eliot news A Publication of Eliot Neighborhood Association volume 15 number 1 winter 2006 Jumptown–The Golden Years of Portland Jazz, 1942-1957 A book review by Martha Gies unique and valuable social from the WWII arrival of thousands history, Jumptown is also of African Americans who came to clearly a labor of pure love. work in the Kaiser shipyards. Louis Armstrong, Cab Cal- Organized around 19 venues, Aloway, Duke Ellington, Art Farmer, Jumptown combines thumbnail bi- Errol Garner, Lionel Hampton, Stan ographies, legends grown up around Kenton, Meade Lux Lewis, Thelonius unforgettable performances, and Monk, Art Tatum, Jack Teagarden, other jazz lore, all told with a fan’s Fats Waller—they were all in Port- contagious ardor. The venues, each land during the 15-year “golden pe- a chapter, are presented chronologi- riod,” that author Bob Dietsche dates cally, to tell the story of how Port- land played and danced after dark. For jazz lovers who live in Eliot, Jumptown: The Golden Dietsche’s book is a double treat, Years of Portland Jazz, Left to Right: Local jazz greats Cleve Williams, James Benton, Marianne Mayfield, 1942-1957 since three of these places were in Mel Brown, around 2000. Robert Dietsche Eliot, and eight more within a couple Oregon State University Press, 2005 blocks of its present borders. of all this music was just south of progress, the clubs came down and $24.95 paper Chapter one is about the Dude Broadway where at the Frat Hall the coliseum and the freeway went Ranch, housed in one of the few (1471 NE Williams Court), for in- up. Saxophonist Dan Mason, who buildings still standing, at 240 North stance, there was a card room, pool used to play Sylvia’s (on the east Broadway, on the pie-shaped block hall, ladies lounge, ballroom and, side of North Vancouver, a couple that divides Broadway and Weidler. often, 24-hour a day music. Here, of blocks south of the old Cotton Sam Amato opened a club there in Jimmy Witherspoon played for a Club), also had a day job working 1944 and a year later sold it to two week in 1952. as a contractor, and it fell to him to Black business partners who made it When the Medley Hotel (for- bulldoze down that club to accom- a wild success for another year, only merly on Interstate and Albina) was modate the new freeway overpass. to have it closed down in 1946. “The knocked down, Dietsche writes, Jumptown is not only about the papers said it was all that big time “About the only item to escape the buildings we’ve lost. “About half gambling and an accidental shoot- wrecking ball was a guest book are gone,” Dietsche says of the jazz ing,” Dietsche writes. “Most people showing the names of hundreds musicians he writes about. think it was the mixed couples, the of jazz musicians, including the fl irting, those racy dances...” When Dietsche is well-known to jazz signatures of Dizzy Gillespie and fans for his Friday night jazz show it closed, the owners had to cancel his orchestra from the time they engagements for Billie Holiday and on OPB (1983-88) and for the used Book cover with Marianne Mayfield spent there in 1949.” These illustri- record store, Django Records, which and Sherman Thomas. Nat King Cole, among others. ous guests might have been playing he founded in 1973 and ran for 23 Chapter 19 gives a brief nod to the Golden Canopied Ballroom at Author appearance years before selling it in 1999. A the Cotton Club which Paul Knauls Jantzen Beach or McElroy’s Ballroom former high school English teacher Bob Dietsche will be discuss- ran in the sixties, after the golden downtown (where the Portland ing Jumptown at the Portland Art (Beaverton 1962-69, Oregon City years were gone—Dietsche calls it Building stands today), but they 1970-73), Dietsche spent 10 years Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium on an “encore.” were registered at the Golden West Saturday, February 4 at 2 p.m. as writing Jumptown. And in between—and presented (still standing at NW Everett and part of the Northwest Film Center’s Broadway) or at the Medley, where “I was inspired by one of the shows “Reel Music” festival. As part of roughly chronologically according Black travelers were allowed to stay I did on radio, where I pretended I the program, Samuel Adams will to when they fl ourished, are Black in a racially segregated city. was going to clubs. The fi rst night I screen his fi lm “When Stumptown and Tan clubs throughout the city, pretended I was in NY: I had all this was Jumptown.” Admission is $7. but especially up and down Williams Urban renewal wiped out most of Avenue. The greatest concentration these old buildings: in the name of JUMPTOWN, continues