Leslie Unthank

Leslie Unthank Transcript
Interview by
Time: 38:20
Also Present: Arlie Sommer

Leslie Unthank: [00:00:00] On Williams and Broadway. So we spent a lot of time down there, which is kind of right where the freeway is now.

Arlie Sommer: [00:00:07] I asked you to start over. I'm so sorry.

Leslie Unthank: [00:00:09] Okay. Did it.

Arlie Sommer: [00:00:10] Not? Yeah.

Leslie Unthank: [00:00:10] That was a good. That was a good rehearsal.

Arlie Sommer: [00:00:12] Catch it at first. Okay. Now go ahead.

Faith Lao: [00:00:16] Okay. For the record, my name is Faith Lao. I'm 14 years old. I'm at Boise Eliot School in the Eliot neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Leslie for the work. For the record, would you please state your name, age, the year you were born and where?

Leslie Unthank: [00:00:29] Okay. I am Leslie Unthank. I am 67 years old. I was born in Portland, Oregon, June 19th, 1942. Actually, I was born at Emanuel Hospital down the street. Me too.

Faith Lao: [00:00:41] Um, when did you move to the neighborhood and why did you come here?

Leslie Unthank: [00:00:45] Okay, well, I never actually lived in the neighborhood, but my father's office. He was a doctor in Portland. His office was down on Williams and Broadway, which is right now right in the middle of where the freeway goes. And so we spent a lot of time down in the neighborhood, and, uh, I worked in the neighborhood over the years.

Faith Lao: [00:01:08] Um, what was it like? Like, is it the same back then or.

Leslie Unthank: [00:01:12] Oh, no, it's a lot. There's a lot of changes. Um, the there were a lot of houses where the Coliseum is and, um, there was houses and, and a couple churches. Um, let's see. Uh. Yeah, just a lot of houses down in there. And, um, where Emanuel Hospital is, uh, some of the. That's grown quite a bit. So there were houses down there too. And, uh, let's see, I worked at. One of the places I worked at was Dishman Center, which used to be not street, but even before that it was the old Eliot School. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow.

Faith Lao: [00:01:51] I never knew that. Yeah.

Leslie Unthank: [00:01:53] So the gymnasium is still there from the old Eliot school.

Faith Lao: [00:01:57] That's cool. Um, tell me about your sister.

Leslie Unthank: [00:02:01] Okay. Well, my sister, um, she was two years older than me. Uh, we lost her last year. She. She died, um, almost a year ago in May. And, um, she was a teacher most of her life. Of, um. Uh, she taught. She started out as a teacher's aide at Head Start, and she went back to school while she was working and raising her kids and eventually became a principal. And she had at Rice School and Humboldt School and, um, Wilcox School. And then her last two schools were, um, Madison High School and uh, Benson High School. She was a vice principal at the high school.

Faith Lao: [00:02:42] Wow. I'm sorry about your loss. Um, uh, what did you guys play together when you guys were younger?

Leslie Unthank: [00:02:49] Oh, we played with our dolls a lot, and, um, uh, just different things. We like to travel. We were lucky to be able to do some trips across country and visit grandparents and stuff in Omaha and Kansas City. Oh, yeah. But, uh, we did a lot of play, um, with their dolls. And of course, our brother and, uh, our brothers would always bug us about doing other things and stuff.

Faith Lao: [00:03:15] So, um, tell me about your parents.

Leslie Unthank: [00:03:18] Okay. Well, my parents, um, were, um. Well, my mom was a nurse. She was born in a place called Hanna, Wyoming, way back in 1906. And she was she and her sister and her mom and stepdad. They were they lived in Canada for a long time because her step family, her, um, her father and uncles, they had a a road building. And they built roads up in, um, Canada and, uh, Montana and Nebraska and stuff. I did bring some pictures too.

Faith Lao: [00:03:50] Oh you did? Yeah. That's so cool. Um.

Arlie Sommer: [00:03:57] We can look at pictures. Maybe after the. Yeah.

Leslie Unthank: [00:03:59] Okay.

Faith Lao: [00:03:59] Okay. Um, can you describe.

