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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2008)
March 2008 The Southwest Portland Post. • 7 fEatuRES Bookstore’s building was originally the Fourth Presbyterian Church By Polina Olsen The Southwest Portland Post From Presbyterian to Gospel Mission, “Jesus Revival”, and New Age; the old church at 3314 S.W. First Ave. has seen changes through the years. Today home to the Great Northwest Bookstore, H.J. Hefty designed the building for the Fourth Presbyterian Church in 1890. It still looks like photos from that era. John Henley has managed Great Northwest Bookstore for 18 years. They moved to this location in 2003 after many years downtown. He’s learned the building’s history from people who stop by to chat. Nostalgic walks in this part of town are common. Henley points to steep wooden stairs leading to rooms where the Presbyteri- an minister and his wife once lived. “In 1914, they added a second sanctuary,” he says. The old sexton’s quarters are now the improvisational Brody Theater. Its entrance is around the corner on Southwest Gibbs Street. In the early 1900s, the neighbor- hood filled with Jewish and Italian immigrants. When they began leav- ing around the 1920s, the community changed again. “This area was impov- erished in the 1950s,” recalls Henley who was forbidden to visit when he was young. “My father would say that was a bad part of town -- don’t go there.” The Fourth Presbyterian Church stayed until about 1958. Then Union Gospel Mission bought the church and created Friendly Chapel. “One person who came in actually still had his Harbor Light Mission card which qualified him for a free meal and a place to stay on a cold night,” says Henley. “Fifty years later, he still had it. Times are better for him now than they were then.” “When I was a hippie teenager there was the psychedelic supermarket down on First Ave.,” Henley adds. “You bought screens for your hash pipes and black light posters.” Henley also remembers Portland’s first love-in and peace march was held in Lair Hill Park on Southwest Second Avenue and Woods Street. “It was close to Portland State where there was something of a radical contingent.” In 1969, Union Gospel Mission and the Northwest Baptist Church started a coffee house in the church basement. “We do not plan to create a hippie atmo- sphere,” they explained at city hearings. Still as reported in the Oregonian, Nov 1969, others objected to the idea. “[The city] has tried very desperately to clear this area of houses… this coffee house would tend to once again flood the area with people who are unable to pay rent, utilities and other obligations,” one at- torney wrote the council. The Portland Planning Commission recommended a permit that could be “revoked anytime the coffee house should be deemed a nuisance to the neighborhood.” They called the coffeehouse Prince of Peace; it featured Russian Tea, coffee, and baked goods. As crowds increased, it moved upstairs to a gym where a parachute hung from the ceiling. The coffee shop and psychedelic super- market continued alongside Orthodox synagogue Kesser Israel and the elderly who remained in the neighborhood. Charles Smith, a Portland Christian musician remembers performing at Prince of Peace. “Thousands of people came through that coffee shop, and it became a thriving church,” he says. “Bands would play and people would go out on the street sharing the gospel. It was called the Jesus People Revival at that time.” Smith became the pastor when his group bought the church which they also named Prince of Peace. “It was a multi-cultural congregation with different ethnic backgrounds,” Smith says. They set up ministry houses in the neighborhood to help young people “get on their feet and functional.” To- day, a smaller Prince of Peace Fellow- ship still meets in members’ homes. As the new-age era dawned in the mid-1980’s the old church changed its function again. Now the Church of Divine Man, it offered a two-year clairvoyant training program and medi- tation classes. “I did an appraisal for a woman who belonged to that church and she told me they did séances,” Henley says as he walks upstairs to the old choir loft. Bright children’s drawings cover one wall. “During the days of the new-age church, this was sort of a school for kids. We use it as a lunchroom and nap room, and we have some stock up here.” Like the old church, the bookstore business changes. “We used to special- ize in Oregon history and literature, and we still have a lot of that,” Henley says, adding specialization is difficult given today’s economics. The store is organized as a warehouse – “we’re not exactly browser friendly,” but with computerized inventory, staff can quickly locate requests. “We’re tran- sitioning from the old model bookstore to probably what the 21 st or 22 nd century bookstore will look like. In today’s mar- ket order fulfillment is how you make it or break it.” PoSt a to Z buSINESS CaRD DIRECtoRy 503-244-6933 PRECISION HOME REPAIR & DRYWALL JON A. GOSCH Phone: 503-643-3517 Pager: 503-441-8940 website: http://users.myexcel.com/precision1 Quality work at affordable rates Licensed • Bonded • Insured • CCB #77073 Quality dentistry in a caring, relaxed environment. 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