January 2014
HISTORY
The Southwest Portland Post • 3
Do you remember a store in Multnomah called The Sewing Basket?
OLD MULTNOMAH
By Don Snedecor
The Southwest Portland Post
The Post received an interesting
phone call, followed by email cor-
respondence last month from Susan
(Miller) Christensen of Quincy,
Calif. According to Christensen,
her mother, Marion Miller Bentz
had her sewing store in Multnomah
from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s.
“It was on the north side of Capi-
tol Highway in the main block and
more or less across from what is
now O’Connor ’s,” wrote Chris-
tensen.
“ I f y o u s t o o d i n f ro n t o f
O’Connor’s and looked across the
street, the storefront I’m talking
about would be the second one
from the corner of what I think is
36th Avenue.”
“For quite a few years there was a
gift shop there, the name of which I
don’t recall, but there’s something
else there now, and although I was
in Multnomah just last month for a
reunion with grade school friends, I
failed to note the name of it. “
“If you could help me with this,
I’d appreciate it. I’m writing a
remembrance of my experiences
working in my mom’s shop, which
was actually in three different loca-
tions during the approximately 12
years that she owned it.”
The Post contacted Tim Lyman
and Patti Waitman-Ingebretsen,
board members of the Multnomah
Historical Association.
According to Lyman, one loca-
tion of The Sewing Basket (circa
1961-1965) is now a vacant lot. It’s
between Neighborhood House and
Multnomah Antiques. The street
address at the time was 7776 SW
Capitol Hwy.
Christensen said after corre-
sponding with Lyman and Wait-
man-Ingebretsen that one location
of her mother’s sewing store (circa
1970s) is the building that currently
houses the Nectar Lounge frozen
yogurt shop, 7847 SW Capitol Hwy.
Over the past 25 years the stores
that The Post remembers at this loca-
tion include most recently Birdie’s
and before that Time & Again—both
were gift shops. Perhaps dear read-
ers you can help fill in the blanks?
“As for pictures, I’m amazed
at how few I have of Multnomah
or any of the locations where The
Sewing Basket was situated,” wrote
Christensen.
“I do have a couple [of photos] of
my mom dressed as a Native Ameri-
can while participating in the Chief
Multnomah Days’ parades, and I
believe I have one of my sister and I
taken in front of that third location.”
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Winter scene in Multnomah, circa 1952. Weatherly’s Market and Multnomah Drug Com-
pany (currently Thinker Toys). (Photo courtesy of Multnomah Historical Association)
Christensen said she would try to
find the box the photos were stored
in and “email them to you, along
with the article.”
While Waitman-Ingebretsen (who
grew up in Maplewood) didn’t
recognize her name, Christensen
said she went to Multnomah School
(now the Multnomah Arts Center)
from the third to eighth grades,
roughly from age 8 to 14.
Do you have memories, stories or
photos you would like to share of Old
Multnomah? Phone Don Snedecor
at 503-244-6933 or email don@mult-
nomahpost.com. You can also mail us
a card or letter at 4207 SE Woodstock
Blvd, Box #509, Portland, OR 97206.