An unidentified building and parking lot downtown, 1944. The location is noted as SW 1st Avenue. Can anyone pinpoint the location?
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Vintage Portland
An unidentified building and parking lot downtown, 1944. The location is noted as SW 1st Avenue. Can anyone pinpoint the location?
Vintage Portland 
This is the backside of buildings near SW 2nd & Morrison. Gevurtz Furniture was at 210 SW Morrison (their sign is partially visible) and in the distance you can see the Kress Building at SW 5th & Morrison.
You can see the front side of the buildings at right in this photo. https://efiles.portlandoregon.gov/Record/4397220/ At left in this photo is the also the building that became home to Gevurtz.
Sorry I can’t help with location, but it looks like either a parking lot or the back of the FBI building where the G-men park their cars.
Val has got it right. Block 15, City of Portland. To the left is the Terwilliger Building. In the middle is the Mulkey Building and to the right is Dahl & Penne. Over the top of the Mulkey Building is Centennial Block in white still standing today. The parking lot was previously occupied by Odd Fellows Temple and Skidmore’s drug store among others.
So, what is the odd tower like structure at the back of the Mulkey Building?
My guess is that it is the block between Alder and Morrison.
Adam Jordan
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The 1948 aerial photo on Portland Maps shows a parking lot at SW 1st & SW Alder (SW corner) that looks to match this photo. The aerial photo from 1948 shows what appears to be a service station near the corner of 1st & Alder.
I think the white building upper left is the old Gevurtz Furniture building that was on 2nd and SW Morrison. That’s the only building in that area that is still standing from that era.
From my earlier comment I indicated it kooks like there was a service station on the parking lot at SW 1st & Alder. If you look at the at the sign on the building at the left edge of the photo it reads “Free Parking with Lubrication” also there is a small Pennzoil sign on the building behind the parked cars.
I think Ed has the correct answer today.
Why does this photo have such a sinister feel to it? Is it the cars?
Behind where the Lotus restaurant used to be?
Pretty sure the billboard is advertising MGM’s “The White Cliffs of Dover” (1944)
No the question is….where was the picture taken from? The Windsor Hotel?
Jay it looks like you nailed the movie. The Oregonian on July 14, 1944 reported that “The White Cliffs of Dover” was ending it’s 4 week run at the United Artist theater. Left side of billboard shows it was at the United Artist.
Regarding the line of autos…the third car on the outside row against the wall looks to me to be a foreigner. A 1940’s BMW335. From what I can see the 2 kidney shaped vertical grilles, the headlight placement, the front fenders, the bumper and bumper guards point to a BMW of that era.. And it’s a convertible!. I knew a doctor in Vancouver who had in his collection the very same car in its color, the 2 doors and being a convertible also. A very rare car considering the the time and place.
If any of you has the ability to enlarge even more the image and can verify or not the individual characteristics of this car please let me know.
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Cars, smog, & stagnant air, Oh. my…
The cast iron fronted building with the arched windows to the right of the Gevurtz building was the Cambridge Block.
https://vintageportland.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/cambridge-block-1955/
Now…where was the photo taken from? The building is no longer there, but part of the clover leaf system for the ‘new’ Morrison Bridge.
Val notes the Kress building in the background, up Morrison at SW 5th: Beyond the Kress building, four bays of the Meier & Frank building (the Nines) can be made out, while the Pioneer courthouse is discernible (vague roof forms and chimneys) to left of / above Kress . (Helps to adjust the gamma down in an image editor)
This great image from UO digital collections appears to show the shadow of the Odd Fellows Temple’s tower on Greene’s building across 1st on Alder. As Mike K. noted, the Off Fellows Temple was where the center parking lot in today’s image was.
https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df67jb96j