Leslie Unthank: [00:04:02] Oh, about my dad? Oh, I had a dad, too. I forgot, uh, when my dad, um, he was a doctor here in Portland. He was. We haven't quite figured out if he was the first black doctor or the second black doctor, but, uh, he was here. He came in the 1930, and, um, was here. Well, until he died. And, um, he was he had his private practice between 1930 and 1970 and, um, 1970. He retired, sort of. I went to work for the State Department. And drove back and forth to Salem, but he was born in 1899, so he'd be really old now. Uh huh. And, um, back in Pennsylvania, and when he was a kid, his mom died when he was like eight years old. So he, um, the story he told us is they put him on the train and with a red rose in his lapel, and he went down on the train by himself to Kansas City to live with an aunt and uncle down there, because his father couldn't take care of all the kids in the family.

Faith Lao: [00:05:04] How many brothers and sisters do you have?

Leslie Unthank: [00:05:06] Um, do I have? I had, um, there was five of us altogether, and there's, um. Right now I have two brothers left.

Faith Lao: [00:05:16] How old are they now?

Leslie Unthank: [00:05:17] They're old. One brother is, uh. Let's see, my oldest brother that I have now is, uh. He's 70. I think he's 70. Wait a minute. There's 71 and 73, I think. Wow. Okay. Yeah. My oldest brother was, like, 12 years older than me. Uh, d uh, he would be. Let's see. What year is this? He would be. And almost 80. So. Yeah.

Faith Lao: [00:05:50] Um, can you describe the home that you grew up in?

Leslie Unthank: [00:05:53] Oh, yeah. We had, um, we lived in two different houses. The first one was in Southeast Portland, and, um, that was kind of a neat house. Um. No. Let's see, it had, um, kind of that fake brick on the outside had some nice big bathrooms. Then when I was nine, we moved to, um, over on Tillamook Street, 19th and Tillamook in the Irvington neighborhood. And that was a big house, really big. It's kind of like seemed like a mansion, but it had a big living room with leather wallpaper. And the hallway was the hallway was about as big as this room that came into and big stairway going up the steps and a big stained glass window. And I got the bedroom that had the stained glass window in it, but it was a nice big house. Wow.

Faith Lao: [00:06:43] Um. What was your father's office like?

Leslie Unthank: [00:06:48] Oh, let's see one of his offices. The one that was down on Broadway. Um, it was upstairs above the Madrona record shop, and you had to go up the stairway. And at the top of the steps, my mom had, uh, put, uh, had a fish tank. So at the top of the stairway was a fish tank. And then, um, the big waiting room, because there were always people there, always waiting. Sometimes they were up and down the steps, waiting for their turn to go see the doctor. Wow. But, uh, let's see, there was, um, uh, the reception area. And then there was the office where the ladies worked. And after school, we would go and help file and do the envelope, you know, stuff envelopes with the bills and stuff, and then kind of just walk through the building, and you have my dad's office. And then he had his examining rooms for the doctors for for the patients.

Faith Lao: [00:07:37] Did he work there by himself or.

Leslie Unthank: [00:07:38] Um. That office. Yeah. He had by himself. Oh, wow. Yeah. An earlier office he shared with and a couple other doctors. And, uh, his first office that I remember downtown was where the big bank building is now, like in the driveway of the bank building. Um, he worked with a couple other doctors there, and, um, all kind of started some other, other, other, other agencies got to have a little office space to like the Urban League and the NAACP kind of things. Oh. Um.

Faith Lao: [00:08:14] How did you feel when you first saw the Unthank Park?

Leslie Unthank: [00:08:17] Oh, I thought it was neat. Yeah, it doesn't look like it did when they first opened it. When it first opened the park, it had some really unique kind of, um, playground equipment, uh, which they had to take out, uh, because some of the, the playground equipment broke. And actually there was a tragedy at that at that point when the girl was killed. Oh, and but, um, now it has say, program in it, which is really neat because it's got something for the families and the kids to do in the neighborhood.

Faith Lao: [00:08:48] Did you ever play there or.

Leslie Unthank: [00:08:51] Um, no. But, um, we had our family reunion, uh, there one year in 2002, and, uh, so we got the family. We had about 25 people from the family, came from the East Coast, and we got a special tour of the building and the park, and it was kind of a special day because they were they were serving, they were having a party. So there was hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. Wow.

Faith Lao: [00:09:18] Um, what did your parents do for entertainment?

