Portland was founded in 1843 and incorporated in 1851. The City of Portland grew out of the area west of the Willamette River. That fact meets the history of the city’s early beginning. Due to the convenience of the Willamette River as a waterway, the Portlanders relied on river trade for much of its economy. It was soon to be known as a major international Port. Beginning in the mid-1800s to early-1900s, the rise of the railway as a logistics alternative has dwindled the city’s reliance on river trade. The city then developed toward the inland area, also likely due to the constant flooding of the Willamette.

Now the Old Town of Portland, Portland’s original downtown area rose to meet the needs of the river trade. It stands at what was the former port and the riverfront quarter. It was an area that bustled with life, and a vibrant bar scene. People of all walks engaged in all sorts of trade and business there. It is against this historical backdrop that the infamous Shanghai tunnels came into being. The phenomenon continues to stoke and spook the imagination of future generations.

The Shanghai Tunnels of Old Town

The Shanghai Tunnels is an urban legend rife with mystery and interpreted history. TravelPortland has this to say about the clandestine catacombs that once sprawled the underground of the Old Town:

Local lore says that a labyrinth of interconnected basements, makeshift rooms and low-ceilinged tunnels reached the waterfront in the 1890s. Allegedly, this made it easy to sneak illegal goods, including opium and Prohibition-era alcohol — or kidnapped victims — onto waiting ships.

It is with a stretch of imagination that the word “Shanghai” came to be the name of the illegal criminal practice at the time. It is said that, during the 1890s, it was a common practice to kidnap men and sell them into slavery (“shanghaied”) as the crew of ships in Portland. The men were transported via these underground tunnels into an unknown, but certainly unfortunate, future.

This network of throughway underground was used during the mid-19^th century till World War II, when they were closed and sealed. Besides the slaves-to-be, goods were also transported through this network of connected basements toward the dock by the Willamette. It goes beyond saying that a lot of such goods were contrabands.

As a thing of the past, the Shanghai Tunnels remain more so in memory than in reality. Apparently, some trapdoors, through which people were purportedly dropped, are still accessible in some of the bars in Chinatown.  It is possible to join a Haunted Shanghai Tunnel Tour under the Old Town Pizza & Brewing today.

Photo: The Old Town Pizza & Brewery is at a heritage building in Old Town Portland.

The Chinese Americans in Old Town Portland

The Chinese immigrants started arriving in Portland around 1850s or so, from the gold mines of California or the southwestern fields of Oregon. Others arrived by sea directly from China. Portland’s Chinatown was once the second largest in America, after San Francisco. By the 1870s, the Chinese immigrants took up six blocks in this waterfront area for their businesses and community.

In this part of Portland, an ongoing issue was the flooding from the Willamette River. The flooding and a great fire of 1873 destroyed the original Chinatown. It started at a Chinese laundry. It burned 20 blocks before it was brought under control. Efforts to rebuild Chinatown was moving the center of development northward. By 1895, New Chinatown had a hospital, four churches, two joss houses, five herb shops and a theater. The 1890s was the period that coincided with the development of nihonmachi (Japantown) when the Japanese immigrants also came to America as laborers.

In terms of state-sanctioned racism, both the Chinese and Japanese immigrants have had their fair share.  The Congress passed the first Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. Thereafter, it passed more laws aiming to exclude the Chinese immigrants between 1888-1902.

These laws have the effect of first denying U.S. citizenship to the rightful citizens of Chinese descent. Secondly, they limited the number of Chinese people that could enter the United States in any capacity. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, by the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act. Finally, in 2011 the Senate passed a resolution (S.Res.201) expressing regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Today, however, visitors won’t see the Old Town bustling anymore. The area has more than declined — it is near-desolate as far as I could observe. The buildings of Chinatown show the Chinese American establishments of a bygone era. Its deserted streets breathe an air of hopelessness, feeling as if it has been eternally banished into the terra nullius of Portland’s memory.

The Japanese American History Museum in Naito Center

Frank Satae Matsura’s Photography

On the day of my visit, there was also a wonderful photography exhibition featuring the work of the (apparently) quixotic Frank Satae Matsura, who made it to Portland mysteriously and began shooting portraits of the Native Americans in his times. Upon arriving in Portland I 1903, he set up his own studio in Okanogan. His studio attracted all kinds of customers, including a large number of Plateau Indians.

