Historic Hood River
Gorgemobile Contest, 1995
Notes
The Gorgemobile Contest of July 4th weekend 1995 pitted the likes of “Lester Polyester” against “The Flying Bonzo Brothers” to see who had the sweetest setup for getting all their gear to the beach.
1995 doesn’t seem like very long ago, but so much has changed. Here’s what this spot looked like this winter. Downtown urban renewal has gotten rid of the power lines and redone the streets and sidewalks. ODOT completed the construction we see here with new bridges across I-84 and the railroad tracks. Most of the storefronts are different: Van Meter’s Furniture is now The Pines, the realtor at the corner of Oak is now G. Willikers, Franz Hardware has been replaced with Shortt Supply, Hot Sails Maui is now Sages Cafe, and the River City Saloon is now the Waucoma Club. The big warehouse down at the waterfront is long gone. Kiteboarders have now joined the wind seeking crowd, and many of these Gorgemobiles have been replaced by hybrids.
I took this photo with a 35mm camera on Kodachrome film, two more relics of a bygone era.
Have a great July 4th weekend. Remember to take lots of pictures, and carefully note all the particulars so the Historic Hood River curator decades hence will have plenty of material to work with.
NancyR
I remember those days! Guess I’m a bit of a historical relic myself 🙂
Casey
Really interesting to see the differences in so recent a picture. This is the Hood River I remember visiting as a kid.
l.e.
Somehow, I missed the disappearance of the power poles in the last 16 years.
Bill Pattison
Could you recheck the date of this photo? It was prior to Urban Renewal Project No. 1
Arthur
Bill, it’s definitely July 1995. The film was processed in July 1995, and the roll includes a house I bought in 1994, and most of the license tags expire in 1996.