Last year I commented on a nearly-vanished Oregon regional food product: the turkey (“The Rise and Fall of an Oregon Fowl,” November 23, 2010 posting). Sixty years ago, Oregon tom turkeys had cachet, and the term appeared on restaurant menus as a proudly local offering. I went to my neighborhood New Seasons Market yesterday to…
Read more
An unused (though slightly stained) canning label Wow! Canned, evaporated, granulated soup vegetables! There are said to be seven varieties of vegetables in each 8-ounce can, although they are not specified. And what’s the story of the Gold Nugget brand, and the Dayton Evaporating and Packing Company? Fortuitously, a splendidly clarifying article appeared on July…
Read more
Sunset Limited ad in Sunset, 1899 For several years we have contemplated a trip to the remote town of Fort Davis, Texas, enticed by the presence of friends who have convincingly extolled the natural and historical sights to be found there. In my historico-romantic mind’s eye, we would go there by train, stepping…
Read more
After a pleasant Sunday afternoon of historical excursioning a few years ago, two colleagues and I came to a dinner stop at Tad’s Chicken ‘n Dumplins [sic], scenically situated on a bank of the Sandy River near Troutdale. With a history going back to the 1920s, Tad’s was a living reminder of the Sunday-drive-and-a-chicken-dinner…
Read more
University of California Libraries Not until the early twentieth century did crab become a popular food along the West Coast. The particular crab that rose to fame was the Dungeness variety; the name comes from Dungeness, England, and has been applied to a bay, a spit, and a small town on the Olympic…
Read more
New Market Theater, Portland It was certainly one of the more unusual and intriguing projects that Oregon Rediviva LLC has undertaken. Various aspects of it were complicated, changeable, daunting, appealing, frustrating, exciting, and gratifying. I now know what “logistics” are, and how unlogical they can be; now, I can engage in logistics with the…
Read more
Dr. Dorothy Johansen (1904-1999), longtime professor of history and humanities at Reed College, in 1952 penned a pamphlet for the Standard Insurance Company of Portland, titled “Western Foods and Recipes 100 Years Ago.” It is described in this Sunset Magazine (November 1952) advertisement, but finding a copy involved a major search effort. It’s not listed…
Read more
After fire destroyed Sunnymead last fall, my sister Laural sent me copies of a number of family photographs that were taken there. Here is one of them, shot almost exactly a half century ago. I am standing in front of the living room fireplace in my first and only suit: graduation, 8th grade, Warrenton Elementary…
Read more
We’re back now from the 330-mile drive to Lava Beds Road near Diamond, Harney County, Oregon, for Mother’s Day with Terry’s folks. The waters are rising again in the Harney Basin, and water laps at the edges of the roads. One day we visited Terry’s sister Andrea about 30 miles away; she loaded us up…
Read more
The Pullman Company operated most of sleeping cars on American railroads from the 1870s until its final dissolution in 1968. Founder George M. Pullman also brought fine dining to the rails, and the Pullman Company contracted to operate food service at various times on various railroads. This menu appears to date from between 1888 and…
Read more