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Volume XXV Number 9
Serving the community through cultural diversity
M arch i, 1995
(Hlje ^ o rtla n ù (©bserher
SECTION
B
zgY o m in u n i t u
kLL ¿i I e it b a r
Monday Ski Day
Scheduled
Yo u can ski Monday at Mt. Hood
Sk i Bowl and help the Portland Police
Bureau’s Sunshine Division. W ithasug-
gested donation o f tw o cans o f food, an
all day lift tickets w ill set for just $10,
and $8 discount. The ski resort w ill also
donate $5 from each lift ticket sold to the
division which provides temporary emer­
gency relief to needy Portland families.
Walk To Help
Child Abuse
Support is being sought for a walk
to help raise public awareness o f child
abuse and neglect in Portland. The
LaW alk 95 w ill be held A p rils at Water­
front Park, sponsored by the Portland
Legal
S e cre ta rie s
A s s o c ia tio n ,
N ightRiderO vernightCopv Service and
Legal Northwest Legal Staffing Spe­
cialist. For more informationcall Lauren
Harkins at 242-2514.
¿Se leb r o ti rvg D iv e r s it y
Workers at the Albina branch of Oregon Adult and Family Services celebrate Black History Month with a Cultural Awareness Day at the state office building on North
Vancouver. A banquet of ethnic foods was served, a special speaker addressed the group and a presentation of African art was made. (From left) are Ethel Wangerina,
Clara Peoples, Emlyn Harris, Erika Green, Roberta Robinson, Amy Davis, Helen Warren and Joan Gardon.
(Photo by Donn Thomas)
Beds Collected
For Needy
Meals-On-
Wheels
Celebrates
25th
Anniversary
The St. Vincent de Paul needs twin,
double and queen bed mattresses and
box springs, new and used. The charity
is providing about I 15 sets o f mattresses
every month, but need twice that many
to fill the requests from needy families.
Workers repair and rebuild mattresses,
so they do not need be clean or new to be
useable. C a ll 234-0594 to arrange for
pickup or take contributions to any St.
Vincent de Paul store.
Marienthal To
Play Sax
Special events were held at the
Multicultural Center on Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd. last week to
celebrate Loaves and Fishes 25th
anniversary of its Meals-on-Wheels
program. Tackling the challenges of
puzzle making at the center are
Christian Mosbrucker (from left)
James “Chawn" Padden and Sally
Lee. Volunteer drivers were
honored and a special lunch with
cake was served.
Eric Marienthal, an exciting saxo­
phonist in contemporary ja zz, performs
with V ail Johnson, bass player with the
Kenny G band, Wednesday, March 15 at
9 p.m. at Key Largo. Tickets are avail­
able at all Fastixx outlets or by phone at
2 2 4 -T IX X .
An Evening With
Maya Angelou
American author, poet and enter­
tain Maya Angelou, best known for her
strong portrayals o f African American
women, comes to C lark College, Mon­
day at 6 p.m., at the O ’Connell Sport
Center Gym nasium . Tickets for An
Evening With Maya Angelou are $25
City Club To Host
Clark Officials
Portland Com missioner Earl B lu ­
menauer, C lark County Commissioner
John Magnano and C -T R A N Executive
Director Les White w ill discuss last
month s defeat o f the Clackam as to Van­
couver light rail bond measure in Clark
County and plans for the future at F ri­
day’s regularly scheduled luncheon o f
the C ity Club at 12:15 p.m. at the Benson
Hotel.
Auction To Help
Kids
The 3rd annual southwest W ash­
ington “Credit Unions For K id s” auc­
tion benefiting Doernbecher Children's
Hospital w ill be held Saturday, March
11 at 6 p.m. at the Sheraton Portland
Airport Hotel. The event begins with
hors d ’oeuvres and a no-host bar. The
silent auction follows with something
for everyone’s budget Tickets are avai I-
able or donations can be made by calling
Roxanne Schade at (206) 992-4279 or
(503) 286-1315. extension 279
SUBMISSIONS: Community
Calendar information will he given
priority if dated two weeks
before the event date.
(Photo by Donn Thomas)
Williams Avenue’ Visit Concludes
by
P rofessor M ckinlev B i
rt
gathering them in hundreds o f special contain­
ers. Beginning about 3 a m., fishermen from all
ell, not really, it never will
over the Tri-county area would begin arriving
entirely. We resum e our
too purchase “the fattest, fish-loved w'orms in
sojourn in m em ory land
the state” (and she cooked me some o f the best
where, last week, I said that recapturing
blackberry pies ever made).
some time-aged facts was like trying
A block further down or so was the “ Red
to catch the wind in a net. We continue
Hut”, little more than a shack with a restau­
south, beginning in the middle of the
rant in front and a big time 24-hourcrap game
‘2100’ block.
