T He L osT H isTory
one of a kind: Chuck’s St. Johns Cyclery
By Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
F
or more than a decade, starting back
in the early 1970s, North Portland
families in search of a good deal on
bikes went to Charles and Dollores Crews’
shop off Lombard near Roosevelt High
School.
Next door to the
Dairy Queen and across
the street from Fred
Meyer, Chuck’s St.
John Cyclery was
painted with a colorful
mural of a bicycling
crowd spinning past a
landscape of snowy
peaks and blue sky.
“Join the New Generation – Ride a
Bicycle,” the mural said.
“Our clientele was mixed – I mean we had
African American, Hispanic, White – the
whole gamut of people coming in to buy our
bicycles,” Dollores says.
“My dad was way before his time with
this bike shop,” said his son, Karanja
Crews, a teacher at Vernon Elementary
School.
dream Business
Chuck Crews always dreamed of owning
his own bike shop, Dollores said. The
opportunity came when he met a man who
already new the business and who was will-
ing to put in the time to show him the ropes.
“Chuck went to his house out in
Washington for about a month and he taught
him everything there was about bicycles –
how to fix them from scratch, do the
wheels, all types of stuff.
“So that was his dream, he just got in his
head he wanted to start getting financing
from the bank to open the shop.”
Their four children – Uhuru, Karanja,
Aaron and Angela – grew up in the bike
shop. The girls on their bikes
appeared in ads in the local
community newspaper, and
the boys raced motocross.
“We
got
into
this
motocross riding for the
kids, and our boys won tro-
phies,” she said. “We spon-
sored a local baseball team,
we sponsored motocross riding for the
kids—we were really into it.”
Bikes and Race Today
Does Dollores ever think back about the
bike shop?
“Oh yes, all the time,” she
says. “I’m just amazed at how
Portland has changed and all
the bike lanes.
“See, and I think these crazy
drivers not giving bikes the
respect and I think – hey, those
are bicycle riders and you
know I have full respect for
them cause I used to ride a bike.”
On the debate about why Portland’s bike
culture is so White, Dollores has a few
observations.
“In my experience African Americans
used to use the bike for recreation, where
other people, a lot of Caucasians use it for
being green and not driving, that type of
thing. We have more of a tendency to get
into our cars, and go to the store,” she says.
“Also cost factor is important – prices are
astronomical now. Back in the day we made
it more reasonable, that’s why we sold more
bicycles to families.”
Letting Go
But in Oregon, the bike business rises and
falls with the weather. Dollores says that
although she and Chuck were able to buy
their first building, the seasonal economics
made it hard to raise their growing family
on.
“Well because our family had expanded, it
was more difficult to get financing, and to
weather the months that it was really slow,”
she said.
So Chuck expanded into lawnmowers and
chainsaws – which are also seasonal. In the
Imagine if the shop was still
open today, it would be a
historical landmark
end he and Dollores sold the shop and
became painting and sandblasting contrac-
tors for the state and federal government.
Today, Dollores Jones talks fondly about
Chuck, whom she eventually divorced
Chuck Crews at his St Johns bike shop
before he passed away 11 years ago.
“He was adventurous, just like his sons,”
she says. “His sons are just like their dad.”
“He was a creative, innovative, and pas-
sionate man,” Karanja said. “Imagine if the
shop was still open today, it would be a his-
torical landmark. Portlanders love support-
ing businesses with longevity.”
February 23, 2011 Black History edition The Portland Skanner Page 3