Clothing Store, c1915 – Help Us Out!

VP fan Frank Vaccarezza sent this postcard showing his great uncle and his grandfather, Paul and Frank DeBenedetti, in front of the men’s clothing store they owned. Frank’s grandparents moved their clothing store from San Francisco in 1913. His great uncle was 18 that year and Frank thinks he looks a bit older than that so it would put the store in Portland.

So a couple questions here; is this really Portland, and if so, where? Their San Francisco store was located in an Italian neighborhood and they may have done the same when they relocated to Portland. There’s also an address in the upper left corner that might be “371” which would be Portland’s old street numbering systems. Frank knows that they had a storefront at 282 Grand in the 1916-1918 time frame so the “371” address may have been the initial store before they moved to Grand. I’m hoping the expert Vintage Portland community can help Frank add a little information to his family history.

(Frank Vaccarezza)

SW 3rd & Ankeny, 1928

The Raymond House hotel anchored the northwest corner of SW 3rd and Ankeny, while street level shops catered to their workingman customers in 1928. A portion of one of the “Great Light Way” arches is seen arcing over the intersection.

(City of Portland Archives)

W Burnside & 5th, 1928

Portland’s working men could get almost anything they needed on the corner of West Burnside and SW 5th in 1928. Clothing, shoes, raingear, hats and more could be found here. Step next door and get the shoes shined or a shave. There are several ghost pedestrians in this photo as well as a street sweeper with his broom and cart. This view is west on Burnside to the right and south on 5th to the left. The edge of this building can be seen on this previous post.

(City of Portland Archives)

Salvation Army Citadel, 1928

Completing our look at SW 6th between W Burnside and Ankeny is the Salvation Army Citadel, just to the south of the Arata Building (shown in the previous post), and across 6th from the Commonwealth Building (last Thursday’s post). Ankeny Street no longer goes through to 6th, it stops at 5th where it runs into Big Pink on this block.

(City of Portland Archives)

A copy of Domestic Engineering dates this building to about 1922.

W Burnside & 6th, 1928

As a followup to yesterday’s post and discussion, today we look east across 6th Avenue from the Commonwealth Building. The Arata Building sat on the southeast corner of the intersection; the awning and diamond decorations can be seen in yesterday’s photo. Big Pink (US Bancorp Tower) is located here now.

(City of Portland Archives)