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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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Located in Coos Bay, Oregon, the Egyptian Theatre is home to the last remaining Wurlitzer pipe organ in Oregon which is still playing in its original location. This short film features a demonstration of the historic instrument, with interviews of Paul Quarino, an original and long-time Organ Grinder performer who is now a caretaker of…
As part of the documentary project, Don Feely demonstrated some of the rhythm unit percussions and sound effects (“traps”) that he purchased after the Organ Grinder’s Portland location closed and the organ was being parted out. The Organ Grinder was innovative in many ways, one such way being that co-founder Dennis Hedberg upgraded the traditional…
In 1970, a group of filmmakers captured the final days of the Oriental Theatre, a movie palace in Portland, Oregon. With dramatizations of the glory days of cinema, this documentary captures the wonder that this grand building inspired in patrons, as well as portraying its tragic demolition. The Oriental Theatre’s Wurlitzer pipe organ was preserved…
Let’s go celebrity spotting… The Organ Grinder was a unique and popular place that drew visitors from all over, including Hollywood celebrities. (And local celebrities, too!) Pictured above is comedian Rip Taylor (center) at Organ Grinder Denver, along with Organ Grinder co-founder Jerry Forchuk (left) and Al Fike, “The modern minstrel man”. After talking with…
Yesterday, we returned to the Architectural Heritage Center in Portland, Oregon. The AHC had just unearthed a set of slides from the architecture firm Martin, Soderstrom and Matteson (now Soderstrom Architects), originally co-founded by Will Martin, the architect who designed the Organ Grinder building. The slides feature the Organ Grinder building in 1973 around the…
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…
