"Made in Oregon" sign will remain with "Portland Oregon" script

Rendering courtesy Office of Commissioner Randy Leonard 

The Portland Mercury's Stefan Kamph is reporting, via Commissioner Randy Leonard's blog, that a deal has been reached to save and continue illuminating the neon sign atop the White Stag Block at the west end of the Burnside Bridge.

Instead of the current "Made in Oregon" lettering, which dates to when the store of the same name occupied the ground floor of the building, the sign will say "Portland Oregon" but retain the same serif script.

Last year, the University of Oregon, which now owns and occupies the White Stag Block, applied to the landmarks commission to change the sign to read "University of Oregon." Leonard vehemently opposed this deal, as did Portland State University. However, this wasn't because of a concern for historic preservation. After all, the sign originally said "White Satin" as an advertisement for the sugar company occupying the building, and for decades after that it said "White Stag" for the apparel company that later moved in.

Rendering courtesy Office of Commissioner Randy Leonard 

At the same time, all parties seem to have agreed that a compromise was in order. And it's hard to argue about that given much greater historic preservation issues facing the city like Memorial Coliseum and Centennial Mills.

Luckily, the  sign's owner, Ramsay Signs, has agreed to donate it to the city. Why this compromise couldn't have been reached sooner I'm not sure, and it's too bad there had to be a needless exchange of bad blood between the parties involved. But hey, the new sign looks good.

Now if Commissioner Leonard could please direct his powerful bully pulpit towards the Blazers and get them to keep unnecessarily-embattled general manager Kevin Pritchard.

Comments

[Tony Pereira]

As someone who actually makes stuff in Oregon, I wish it would remain as-is. Portland has a wonderful culture of cottage industry that, intentionally or not, this sign has come to symbolize. For us, it's a shame that is will change. That said, this compromise is better than previous attempts.

[Keith Daly]

I don't get it - how is this preserving the sign? U of O already had plans to change it, was it only that we didn't want them to change it to say University of Oregon? I think for most people it was about NOT changing the 'Made in Oregon' sign (look, we even call it that!)

This is as disappointing as if Seattle said they were buying the 'PIKE PLACE' sign to preserve and it will now read 'SEATTLE'

Doh.

[tt]

Don't worry guys, Landmark's Commission will kill this idea also.

[billb]

well great , works for me ,
now maybe Randy can get back
to governing. No More Neon
Randy

[Austin]

The sign has always changed, and this time it isn't about a company, but about our city. That's fantastic, I think.

[robert]

The font style can be regulated, the content of the message(speech) cannot. It's a first amendment thing.

[Walter]

It's a great sign with an interesting history (I remeber its White Stag Days). It never mattered to me what it said, but knowing that it is going to remain (barring any name change by our city) is a relief.

I agree with you about Pitchard too.

[Jessica]

FYI, Brian -- The University is a tenant, not the owner of the building.

[Oregon Native]

As a native to Oregon, the sign reading "Made In Oregon" had a very different meaning to me and to others similar to my situation. Ask around, everybody these days are from somewhere else. Nothing wrong with that, but less then 50% or Oregon residence are actually born and raised in Oregon these days.

I graduated from the UofO, actually graduated from the Portland Program. I applaud most of their branding efforts. But this newest move has got me really disgusted with my alma-mater. For me, its sad to see this sign go dark in the night, only to know it will be changed to "Portland Oregon". Shame on you UofO. I am not impressed!

I'm sure we'll all get used to it reading the new "Portland Oregon" however, it will never ring as loud as "Made In Oregon" like it used to. And look at the pictures provided above. I have to say, it looks far better as it stands then what will soon be.

[Leo Touza]

I, for one, am really happy to see us get a big ol' sign advertising our city in our city, kind of like the Hollywood sign is to L.A. or how the "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada" is to there as well. In a city with very few big landmarks, it's nice to see we at least have that.

And I'm super, super happy it didn't get changed to University of Oregon. I have a lot of good friends who attended the school both in Eugene and up here in Portland and another good friend manages the computer lab up there. Regardless of all that, I really disliked the idea of a school which is mostly based out of Eugene overtaking the identity of Portland State's home city.

[ws]

'Made in Oregon' should stay. That phrase goes beyond being a simple label to actually say something. It kind of suggests to me something like what's expressed in the Springsteen song, 'Made in the USA'. The city is fine, but the words 'Portland, Oregon' on the sign is not really anything special.

[Kerry B]

Made in Oregon should remain! It's an idea that resonates louder than just stating the city you are in while reading a sign. It expresses ownership, pride, discovery and creativity. Also, even if you aren't a native of Oregon, you may have discovered yourself in Oregon and in a sense, made yourself in Oregon. Thus, it can share the same sentiment for those that aren't born in Oregon. And in comment to Leo, why do we want to duplicate the format of other cities signage. Our sign highlights the unique sense of character that makes Portland such a great city to be a part of!