Historic Hood River
Yasui Brothers Store
Notes
This plate is from a 1916 publication of The Oregon News, a Japanese language newspaper from Portland. It includes many fine plates, such as this interior view of the Yasui Brothers Store. Several years ago Homer Yasui and I tried to track the store location through the years. In 1916 they operated two stores: the main location on Oak, and a gift shop on Third Street behind the Butler Bank Building. This article from The Hood River Glacier announces the opening of their holiday pop-up store for the 1916 Christmas season, and this article describes their merchandise in greater detail. It’s a good bet these images show the Third Street store.
The image is captioned, “店支同及會商弟见井安” which the Apple translator says means, “The store branch and the business brother meet Jing’an”. Fortunately the museum has a 1910 translation which says this means, “Yasui Brothers’ Store.”
Roger H Sheldrake
Great picture today! However the link to the Glacier is even better for us rail fans. Be sure to have a look Arlen.
And they misspelled Penticton
Arthur Babitz
Good catch Roger. For me, this solved the mystery of when the turntable on the MHRR went out of service: December 1916 rain storm. Also learned that its use was for the jittney, not the regular locomotives.
Roger H Sheldrake
A turntable large enough for the regular engines would have been substantial and needed power. A small one for the jittney was probably pushed around by hand or several hands. Wonder how it fit into the rail scheme and where?
Arthur Babitz
The turntable was up against Bluff Road, just north of the MHRR bridge across the Hood River. It appears on the 1935 Bonneville project survey maps.
Alan B Winston
Surprisingly large locomotives could be turned by hand, if balanced properly – google “Armstrong Turntable” for explanation and images. The structure of the Hood River turntable may have limited it to lighter loads, though.
Emily
‘The image is captioned, “店支同及會商弟见井安” which the Apple translator says means, “The store branch and the business brother meet Jing’an”.’
This is a bit embarrassing, not? Historians should be aware that Japanese, when shown horizontally, was written from right to left until the late 1940s.
So it reads: 安井兄弟商會及同支店 (Yasui Kyōdai Shōkai oyobi dou shiten) = Yasui Brothers & Co. and its branch(es).
Arthur Babitz
Thanks Emily, that’s very helpful!