Cokes cost a nickel. Fremont Street was home to many gas stations. Farmland lined with fruit trees was located on NE 37th between NE Skidmore and Prescott streets. A popular barber shop thrived in the current Americana Frame shop.
Robert “Bob” Kern, 92, a lifelong Portland resident who recalls many long-gone businesses, is a “historical reference book” for Beaumont-Wilshire and surrounding neighborhoods. Born in the Kenton neighborhood, Bob and his family moved to NE 41st between Skidmore and Shaver in 1937 when he was five years old. He graduated from Beaumont K-8 School in 1945. His three children and two grandchildren later attended Beaumont. He remembers there were tennis courts and a basketball court adjacent to the school.
A 1950 graduate of Grant High School, Bob enlisted in the Navy to fight in the Korean War. Bob’s father owned Champion Oil Company, so Bob subsequently learned the oil burner repair trade early on. Diesel oil cost 12 cents a gallon when he delivered it to neighboring homes with his father.
Shopping Locally
Small grocery stores dotted NE 42 Avenue, including one next to what is now Wilshire Tavern. A groceteria, a self-service grocery store, inhabited the current Everett Street Market with a meat market next door.
“We shopped locally,” said Bob. “When I was about six years old, my mother would send me to the store. She’d give me a dime to buy a small loaf of bread. And a penny to buy myself a treat.” Bob would stand there debating what to buy. “I’d buy bubble gum because it would last all day.”
Riding Out Tough Times, Finding Fun
Bob was a kid during the Great Depression, and finances were tight. “People do not realize how hard it was to earn money back then,” Bob said. In the summertime, he and his brother would chase sawdust trucks and earned money by shoveling the sawdust into the basements of their neighbors who used it for heating fuel.
But having fun was inexpensive, and Bob had a lot of it. He played basketball, hide and go seek, and kick the can. He and his friends walked to the Hollywood Theater once a month if they could scrounge up enough funds. “We never dated because we never had any money.”
The Spare Room on NE 42nd Avenue, then an actual bowling alley, was where kids also played pool. “Memberships” cost 25 cents. On weekends, he watched small car races at the former Beaumont tennis courts.
Bob dabbled in amateur radios. Hank Wagner’s radio shop, where Little Griddle is today, was a favorite neighborhood hangout. “He would help us make crystal set radios,” said Bob, who still has that radio.
“We never dated because we never had any money.”
Life Goes On, Wishes for the Future
Today, Bob continues to live in the NE 41st Avenue home, where he has many fond memories of his late wife of 64 years, Barbara, and the life they shared in the Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood. The couple had three children, two of whom are still living. His grandsons sometimes play baseball at Beaumont Middle School.
Bob’s wish list for the neighborhood going forward? “More play space for kids. I’d love to see the tennis courts back at Beaumont. And more gathering areas for kids to play.”
Some of Bob’s Memories of the “Old” Neighborhood
- There were several gas stations on NE Fremont. To drum up business, they gave away free plates and drinking glasses.
- Beaumont Hardware was a radio/television shop.
- Bagel Land was a bakery.
- Sabiang Thai was Hamburger Patty’s.
- Americana Frame was a barber shop.
- Amalfi’s was a gas station. The owner, Howard, would fix Bob’s bike tires.
- Lumber yard on Fremont.
- Rose’s ice cream on Fremont.
- Papa Murphy’s was a large gas station.
Molly McRoberts is a 12-year resident of B-W. She and her spouse Helen and dog Sophia love and appreciate their wonderful neighbors and neighborhood.