Historic Hood River
Marv’s For Men
2-11-2026
Notes
We have a fun series coming up from a cache of B&W 35mm film I found in one of our file cabinets, right where I left it 15 years ago for “priority scanning.” There are no notes associated with these negatives, but my best guess is they are circa 1982. Hopefully the automobiles will help us narrow the dates. It appears the photographer (possibly Sally Donovan?) wandered around town documenting local businesses.
While this image of “Marv’s For Men” on Oak Street is easy to locate, many of the other images have me scratching my head. While our downtown buildings and streets don’t change very much, Hood River’s “suburbs” have changed quite a bit since the 1980s. But I’ll bet some of you old-timers will be able to fill in the gaps.
Roger Sheldrake
Let’s start with a 1972 Ford Torino?
Dale Nicol
Good call Roger!
Kurt Cyrus
This store was Hal’s Men’s Wear until Marv Harder took it over, sometime around the late ’60’s.
Pat A
Let’s add about a 1965 Chevy truck in the reflection.
Apparently it’s time for the Fireman’s Ball, and a Ski sale?
Pendleton shirts up front in the window as they should be.
I loved walking any downtown window shopping in my youth.
Rountree Rouse
Marv’s was still there but not for long when we moved here in 1987. I may have gotten a tie or something for our wedding that August from Marv’s. I think it then became Columbia Photo?
L. E.
When my husband first started teaching, men wore suits and ties. Marv’s supplied his wardrobe.
Melody Shellman
In the late 80s I worked at Columbia Photo, where Marv’s had been. There was a tiny vintage bathroom in the wall in the basement with a log of who had stopped by and the date. It read like a who’s who of mid-century downtown Hood River – who had imbibed a little too much and needed to sober up before heading home, that sort of thing.
Buck Parker
And before Marv’s for Men was Hal’s Men’s Wear (for Hal Shelton) it was Fosha’s Men’s Wear, owned by Sam Fosha.
Mike Kitts
Marv’s was in operation when we moved here in 1984 and maybe a bit after. I shopped there and in Paris Fair.