When the Paramount Theatre in Portland, Oregon closed, before eventually becoming the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, many items were auctioned off, including furnishings, lighting fixtures, props, and the mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ that had originally been installed in the theatre for its grand opening on March 8, 1928.
A representative of the company that owned the Organ Grinder restaurant in Portland purchased the Wurlitzer, after a bidding war that ran the price up to $52,000 – that’s $293,000 in today’s dollars.
The Paramount’s Wurlitzer became the basis of a second Organ Grinder restaurant in Denver, Colorado.
This image was recently unearthed in the collection of Bob MacNeur (of Paramount Music Palace fame), in an album once maintained by Organ Grinder performer Paul Quarino. Original Photographer: Claude V. Neuffer
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