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Mascots at the Organ Grinder restaurant in Portland, Oregon, dressed in red-white-and-blue garb for the 1976 United States Bicentennial celebration.
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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…
Who knew that you couldn’t buy the exact font used on the Organ Grinder sign? There are a lot of “Old West” fonts out there with a “spurred” style on the letters – you see them a lot on taverns/saloons and country music albums alike. But, as it turns out, the lettering on the original…
Well, hello, little fella! Thanks to a tip from our Facebook group member, Jason Pittman (who also took the photo), we know that the original Organ Grinder sign’s monkey (which is likely about 8-10ft tall – not a little fella) still exists! We are not disclosing the exact location at this time, as we are…
Rich Greenland, that’s who! Rich lives near the Wurlitzer Building in North Tonawanda, New York. In 2023, Rich took extensive drone videos of the site, and posted excerpts of the footage to YouTube: Rich has graciously licensed his footage for use in the Organ Grinder documentary. A bit of history: Already an established company making…
Today, I met with a charming person who a lot of people might remember from the Organ Grinder’s heyday. This person was in possession of a trove of documents and memorabilia, including multiple scrapbooks kept by Paul Forchuk, one of the Organ Grinder’s co-founders. These scrapbooks were previously thought to be lost. (Obviously, the person…
Early in the planning stages for the first Organ Grinder, the founders used an architecture firm which specialized in restaurants and hotels. The design was very conventional – a rectangular building, with the entrance and kitchen at the front, and the organ at the back. No towering windows showing off the pipes to the street,…
