The Multnomah Villager

So, for the first time in a long time last week, I blew off the neighborhood association meeting. This is because I wanted to head up to Annie Bloom’s and hear Nanci Hamilton talk about her new book “Portland’s Multnomah Village” - the history of our neighborhood. I bought a copy of the bok, and Mrs. V and I have been having fun checking out the photos and facts that are inside.

• Three things that play prominent roles in the history of the Village: Cows. Masons. Switzerland…. and cars. Four, four things!
• Did you know that Capitol Highway was one of the first paved roads in Oregon? A fact that I find rather ironic considering our high concentration of unpaved roads.
• Multnomah Days were apparently originally staged to honor Chief Multnomah, and involved the populace dressing up in native American costumes. Can you imagine that going on here now? Related link: Who Was Chief Multnomah @ PSU Magazine.

 Look familiar? This photo is from 1929, via the Multnomah Historical Association.

To quote the introduction:

This book gives readers a glimpse of what makes this place unique and special, qualities that the neighborhood retains despite change.

Despite their steadfast refusal to respond to either of my emails requesting to be added to their affiliate program, I am linking to Annie Bloom’s anyway, so you can buy this book from them here.

OK, I’m shamelessly copying and pasting this text from the email that just came in via the Multnomah Villagers Yahoo! group (no relation to me), sorry Bernadette - consider yourself a “guest poster”

Author event on Tuesday evening at Annie Bloom’s:

Here is the event link:

Time: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 7:30 PM
Location: Annie Bloom’s Books
Title of Event: Nanci Hamilton presents Portland’s Multnomah Village

In this pictorial retrospective, author, longtime Portland resident, and historian Nanci Hamilton has gathered more than 200 images from local collections of vintage photographs and other visual memorabilia to trace the unique story of Portland’s Multnomah Village.

Once rolling countryside and bucolic dairy farmland, the area that became Multnomah Village was transformed when the Oregon Electric railroad line connecting Portland to Salem placed a station here in 1908 and brought Multnomah within 15 minutes of Portland’s downtown core. The electric train opened the way for individual families to build the charming homes of their dreams. Over the next 20 years, as the rise of the automobile transformed transportation options, the village continued to grow and thrive, with its own post office, grocery stores, pharmacy, movie house, churches, school, and bank to meet the needs of those living nearby. The subsequent rise of shopping centers and large retail grocery chains led to a change in the character of the village, which was annexe  piecemeal by the city of Portland beginning around 1950. The former village center is now an eclectic yet dynamic mix of shops, restaurants, and galleries tucked into the storefronts of a generation ago. The “bones” of the village as it was in the past remain visible.

This sounds pretty interesting, and I’m definitely going to buy a copy of this book. I’ll try to get up there Tuesday night, maybe I’ll see you there!

The following request showed up in my email box yesterday…

I would love to find out what happened to all the memorabilia that was in the old Red Electric Cafe in Multnomah Village. We are starting a development called Springbrook in Newberg, and at the turn of the last century, Springbrook was on the old Red Electric line and it played a big part in community life. It would be wonderful to have some of that memorabilia for use in a small museum perhaps. Thanks to anyone who can
help.

Oh, don’t get me started on how much I miss the cafe. Mrs. V and I ate there from when it was just three tables and the kitchen, pretty much all together, through the expansion and up until the drama-packed implosion of that iteration of Bertha Station. So if any one has any info about the stuff that used to be in there, send me a comment or email it to Joe Kavale @ Springbrook Properties

Stopped in to Fat City this morning for a quick breakfast. Fat City is bar far my favorite place to east breakfast in the Village. I am genetically drawn to these types of places, where you can sit at the counter (which I don’t actually like to do) and listen to a bunch of old guys talk about whatever it is old guys at diners talk about, and have two eggs any style.

I especially like the fact that you can have pancakes rather than hash browns with your breakfast and even better yet, they let me swap out for french toast! I am decidedly lowbrow in my breakfast tastes, but very particular at the same time.

Fat City is the kind of place that has a line outside the door on weekend mornings, although it is not as backed up as Marco’s. It’s small, and you need to get there early, particularly on the weekend, if you want a choice of seating. The walls are covered with old road signs, license plates and various ephemera. As well as really well-done paintings of the staff.

One thing that always amuses me is the laminated placemats, which you sued to see lot more back in the day, they’re maps of oregon that have little cartoons and facts about the different areas of the state. You can buy them for $2.50 each (just in time for Christmas!)

