519 SW 3rd Suite 505/PO Box 40284 Portland OR 97204 503-285-4161 then 503-241-9411
Years: June 15, 1982 – December 1984 [when it became The Eagle]
Cascade Voice
Above Left photo is the 519 SW 3rd – Dekum Building Photo from www.loopnet.com
Published monthly, then bi-weekly
Noteworthy: One of the featured writers was playwright Doric Wilson [A Perfect Relationship, Street Theatre]
Original publisher – Neil Hutchins. Neil had a long history of being involved with the newspaper business. Per Lanny Swerdlow in an in-person interview with Don Horn at his house outside Palm Springs California on 10-20-2022, “Neil always had the ideas, and I was the follow through guy.” Lanny Swerdlow with Neil Hutchins started a magazine called Old Portland Today to promote the Old Town portion of Portland. Neil became part of The Second Foundation, and they began publishing a newspaper The Fountain in February 1971 where Neil was the first editor. Lanny, under a pseudonym Dave Laurence took over as editor three months later. They both left the paper in September 1973 and by February 1974, had started the Northwest Gay Review.
The first issue of Northwest Gay Review was published in February 1974 [first issue taking over from The Fountain].
Per book A Curious and Peculiar People page 201, “Lanny Swerdlow and Neil Hutchins ceased producing the NW Gay Review in 1982. Neil then began publishing the Cascade Voice.”
Per opening page of the Eagle Newsmagazine, January 1, 1985, “In June of 1982 Neil Hutchins began the Cascade Voice to serve the contemporary needs of Portland, Oregon’s Gay, and Lesbian community. Many persons were involved in the many meetings held to create what and how the Cascade Voice should tackle the then current needs.”
1982 – June 1982 Vol 1. No. 1 [See above Right] Editorial “Welcome to the premiere issue of Cascade Voice (“CV”) a community magazine of alternative lifestyles. [portion of the editorial] Neil Hutchins, Editor.
Per the opening page of the Eagle Newsmagazine, January 1, 1985 “The Oregon Cascade Voice was sold to the Portland staff last August.” [which would make the sale August 1984].
The Cascade Voice’s name was changed to The Eagle. Here is the editorial letter explaining the change: Per the opening page of the Eagle Newsmagazine, January 1, 1985, Why did we change the name to The EAGLE Newsmagazine?
In June of 1982, Neil Hutchins began the Cascade Voice to serve the contemporary needs of Portland, Oregon’s Gay and Lesbian community. Many persons were involved in the many meetings held to create what and how the Cascade Voice should tackle the then-current needs.
David Porter’s paper, The Northwest Fountain, had been serving the needs of the greater Pacific Northwest by distributing from Vancouver BC to Eugene, Oregon yet Neil felt there was room for a more contemporary format which was determined to be a newsmagazine.
The Cascade Voice enjoyed enthusiastic support from almost every segment of the community from the very beginning. It was obviously fledgling publication, but with some high goals and much ambition. Even though I was editor of the Fountain at that time I was recruited to be the Leather editor of the new CV. When I look back over the first year’s issues of CV it is amazing to see how it has been developed.
Porter sold the Fountain to a Canadian party in early 1983 and it didn’t survive two issues under the new ownership. For those of you who haven’t noticed (and I do get asked once in a while) the Fountain hasn’t been around for two years, folks. Meanwhile, Neil began a Washington Cascade Voice -based in Seattle. It is still there, although it was sold to the Seattle staff almost a year ago. The Oregon Cascade Voice was sold to the Portland staff last August. The similarity in the two papers is in name only. The Washington Voice is an 8 ½ x 11 formats while the Oregon Voice has maintained our larger size even though we instituted the expensive binding and trim that gives us more of a magazine presentation.
At the time that I assumed editorship of CV, in September 1983, Ed Kautzmann came on board in the art department. Together, and with the help of many people, we have developed the content and artistic presentation of CV to its present standards. [part of the article]
On page 6 of the January 1, 1985, issue of The Eagle “And then you wrote” ….
About March 1982. Neil said to me, “Karl, I want to start a Gay newspaper in Portland.” Having heard Neil speak of such things before, I dismissed it without another thought. But before long, Neil was making long-distance phone calls all over the country. When I asked him as to the reason of the phone calls, he replied, “I know you don’t believe me Karl, but I am talking about. The first issue is aimed for Gay Pride.”
Then it started, the meeting in my house, 10-14 people sitting on the floor listening to Neil tell about a community news publication which he named the Cascade Voice. I am sure you remember those meetings Robert [Raunchy Robert]; you yourself attended a few.
The first issue of the Cascade Voice was pasted up in an office in NW Portland, but not before hundreds of design changes went across my kitchen table. Sleepless nights up with Neil and several others playing cards and making decisions on type style, copy content, editorial policy.
The first issue came out on June 18, 1982, the Friday before Gay Pride Day.
[partial letter] Karl Johnson
Per the GLPAN website: CPP says that the Northwest Fountain was published by David Porter from April 1978 to July 1983. It also states that the Cascade Voice was published from June 1982 to December 1984. Cascade Voice might have been published every two weeks. It was originally owned and published by Neil Hutchins but at some point sold to Robert Dunn.
Per an interview with Pat Young and Renee LaChance on October 27, 2003. “The newspaper changed hands and was sold to Robert Dunn who was editor of The Eagle News Magazine. Soon, Renee LaChance purchased the paper. Renee and Jay Brown while working on the 1983 Gay Pride Celebration planning session began to think of starting their own paper which would later become Just Out.
Per book, A Curious and Peculiar People page 201, “Lanny Swerdlow and Neil Hutchins ceased producing the NW Gay Review in 1982. Neil then began publishing the Cascade Voice.” On page 214 it is cited, “Beneath the bar was an infamous space, alternately called The Folsom Cell, The Cell, JR’s Cell, associated with ‘Raunchy Robert Dunn’.” Per page 241 ‘Raunchy Robert Dunn’ who also would own Cascade Voice in 1984.
· First listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1984
· listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1985
· Not listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1986-89
· Cascade Voice (Portland, OR), 1984-1985 | Welcome to the Wesleyan University Archival Collections
· Cascade Voice (Portland, OR), 1982-1983 | ArchivesSpace at GSU Library