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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1962)
ge HE EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD, Sunday, May 13, 1962 He Has for 33 Years , .W., 1 Stirring Buttermilk Beats Bug Chasing J fly BOB NEWCOMB ' Of The Relitr-Gur4 Emilo "Chris" Christenscn decided long ago that "I'd rather stir buttermilk than be a bug chaser." He's never regretted the decision. For the past 33 years Christenscn has been stirring buttermilk in his own one-man cream cry in downtown Eugene. He is co-owner with his wife, Alice, of Christensen's Dairy Store, at 149 E. Broadway. "We'r only a small creamery probably thj only one of our size in the state," Christen scn says. And he acknowledges that his busi ness is something of an anachronism in to day's business world where the trend is for large consolidations. "But we're just too dog gono bullhcaded to quit," he declares. Today at 63, Chrislensen is a stout, vigorous man with ruddy checks, an eager grin and a head capped with wavy white hair. He recalls he was just 12 years old when he decided to go into the creamery business. Christensen's father was a native of Norway and was a methodist minister at Stanwood, Wash., while Chrislensen was growing up. "There wasn't much money in ministering," Christenscn reflects today, "but we had five acres of land so I bought a cow, and then an other, and sold milk to a creamery. And I saw even then that my future was in manufacturing, not in milking cows." Christensen remembers that as a boy he was impressed by the creamery in Stanwood, and especially by the life of the bacteriologists "bug-chasers" who worked there. To him those specialists seemed to be leading "soft lives," an impression that later proved false, he says. But indirectly it started him on his long career in Eugene one which he describes today as "wonderful and rewarding." . In 1917, Christenscn moved with his parents to Portland, served a short time in the Navy during the final months of V'orld War I, and then entered Oregon Slate College at Corvallis (then known as Oregon Agricultural College), "They used to call it the 'Cow College,"' Christenscn recalls with a smile. "But I've never been insulted by it. Cows have treated mo prelty good for a long time." Chrislensen caught his first sight of Eugene while still a student at Corvallis. "I thought then, and I've always thought, Eugene was the prettiest town I've ever seen. 1 knew then I wanted to come back some day." He came back in January, 1922, just one month after graduating from OSC with a bachelor of science degree in bacteriology. For 18 months he worked in a dairy plant here, but then took a job as a chemist in the bacteri ology department of the Carnation Milk Co. in Portland, a position he held until 1927. It was during those years, he confides, "I decided bug-chasing was not for me." Bacteriology, Christenscn says, Is the basis for all creamery production, and his experience In the field has been helpful to him. "But I prefer stirring buttermilk," he says. In 1927 he returned again to Eugene, and has called it home ever since. The years leading up to the depression of 1929 were hard ones, Christensen recalls. "I soon found myself out of a job and I couldn't find work for love nor money." At a time when many businessmen were closing down, Christenscn then 30 invested all his savings ($900) in the creamery and cafe that he still operates today. . . "I always wanted a creamery of my own one where everything would bo under my own fingers," he says. Sinco that time, his Eugene creamery has become an integral part of his life. Dressed in white work clothes, rubber boots, and standing in the tiny creamery where he has labored almost constantly for more than three decades, Christensen can reach in only a few short strides all of his manufacturing equip ment. There arc a dozen or more empty 10 gallon milk cans lining a rack, a small ice cream freezer, a wooden vat where he makes cottage cheese and more milk cans in a tub of V in EMILE CHRISTENSEN . . Too Buflheadcd to Quit' water where he mixes bacteria and milk until it becomes buttermilk. "This is my whole life," he says. The cream cry, which occupies no more than half of the store area, is joined to the front portion of the building, containing a lunch counter and grill managed by Mrs. Christensen. All of the dairy products he makes butter milk, ice cream and cottage cheese arc sold only to customers, cither to cafe patrons or "over the counter." Eugene has gone through tome dramatic changes in the past 30 years, but Christensen's business has remained an island of the past, almost in the center of Eugene's fast-growing downtown center. Almost all of the store's equipment is the same as