The South Park Blocks erupted in violence, and 21 protesters were hospitalized due to injuries from police beatings With downtown businesses closed, busses on infrequent schedules and few cars on the road, a stroll through Portland’s South Park Blocks tod ...
11 May 2020 - Doug Kenck-Crispin
COMMENTARY | Despite more than a century of opportunities to change, Oregon’s response to COVID-19 is all too similar to that of the tuberculosis scourge “And does Oregon take rank in this work? Is our state caring for the homeless, friendless and pennile ...
23 Apr 2020 - Doug Kenck-Crispin
A snapshot of a few blocks of Portland’s past “There it was that sailors rested from drunkenness, or held carousal, and slouching men of the woods played greasy cards on a greasy table. Only the ghost of laughter walks where once the nickelodeons blared t ...
4 Jan 2019 - Doug Kenck-Crispin
COMMENTARY | Tusko put on quite a show for his holiday admirers in Portland In December 1931, a most curious guest was in our Portland environs. A really big, 7-ton guest. His name was Tusko, and he gave himself a memorable Christmas present. Billed as “B ...
23 Dec 2015 - Doug Kenck-Crispin
Commentary: Kick Ass Oregon History writes on Houdini and Portland Around 1920, the United States experienced a wave of “spiritualism.” This interest seems to hit our society in spurts over the decades, coming in and out of vogue. But looking at the early ...
7 Dec 2015 - Doug Kenck-Crispin
COMMENTARY | The problem with historical comparisons between the 1933 burn and this year's wildfires is context Summer 2015 found forest fires sweeping across the West, and indeed Oregon, with a ferocity that has not been experienced in quite some ti ...
29 Oct 2015 - Doug Kenck-Crispin