaho in 1973. At that time, in my small mountain town, seafood consisted of (1) deep fried, breaded shrimp and (2) there was no number 2. Friends took me to the Oyster Bar in early 1974. I had never tasted an oyster before that! I loved Oregon then and still do.
Looking the other direction in 1971:
I was fortunate to work here as a waitress in the late 70’s…terrific family and other staff. All was good except for the time I splattered chowder down the front trouser legs of a man during lunch once (he was kind) and the time the IRS audited lots of Portland waitresses for tip report – imagine getting audited as a 19 year old! Love the photos….
From The Oregonian, September 15, 1912 (p. 4):
“PADDED” CHOWDER WINS: Press Club Chief Loses in Contest with Louis Wachsmuth
“A spirited but nevertheless friendly contest in the making of good old-fashioned clam chowder was waged in a rather unusual way at the Oregon Oyster Company at 242 Ankeny Street, yesterday, in which Louis Wachsmuth was adjudged the superior of William Souls, of the Portland Press Club, in that particular branch of the culinary art. The voting was done by the steamship men and the members of the Portland Press Club who were present, and the final count showed the proverbial ratio of 16 to 1 in favor of Wachsmuth.
“The challenge was issued to William Souls who has long enjoyed an enviable reputation as a chef. Souls readily accepted and the conditions of the contest were arranged forthwith. By the ingenious device of putting the chowder in bowls bearing numerical numbers the official testers were unable to determine whose dish they were eating.
“Those who favored Souls claim that their man was “jobbed” by the winner, who, it is alleged, slipped 300 transplanted Eastern oysters and a bunch of small bivalves into the mixture in order to make his offering the more palatable….”
From The Oregonian, September 29, 1932 (p. 6):
OYSTER PLANT MODERN: Shellfish Firms Required to Clean House — Regulations Laid Down Governing Handling, Packing, and Storing of Product
“Oregonians, if they ever had any, may have fewer qualms about their oysters hereafter. The state board of health recently drew up a set of requirements as to what constitutes perfection in the growing, handling, packing and storing of shellfish… The Oregon Oyster company of which Louis Wachsmuth is proprietor, has just completed a $4000 remodeling job that qualifies it under the new state regulations….
“Compliance will be, in the main, effected by discarding the more primitive methods of oyster handling and going over to a system … where sanitary-top tables, living streams of water, the most modern cooling systems, the most efficient garbage-handling devices and other improvements have been made and installed. Formerly located in one room, the Oregon Oyster Company plan is now in three rooms, each with a separate function.”
And one final Oregonian story (from me today): January 1, 1957 (p. 31)
OYSTER FIRM BUYS PLANT
“Louis Wachsmuth and sons, Chet and Louis Jr., have purchased the building in which their Oregon Oyster company, famous seafood restaurant, has been located for nearly 60 years.
“Purchase was made from the Bickel estate for a reported price of $150,000. Involved in the transaction were a two-story and a one-story building taking up the block bounded by S.W. 2d and 3d Avenues, Ankey and Ash Streets.
“:Louis Wachsmuth started the Oregon Oyster Company in the two-story building at 208 S. Ankeny Street 60 years ago. At first it was a retail-wholesale oyster house, but later grew into the seafood eating place that is one of the city’s landmarks.”
That’s 122 years! Is that a Portland record?
A Portland Landmark of delicious sea food. Mother would talk of eating there with her father in the ’30s,.
@Jaymalea- Huber’s is Portland’s oldest restaurant, dating back to 1879. The oldest business is The Oregonian.
One thing about Huber’s is that it hasn’t always been at the same location.
Hope this isn’t a double post. One thing about Huber’s is that it hasn’t always been in the same location. I had friends in the 70’s who got stung by the IRS on that tip thing. I remember it well. My friend had to pony up a pretty good chunk of change. Mr. Wachsmuth wrote more than one letter to the Oregonian back in the day about homeless people and how they should just get jobs. We called them “bums” in those days.
Dan and Louie’s Oyster Bar…We used to eat lunch there on “Payday Friday”.
My father was a regular at the Oyster Bar for many years. When I was young we ate many Saturday lunches there. As a little boy, I thought it was an almost magical place.
Dan and Louis’s and Oregon Oyster. Great seafood besides oysters (never could get one past the lips). Little history – http://www.oregonoyster.com/History.htm.
Oyster farming going strong in Yaquina Bay still
Ella Fitzgerald dined at the Oyster Bar in the 60’s. I have an autographed menu.