Nadene Goldfoot
In the 1920s, Portland’s illicit alcohol scene thrived behind the scenes. Thanks to Oregon’s early statewide ban in 1916, bootleggers and speakeasies were already firmly established when national Prohibition hit. The city became a major hub for rum-running via the Pacific coast and Sauvie Island, supplying illegal liquor that local police and politicians secretly protected.
Big, opulent movie palaces and "big-time" neighborhood theaters in Portland were primarily built during the 1910s and 1920s. Early venues like the Majestic Theatre debuted in 1911, followed by the iconic 1,500-seat Hollywood Theatre in 1926 and the Broadway Theatre the same year, 1926. Broadway Theatre (1926): Located downtown, it was the largest movie theater in Portland when it originally opened.
Anti-Semitism in Portland evolved from the exclusionary social and political climates of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan into mid-century real estate redlining, and later into contemporary battles against neo-Nazi violence. Despite these challenges, Portland’s Jewish community persistently built strong economic and cultural institutions.
The 1920s: The Ku Klux Klan Era
- Political Dominance: In the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan established a strong presence in Oregon. Klan-endorsed candidates, such as Governor Walter M. Pierce, were elected in 1922. While the Klan in Oregon primarily targeted Catholics, their overarching platform of white Protestant nationalism was inherently anti-Semitic.
- Social and Economic Exclusion: Overt discrimination heavily impacted daily life. In 1919, the Portland Realty Board adopted a Code of Ethics prohibiting real estate agents and bankers from selling properties or providing loans to minorities in white neighborhoods. This effectively redlined Jewish immigrants and other marginalized groups out of developing eastside neighborhoods like Laurelhurst.
- Discrimination was found in Multnomah Athletic Club, hiring in businesses, telephone co. across the nation.
- Billy Meshke, young boxer of the Neighborhood House, attended Failing Grade School and Commerce High for 3 years-baseball star but had to quit to support his family of south Portland. He became a kosher butcher, then owned his own wholesale meats of Lincoln Market on Lincoln Street, then Silver Falls Meat Packing Co.
- AKA Morris Goldfoot,(7-1-1908)-7-23-1964) left his mother and siblings after he married to move to Ladds Addition in SE Portland. He went to school with Melvin Jerome Blanc, nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Voices", was a prolific American voice actor and comedian whose career spanned over 60 years.
- He was also born in 1908 and was also 5'8" like my dad. He's widely considered one of the most influential and greatest voice actors of all time. Blanc's career began in radio, where he was a regular on shows like The Jack Benny Show, Abbott and Costello, and Burns and Allen. He also hosted his own radio show in the 1940s. In this Jewish center, there was one black fellow my dad remembered. Also, across the street were 2 Italian stores, so it was a mixed neighborhood.
- So that's why south Portland became a Jewish neighborhood where synagogues could build by the many Jewish home there including my paternal grandparents. The Neighborhood house was also there. It was an immigrant paradise where they learned how to survive.
- Financially, Portland in the 1920s was a tale of two halves: an early postwar boom led to rapid suburban expansion and booming utility/appliance consumption, which subsequently stalled by 1926 as timber and wheat prices declined. This slowdown culminated in a 50% drop in residential construction by late 1929.
- The 1929 Wall Street crash severely damaged Portland’s economy, accelerating an ongoing local downturn. Well before October 1929, the city's vital timber and wheat markets had already begun to plummet. The subsequent crash triggered massive sawmill closures, high unemployment, and widespread "Hoovervilles," including a major one in Sullivan's Gulch.While Portlanders were not directly on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, the ripple effects of the 1929 financial collapse shattered the region's localized economy. The local impacts of the crash and the subsequent Great Depression were felt in several specific ways. Early Industry Decline: Construction activity in Portland had slowed sharply after 1925, and depressed lumber prices forced sawmills to close down even before Black Tuesday.
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