Leslie Unthank: [00:09:21] Oh, let me see. Uh, my mom liked to have parties and and, uh, she she and she, um, would like, you know, encourage people, you know, go ahead and stay. You know, if they. I guess it was kind of like if somebody had a drink or something, they'd just as soon them stay. And she loved having like, early morning breakfast for them. Yeah. So and other things if they'd go out and um sometimes my dad would, they would go like when my dad went to a medical meeting or something like that, and they'd go for that and that she liked to drive.

Arlie Sommer: [00:09:56] Could you tell us more about the parties?

Leslie Unthank: [00:09:58] Well, they were well, they were well, um, some of the parties she. Well, we did um. She'd like to do one. Um. Because when we had the big house over on 19th, she had, um, kind of a pre, uh, black history. Black History Month kind of celebration or week anyway, where she and several other ladies organized, uh, entertainment and pictures and, and stuff through the house. And then, uh, when I was in high school, we did, um, our girls league little club at the school. Uh, we had a party there, and we made little Chrysanthemum flowers and stuff. It was kind of neat. Well.

Faith Lao: [00:10:40] That's cool. Um, who were your neighbors?

Leslie Unthank: [00:10:44] Oh, gosh. Let me see. Nobody famous that I can think of. Um, over in the Irvington neighborhood, we had, um. Oh, the lady across the street, her kids. Jamie, uh. The Johnsons. Um. Uh, I can't remember if she was a French teacher. She. She spoke French, and, you know, kind of encouraged that with her kids. Um. 001. One special lady was my piano teacher. She lived across the street from us, Mrs. Todd. And, uh, she would sometimes she had, like, four pianos in her house. So we would go and play and do the piano. And she said, I haven't heard the piano playing. I haven't heard the sound of that piano coming across the street. But, uh, we would practice and she'd have some recitals and then. And, uh, she was one of the first people that I knew that, um, was handicapped and she had, uh, multiple sclerosis. And so she only had the use of part of the use of her right side. I think so, but she was a very strict music teacher, and we learned a lot from her.

Faith Lao: [00:11:49] Do you have any stories about her or anybody else?

Leslie Unthank: [00:11:54] Oh. Let's see. Well, I wrote a story about her for my genealogy class, just kind of telling a little bit about her. And, um, so I've been kind of combining stories and putting some stories together with the class that I'm doing at the senior center.

Faith Lao: [00:12:10] Um, do or did you have any other family members here in Elliot?

Leslie Unthank: [00:12:15] Uh, my sister worked at the Elliot that was down with, uh, the Young Women's Academy now was Tubman and the Young Women's Academy. She was a kindergarten teacher and second grade teacher. And I guess it was like a vice principal. She was, um, I can't remember her official title, but she worked down there for quite a few years after she finished school.

Faith Lao: [00:12:38] Um, what did you go to school at?

Leslie Unthank: [00:12:40] I went to my first school was, um, went to a nursery school that was right down in the neighborhood called Blessed Martin. And, um, it's not there anymore. I can't even remember where it was. It was on Williams Avenue somewhere. Um, but they changed the name over the years to Saint Martin's, and then, um, I can't remember if it had another name before it kind of closed. Um, but then I went to Saint Helens Hall, which is uh ohs now, but then it was back over where Portland State is. Okay. That's a free way of Portland State. And then Hartford School, which is out in Southeast Portland. And then I went to Irvington and graduated from eighth grade in Irvington and then Grant High School. Marylhurst College. And then I went to work for a while and then went back and got my my master's degree at Portland State. Um.

Faith Lao: [00:13:35] Um, would you describe the Eliott School and where was it at?

Leslie Unthank: [00:13:41] Um, the Eliott school it was down on. Flint Street. Let's see. Looking at the map over here. Um, it's where Tubman is now, over the young woman's academy. But it was it was a little bit small. It was. They added part of the building. My oldest brother was the architect that did the remodel. On that one. I said, we can't just stay out of the neighborhood, can we? Yeah. So it was, um, the brick building that's down there. If you go down there on the way to the Coliseum, the the brick building was the main building there. The cement part was the new, new addition. And it was kind of a neat school. It was, um. It was just kind of neat. The staff was really neat. They were really all kind of all together. It's kind of a family feel in the in the school. So I, I didn't ever teach any classes there, but I got to help out and be a volunteer in the school.

Faith Lao: [00:14:36] Did you have a favorite teacher?

Leslie Unthank: [00:14:38] Oh, through my years of teaching, I'm teaching. Going to school. Let me see. My, um. I think one of my favorite teachers was my senior English teacher, Mr. Porter. And, um. I had a couple others, but I can't remember for sure. Oh, yeah. Always first grade. First grade teacher was always kind of fun.

