About the Author

Lotus Van Alstine (Alternatively Max) is a freshman at Lincoln High. They enjoy digital and graphic design as well a variety of other arts. They are fifteen years old, and have only lived in Oregon for a little over a year.

Jumptown and Critical Race Theory

       The rise of jazz in the U.S. was the first time African American popular culture had been 'elevated' and accepted into the interest of the white population. It was also the first time that the culture of a minority became the desire of a majority in the United States (this was not the last time it would happen). Though the popularity led to slight advancement in the social status of African American people, it also received serious backlash for that very reason. Many white jazz musicians denied that it was black culture by origin, and the size of the Klu Klux Klan soared to record heights in the 1920's.
        When the influx of African Americans came to work in the Portland ship yards in the 1940's, jazz and its popularity came with them. However, due to Portland's history of discrimination (e.g. Exclusion Laws, Lash Laws, and government heavily influenced by the KKK) it wasn't exactly the prime place a person of color might be looking to settle, understandably. Less than 7% of Portland's population was black, and it was still known as "The Most Racist City Outside of the South". Due to this, the jazz scene became one of the only safe places for the African American citizens of Portland during this time.

Artifact Directory

• The Golden West Hotel
• The Dude Ranch
• The Castle Jazz Band
• The Acme & Ed Slaughter
• McClendon's Rhythm Room

McClendon's Rhythm Room

      Bill McClendon was one of the strongest forces behind the development of Williams Avenue, and in 1949 he bought the Savoy (which had previously been the Acme). The reason, as McClendon said, that he bought the club was so that he could have a place to play piano. In the community, he was into a long list of things, most of which had to do with Jazz. McClendon was also an avid civil rights activist as well as a publisher. He wrote a jazz column for the People's Observer, a black news paper owned by McClendon and Charlie Garrett.
      Unlike the previous clubs that had been in the building, the Rhythm Room was mostly a listeners club. It did, however, have good food and a small dance floor. People who talked too loudly were often given a stare, sometimes by McClendon himself. A regular at the Rhythm Room was Warren Bracken, who had a magnetic personality, and was also a skilled pianist.

     

An Image of Bill McClendon

(Source: Jumptown - The Golden Age of Portland Jazz, Page 96)    

Warren Bracken, At the Piano in the Rhythm Room

(Source: Jumptown - The Golden Age of Portland Jazz, Page 96)

The Acme and Ed Slaughter on WIlliams Avenue

        When Dude Ranch, the previous establishment for all things entertainment, closed, it became The Acme club, which was also referred to as "The house that Bop built". It started off with doors open and acts like Carl Thomas and Leo "Dark Eyes" Amadee. It was also the place where musicians Bonny Addleman, Keith Hodgeson, Quen Anderson, Norma Carson, and Lee Rockey learned. Later on the six all went on to great musical careers.
        Below The Acme Club was Ed Slaughters pool hall, Top Q Billiards. It had one of the "Strongest jukeboxes in Portland", completely stocked with the best Jazz of the time. Edward Slaughter was known to stand by his jukebox and talk about the jazz that was playing, voicing his opinions of and facts about each song. He was the honorary Mayor of Williams Avenue, and a town renowned Jazz Historian. Many an aspiring jazz musician heard their first tune on that jukebox.
        In 1947, The Acme Club became The Savoy.

Bernice and Ed Slaughter

( Source: Jumptown - The Golden age of Portland Jazz, Page 53 )

The Castle Jazz Band

        The Castle Jazz Band was popular in the Portland Jazz Scene, and played a great number of venues. Though there isn't a great deal of information, their music may draw some insight to the time.

Kansas City Stomps, The Castle City Jazz Band, 1949

The Castle Jazz Band, Unknown Date, Unknown Location

The Castle Jazz Band, Unknown Date, Location assumed the Castle Restaurant


A Record Cover of The Castle Jazz Band's Vinyl Release 

Playlist of The Castle Jazz Band

The Dude Ranch

        Dude Ranch (pictured above) was Portland's premier Jazz venue after WWII, located right on the triangle block that divided N. Weidler Street from Broadway. It's said that Dude Ranch was like "New York's Cotton Club, The Apollo Theater, Las Vegas and the wild west all rolled into one" (Robert Dietsche, Jumptown). The locale also frequently featured shake dancers, ventriloquists, comics, jugglers, torch singers, and world famous tap dancers like Teddy Hale. At times, even the most famous faces of Jazz in the country were featured in the club, including Louis Armstrong and Charlie Barnett. Pictured below (from left to right) are Pat Patterson, Louis Armstrong, and Sherman Picket at Dude Ranch.

        Included below is a flyer advertising the venue and what it had to offer. It states "Every day is a Holiday. . . at The Dude Ranch", "Pleasure Spot of the West".

       Unfortunately, the club was closed down by the city in 1946 for being a "Public nuisance", and it's former home on North Broadway  is now the residence of Multi Plastics Co. (shown below)

The Golden West Hotel

        Pictured above is the Golden West Hotel in North West Portland, on the Corner of Everett and Broadway. This was the first Hotel in the city to accommodate African Americans, and became the social center point of the Black Community in Portland for 25 years (1906-1931). It was also the place where the first performance of Jazz in Portland may have been, when Freddie Sheppard's Original Creole Orchestra preformed there in 1914.
        The Hotel Closed in 1931 as a result of the Great depression, and is now a commercial use building owned by Central City Concern.

(this is the building today)

Jumptown: An Introduction to Portland Jazz

       The Portland Jazz scene did not arise out of thin air. It all started with the construction of the Bonneville dam in 1937, which produced loads of cheap power. This made the Portland area a prime area for shipyards and other defense industries, which in turn brought a huge influx of people from across the nation, including a large amount of Black workers from the south. They brought their cultural, and musical, influence with them.
       From there, in the years after World War Two especially, the popularity of Jazz in Portland sky rocketed, making the city an unrivaled jazz hot spot on the west coast. Some of the greatest names in jazz visited and played in Portland, and it quickly became a must-see for any jazz fanatic.

JUMP TOWN: THE GOLDEN AGE OF PORTLAND JAZZ