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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Bijou, Adieu – We Hardly Knew You!
Back in September, we visited the Basement Bijou, otherwise known as the house that Fred Hermes, Sr. built in the 1950s in Racine WI. Inside this unassuming three-bedroom home on the shore of Lake Michigan, is a 18ft-deep basement, built to house a very rare 5-manual Wurlitzer pipe organ – Wurlitzer only built three organs…
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Portland Mercury: “Pipe Dreams and Pizza Crusts” Will Dive into the Wacky World of Organ Grinder Pizza
As part of their annual “Pizza Week” coverage, the Portland Mercury has posted an online article about the Organ Grinder and the documentary project. Excerpt: Amid the strip malls and used car lots along SE 82nd, one big building, now home to Super King Buffet, looks out of place: glass walls stretching tens of feet…
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Sam Battle on Fiddling with Organs (“Look Mum No Computer”)
Sam Battle is a popular YouTuber in the vintage tech and music spaces. He’s best known for his channel “Look Mum No Computer”, and related channels “This Museum is Not Obsolete” and “Look Mum No Engine”. Among Sam’s many projects, he created a series of videos where he restored a residential pipe organ that was…
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The Organ Grinder Goes to Camp
After a whirlwind trip filming in Wisconsin, I returned home and jumped right in to attending Doc Camp, an intensive workshop for documentary filmmakers to share their works-in-progress and meet with industry veterans, organized by Oregon Media Lab. It was a highly rewarding experience. (There is more about the latest Wisconsin trip in this post.)…
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Vintage Organ Grinder TV Commercial – Late 1980s – Portland Nostalgia
Here’s a newly-restored and upscaled vintage commercial from the famous Organ Grinder restaurant in Portland, Oregon. This ad was produced in the late 1980s, and features cameos of brother-and-sister Jay and Stephe, children of Organ Grinder co-founder Dennis Hedberg. The Organ Grinder Documentary Project has digitized and restored dozens of hours of vintage footage which…
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The Cleveland High School Theatre Pipe Organ Farewell Concert
Featuring Jonas Nordwall and Sawyer Best. The Cleveland High School Theatre Pipe Organ began in the late 1920s as a nine-rank Kimball from the Columbia Theatre in Longview, Washington. In the 1930s, it was installed in Portland’s Simon Benson High School, as a gift from the graduating class, and enlarged by Seattle’s Balcom & Vaughn…
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Buttons… So Many Buttons!
(And Switches and Knobs) Playing a theatre pipe organ inherently requires keeping track of a lot of things simultaneously – with many controls such as: And of course, powering up the blower and relay (the organ’s brain) that make everything possible. But for the organists who performed regularly in pizza parlors, that was just the…
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KPTV News: Historic theater organ at Cleveland High School seeks new home ahead of demolition
Portland, Oregon’s Fox affiliate, KPTV, has just aired a feature piece about the Kimball pipe organ at Cleveland high school, which is being removed due to a project to replace the school building. The new school, unfortunately, will not have room for the organ. Footage from the Organ Grinder documentary was provided to KPTV to…
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Don Feely performs “Powerhouse” at Organ Grinder Portland – Bonus Extra
In February of 1996, shortly before Organ Grinder Portland closed, fans turned out to visit the restaurant one last time. Fortunately, several brought their camcorders with them, and have provided their footage to the documentary project. In this video, patron Ted Welty recorded organist Don Feely’s rendition of “Powerhouse”, which you may recognize as the…
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The Call of the Capitan – John Ledwon and the Multiple Mighty Wurlitzers
John Ledwon is a music educator, theatre organ enthusiast, and experienced performer. We caught up with John (no easy feat, as he often commutes between Henderson, NV and Los Angeles) in November during our Southwest Road Trip. The interview took place at Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, CA. (Special thanks to the board…
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Midwest | Neat Stuff | Road Trips | Videos
Two Monumental Legacies – Jeff Baas, The Kenosha Theatre, and Ray Shepardson
An Organ Grinder Documentary Project Special Feature As part of our return to the Midwest in September, 2025, one of our stops was in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for a visit with Jeff Baas, owner of the Kenosha Theatre. Jeff and his brother purchased the derelict theatre in the 1980s, with plans to restore it and reopen…
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