Faith Lao: [00:15:00] Why was Mr. Porter your favorite teacher?

Leslie Unthank: [00:15:02] Uh, he just kind of, uh, he was English teacher, and he just kind of, um, uh, kind of opened up a kind of the world of reading and, um, and the English language, you know, the classroom. It was just kind of a fun class.

Faith Lao: [00:15:17] Um, who were your close friends when you were growing up?

Leslie Unthank: [00:15:21] Oh, let me see. I had, um. Couple girls named Marion. I can't remember her last name. And Jerry, we used to go to her house after school and watch the Mickey Mouse Club, and her mom would make these special cookies, and, uh, let's see, I didn't have them. I had a few other friends, but, uh, those were kind of my my, my that I hung with.

Faith Lao: [00:15:46] Did you guys have any, like, crazy memories? Um.

Leslie Unthank: [00:15:50] Mostly with my brothers and sisters. Maybe crazy memories. We did kind of funny stuff. Chase each other around the house because the big house, we could. It was like a big circle. You could kind of, like, go up the back stairs and down the front steps, and it just kind of run around. Usually when my mom wasn't there and we would, um, when she wasn't there, we'd, you know, play catch in the in the house with the orange. Every so often there'd be a splatter of orange on the walls. Are we get in trouble?

Faith Lao: [00:16:20] Um, did you have a favorite place to be? Alone?

Leslie Unthank: [00:16:22] Um, yeah. My bedroom. Because it was a nice. You know, it was nice. Um. I got the kind of designed the way I wanted it. I had a wallpaper. You know, my mom let us pick out what we wanted to do for our rooms, and I had my storybook dolls around the wall and everything. It's kind of neat. Wow.

Faith Lao: [00:16:42] Um, what do you like about this neighborhood?

Leslie Unthank: [00:16:46] Um. Uh, I think it's, um. Well, it's always been kind of a welcoming neighborhood, and there's lots of changes. There's been changes over the years in the neighborhood. Uh, but, uh, the people are friendly. And it's kind of just kind of a fun place to be.

Faith Lao: [00:17:06] How has it how has the neighborhood changed?

Leslie Unthank: [00:17:10] Like, oh, over the years? Um, a lot of houses have gone where people lived, you know, and, um, different things have been added to the like. The Coliseum used to be where houses were, the Coliseum and the Rose quarter. Um, those were all houses and some businesses. Uh, let's see up in the where the school is up in this area, by the school, by Boyce Elliot. It's pretty much the same. It hasn't done a lot of changing. Um, but down closer to Broadway and the bridge is where a lot of the changes were. And by the hospital.

Faith Lao: [00:17:45] Did you see all the construction happen, or did it just sort of change? Um.

Leslie Unthank: [00:17:50] No. Um, we were able to see some of the construction.

Faith Lao: [00:17:54] Did did it seem like it went by really fast and everything just changed or. Yeah.

Leslie Unthank: [00:17:59] Yeah. No, it just kind of like, all of a sudden it was kind of like, oh, they're changing the freeways going through, and people are moving and being relocated. And, um, the next thing you know, there was a big freeway. Wow.

Faith Lao: [00:18:13] Um, what was your biggest goal in life and have you achieved it?

Leslie Unthank: [00:18:19] I guess to figure out what I was going to do for when I grew up. Um. Lastly, um, just to, um, I guess one goal would be just kind of to, uh, be useful, be a productive person, um, and have a nice, uh. Nice career. Uh, it was one of those things I just kind of stepped into my jobs and they became careers. But, uh, my goals were to do the best I could.

Faith Lao: [00:18:49] Um. What advice would you give to people my age?

Leslie Unthank: [00:18:55] Stay in school. Um, do your best job. Um. Work hard. You know, set your goals high. Kind of reach for the sky. Reach for the stars.

Faith Lao: [00:19:07] Um, is there anything that I didn't ask you that you'd like to talk more about?

Leslie Unthank: [00:19:11] No. I think you covered pretty much everything. Okay.

Faith Lao: [00:19:17] Um. Thank you. Oh.

Leslie Unthank: [00:19:18] You're welcome. Thank you very much.

Arlie Sommer: [00:19:20] I have some more questions. Okay. Serena, did you think of any questions while you were listening and taking notes?