in back. Portland for a time was a wide-open
Here on the west side o f the street was a
port city with merchant seamen and gamblers
little complex o f several signle-story build­
from all over coming to patronize A lb in a’s
ings, first, there was the office o f “ The Port­
gam bling houses where tens o f thousands o f
land Observer Newspaper ”, then owned by
dollars often changed hands in a single ses­
Mr. W illiam (B ill) M cClendon. O ccasional­
sion. O f course those were the days, too,
ly I wrote articles o f interest to the black
when cash-flush residents could walk the
community. Later I shared the office as the
streets night or day, drunk or sober, without
site for my first public accountant's office
fear o f robbery. A solicitous citizen would
(M y rent was $ I0 per month).
walk you home or call you a cab
I ’m not entirely sure about the tim ing'
The next comer, W illiam sandN Broad­
sequence o f events here but next door was
way was a hyperactive intersection At the
“ Aunt Ruth’s Restaurant" which featured
N.W . was the“ Broadw ill” Drug Store owned
delicious home-cooked meals, and some­
by an elderly German But the store is best
where, somehow at the rear o f these two
remembered for“ Lee”, the popular, gregarous
operations was Bob B ird 's unlicensed, unre­
Chinese pharmacist who was a key player in
strained Juke Joint and dance hall which
the neighborhood social scene. Across the
featured funky music, funky dancing, nubile
street, N .E.Com er. was a Catholic Social
late teenagers and lots o f very young soldiers
Center. And on the S.E . com er was the
down from Fort Lew is for the weekends A
Safeway store I described last week as being
lot o f older married folks here met this way.
competed right out o f business by the black
Next to this complex was the house o f a
“Neighborhood Grocery” ( we' knew what
“ Mrs Tuggle", an energetic and kindly black
“neighborhood" meant back in those days).
woman who supported her family with a most
The S.W . comer was the site o f the
unusual occupation The house was set back to
Madrona Record Shop (downstairs) operat­
accommodate a huge front yard where Mrs
ed by “ Mrs. Dorothy Garrett', a super popu­
Tuggle was seen to operate mostly at night. She
lar Music Mecca for the entire city because
had a nightly sequence o f first watering the
daily - arriving black dining car waiters and
ground to drive thousands ofearthworms to the
pullman porters from the east kept the store
surface Then, at about 2 am .she would begin
advised on new hits long before other shops
W
. *
in town, her brother also operated a thriving
African American Business, a coin-operated
device distribution company which supplied
juke boxes, cigarette machines and pin ball
machines to most o f the Northeast side we’
just don’t do some lucrative things anymore
- too much college education?
Upstairs in the same building was the
office o f Dr. DeNorval Unthank, physician
and tower o f strength to the community. So
many o f our parents and grandparents were
delivered by this epitome o f humanism: so
many in Vanportthat after the 1948 flood the
Red Cross used his medical records as a way
to account for black families and individuals
who may have been missing.
A block west, on the same side o f Broad­
way was the huge "Dude Ranch Night C lu b ”,
jointly owned by four partners, two black and
two white. A ffee-wheelingsupperclub inthe
truest sense, the classy joint drew its patron­
age from the tri-county area, featuring black
waitresses dressed in western-style outfits
(m ini-m inis), a casino section with crap ta­
ble. roulette wheel and slots. I believe a large
warehouse occupied this comer at present
Sorry to have left out so much but time
and space do not permit more o f the journey
I have not forgotten the "Beacon Cab Co.",
black-owned and brash, or Chester’s Auto
Paint Shop, one o f the larges, in Portland and
catering mostly to car dealers; or the Medley
Hotel, an African American hotel on N Inter­
state that also featured a casino operation
downstairs. The restaurant facility was oper­
ated in the 1970’s by a black couple from
eastern Oregon who had owned and run the
thousand acre “ Bar X Ranch" in the Wallowa
foothills
• __...
•
_______ -
Boise-Eliot
Elementary
Multicultural
Fair
ark your calendar to attend
th e M u ltic u ltu ra l F air
Friday, March 3rd, 6:00-8:00
p.m., 620 N, Fremont,
Learn about the multicultural curricu­
lum and visit 29 cultures without leaving
the walls o f our school! This annual curric­
ulum event is also a fund raiser for the
Reading Is Fundamental (R IF ) Program
and B oise-Eliot’s enrichment programs
which benefit all our students. Food and
globe balloons w ill be on sale in the gym.
Books w ill be on sale in the library Child-
made souvenirs from various countries
w ill be available for you to purchase in
many o f the classroom. Select a souvenir
and take pictures o f the many cultural
displays in the classrooms.
M
Poetry, Music
To Fill Hall
“A Night o f Bohemian Wonder­
fu l, ” a evening o f art, poetry reading
and music by Shannon Huston takes
place Friday fro m 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
at the PSU King Albert Hall, 1890
S. W. 11 th. The event is fre e and part
o f a series o f celebrations in honor
o f Women's History Month.