Neighborhood Stories & Community Connections
The Eliot Oral History Project was created in 2009 to record the stories of this North Portland neighborhood which was undergoing rapid transformation from development and gentrification.
Local school children and developmentally challenged adults interviewed community elders to learn the stories of their home and gain valuable perspective on place and history.
Joe Nunn
Joe Nunn talks about his family ties to education in Portland. His grandfather was one of the first black teachers in the city and Joe is a 32 year veteran teacher of Portland Public Schools.
Sonja Brooks
Sonja Brooks grew up in the lower side of the Eliot Neighborhood. She drank sodas at the neighborhood drug store as a teen and recalls when gas was 15 cents a gallon. Sonja is the mother of 5 holds a master's degree from Portland State.
Sylvia Montgomery
Sylvia Montgomery remembers when the renowned Jefferson Dancers were just starting out, it was her sophomore year at Jefferson High. Her father was a mechanic at Rocky Butte Garage and her family would often take in the view at Rocky Butte Point.
Greg Brown
Greg Brown is the son of Aaron Brown, Oregon's first African American Judge. Greg remembers visiting his father's office on Russel and Vancouver, a corner that was at the center of commerce in North Portland.
Richard Brown
Richard Brown worked tirelessly in the 1990's on the issues of livablity in the Eliot and Boise Neighborhoods. He started a weekly meeting called "Hope and Hardwork" to provide a venue for citizens to access public resources and to open the lines of communication between the neighborhood and city officials.
Walter Cole and Roxy Newheart
Walter Cole was born in the Eliot Neighborhood, at Emanuel Hospital, in 1930. He returned to Eliot in 1976 with his partner Roxy Newheart. The two established and have operated a club in downtown Portland for over 35 years, Darcelle XV Showplace.
Kent Ford and Percy Hampton
Kent Ford and Percy Hampton started the Portland chapter of the Black Panthers, organizing health clinics and breakfast programs in the Eliot Neighborhood. They share stories and lessons from the civil rights movement of the 70's.
Clifford Walker
Clifford Walker grew up in the Humbolt Neighborhood and has many ties to Eliot. He served in the United States Air Force and then returned to Portland and worked at a local record shop called The House of Sound. They promoted Rhythm & Blues, Gospel and Jazz in Portland.
Bishop William Marcus Pollard
Bishop William Pollard leads the congregation of Jubilee Tabernacle, on Killingsworth and Moore Street. He recalls a childhood filled with neighbor friends and picking berries to earn money for his school clothes. Pollard's family owned a card room and pool hall in the neighborhood.
Elena Wilson
Elena Wilson's family were urban homesteaders in the 1940's, with chickens, goats, and a big garden in the Eliot neighborhood. The youngest of 11 children, her favorite memory is watching the stars at night and listening to stories from her parents.
Lee Perlman and Mike Warwick
Lee Perlman and Mike Warwick have lived in the Eliot neighborhood since the late 70's and early 80's. They helped form the way the neighborhood looks today through thier involvement with the Eliot Neighborhood Association, which created the Eliot Neighborhood Plan in 1993.
Leslie Unthank
Leslie Unthank is the daughter of one of the first black doctors in Portland, Dr.DeNorval Unthank. Leslie reflects on her parents' activism and recalls the Eliot neighborhood, where her father's office was located.
Larry Morrell
Larry Morrell was raised in Portland during the Great Depression. He was the band director of Jefferson High School and played in numerous jazz bands around the city. He also volunteered at the Albina Art Center as a music teacher.
Robert Grinsell
Robert Grinsell lived very close to the Eliot Neighborhood and remembers making paper airplanes as a child. As an adult he joined the 182nd Airborne Division and lead a dare-devil career of jumping out of real airplanes.
Herman Colas
Hermann Colas came to Oregon in 1971 and his first job in Portland was at the Albina Art Center in the Eliot Neighborhood. He later started a construction company and worked to develop the Eliot Neighborhood, restoring run-down homes.
Marjorie Carr and Joanne Gargano
Marjorie Carr and Joanne Gargano remember the Eliot neighborhood during the 1940's and early 1950's and attended Catholic school together. Joanne grew up in a house that was later torn down and developed by the PDC and Emanuel Hospital.
O.B. Hill
O.B. Hill is a respected historian of Portland's black community. He studied history and black studies at Portland State University. He shares memories from his childhood, including his family's evacuation from Vanport City during the flood of 1948.
Malcom Slaughter
Malcom Slaughter tells stories about the Jazz scene of Portland and his father's many relationships with fellow business owners on Williams Avenue. Slaughter reminisses about some of the entertainers that used to visit Portland.
Angelos Lampus
Born in Portland, Angelos was the sun of Greek imagrants living in the eliot neighborhood. His family owned the Crystal Cafe on Williams Avenue and he later started a five and dime store that sold the first televisions in the neighborhood.
Ken Berry
Ken Berry has worked in 40 years Portland Public Schools as an administrator and music teacher. He started Portland's "Keep Alive the Dream" an annual performance tribute to Dr. Martin Luthar King.
The Maxey Family
Johnny Maxey was a member of the NAACP during its beginning and was a social activist in the Eliot Neighborhood. She is the mother of Galena Avidan and Donna Maxey who recall an idealic upbringing with a sense of obligation to their community.