Oh yeah, no posting about Fat City would be complete without making the required mention of that time back in 1987 when then-mayor Bud Clark fired Police Chief Jim Davis over breakfast by saying “read my lips, you’re fired.” There. I’ve posted about it now, you all knew it was coming eventually. If you’re a Portland history buff, you can sit in the Mayor’s booth (there’s a small plaque) and read the newspaper article about this famous historical event that put Multnomah Village on the map, way back when.

Tonight as I was walking my loop around Gabriel Park, I passed the baseball field for like to two thousandth time. “Rocky Benevento Field”. For some reason, tonight I decided that maybe I should find out who Rocky Benvento is or was, since I see his name all the time. Bear with me if “everybody knows this”, since I’m not a baseball fan, these things can get past me. So - for those of you who have or are yet to see the sign - here is Rocky Benevento.

Rocky is a member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, inducted in 1993 under the “Special Contribution to Sports” category. He shares space in this category with Phil Knight, Joe Loprinzi and the Pendelton Round-Up, among others.

Rocky was the groundskeeper at the Multnomah Stadium during the heyday of Portland minor league ball in the late 50’s. Here’s an excerpt from an article by Portland Jazz Musician Tom Grant about Rocky…

But when it did rain during or prior to game time, this was the special province of Rocky Benevento. Rocky was the diminutive groundskeeper (they called him “park superintendent”) for the Beavers and another fan favorite. He was all business in his starched white coveralls with the bright red “P” on it, rooting around the infield lovingly maintaining the natural turf that had been brought over from Vaughn Street. Rocky had been a friend of my uncle Smokey (Harry “Smokey” Rodinsky) who’s company, Lewis Bros. Meats, had supplied the franks and burgers to the Beavers. Because of that connection, I had a supply of autographed team baseballs, photos and occasional face to face meetings with team heroes.

This page on PGE Park’s history features a picture of Rocky moving the turf between stadiums.

There’s not much else available online. There are references to an obituary in the Oregonian dated 1969.

So that’s who the field is named after.

Wow! Also, in the “who knew” department - the Multnomah Historical Association has a very nice-looking website at http://www.multnomahhistorical.com/. I’ve been meaning to do some explorations of Village history - do I have it in me to stop by a meeting?

Check out the site.

Ok, rhetorical question. My family came to Oregon on one of the first wagon trains (to Molalla), so I’ve been aware of at least the history of the name. However, when doing some reading on the Red Electric Trail Study (available for public comment until Sept. 12th), I stumbled across this link:

The Red Electrics @ pdxhistory dot com

This is a fascinating site, with not only information, but lots of great pictures (even ticket stubs) from all the old railcars and streetcars whose dormant tracks continue to surface through the asphalt all over town. If you like learning about Portland, visit that link.

So on the way home the other night, I noticed anew that Multnomah Village has yet anouther plaque set in a large stone, similar to the World War II Memorial I posted about the other day.

This one, I am calling the Multnomah Village cornerstone. Although I must point out that it does not exactly inhabit a space of honor in the neighborhood, being tucked behind the Key Bank sign on the corner of 35th and Multnomah. Still, I hopped out of the car the other morning with my camera to find out just what this stone was for, and what the plaque said.

The text reads as follows:

MULTNOMAHEstablished in 1908 as a freight passenger station on the newly completed Oregon Electric Railway that ran between Portland and Salem, it was located a block south on the N.W. Corner of 35th & Multnomah Blvd.

Multnomah’s first U.S. post office was installed in 1912 in the Nelson Thomas Store, thereby giving the community and official identity.

Marker erected by Kiwanis Club of Southwest Hills

Dedicated September 25, 1976.

The Nelson Thomas General Store was in the building that is now occupied primarily by Marco’s Cafe, and a number of massage therapists and other professional offices.

So I’ve often wondered what the plaque says that’s under the tree at the left-had side of the parking lot of the Multnomah Center. On my way to the airport on Thursday (the reason for a few days of ‘blog inactivity, I decided to find out.

It is a World War II memorial, apparently dedicated in May of 1946. The text reads:

This memorial is erected in honor of all men and women from this community who served God, country and the cause of freedom during World War II and under this plaque is an urn containing a parchment scroll of their names

“These have served and we have entered into the fruits of their service”

May 19, 1946

Interesting. May 19, 1946 was my Dad’s 7th birthday.

The quote is clearly from something but after much Googling I cannot find its source. If anyone can enlighten me, please do.

There’s also quite an exuberant pumpkin patch (at least they look like pumpkins to the Villager’s untrained eye) right on the corner here. This should be intresting to watch as Oregon’s much delayed summer passes to fall.