A decade or so before Portland became a destination for young people there was something called “The Great Recession.” The early 1980s in Oregon was a time of high unemployment after the crash of the fishing, agriculture, and timber industries, and for young people at the time pre-woke Portland could feel like a dead end.
The photographs in The Way It Was show Portland in the early 1980s. Presented are people observed in a variety of situations and settings, principally in downtown Portland – students and businessmen, kids and commuters, seniors and teens, parents and protestors, shoppers and police, office workers and artists.
Five sets of photographs grouped by place create contrasting contexts and build up specific details to create a mosaic of a particular moment in the city’s past.
Unavailable for purchase at this time. Publication pending for 2025.
A decade or so before Portland became a destination for young people there was something called “The Great Recession.” The early 1980s in Oregon was a time of high unemployment after the crash of the fishing, agriculture, and timber industries, and for young people at the time pre-woke Portland could feel like a dead end.
The photographs in The Way It Was show Portland in the early 1980s. Presented are people observed in a variety of situations and settings, principally in downtown Portland – students and businessmen, kids and commuters, seniors and teens, parents and protestors, shoppers and police, office workers and artists.
Five sets of photographs grouped by place create contrasting contexts and build up specific details to create a mosaic of a particular moment in the city’s past.
Unavailable for purchase at this time. Publication pending for 2025.
