The first year of the Saturday Market, I wonder if this is the first one. Back left, although built in 1960, the Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum still gleams new–the Blazers draft Bill Walton in 1974.
I also like the braided girl’s pottery desk–it looks like it’s from a VP picture from 50 years earlier…
My recollection is that Saturday Market started in the 70s in the Import Plaza parking lot. Anyone know if that is correct and, if it is, what year it would have been?
Thorn – that’s a marble-topped parlor table c. 1900 (I have one just like it from the family furniture). I love to see it dragged down to the market – and an old wooden chair too. No folding plastic here, ha.
Thorn – the pottery table is a piece of Eastlake furniture, popular 1870 to 1890. I have a number of pieces that I inherited from my great aunt, including a couple of similar marble top tables.
Yes, cool desk, thanks for the details ladies.
I found this on the PSM’s history. Another piece of Oregon culture we can thank women and the Naito family for…
Looks like a nice summer’s day many decades before I was even aware of Portland OR. This location looks to be farther north than the current Saturday Market location.
It’s interesting to see how styles have changed…slender young women with long straight or tied up hair, wearing cutoffs, tied tops, leather sandals (not flip-flops), and those heavy leather pheasant-type purses that girls had when I was in high school (my girlfriend had one, too). Young men wearing buttoned long-sleeved shirts (not just long or short-sleeved tees), bell-bottomed pants, and Vibram soled hiking boots (not Nike-type sports shoes).
The woman near the camera on the left looks like she might have her mother with her who is wearing a one-piece sleeveless dress, black healed dress shoes carrying a glossy traditional “purse”.
The garb the mother and son nearest the camera are wearing brings back memories. The long one-piece summer dress that tied under the bust and the boys neatly cropped long hair, dark tennis shoes, jeans, and collared striped tee. Is it just me, but doesn’t this boy seem to have extremely large feet for his age?
Thank you for that history of the Saturday Market, Thorn.
That boy on the left looks like he may be wearing my beloved “Cub Scout shoes.” We lived on 32nd Place and Prescott St. My Mom would walk us down to the B & R Shoe store on Alberta where they had those sneakers, branded by The Cub Scouts: royal blue canvas with goldenrod stripes. I loved those shoes.
Oregon Journal May 21, 1974
According to Sheri Teasdale, June 22, 1974 will see the opening of a “Portland Saturday Market” in a parking lot between NW 1st and 2nd Avenues and Davis.
So, is this the location of the photo today: Looking northeast from 2nd and Davis
Igor a story from 2 weeks before the one I cited reads “The site selected is the parking lot west of Import Plaza. The site, the location of the smokestacks of the battleship Oregon is owned by William Naito”
Import Plaza was located at NW Front & NW Davis, and the Saturday Market lot was on the South side of NW Davis between 1st and 2nd. and is still a parking lot today. Aerial photos from 1975 appear to show the battleship smokestacks in this parking lot also.
wplou: the little boy’s big feet have been distorted by the wide-angle lens the photographer has used. Other objects near the outer edge of the pic are also distorted.
Vintage Portland 
The first year of the Saturday Market, I wonder if this is the first one. Back left, although built in 1960, the Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum still gleams new–the Blazers draft Bill Walton in 1974.
I also like the braided girl’s pottery desk–it looks like it’s from a VP picture from 50 years earlier…
My recollection is that Saturday Market started in the 70s in the Import Plaza parking lot. Anyone know if that is correct and, if it is, what year it would have been?
Thorn – that’s a marble-topped parlor table c. 1900 (I have one just like it from the family furniture). I love to see it dragged down to the market – and an old wooden chair too. No folding plastic here, ha.
Thorn – the pottery table is a piece of Eastlake furniture, popular 1870 to 1890. I have a number of pieces that I inherited from my great aunt, including a couple of similar marble top tables.
Yes, cool desk, thanks for the details ladies.
I found this on the PSM’s history. Another piece of Oregon culture we can thank women and the Naito family for…
http://www.portlandsaturdaymarket.com/content/docs/Media_Kit.pdf
Looks like a nice summer’s day many decades before I was even aware of Portland OR. This location looks to be farther north than the current Saturday Market location.
It’s interesting to see how styles have changed…slender young women with long straight or tied up hair, wearing cutoffs, tied tops, leather sandals (not flip-flops), and those heavy leather pheasant-type purses that girls had when I was in high school (my girlfriend had one, too). Young men wearing buttoned long-sleeved shirts (not just long or short-sleeved tees), bell-bottomed pants, and Vibram soled hiking boots (not Nike-type sports shoes).
The woman near the camera on the left looks like she might have her mother with her who is wearing a one-piece sleeveless dress, black healed dress shoes carrying a glossy traditional “purse”.
The garb the mother and son nearest the camera are wearing brings back memories. The long one-piece summer dress that tied under the bust and the boys neatly cropped long hair, dark tennis shoes, jeans, and collared striped tee. Is it just me, but doesn’t this boy seem to have extremely large feet for his age?
Thank you for that history of the Saturday Market, Thorn.
That boy on the left looks like he may be wearing my beloved “Cub Scout shoes.” We lived on 32nd Place and Prescott St. My Mom would walk us down to the B & R Shoe store on Alberta where they had those sneakers, branded by The Cub Scouts: royal blue canvas with goldenrod stripes. I loved those shoes.
Oregon Journal May 21, 1974
According to Sheri Teasdale, June 22, 1974 will see the opening of a “Portland Saturday Market” in a parking lot between NW 1st and 2nd Avenues and Davis.
So, is this the location of the photo today: Looking northeast from 2nd and Davis
Igor a story from 2 weeks before the one I cited reads “The site selected is the parking lot west of Import Plaza. The site, the location of the smokestacks of the battleship Oregon is owned by William Naito”
Import Plaza was located at NW Front & NW Davis, and the Saturday Market lot was on the South side of NW Davis between 1st and 2nd. and is still a parking lot today. Aerial photos from 1975 appear to show the battleship smokestacks in this parking lot also.
wplou: the little boy’s big feet have been distorted by the wide-angle lens the photographer has used. Other objects near the outer edge of the pic are also distorted.