on page 6 New Portland neighborhood eliot neighborhood association web site links Eliot residents Membership Meetings t’s not affi liated with Eliot, but there is now a Portland neigh- The Eliot Neighborhood Association meets the second Monday borhood web site with an Eliot page. In addition to basic in- of every month at 7 p.m. in the Lorenzen Conference Center at formation,I the web site includes a forum for neighbors to post information about yard sales or whatever. Eventually the web site Emanuel Hospital, 2801 N. Gantenbein. will have copies of the Eliot News. General membership meetings are held in April and October. Please Join Us! www.portlandneighborhood.com/eliot.html ANNOUNCING EN_Winter06.indd 1 1/17/2006 1:51:16 PM eliot neighborhood association U Editor’s Note The Eliot Neighborhood Association (ENDA) is a nonprofit corporation whose members are the residents and business owners of the Eliot Neigh- borhood. Its purpose is to inform Eliot residents about issues affecting By Tony Green the neighborhood through meetings, newsletters and other activities. Members of the neighborhood association must be over 14 years old and live, own property, have a business, or represent a nonprofit within the ’ve been trying figure out how the developers of the Eliot Tower, a downtown neighborhood. The Eliot Neighborhood Association was founded in 1969. luxury condominium high-rise under construction, might try to invoke our It is recognized by the City of Portland, is a member of the Northeast scruffy little neighborhood across the river. Coalition of Neighborhoods, Inc., and has representatives on several other I groups and committees. Will the penthouse balconies have razor wire? Will a car dealership be the first-floor anchor tenant? enda board members Will Trailblazer fans dump their beer bottles in the hedges? Not very likely. Certainly not when a 1,600-square foot unit on the 5th floor Chair Gary Hampton, 503.282.5429, [email protected] sold for nearly $670,000. Not when the most desirable penthouse units went Co Vice Chairs Chris Bleiler and Jennifer Jako for $1.6 million. 503.284.6650, [email protected] The only thing the Eliot Tower shares with our neighborhood is a namesake: Treasurer Carol Kennedy, 503.331.1312, [email protected] Thomas Lamb Eliot, an influential Unitarian minister whose legacy includes Recorder Jason Mershon the Portland Art Association, the Oregon Humane Society, the Boys & Girls Aid 503.330.0922/503.331.2929, [email protected] Society, Reed College and the city’s school, library and parks systems. Newsletter Editor Tony Green, 503-249-8742, [email protected] I suspect the developers never gave our neighborhood a thought. They probably Eric Aronson, 503.282.4126, [email protected] hoped prospective buyers would like the historic name, which sounds elegant Howie Bierbaum, The Wonder Ballroom in a British sort of way. 503.284.8686, [email protected] Me, I like the fact that our neighborhood is spelled with just one L and one T. Ryan Bender, Tubman Middle School, Sun School Coordinator So the Eliot Neighborhood isn’t likely going to rub off on the Eliot Tower. But 503.916.5636, [email protected] I wonder: will the Eliot Tower will rub off on the Eliot Neighborhood? Pauline Bradford, 503.287.7138 When all 223 condos are sold, what will disappointed wannabe buyers do? Co Board Members Abby Christopher and Mike Faden, 503.282.2658, Will they say, “if I can’t live in the Eliot Tower, then I must live in Eliot!”? [email protected] or [email protected] Could this be—pardon the cliche—a tipping point for Eliot? Are the days Co Board Members Matt Gilley and Vickie Walker when car dealerships move into vacant buildings over? What about the building 503.233.0929, [email protected] or [email protected] going up on MLK where the Raven Creamery used to be? It’s supposed to have Co Board Members Todd Morella and Kirsten Jenkins a retail component. Are we going to get Quiznos and Blockbuster or something 503.515.6633, [email protected] independent? Laurie Simpson, 503.280.1005, [email protected] I’m feeling vaguely optimistic. Not because of the Eliot Tower and despite a Matt Svmbersky, Volunteers of America, Men’s Residential Center car dealership’s plans to move into the spot on MLK that used to house a furni- 503.335.8611, [email protected] ture-maker. Maybe it’s running into all my neighbors at Tiny’s, which is around Serena Stoudamire, Legacy Emanuel Hospital the corner from me. 503.413.4630, [email protected] And the fact that the owner of Tiny’s removed the ugly billboard after people Co Board Members Chris Yeargers and Marie D’Hulst complained about it.