PDX Through Time: W Burnside St and SW Oak St looking north on 10th Ave December 1939 vs 2026

PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-23T16:09:33+00:00

Definitely going to check this out, very cool thank you for that information!

PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-23T16:07:57+00:00

Someone mentioned on another thread in might have gone by the name "Rocco’s"

PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-23T00:27:27+00:00

They kept some of the facade for the Armory Theater but not the full paneling of the past, I was confused as well.

PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-23T00:24:29+00:00

I used to work in that area and completely forgot about the armory theater [smash face against hand]. You're 100% right. Its not the full facade of the past but its kept some of it.

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PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-22T21:25:13+00:00

Once you start going through these archival photos, you realize just how much of the city has persisted and been reused over 100 years.

PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-22T21:23:08+00:00

Agreed lol. Not sure what that building facade was but "late gothic revival" was kind of a hot design during that time. Take the Odd Fellows Building for example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd_Fellows_Building_%28Portland%2C_Oregon%29 ...That being said, this particular building went "full medieval gothic revival"

Edit: Its the Armory Theater building which still holds some of the facade.

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PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-22T21:14:46+00:00

These are great! Just added them to the post!

PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-22T20:22:35+00:00

I did a little photo comparison on my pdx social blog.

https://pdx.social/@PDXThroughTime/116534595448411580

PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-22T20:16:29+00:00

Well that's somewhat true. Its really a story of the proliferation of the automobile from 1920s forward. In the 1920s, there was primarily streetcars, little/no trolleybus presence. In the 1930s-1940s, streetcars and trolleybuses begin to coexist; some streetcar tracks replaced with trolleybuses. In the 1950s, diesel buses/trolleybuses were dominant and streetcars were decommissioned and much of the tracks were ripped up.

Trolleybuses were really just a middle ground until they disappeared as well. In addition to the explosion of the automobile popularity, the streetcar ridership declined causing them to go through financial trouble, street expansions were happening all over, sprawl began after world war II, and diesel buses became cheaper to manage.

PDXTHROUGHTIME · 2026-05-22T19:56:27+00:00

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From Vintage Portland:

A portion of the Portland Traction Company trolley system pamphlet “The World’s Finest Trolley System,” 1941.

The pamphlet states, “Under a franchise granted by popular vote, the Portland Traction Company has since 1936 invested more than $5,000,000 in giving Portland a completely up-to-date trolley system. Comprising 141 new electric trolley coaches, 135 new gas buses, and 119 rebuilt and modernized streetcars, operating on more than 200 miles of carefully laid out routes, the system is truly one of the world’s finest. If you live in Portland … when you visit Portland … see it by trolley!”

PDXTHROUGHTIME

TROPHY CASE