Arlie Sommer: [00:19:26] Not really.

Arlie Sommer: [00:19:27] You didn't have any questions that you'd like? I'd like to hear any stories. Do you remember any specific stories that you had with your, um, youth, your brothers and sisters growing up, or any stories that you have while you were, um, going to your father's office in the Eliot neighborhood or.

Leslie Unthank: [00:19:45] Well, let's see with, um, well, back then, his office, um. That's kind of that area kind of changed. So, um, we would kind of have fun, kind of like being able to go across to the drugstore and get our ice cream cone. And, um, sometimes we would terrorize Mr. Lee by throwing the straw. He was spitting the straw straws back that, you know, the paper or the straw would go and blow so that there was paper behind there. It wasn't very nice of us. And, um, then we'd go across to, uh, Mr. Grant's, uh, record shop and listen to records. And just around the neighborhood, let's see, there was, um, uh, Tom Benson glass, the glass company was in there, and then there was a couple little grocery stores. There's one they called Mama Japs. It was a Japanese lady ran the store and some different restaurants. Um, back then, um, the black families couldn't do too much downtown. Kind of like eating at any kind of restaurant that you went to. Um, and so some of the houses there was one on Cedar on Victoria first, right where the Toyota place is now. Um, it was called Mertz. And she would cook up some fried chicken and chicken dinners and stuff in her home. And, uh, that was her restaurant, you know.

Arlie Sommer: [00:20:58] And why did she have to have a restaurant out of her home?

Leslie Unthank: [00:21:01] Um, it was money for her. And it was a place to serve, um, families that couldn't go downtown. You know, there was a lot of restrictions, and, uh, I meant to bring a book that, um, A Peculiar Paradise is a good book for research, um, that has some information about some of early Portland and. But we did like when my dad's office was downtown. Um. Uh, we would go like to the Chinese restaurant. It was called the Bamboo Inn. And, uh, we'd eat sometimes. We'd had dinner at the train station or at the Oyster bar. So it was kind of like Friday nights were kind of special.

Arlie Sommer: [00:21:39] Do you remember eating oysters?

Leslie Unthank: [00:21:41] I never really chose oysters. Yeah, I would, uh, let's see, what did I have? Um. Well, we went to the Chinese restaurant. I usually like rice. Uh. I can't remember the train station. I think it was scrambled eggs and peas. I had a weird appetite.

Arlie Sommer: [00:22:02] Do you have any questions? What? Um, so another question is what kind of music did you listen to when you went into the record store?

Leslie Unthank: [00:22:13] Oh, gosh. Whatever was kind of popular at the time. Um, I guess I can't remember, but, you know, it's just kind of the fun of going into the little room and listen to the records and and stuff. Um, I did, um, I did music, I played violin, I started when I was like seven playing the violin and the piano. Violin, piano and clarinet were my instruments that I played over the years, so never quite got the squeak out of the clarinet. So I gave that up early.

Arlie Sommer: [00:22:42] So, um, you said you went to the drugstore. Can you describe a time going into the drugstore or for ice cream or.Um.

Leslie Unthank: [00:22:52] It was just kind of let me go in in the afternoon, you know? And, um. Kind of like, you know, he had lots of little stuff in the drugstore and stuff and probably worried that we were going to mess up something. But there was one house. It was kind of interesting. There was a house that was about two stories, two, two, two houses or so from the drugstore up Williams. And they had a dog and a rooster, and the rooster walked around the street like the dog should, and the dog was on the roof. So it was just kind of a it was kind of a weird little what would that be called, an anomaly.

Arlie Sommer: [00:23:27] Where was.

Leslie Unthank: [00:23:28] This? It was about two houses from the drugstore on Williams. Um, I'm not sure what's there now. Nothing. The freeway.

Arlie Sommer: [00:23:37] I'm going to move this. Okay. Closer. Um. Because we didn't get started for a while. Um, yeah. Do you remember? Are there any stories that we didn't ask you about that you might have to tell about growing up or about Eliot Neighborhood?

Leslie Unthank: [00:23:53] Oh, let me see. Eliot neighborhood. Well, let me look at my cheat sheet here. Okay, okay. Oh, sorry about that. Uh. Let's see. Um, I told you that my oldest brother was an architect, and he designed the remodel of the Tubman school.

Arlie Sommer: [00:24:07] I didn't did she talk.

