NW 6th Avenue at W Burnside St looking north, 1964.
City of Portland (OR) Archives, VZ 308-64 : SW 6th Ave at W Burnside St looking north, A2011-013, 1964.
NW 6th Avenue, 1964
Vintage Portland
NW 6th Avenue at W Burnside St looking north, 1964.
City of Portland (OR) Archives, VZ 308-64 : SW 6th Ave at W Burnside St looking north, A2011-013, 1964.
Vintage Portland 
More about Christine Keeler (on the Star marquee):
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Keeler
Quite a character!
The Star Theater, I am so happy that a building built just a few years after the Louis and Clark Exposition in downtown Portland has survived and is still in use. Is this building on the Historical registrar? A few doors down, the gray building on the corner in our 1964 photo, Also survives but in a greatly altered state from its original construction. I’d be very interested to know its history, it’s been striped of all its decoration. I’d like to know what kind of “Club” it was in 1964?
A couple years ago, I went to a performance by my 10-year old grandsons’ guitar class at the Star. I was thrilled to see that it was in good shape and in use. There was framed memorabilia and clippings all over the walls about the history of the theater and all the many scandals in which it and its owners and dancers were involved. I remembered some of the names from my childhood.
Amazing view of the Union Station tower. Can no longer see it from Burnside because of the trees.
Probably an unpopular opinion but I really don’t care for how many trees we have downtown. It blocks the buildings from view and I feel it contributes to developers believing they can get away with making cheap, ugly buildings by merely planting trees. Natural elements are great and the cover is nice but the latter can be achieved with overhangs, awnings, and built-out arcades such as the ones at MLK and E Burnside.
Anyway, great picture! Glad this area has stayed mostly intact.
I remember the buses lined up by the soup kitchen-mission waiting to load up and take street people out to pick beans.
A different venue at the Star in the 50’s, a teenager had to sneak in ~
Tempest Storm. All you need to know about the Star.
Yeah the Star was a porno palace for quite awhile.
There are some pretty amazing pictures of her online. Apparently there was a major scandal involving Tempest and the Mayor or some businessman or something. I remember hearing her name but I had no clue about the context, but I could sense that it was naughty. And I was very impressed by her clever name.
Hi,
I was worried the Star would get torn down! But I’m glad it’s re-vamped. Looks like the building to the north is gone (now the theater “smoking patio”)
On the NW corner of 6th & Couch I can see the Sav-Mor (which exploded in the summer of 1989, still open to speculation)
I didn’t realize the Keeler-Profumo scandal was aired out here in Oregon…
I visited the Star for a rock concert back in 2013 and outside the restrooms were dressing areas that invoked the feeling of old vaudeville days! An old building with so much character.
I can see the old “WAIT” “WALK” pedestrian crosswalk signals from the 1940’s. I
Sincerely, Billy
If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t the roof of the Apostolic Faith building on the NE corner of this intersection where the large illuminated “JESUS, The Light of the World” sign sat for many years? I seem to remember seeing it when driving North on SW 6th before the mall revisions eliminated most of the car traffic on that street.
Yes, that was the apostolic faith mission, then from the early 80s it was the starry night club, concert venue until sold. It’s now the Roseland theatre. It also had a scandal in the late 80s early 90s.