The
American Junior Classics website has a video of a 1961 TV documentary about the A. J. Aircraft Company in which the address of the factory is mentioned: 1201 SE 3rd Street, Portland, Oregon. (The video is worth a look; here's a
direct link.) So when my wife Leela and I were in Portland a couple of weeks ago, I decided to check out the address to see what had become of the place. No telling what would be there now: A parking lot? A skate park? A highway off-ramp? Well, it turned out the building is still standing -- and looking quite spiffy at that. It now houses the Pratt & Larson Tile Company, a maker of elegant decorator ceramics.
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| Then and now: The top picture is from the American Junior Classics website. The lower picture I took two weeks ago. |
I viewed the building from different angles trying to discern some trace of its former tenant. The only clue even remotely linking the place to its illustrious past was a model sailboat seen in a second-floor office window.
From this scant evidence I drew hope. Then I looked into the window below and spied Leela signaling to me from within. She had penetrated the premises! I joined her and was not surprised to find that the place was given over to the glorification of ceramic décor, with nary a nod to its august history.
Leela was delighted, but I was frustrated. Surely there must be some scrap, some remnant, however slight or inadvertent, of the fabled past. (Yes, I did check under the white skirts on those chairs!) I was just about to give up all hope when...
We entered an un-air-conditioned area of remnants and factory seconds. Well, this is better, I thought. And, yes, beyond the bins of miscellaneous sale tiles, I espied the factory floor looking much as it did in the 1961 documentary. Indeed, when I squinted my eyes and held my nose just right, I could almost smell the balsa dust. I raised my camera, and just as I snapped the following photo, a burley fellow grabbed me by the collar and hustled me out of there.
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| Blurry shot of Pratt & Larson factory floor looking much as it did in the 1961 A. J. factory-tour documentary. |
At home I subjected the photo to sophisticated computer analysis. Note the dark area on the left side. In the lower corner, there's just the slightest hint of red. After magnifying and enhancing this area, I was rewarded with an image that all rougers will surely recognize...
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| Note enlarged area showing clear evidence of "Jim Walker" signature rudder with distinctive blue scalloped trim. Is it a fortuitous bit of tile? Or is it the real thing? We may never know the answer. |
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| ~Austin Bruce Hallock |
