Trail Blazers came to Portland thanks to amazing promoter: Part 1 of 2

Trail Blazers’ fate hung on an extra-long bathroom break: Part 2 of 2

THE PORTLAND TRAIL Blazers, in the summer of 1970, were nothing more than a gleam in the eye of the promoter who’d been banging the “NBA in Portland” drum for the previous 16 years. And it probably would have stayed that way, too, if not for a really long bathroom break taken in Beverly Hills that year. Here’s how that came about: (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2402c-1011b.blazers-potty-break-096.636.html)

Trail Blazers came to Portland thanks to amazing promoter: Part 1 of 2

Before 1970, Oregon was home to exactly zero major-league teams from any of these sports. But after 1970, it was home to one: The Portland Trail Blazers, a basketball team that took just over five years to build a team that would win the NBA World Championship and become an absolute legend. Both of those things — the team’s inception, and its rise to the top — had a lot to do with a gregarious Portland promoter and sports fan named Harry Glickman. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2402c-1011b.blazers-potty-break-096.636.html)

Lola Baldwin's life mission: Battle human trafficking in Portland

“We notice,” Lola Green Baldwin said to the Portland City Council, “that there was $5,030 used this year for the dog pound, and an additional thousand is asked for 1908.” Would the Council consider, she asked, allocating half that amount “for practical, positive protection for the growing girlhood of the city of Portland?”, she wondered? Well, when one put it that way, how could they have said no? (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/23-06.lola-baldwin-municipal-mother-622.html)

First policewoman was a municipal Rescuer — like Bianca

BY THE TIME Walt Disney Productions released “The Rescuers” in 1977, the idea of a “Rescue Aid Society” dedicated to the eradication of kidnapping felt quaint, old-fashioned, and fun. But not many years earlier, when memories of the Progressive Era were fresher, it would not have scanned that way.... (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/23-06.lola-baldwin-municipal-mother-622.html)

Did ‘Vortex I’ prevent riots in downtown Portland?

On that tense late-August weekend, tens of thousands of young people enjoyed themselves at McIver Park, while the much-dreaded riots failed to materialize. Was there a connection? Many voters thought so. (McIver Park, Clackamas County; 1970s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1406c.291.vortex-the-event.html)