Cool Documentary on the Oregon City Outdoor Elevator

[3MTA3]

When I was a kid I thought every city had one. I still have my lifetime pass somewhere given to me by the operator before it becane self service.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWxuGRtNgM0

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[Unka-Boo]

Ya know...Ive lived here my whole life, last 25 within 5 miles from it...and never been on it..

 

[3MTA3]

Ya know...Ive lived here my whole life, last 25 within 5 miles from it...and never been on it..

It's pretty cool. Haven't done it i years, but a lot of times when parling is tight downtown it's easier to part at the elevator and rife it down. I used to ride my bike there from the next level up then ride the elevator down. The Coin Corner hobby shop is the second store on the right and was into models and rockets those days. The hobby shop has been there over 60 years. The other way down is Singer hill, which is a bubblegum both ways on a bike and lots of traffic to boot, so the elevator was mighty handy.

Give it a try sometime. Hang a right on Main Street and about four or five blocks and you are at Adaptive Firing Solutions, There is also a cool stairway back at the elevator that will take you back up the cliff and has a small waterfall you can't see any other way.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Never hoid of it but I bet to a kid it'd be a blast.

 

[oremike]

If I remember right it's water powered.

 

[3MTA3]

If I remember right it's water powered.

The first elevator was. Something I didn't know nefore I watched the documentary.

 

[WAYNO]

I live 5-minutes from the elevator if I drive really slow. And I don't know if I've been on the elevator in the last 5 years. As a local, I believe the elevator to be just a novelty and it has outlived its usefulness.
Used to be, downtown Oregon City, the lawyer/medical/pharmacy, and court necessities community occupied real estate on Main Street as well as the neighborhood at the top of the elevator.
The pharmacies are gone. Most of the medical offices are gone. There are far fewer lawyers on the bluff. So seldom is there a need to jaunt up and down the elevator while you're running errands downtown. And even more, now that the court house (that we didn't vote for) will be moving way up the hill, there will be even less business for the elevator.

Back in 1962, we had no money to visit the Space Needle or World's Fair. But our 3rd grade field trip took us to see historic Oregon City, including the elevator. It was every bit as wonderful as we could only imagine the Space Needle must be.

More history... The TV show Route 66... filmed an episode in Oregon City and West Linn. In the opening scene, it showed Martin Milner and George Maharis driving their Corvette across what we now call the Old Oregon City Bridge, and passing the sign that said entering Oregon City, the elevator is in plain view. That episode is easily available on youtube and is fun to watch for anybody growing up in this area.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTb7xA_Av-Q


But in the future, not all the usefulness of the elevator will be lost. The entrance tunnel still gives a dry place to camp and sleep for the tweekers.






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[BoringCruffler]

Never been a tweaker, but in the mid '80s I spent a night there...

Late September, about 40°, pouring rain; '77 Corolla broke down about a half mile south of the falls.

Deputy sheriff helped push it off the highway, then drove me to the elevator as I couldn't afford a motel. Emma, the elevator operator at the time (a short woman with dyed blond hair: if you know her, say 'hi' for me) brought me a thermos of hot coffee.

At the time, the elevator shut down at 9pm, but apparently the deputy had run me, and said I was 'OK'. She showed me how to get out if needed, put out the lights, and I was warm and dry until 7 when I could call a friend for help.

Damn I wish I was that young again...

 

[Quirt Evans]

If I remember right it's water powered.

IIRC, there might still be one water powered elevator in Portland, but I can't remember where it is.

 

[3MTA3]

Never been a tweaker, but in the mid '80s I spent a night there...

Late September, about 40°, pouring rain; '77 Corolla broke down about a half mile south of the falls.

Deputy sheriff helped push it off the highway, then drove me to the elevator as I couldn't afford a motel. Emma, the elevator operator at the time (a short woman with dyed blond hair: if you know her, say 'hi' for me) brought me a thermos of hot coffee.

At the time, the elevator shut down at 9pm, but apparently the deputy had run me, and said I was 'OK'. She showed me how to get out if needed, put out the lights, and I was warm and dry until 7 when I could call a friend for help.

How I wish I was that young again...

Clackamas County has always been very cool that way. I worked with the Sheriff's wife (she was a "secret" shopper at Danielson's for shop lifting prevention. ) so got to meet him a few times and he was really cool. He even expedited my CPL when they when they first came out, so I had one of the first in Clackamas County.

 

[BoringCruffler]

Yeah, lived in the county-that-should-be-shamed (shall not be named?) then, but have found a (for now; my hopes are waning) better place in Crack-of-my-a$$ county for 21 years now.

Have taken each of the kids to the elevator when they were five or six. Def a difference in a 6yo's experience between the 'manned' and self-serve version.

Don't get me wrong; I wouldn't be in favour of increasing OC taxes to keep it manned (or WOmanned), but I'd bet a Silver Membership that if the city put it out there right, there would be plenty of volunteers.