Mannequin Factory in Portland, OR?

[Frank Petronio]

Near Old Port... I remember it from the early 1980s -- is it still around? Has anyone ever gotten inside? Wouldn't it be grand?

[Sheldon N]

Old Portland (I believe you are referring to the industrial area toward the north end of downtown) is now referred to as the Pearl District, and is full of very high end trendy condos and boutique shops and bars. Really cool place, but no mannequin factories that I'm aware of.

Not much from the 80's has made it through our real estate and development boom.

[Frank Petronio]

Old Port = Portland, Maine, duh

Yes, the Pearl District. I haven't spent time in Portland, OR since the early 80s... when I left because of 20% unemployment out of college. My how times have changed...

[walter23]

Maybe you could ask Scott Hadley over at this forum:
http://www.lightcafe.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5781

Too bad the original poster removed the scan of the magazine page. It contained these photos:

http://www.lightcafe.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4507

[Kirk Keyes]

I seem to remember that they stored mannequins in the top floor of the building that is on the west end of the Burnside Bridge. Used to have Willamette Week magazine as a tennet several/many years ago on the ground (Burnside) level.

I've seen shots from there, but that was in the 80s.

Frank - did you go to college here?

[Frank Petronio]

Yeah, that's the palce, Burnside... around a bunch of bars, go figure...

And yep, I went to U of Zero in Eugene; I also worked at Timberline Lodge. I love Oregon but haven't been back often enough.

[Sheldon N]

Yeah, that's the palce, Burnside... around a bunch of bars, go figure...

And yep, I went to U of Zero in Eugene; I also worked at Timberline Lodge. I love Oregon but haven't been back often enough.

What did you do at Timberline? I instructed snowboarding there from '97-01 - great place to work and ski/ride.

[Frank Petronio]

Alpine ski coach (very junior) and a, umm, maid, at the lodge during the spring and summers of 80 and 81. I was a lousy racer but an OK coach. I mostly lived in the back of my pick-up truck or sponged off more prosperous bums.

I used to walk the St. Barnards for RL Konstam. I also went out to that wonderful Rose Ball, having gotten suited up in the pick-up truck. Good memories...

[Sheldon N]

Small world... :)

I coached summer snowboarding myself. Also have fond memories of my ski instructor buddies and I suiting up in the "Bruno" St. Bernard Costume and riding the half pipe and jumps. We certainly got a few strange looks from the people on the slopes.

Here's a pic I dug out from the archives. Frontside air in the halfpipe by a co-worker, double overhead height.

[Frank Petronio]

ah but it's not LF ;-)

Large air tho!

Haha I am so old school that plywood snowboards had pull cords or Winterstick tails when I worked there.

[Ash]

Talking old-school Frank. I just sold my mini Dogtown lockerboard re-issue deck. I'm about to buy a 70's NOS rockered 27" deck instead :D

[Frank Petronio]

Dude, that's a baby deck. Here in the big country we use big boards.

I did a terrible cold thing a couple of years ago, I sold a vintage late 70s G&S Slalom board with Road Rider 4s and the original Trackers for $400 on eBay... and it had 25 years of hard use! So don't through stuff out too fast, middle-aged men (like me) will pay top dollar to recapture their youth.

Here's the cool new stuff for old farts like me who just want to cruise: http://www.insectskateboards.com/

Actually I'm dying to shoot the 4x5 handheld at the skatepark. While riding ;-)

[Kirk Keyes]

Frank - you should come back to Portland as the local skate punks build themselves a skate board park under the east end of the Burnside Bridge. (They appearantly did it with no involvement from the City other than the cops being happy that they had chased out the bums, drug dealers, and hookers that used to frequent the area under the bridge.)

You could shoot skaters on one side of the Willamette, and then walk across to the west side of the river and look for the mannequins.

[Doug Dolde]

Think you can get a mannequin to sleep with you Frank?

[Frank Petronio]

Outside of my wife, that's about the mental capacity that it takes, Doug.