Historic Hood River
Oak Street Looking West
Notes
This Sawyer postcard shows Oak Street from the very east end. I’m dating it 1930’s based on the license plates. This is the best view I’ve seen of Moore Electric, where Arline and Max Moore worked. We saw the interior in this image.
On the south side of the street we also have a bottling plant, the Mt. Hood Cafe, Safeway, Stage, Keir’s Drug, and the Paris Fair. On the north side I can make out Tebbs Coffee Shop, Texaco, the Mt. Hood Hotel, Dude’s Tobacco and Candy, Rexall Drugs, J.C. Penney.
This was the era of the projecting sign. Every business wanted to pull in traffic from the Columbia River Highway. The city eventually prohibited these signs. I read an article from about 1970 describing the removal of the last signs. After a grandfathering period expired the city brought in equipment to help building owners bring their buildings into compliance. I wonder where all these signs went?
Kenn
If anyone has it, I would like to know the address for the Oak Street Safeway, Hood Rivers first of four.
Bill Seaton
In the late 1940’s, this was my front yard. I lived in the building just to the east of the Texaco Station. At the time of this picture it had been the Yasui Building and it had a bank in the basement. However, due to World War II, the building became the Downing Building, as it was called when I lived there.
David
There were 2 Safeway stores in Hood River at the same time back in the early days. Of coarse they were pretty small stores.
Arthur
If memory serves me, there was the Oak Street Safeway, then Pietros, then HR News building, then West Cascade. Going back some more, the A.S. Blowers store became a Skaggs United store which merged with Safeway in 1926. That might be the predecessor to this Oak Street Safeway.
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=701
Longshot
Something left quite the streak up along the west bound lane. Maybe a vehicle really puking oil out of its draft tube. Wonder how much smoke was created at the same time?
Jill Stanford
I love seeing Hood River as my mother would have seen it as a teen.
charlott
The building that says bottling on it would become first of all Gambles and then Western Auto.
Maija Yasui
Texaco Station was Yasui as well
Ben
Neat to see there was a coffee shop in that building. I worked at Holsteins about 15 years ago in that building, and before that it was the Coffee Spot I think.
Dwaine (Spike) Goodwin
In the 1950’s the Texaco station was Kramer’s Texaco, Elmer Kramer (Jerry Kramer’s dad) The Eagles Lodge was in the basement of the Hood River Hotel. The entrance for the Lodge was on 1st Street.
Barbara Parsons
I remember Kier’s Drug, with its lovely "candy-box" pink and blue tile facade. To me that was the best-looking commercial building in town. Inside, just inside the front door and next to the wide front window for light on his delicate work, was a jeweler. His wife, who he called Rett, was almost always there with him, her carefully blued and upswept hair looking regal. Rumor had it that she went to the beauty parlor every day to have it "done". Her husband wore glasses with two pair of lenses–one near his eyes, to see the ordinary world, and one smaller set projecting out from the first pair. He used those to peer into the intricate workinga of clocks and watches. In his instrument tray he kept the tiniest glass bottle I’ve ever seen, filled with WHALE oil! Nothing like petroleum was fine enough for the delicaten workings of his customers’ watches.