Leslie Unthank: [00:24:09] About that a little bit? Watch out for the map there.

Arlie Sommer: [00:24:13] Careful.

Leslie Unthank: [00:24:13] Um, okay. And then, um, sort of the career that I just kind of stepped into was Parks and Rec, and I worked at, uh, my first summer was Irving Park, 1968, and then I was in recreation instructor at Knott Street, which is now Dishman. And, um, you might be interested. Dishman was named after Mr. Matt Dishman, who was one of the first black policemen in Portland.

Arlie Sommer: [00:24:37] Did you know.

Leslie Unthank: [00:24:37] Him? Uh, I didn't know him, but I knew his kids.

Arlie Sommer: [00:24:40] Could you tell us about them or. I think they, you know, any. What did the neighborhood know about him or what? What was he like or what was he famous?

Leslie Unthank: [00:24:48] Well, he's famous because he was the first black policeman or one of the first black policemen in Portland.

Arlie Sommer: [00:24:52] And were people aware of that? Were they thinking of that?

Leslie Unthank: [00:24:55] Well, I think that might have been something that I don't know if it was like early on with the neighborhood association was first starting to that might be something that they did the renaming. I'm not sure who who said, let's rename it after him. Um, let's see. And then in the in the Elliott neighborhood, I was a school social worker over here at Boise. Elliott I think that was about 1990. I'm not sure I'd have to go back and look at my resume. And, uh, but back when I worked for the school district as a school social worker, I was with the special ed program, and we were called itinerant workers because we would go from, um, like I had like 3 or 4 schools that I was assigned to. So I have to go during the week. I'd go to all different schools, the different schools. So in seven years I was in 14 different schools. Well, it's a fun. It was kind of fun. Uh, let's see right now, I'm still in. I'm still working in the Eliot neighborhood, and I work part time as a senior, um, with the senior program, with the Urban League of Portland. And I'm a case manager or social worker with the seniors that go out into home visits. And I'll see what kind of services we can help them out so they can stay in their homes.

Arlie Sommer: [00:26:08] Can you tell us more about the Urban League? Do you know a lot about the Urban League? Faith. Maybe you could tell us about. Do you know anything about their history? Yeah. When they started.

Leslie Unthank: [00:26:17] Yes. That was one of the places, one of the agencies speaking to them. That was one of the agencies that was started kind of when my dad's office was downtown. Um, he was kind of responsible for helping get the Urban League started in Portland back in 1945. And, um, so his pictures on the, on the on the building down there on Russell, if you go down there, um, several pictures of paintings on that building down on Russell Street and his pictures right above the address. So they've got people that were important in getting the Urban League started in Portland and the Urban League itself. The National Urban League is 100 years old this year. So in the Portland Urban League is what that would be 60, about 64 years old. So 1945. So my headset's falling.

Arlie Sommer: [00:27:11] Do you remember? Um. Excuse me. Oh, you should leave now. Um. Could you, could you? Do you remember any stories about the. Do you remember any stories about the Urban League or about your dad working there, or what he thought of the situation in Portland? Um. Civil rights? Well, the main.

Leslie Unthank: [00:27:36] The main, one of the main reasons, um, I think he was he and the other people that got it started. Um, the main thing that they were looking at was the real estate and the, the right for people to live where they wanted to or where they, where they, you know, in the neighborhoods. Um, because, um, for a long time, there was what they call a red line district with the real estate people, and there'd be certain places where people could live like, um, one of the last. The house I just sold not too long ago was in Laurelhurst. And at that point, one time they had right on the the city records or the neighborhood records that it was a restricted neighborhood. So there was no no black people, no Jews, no Chinese. No, you know, it was all just a white neighborhood. And so that changed over the years.

Arlie Sommer: [00:28:24] Irvington was a restricted neighbor. What was it like to live there then?