Matsura had a trove of portraits that depict the American Indians in a time of change. In the early 1900s, these communities underwent the irreversible trends of European influence due to (particularly the fur) trade. The items worn by the subjects of Matsura’s photography are telltale signs of the tribesmen’s adaptions to European-influenced lives.

It is the curator’s view thus:

Matsura’s portraits show more conceptual sophistication than that was common in commercial “frontier” photography; rather, they contain stylistic choices that foreshadow contemporary art movements. For instance, Matsura trade closely-cropped backgrounds for wider frames, sometimes allowing furniture, lighting equipment, or the edge of the artificial backdrop to infiltrate a shot-perhaps reminding us not to take the environment at face value.

Many of these portraits also revel in playfulness and irony: feminist, interracial, and social themes contradict idealized life in the American west… far from portraying Indigenous participants as frozen in time or as propaganda, Matsura’s multifaceted and formally rigorous portraits reveal a living continuum.

And having seen those portraits, I agree with this lauded assessment of Frank Satae Matsura’s photography.

The Japanese American Experience in Oregon

The permanent exhibition features a well-told narrative of the lives of Japanese Americans in Oregon. Needless to say, their experience of being interned during WWII is a key message to take from the exhibition.

The early Japanese immigrants to the United States were the laborers in railroads, canneries, logging and farming. Known as Issei, first generation Japanese immigrant, the early immigrants came to the United States in the 1880s or so, when Chinese immigration was halted due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. As they settled down in America, the next generations were known, consecutively, as Nisei (second generation), Sansei (third generation), and Yonsei (fourth generation). The Shin Nikkei are the Japanese people and their descendants who immigrated from Japan after WWII.

In Japantown (nihonmachi), businessmen of Japanese descent supplied jobs, daily goods and information to newly-arrived immigrants. There was a vibrant Japanese community in Portland.  In railroad, farming and lumber, the Japanese laborers made significant contribution to the industries of the Pacific Northwest. The immigration of Japanese women began in 1907. With their arrival came a growing community and the needs for school (both regular schools and Japanese schools), temples and other community provisions.

It was through generations of hard work and dedication to their duties that the Japanese people found their footing in Oregon. That would all come to naught as the Pearl Habor Attack of 1941 dragged America into the official conflicts of WWII.

The Japanese Internment in WWII

The roundup of Japanese Americans for internment began immediately after the Pearl Harbor Attack in December of 1941, when a group of prominent Issei were deemed to be spies. In February 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the removal of all people from military “as deemed necessary.” Public notices began appearing that required the Japanese Americans to be assembled at the Portland Assembly Center, a temporary camp.

What followed was the years-long internment that would last well into October 1945, when WWII has finally ended. 110,000 Nikkei were, as a result, removed from the West Coast and relocated. 13,000 of them ended up in Mindoka, Idaho.

The conditions were terrible at these detention centers (the exhibition termed it “American concentration camps” and I prefer to call them internment camps, although it is a bureaucratic euphemism.) To say the least, the Portland Assembly Center was a makeshift camp out of the Pacific Northwest Livestock Exposition. The authorities literally assigned each family to an animal stall.

33,000 Japanese Americans did serve in the Army and participated in the European front of the war. A lot of them, with their language skills, were placed in the Military Information Service (MIS). The rest participated in battles, albeit segregated. Both the 100^th Infantry Battalion and 442^nd Regimental Combat Team were known for their valor—all the while, their family and friends were incarcerated back home.

By the time that WWII ended, the Japanese Americans being incarcerated had lost everything. They had no home, no land, no jobs to return to. The incarcerees in Minidoka were given $25 and a one-way bus ticket. About 70% of Oregon’s Japanese Americans returned to the state.

Minoru Yasui

Worthy of mention is the story of Minoru Yasui. An Oregon native, he was the first Japanese American attorney to become a member of the Oregon State Bar. He was turned away from military service during WWII due to his ancestry. In March 28, 1942, he purposely violated a curfew imposed on Nikkei in the West Coast. For this offense, he spent nine months in solitary confinement as he appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. This was the first case that challenged curfew against a stated minority group. At the time, the Supreme Court affirmed his conviction. He was also interned at a camp during most of WWII. His conviction was eventually vacated in 1986.

