The last gas station
Mike Morelli famously noted that there were once 26 gas stations with Hawthorne addresses. The last one to go was Morelli’s Texaco.
Easter 1939
A week of Easter festivities sponsored by the Hawthorne Commercial Club kicked off April 3, 1939 with twice daily appearances of Big Bunny at the festival center at 38th and Hawthorne. Crystal Market and Grocery at 5012-18 Hawthorne won the first place in the window decoration competition and Valencia Grocery at 1413 Hawthorne was second. On Saturday, Mayor Carson crowned …
The 1902 bridge fire
The east end of the Madison Street Bridge and nearby buildings were destroyed by fire on June 22, 1902. It was the second wooden bridge in that location and was named for the street it joined on the west side of the river. The bridge was rebuilt but it was replaced in 1910 by a metal bridge which was called …
The ship that never went to war
The USS Rabaul was an escort carrier built in SE Portland for the Second World War. In this photo it is passing under the Hawthorne Bridge in 1946. It was delivered to the Navy after the war ended and was never commissioned. For 26 years it was listed as a “reserve” before it was sold for scrap. Its moment in …
Remembering Hawthorne Park
This fuzzy image from a 1902 real estate ad shows Hawthorne Park just after the land west of 9th Avenue has been prepared for development. In the lower left corner is the intersection of 12th and Hawthorne near Hawthorne Springs. The northern boundary of the park is Belmont and Salmon crosses the water on a bridge in the middle. Note …
Martina Gangle Curl: Artist, Communist
In the late 1980’s Martina, her husband Hank, and a few other Communist Party members operated the John Reed Bookstore on Hawthorne Boulevard. In the 1930’s she was employed by the Public Works of Art program where she did watercolors, block prints and a wood carving for Timberline lodge. Three photos of Martina are included in Portland’s Hawthorne Boulevard, two …
What do YOU know about Hawthorne?
Use the comments link above to share your stories of Hawthorne history.
Hawthorn or Hawthorne
There are dissenters to the widely held belief that Hawthorne Boulevard takes its name from Dr. J.C. Hawthorne operator of a hospital for mentally ill folks in the late 1800’s. Mrs. Eugene (Mary Elizabeth) Prettyman Williams takes a different view in an article in the June 24, 1961 edition of The Portland Reporter. She was the granddaughter of Dr. Perry …
Not a photo of Etienne Lucier
Etienne Lucier was the first white settler in what is now the City of Portland. He claimed land and built a cabin for his family in 1827 near the future location of Hawthorne Boulevard. An internet search for a photo of Etienne, led to the image at left on a winery website and in a newspaper article. Image searching led …
The Rose Parade on Hawthorne
The highlight of the Portland Rose Festival, held in early June each year, is a Grand Floral Parade with all the trimmings making a circuit through Downtown Portland. Of course, 2020 was different, but so was 1948. On Memorial Day that year, Vanport flooded. It was a community of 18,500 people that was hastily constructed on low lying ground to …