Leslie Unthank: [00:28:28] Um, well, my mom was kind of, uh, um, what would you call her? Activist. And, um, we were actually the first family to live, um, east of 15th, you know, 15th Street and our neighbor in the Irvington neighborhood. So, um, she kind of said, oh, let's try this. We're going to see if we can break this, this rule that the real estate people have. So she did. Yeah. Way back, um, they had another housing. My parents, when they first moved to Portland, had another little housing incident in the 30s, uh, out in southeast Portland and, uh, East Moreland, I think it was, um, where they get the house was stoned and, um, they were offered, I think it was about $1,500, $1,000 to move out because it was a basically a white neighborhood. And they didn't want anybody else in there. So Portland's grown a lot, made some changes, but they're still problems. Yeah. Let's see. Uh, well, I'm that paper I left you. Tell us about that area down there on, um, Williams Tunnel where this office was, where the freeway is. It was kind of just a real little neighborhood. We had a Safeway across the street. Uh, the drugstore, the Safeway. Um. Oh, that was about it. The gas station's still part of the gas station was smaller, but it was still there. Let's see what else. Anything else you want to know?

Arlie Sommer: [00:29:57] We do have a little bit more time that I'd like to record. Any more stories. When do you remember your, um. I'm sorry. We don't have more questions that can.

Leslie Unthank: [00:30:07] That's fine.

Arlie Sommer: [00:30:07] I want him to conjure memories from you. Do you remember meeting your first love? Could you talk about that? No, no. Okay. That's fine.

Leslie Unthank: [00:30:16] Yeah. Um, my first love probably was grade school. Um, one thing. Um, uh, the Vanport flood. I don't know if you have learned anything about that. Um, in 1948, the Vanport flood, the Vanport was a city that was built between Portland and Vanport and Vancouver, right where Delta Park is. And it flooded because the the dike that held the water back on the railroad tracks broke and flooded all these apartments. If you look on the Oregon Historical Society's website, you can find some information on that one. Um, but when the people they had to relocate the people and, um, uh, what's the building down there on Tillamook? It's called the Elks Club now, but it was a YWCA, and that was like the clearinghouse where they would have, um, people come in and they were reassigning them to different homes and where they could live after the flood. And what are.

Arlie Sommer: [00:31:09] Your memories from.

Leslie Unthank: [00:31:10] That? Oh, well, we spend a lot of time at the Y there, and, um. Oh, they would have different programs in that. Well, from the from the flood. We'd been out there that day with my dad making house calls and my Aunt Madeline, she and her husband had just were in the process of moving. So they lost a little bit, but not much. But a lot of people lost everything. And they had a few deaths from there, but I can't remember. It wasn't a very big considering the massive flood. And, uh. Let's see.

Arlie Sommer: [00:31:42] You said you remember the day.

Leslie Unthank: [00:31:44] Uh huh.

Arlie Sommer: [00:31:44] Could you tell us about.

Leslie Unthank: [00:31:45] Well, I was only about six, but I kind of, you know, remember, we had kind of been down in the area, and it was kind of just sort of later on in the day when you they say, oh, it's flooding out there, and you just kind of like, oh, gosh, I remember being there, you know, and because we would we would be out there a lot. And at one time I tried to jump one of the irrigation ditches and went back to my aunt's house very wet. Okay. Oh, I can do it. But, uh, let's see. Vanport. And it was a temporary building, temporary city, and where Delta Park is now. And the main reason it was built was to, um, house the Kaiser, the people that worked at the Kaiser Shipyards. So.

Arlie Sommer: [00:32:29] Did you know anybody that worked in the shipyards?

Leslie Unthank: [00:32:32] Um, I met a gentleman the other day when I was, uh, visiting one of my seniors who had been a shipyard worker. Yeah, well, my grandfather, when he come, he come up from Omaha, and he worked in the shipyards, too, for. And my grandmother, she would pick up a job at, um, uh, to what was it called? It was Lipman's, uh, department store, which isn't there anymore. It's a hotel now.

Speaker3: [00:32:56] What were they like?

Leslie Unthank: [00:32:58] Uh, well, grandma, she was fun. Sometimes she would be fun. Her name is Molly Rose. And, uh, grandfather was Uncle Les. And they would travel. They would come to Portland about every other summer, and they would drive cross country from Omaha in their Studebaker. And, uh, they had a Airstream trailer, a big silver trailer behind them. And usually they brought the dog named Fritz, and he would travel in the trunk, and my grandfather would have a broom or some kind of handle that would keep the trunk open. So the dog had plenty of air. And he was a German Shepherd. He was kind of ferocious looking. But we'd have fun. Then we go to Omaha sometimes.

Arlie Sommer: [00:33:47] To visit.

