We’re working on an exciting documentary film project about the history of the Organ Grinder restaurants in Portland and Denver. Take a look at our Blog to see our progress, sign up to receive news and updates via email, or check out our Facebook Group which has a lively community. We want your stories – especially if you were a fan/patron or staff!
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Watch the Teaser Trailer!
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Welcome and Introduction
“Guess What’s Coming” – Those were the words on the new sign outside the first Organ Grinder restaurant in Portland as it was nearing completion in 1973. It’s a very appropriate phrase, as something new is coming – a documentary film project which seeks to tell the whole story behind the rise and fall of…
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Statement on Organ Stop Pizza
Organ Stop Pizza is the largest and most well-known of the current Pipe Organ and Pizza restaurants. It was long-planned to be featured as the climax of the documentary’s chapter on the remaining operations, featuring topics such as the owners’ views on operating a sustainable business in this format, the rigors of being a performer…
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Martin and the Mystery Men
While visiting the Phoenix area during our Southwest Road Trip in November, we interviewed Martin Meier, who has a fascinating story about how he came to acquire the Denver Organ Grinder instrument, and then sadly had to let it go. Martin and his partner Tim Stoddard owned a bed and breakfast, the Pikes Peak Paradise…
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In Ye Beginning
(Updated December 22nd with additional information, more photos, and clarifications/typo corrections.) During the 20th century, over 100 restaurants with theatre pipe organs were established, most of them pizza restaurants. But where was the very first pizza restaurant to have a pipe organ? How did this all get started? As part of our Southwest Road Trip,…
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Trains, Speedboats, and Automobiles
In the early years of the Organ Grinder, the restaurant was an undeniable success. This allowed two of the original founders, brothers Paul and Jerry Forchuk – already from an entrepreneurial family – to enjoy a lifestyle in keeping with a high-income earner in the 1970s & 80s. Fortunately for the staff at the Organ…
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A Bittersweet Melody Echoes Through the Theatre
Last week, the documentary’s Southwest Road Trip commenced. The first stop on that journey was a somewhat solemn affair, despite being a visit to what is normally a location created to be beautiful and joyful: A pilgrimage of sorts to the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay, Oregon, where organist Paul Quarino performed on, maintained, and…
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State of the Project Address!
This is a big update about everything that has happened with the Organ Grinder documentary over the past 22 months, plus what’s coming next, and how people can help me complete principal photography. Correction: In the video I refer to Howard Vollum as the “founder of Tektronix”. There were in fact four original co-founders of…
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Midwest | Neat Stuff | Project Updates | Road Trips | Videos
Capturing the Color of Destruction
As mentioned in our post about the Kenosha Theatre, the story of the Organ Grinder is also the story of the movie palace and the theatre pipe organ. We’ve previously been lucky to obtain and restore rare footage of the Oriental Theatre in Portland, Oregon. The Oriental’s Wurlitzer was the basis of the instrument in…
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Saving the Temples of Human Imagination
Jeff Baas is a man on a mission. A mission to save one particular movie palace, and a broader mission to preserve the history of all of them – and the legacy of one of their greatest proponents. You can’t tell the story of the Organ Grinder and all the other “pizza and pipe organ”…
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Midwest | Neat Stuff | Road Trips | Videos
The Carmex Pipe Organ is For the Birds!
Inside a warehouse in Franklin, Wisconsin, belonging to Carma Labs, Inc. (the makers of Carmex), is the world’s largest theatre pipe organ. As part of the Organ Grinder documentary project, and our return to the Midwest in September, we visited Carma Labs to see what weird and wonderful things people are doing with theatre pipe…
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Do Go In the Basement!
Last Wednesday, during our revisit to the Midwest, we spent the whole day with Fred Hermes, Jr. at the “Basement Bijou” – a private home in Racine, WI, which notably features a movie palace, complete with balcony, in the basement – it really is a sight to behold, and as you walk down the stars…
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New! Official Organ Grinder T-Shirts
Now Available for Preorder! When we surveyed the members of our Facebook Group as to their preference for the next crowdfunding perk, T-Shirts were the top choice! Through a special arrangement with the beloved restaurant’s owners, and hours of work by a volunteer graphic artist who accurately reconstituted the Organ Grinder logo from source materials,…
You can help support the project by purchasing from the Crowdfunding Shop.