It was in 1929. Cafe patrons can still drink all the buttermilk they want for ten cents only a nickel more than was charged during depression days. Christenscn laments the bygone days when a man could launch himself into a private business with an investment of $900. Today, he says, "to start a similar business would cost a man from $80,000 to $75,000." Christenscn says he has no plans for retire ment. When the lease runs out on the cream ory store building in several years . . . mtybc then. Until then? "I'll keep right on stirring buttermilk." summer grooming from top to toe ( 7 " Y i' t Beneficial and beautifying as the sun moy be . . . ap proach it with respect! Elirabeth Arden arms you with matchless lotions, oils ond creams that keep you beau tiful under the sun ... a multi-purpose balm like Eight Hour Creom, 1.25, Sleek, for removing unwonted hair, 2.00 . . , Ardeno Skin Lotion and Cleansing Cream, ond Volvo Moisture Film for thirsting skin, 5.00, 10.00, 1 8.50. All prices plus tax. bon marcho russolls I bon marcho russcfils takes oo yu i mm mm- w Si p U I summer with the v mH' smartness of ' J safari mmuAi BMR believes in the adventure ond 1 t ' If f-t'' excitement of SAFARI BROWN . . , tf the once country-bred color that has v ' lSLLI'1 ' v fj jl acquired city sophistication. I 1 ''t ' ' $ 4 f i Great with your summer tan .. . I f j I ' i tJ'i p 'f takes to white ond gold as sparkling C 1 I accessories. Here, Safari Brown in f ifi 1 Mademoiselle Ricci's newest looking U B silk dress, exclusively ours in Eugene, 'v"' f Ml 79.95. With it the gold shoe with I ' ffl stacked heel by Life Stride, 14.99. I i 5 ft Join the hunt for SAFARI BROWN I 'Sfcjf ... you'll love it! (. . IB' AfW see our stunning SAFARI L U windows and interior f ' f-f'' V dispioy, f see SAFARI BROWN ' A , , , modeled in the big jf V V 2 f'i cage on our second , t floor tomorrow f J 1 1 y'L O L I f' f see SAFARI fashions jT 'V, f modeled in our fj J Q J V ' Timber Room during i J t fy ft '1 8 luncheon on Tuesday if I $j jf'j N Oil ond Thursday 1 i v j I reporter There's every Indica tion that the second an nual Northwest Charity Horse and Fashion Festival on June 8, 9 and 10 will be a com plete sell-out. The two sponsoring groups Eugene Hunt Club and the Eugene Welfare League report a large demand for tickets al ready. They're on sale at the Thrift and Gift Shop, 2839 Willamette St, or you may secure ticket application blanks in our store and other Eugene business houses. Specific infor mation concerning times and prices will be given if you telephone DI 3-4621. The three-day af fair will start on Fri day with a cocktail dance and fashion show in the Fair pa vilion before the Fri day evening horse show. We're doing the fashions, and are presenting a very special "first." It's a showing of American Boutique Collection which will be exclus ively ours in Oregon. Naturally, well be telling you more about this before the show. Saturday night's spec tacular performance on the lanbark will be fol lowed by a champagne supper and dance, with a Sunday afternoon horse show climaxing the ambitious project to benefit charity. And now for our newest love Safari Brown. It's a "brown" brown, an exciting look for summer, re placing the citified "little black" dress and much, much smarter. You can tell we've gone Safari-Brown-happy when you see our new store decor and you'll have all the thrills of a big game hunter as you follow our Safari Brown fashion trail through the Jungle. Brown as the freshest new color for summer makes good sense and is partly responsible for bringing back the chic ness of the while shoe. Bone white accessories with brown is an un beatable combination any place, any time. Equally smart Is the use of gold accessories even for street wear. Don't overdo it but give your brown costume Im pact with gold shoes fashioned with slacked leather heels or a smashing gold hand bag. Gold sandals or thongs are terrific for patio wear, too. Brown, youll find, will stimulate your imagination. For ex ample, Vogue Maga zine shows a flawless brown basic dress topped by a sensa tional pink hat. You'll like the possibilities of the orange and yellow tones, too, to paint your own fash ion picture. We're so enthusiastic about Safari brown that we've secured it in al most every type of gar ment sleek little sheatiirf, casual voiles and lawns (in a great rejuvenation ol these fabrics), floating chif fons for crfter-five, crisp blouses and shorls and even swim suitsl On the subject of fashion, ts there a woman who doesn't yearn for a wig? We think they're the greatest and we've found an inexpensive version for only SI 6.00. It takes very little practice to ad just them and you can easily coax them into almost any de Mf.hncry, second floor.