After the war, he settled down in Denver and continued to fight for civil rights and social justice. In 2015, President Obama awarded him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. Now, March 28 is Minoru Yasui Day in Oregon.

The internment of Japanese Americans during WWII was a blatant violation of civil rights and it was not justified even during war times. There was no one single allegation that could be made against the Japanese Americans for espionage. The Japanese Americans sought justice in the courts after the war. To name just the well-known cases, there was Ex parte Mitsuye Endo, Yasui v. United States, and Korematsu v. United States. 

In the theater of justice, the Japanese Americans also approached the political process for redress and reparations. In 1980, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians published its report titled Personal Justice Denied. The conclusion of the report was that Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity, but motivated by racial prejudice. In 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act. Amongst others, President Reagon acknowledged the injustice committed against the Japanese Americans, apologized publicly to those incarcerated, and a sum of $20,000 was paid to each surviving incarceree.

This was certainly one of the darkest chapters in United States history. But make no mistake, the Japanese Americans have shown themselves to be exceedingly perseverant, resilient with a strong sense of justice and solidarity. In postwar life, they rebuilt their livelihood and status as a driving force for the ever-evolving democratic spirit of the nation.

Sources

TravelPortland.com, Portland’s Shanghai Tunnels.

The Wikipedia on Shanghai Tunnels.

The Wikipedia on Minoru Yasui.

National Park Services, Portland New Chinatown / Japantown Historic District.

Descriptions on site at the Japanese American Museum at Naito Center.

I enjoyed the Multnomah Falls as a good excursion, away from the city life of Portland. On this early morning I ventured into a natural endowment of Oregon, what ultimately is the most precious heritage of the state. The Multnomah Falls features the spectacular view of a triple cascade. It is very close to the City of Portland and easily accessible by public transportation.

Getting There

From Downtown Portland I took the light rail to the Gateway Transit Center. It’s an open area transport hub with light rail and buses. I arrived before daybreak and so in the dark I inquired at the buses, asking the drivers whether the one in wait was indeed going to the Multnomah Falls, and it was. About 45 minutes later I made it to the Multnomah Falls parking lot. I walked the tunnel under the train tracks to reach the scenic spot.

The schedule of the public transportation is available on Google Maps. From what I observed, on a weekday the buses only run in three sessions, very early morning, around noon and around 3pm. Please be very aware, because missing the return bus to Portland would result in a waiting of two, three hours before the next round of return pickup comes. Of course, you would always have Uber app with you in case the public buses don’t work out.

Wait at the opposite side of the parking lot for the return bus, at the direction toward the city.

The Falls

At a height of 620 feet, the Multnomah Fall is the tallest waterfall in Oregon. There are three drops of the fall. There is an upper one at 542 feet, and a lower falls at 69 feet, both cascading downpours that loop the infinite power of nature.

The Falls is located in the Columbia River Gorge. It originates from the underground springs of the Larch Mountain. Rainwater throughout the year replenishes the fall’s spectacular roars of downward rapids. I went in the morning after significant rain in the area, and the water moved like a dragon tumbling down the pool from heavens. This water would make its way to the Benson Lake, where it drains, approximately 1,300 feet west of the bottom of the falls. The tall fir trees so typical of Oregon’s scenery line the mount before me, seemingly humming the soul songs of nature.

As a natural phenomenon, the Multnomah Falls is known to exhibit extreme powers of water erosion. It is effectively nature’s chisel, that chips away the cliff wall of the Columbia River Gorge. In the winter, when the falls freeze, the erosive power is only amplified as against the cliff wall. Over time, it has so happened that large chunks of the cliff come hurtling to the ground and the pool below.

Therefore, for the sake of safety, do not venture out of the paved trails in this area. Besides the paths being generally slippery, there is the danger of falling rocks as well. There are hiking trails surrounding the general scenic area. Please visit this website for relevant information.

A Myth of Creation

The Falls is named after the Multnomah tribe. The tribesmen believe that “the waterfall was formed after a young woman sacrificed herself to the Great Spirit to save a Multnomah village from a plague by jumping from the cliff, and the Multnomah peoples were saved. After her death, water began to flow from above the cliff, creating the waterfall.” (Wikipedia).

