Looking West up Taylor. The Willamette Block is to the right, with the Mikado Block across 1st. Both survivors. All of the buildings on the first two blocks to the left were lost to the World Trade Center complex. The large building on Third, on the left side of the street was the Ancient Order of United Workmen’s Temple. Recently demolished along with the building that was home to the historic Lotus Card Room for a new hotel.
This photo from the Oregon Journal showing a empty SW Taylor street on 9/27/1955 on the day of “Operation Green Light” as described in the Oregon Encyclopedia link in the comment from mikeslama differs somewhat from what the newspaper wrote about “Operation Green Light”
Portland residents knew that the drill would take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday (9/27–9/29} and 60,000 people evacuated during the drill.
Excerpt Oregon Journal 9/28/1955
Many persons not tied to regular working hours left the area early in the afternoon to avoid participation in the much publicized drill. Others left the city earlier to escape the downpour which reached near cloud burst proportions shortly before 2:30.
A steady stream of traffic heading east across the Willamette river bridges was noted an hour before the sirens wailed. By 3 pm, 10 minutes before the first whistle blast traffic police were harried by accidents, caused principally by driving rain and slippery streets.
The first outpouring from downtown buildings came about two minutes after the alarm sounded. Some evacuees walked nonchalantly, while others ran to cars or other evacuation stations.
The first two blocks of buildings on the left are gone, now the World Trade Center Portland. The first block and a half of buildings on the right remain: the simpler one story structure, followed by the pleasant Dayton Building and elegant Mikado Building. And, Mill Ends Park should be just out of view to the right.
Oh gosh, Jim said everything better and before me, lol. But I did find three VP entries that are much more related than today’s related photos…
Vintage Portland 
an appropriate rainy day photo to go with today đź‘Ť
<a href="http://<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!4v1711552871529!6m8!1m7!1sQIHwV5r0a9OBNBedtXmX8g!2m2!1d45.5162551319908!2d-122.6733140632539!3f195.2723041138498!4f7.86547664081867!5f0.7820865974627469" width="600" height="450" style="border:0;" allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade">http://<iframe src=”https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!4v1711552871529!6m8!1m7!1sQIHwV5r0a9OBNBedtXmX8g!2m2!1d45.5162551319908!2d-122.6733140632539!3f195.2723041138498!4f7.86547664081867!5f0.7820865974627469″ width=”600″ height=”450″ style=”border:0;” allowfullscreen=”” loading=”lazy” referrerpolicy=”no-referrer-when-downgrade”></iframe>
Second try, nothing showed up first try.
I know the date says 1955, but I’m curious if this is when the shot was taken. It’s an eerie photo, somewhat apocalyptic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Called_%27X%27
Ok, ok. Next time I should look at the efile before posting! This explains. Facinating read: https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/portland_civil_defense/
Looking West up Taylor. The Willamette Block is to the right, with the Mikado Block across 1st. Both survivors. All of the buildings on the first two blocks to the left were lost to the World Trade Center complex. The large building on Third, on the left side of the street was the Ancient Order of United Workmen’s Temple. Recently demolished along with the building that was home to the historic Lotus Card Room for a new hotel.
This photo from the Oregon Journal showing a empty SW Taylor street on 9/27/1955 on the day of “Operation Green Light” as described in the Oregon Encyclopedia link in the comment from mikeslama differs somewhat from what the newspaper wrote about “Operation Green Light”
Portland residents knew that the drill would take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday (9/27–9/29} and 60,000 people evacuated during the drill.
Excerpt Oregon Journal 9/28/1955
Many persons not tied to regular working hours left the area early in the afternoon to avoid participation in the much publicized drill. Others left the city earlier to escape the downpour which reached near cloud burst proportions shortly before 2:30.
A steady stream of traffic heading east across the Willamette river bridges was noted an hour before the sirens wailed. By 3 pm, 10 minutes before the first whistle blast traffic police were harried by accidents, caused principally by driving rain and slippery streets.
The first outpouring from downtown buildings came about two minutes after the alarm sounded. Some evacuees walked nonchalantly, while others ran to cars or other evacuation stations.
The first two blocks of buildings on the left are gone, now the World Trade Center Portland. The first block and a half of buildings on the right remain: the simpler one story structure, followed by the pleasant Dayton Building and elegant Mikado Building. And, Mill Ends Park should be just out of view to the right.
Oh gosh, Jim said everything better and before me, lol. But I did find three VP entries that are much more related than today’s related photos…
love those pics Thor , especially the Goodwill Building
another rainy day in paradise