Bars, Restaurants, & Taverns
PARK HAVILAND
In 1961, John Haviland, who was known in real estate circles largely for owning apartment houses, acquired the lease for the Park Heathman from the Hauser family, along with an option to buy. The hotel became the Park Haviland. One of Haviland’s first initiatives was to open the Aloha Room in the storefront at the southwest corner of Salmon and Park. He also had plans to create an indoor passage from the hotel lobby to Chef Joe’s Restaurant located at 961 SW Broadway adjacent at the east. Next he did “Top O’ Park” on the eleventh floor. The $100,000 project consisted of a swimming pool, a 50-seat restaurant called the “Carriage House,” and a bar called the “Sky Lounge.” The décor was by restaurant designer R. K. Grubb and the restaurant specialized in prime rib and lobster thermador. Haviland also remodeled rooms on the ninth and tenth floors with plans to update all the rooms and the lobby. As part of the design, he also planned to create some deluxe suites.
1965, February 9 Oregon Journal in Doug Baker Column, “One Man’s Night on the town, “I steer clear of blue comics, female impersonators and poetry readings. I suppose I could drop in at the Park Haviland’s Aloha Room and cat the “Happy Hawaiians” but I find the Hawaiian music terribly saccharine when heard outside the islands.”
1973, November 16-18th, Walter W Cole/Darcelle Empress XV was hosting her step down and the crowning of Empress XVI who would be Doni Lame’. A sheet was developed entitled WELCOME TO “CITY OF ROSES” with various details. Two mentions the Park Haviland: Suite 840, Park Haviland Hotel is your OFFICIAL HOSPITALITY CENTER. Any assistance, such as tickets for functions, transportation, guides for the city, messages, etc. will be handled by our host’s Mame, Vanessa, Charisse, Kim. Second was for Saturday, November 17th OPEN HOUSE OPEN HOUSE – The Georgian Room, Left Bank, Salmon Street Bridge, on the second floor of the Park Haviland HOTEL will be the setting for an informal OPEN HOUSE. Honoring the flavored of the Louis’, the PAST EMPRESS’S OF PORTLAND, OREGON. AN invitation is extended to everybody to come and mingle with old and new friends. NO HOST BAR from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
Per the GLAPN - A Walking Tour of Downtown Portland: A Century of Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Historic Sites June 1999: Park and Salmon Sts. (now public housing project). This is an example of a “non-site,” or shall we say 1 a had some significant history had the event that was planned for it actually taken place. The Dorian Society of Seattle was the Pacific Northwest’s earliest homosexual social action group founded about 1966. In February 1968, the Dorian Society began an effort to start a similar homophile organization in Portland. They mailed literature and letters to the Greater Portland Council of Churches (now Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon) urging them to sponsor a movement in the city on behalf of the homosexual. The letters evidently fell on deaf ears. It is not known whether or not the Dorians had Contacts in the city to help with their plans, although flyers were mimeographed (copies of them have been found in the University of Washington Archives) and perhaps they were posted in the bars. The meeting was scheduled to take place on February 24, 1968, in a meeting room of the Park Haviland, but later records indicate that the Society attempting to contact the hotel managers to refund the Society’s deposits on the room.
712 SW Salmon
Years: gay friendly from 1965 – 1975?
Hotel with various restaurants
FOR MORE INFORMATION CHECK OUT HOTELS/MOTELS: PARK HAVILAND/HEATHMAN
Public Works Administration (Archival) - Public Works Administrator - Photographs - A2005-005.784.1 Hilton Hotel series. Corner of SW 6th Ave and SW Taylor St looking southwest toward New Heath.jpg
Ad date unknown, however in Portland Greeter magazine, December 1962, page 2, a photo of the Aloha Room at Park Haviland Hotel
Ad in July 1976 Northwest Gay Review
NW Gay Review May 1974 article
Portland Guide magazine Oct 16-31, 1967