Leslie Unthank: [00:33:48] Them. Mhm. Then we'd go with Omaha. My mom's. That was my mom's mom. And so we'd go to Omaha. We got to travel on the train because uh, it was kind of neat. My dad uh, some of his patients worked for the train for the railroad. So we would get a pass, and, uh, pretty much it was either free or very little cost to ride the train. And so we could go to Omaha and Kansas City to visit my dad's grandma, my dad's mom or his aunt that raised him. Yeah. Let's see. What else did I write? My notes.

Leslie Unthank: [00:34:25] I thought you wanna know about the entertainers that we stayed at our house. Okay, well, back in the 40s and 50s, uh, the black entertainers, they couldn't stay in the hotels because of just the discrimination. And so families would open up their homes to them. And, uh, we had one who was a tap dancer. Bojangles stayed at our house, gave my sister $5. We probably were supposed to split because we let them use our bedroom. And, uh, another lady, Philippa Schuyler, she was what they call a child prodigy. She played the piano, and she was also a vegetarian. Well, I'm not sure she was a vegetarian because I read a little bit about her and she ate raw meat, so she wasn't a vegetarian. I don't know what that's called. Uh, but she ordered up avocado and drawn butter. It was something special she wanted to eat, and I got to deliver roses to her on stage. After her concert, so that was kind of special.

Faith Lao: [00:35:25] It's. That's pretty awesome. Yeah.

Leslie Unthank: [00:35:27] It was, it was kind of. Yeah.

Faith Lao: [00:35:30] Yeah.

Leslie Unthank: [00:35:31] I was kind of shy. So I was kind of I think they sort of pushed me out and said, you go do this.

Arlie Sommer: [00:35:37] Why do they Perform?

Faith Lao: [00:35:39] They perform.

Leslie Unthank: [00:35:40] Oh, like at the I think um, like at the Neighbor Woodcraft. They had that that was what's Tiffany it's called Tiffany Center. Now that was sort of a place that um, I remember that was one of the places that they did a lot of entertaining in that. So and that. Let's see. I don't know. I told you about where I went to high school. It was a big school back then. I mean, the school was the same size as it is now, except we had lots of kids. My freshman year was 900 kids in the class.

Faith Lao: [00:36:10] Wow. In one class?

Leslie Unthank: [00:36:12] No, that was the whole my freshman. My freshman class was 900 when we started. That was a year before they built Madison High School. So when we graduated, there was only 540 kids in the class. Big, big senior class.

Faith Lao: [00:36:28] Wow.

Leslie Unthank: [00:36:29] Yeah, they have big classes back then. Teachers would have gone crazy then, wouldn't they?

Faith Lao: [00:36:35] Probably have.

Leslie Unthank: [00:36:37] Yeah. So anything else?

Faith Lao: [00:36:39] Um, do you have any kids of your own?

Leslie Unthank: [00:36:42] I don't, um, but I helped raise my nieces and nephews and, um, actually, my niece that's teaching. She's a school teacher down in, um, uh, Henry County, Georgia, near Covington, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. And, um, so I raised her pretty much from the time she was about two years old because her mom left and and, uh, so her dad, her dad's, um, almost have dinner with him almost every night, but her dad's here, and, um, but my sister and I pretty much raised her from the time she was about two to, uh, took her to college at 17. And she likes Atlanta area, and. She's only been back to visit about 3 or 4 times. So we go down and see them sometimes. And she's got, uh, two kids. They're both 13. Uh, her stepson is, uh, about six months older than her daughter, Savannah. So it's Carlos and Savannah. And if any kids.

Arlie Sommer: [00:37:41] Okay. Why don't you think for.

Faith Lao: [00:37:43] Um. Thank you.

Leslie Unthank: [00:37:45] Okay. And I left you some pictures and stuff that you can, um, I've got some copies that I've left, so you can have some. And I did bring a calendar that was put out by some people that has an article about my dad in there, too. Oh, okay.

Faith Lao: [00:37:59] Thank you. Okay.

Leslie Unthank: [00:38:00] Thank you very much.

Faith Lao: [00:38:01] I enjoyed interviewing you.

Leslie Unthank: [00:38:02] Okay. It's not as not as terrifying as it should be.

Arlie Sommer: [00:38:06] Good.

Leslie Unthank: [00:38:07] No. It's okay. Okay.

Arlie Sommer: [00:38:12] Good. Um, now we'll go outside and.

Leslie Unthank: [00:38:15] We can take our ears.

Arlie Sommer: [00:38:16] Off. Yes, you. Can take. Your ears off. Thank you so much.