The Multnomah Falls Benson Bridge

The Multnomah Falls Benson Bridge was constructed circa 1917. The bridge “spans the lower falls at a height of 105 feet (32 m), and provides an expansive view of the upper falls” (Wikipedia).

The Benson Bridge was named after the wealthy lumberman Simon Benson. One day, he was having a walk at the Columbia River Gorge with his friend Samuel Lancaster, and Lancaster suggested that “it’d be nice if there were a footbridge the lower waterfall, with a path up to and across it so that visitors could look up at that magnificent waterfall above…” (Multnomah Falls Lodge website) Upon hearing this, Benson wrote a check for Lancaster and thus began the project.

The engineer’s own recollection explains well what a marvel it was that this bridge could be constructed, “Robert Ringer, the subcontractor, wrote that, ‘the bridge had to be built 135 feet in the air above the base of operations at the foot of the lower falls. It was straight up a rocky cliff’ he added with, ‘water dashing over one side of it. It was a wild tangle of Nature and we had to climb on our hands and knees to reach the building site. We installed an aerial trolley operated by horses to put up all the materials.’ (Multnomah Falls Lodge website)

The beauty of the Multnomah Falls is sung throughout history. According to the Wikipedia, the famous explorers Lewis and Clark have also visited the falls, and it was noted in Lewis’ journal entry.

The Multnomah Falls Lodge

The Multnomah Falls Lodge is itself a heritage building. Built in 1925, the Lodge celebrates its centennial in 2025, when I visited. I decided against having a meal there, because it was yet to open when I visited. If I had a meal there after I visited the Falls, I would miss the return bus to Portland.

But I did have a very early (and much-needed) coffee at the coffee stand, and it was a touch of mercy at that temperature.

I admired the architecture of the Lodge, it has a sturdy, rustic appearance due to its stony exterior. The lodge was “built in a ‘Cascadian’ architectural style using native split fieldstone laid irregularly. The building features a steeply pitched cedar-shingled gable roof with dormers and large chimneys.” (Wikipedia) The stones that give the building a rustic vibe were all locally sourced.

Between the 1930s to the mid-20^th century, the Lodge provided meals and lodging to travelers. To mark the special occasion of its centennial, the Lodge has rolled out their centennial lager and bourbon for their spirited supporters, the liquor was locally produced by Wood Family Spirits and features the Multnomah Falls and the Lodge on its label.

The Multnomah Creek Bridge

The Multnomah Creek Bridge was built in 1914 to bring what is now the Historic Columbia River Highway across Multnomah Creek below the falls. It is 67 feet (20 m) long and it is part of the highway’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Of couse, both the Benson Bridge and the Multnomah Falls Lodge are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Best Time of the Day to Visit

I arrived at the falls perhaps too early. Oregon was raining quite a bit in the three days that I was there, and that morning was very misty with drizzles. The sun has come out then but it was still too dark to illuminate the falls to reveal the truest colors that make it beautiful. I noticed though that as the sun shined more brightly, the scenery came into better focus, the colors acquiring the distinctiveness that really highlighted the roaring water.

Therefore, I suggest that one visits the under the shines of broad daylight. Since the buses only go in three sessions during the day, perhaps then the noon hours would be the best.

Source

The Wikipedia on Multnomah Falls.

Eyewitness Travel Guides, USA (2006).

The website of Multnomah Falls Lodge.

I noticed that the Los Angeles mornings were always somewhat hazy. The day was young and the wintriness was gentle. In fact, it felt almost as if California was still easing into the fall. For it was even warmer than Hong Kong at this time of the year.

Looking at the haziness, I figured that I could first have an early lunch and then wait for the sun to clear up the sky. After lunch at I walked toward the shore for about 40 minutes, and by the time I got there, sunshine was plenty and the day was good for photographs.

Perhaps all that is worth seeing for a tourist in Long Beach are all concentrated in the shore. I passed by the Pike Outlets, which features some common brand names like H&M, Nike, Cotton On and GAP. Having passed the footbridge, I arrived at the shoreline area.

There are a few things in this area that are worth seeing. The first is the Aquarium of the Pacific. There were groups of school age children there when I passed by. Across from the Aquarium is a marina. The whale watching yachts stand by there for commission.

Then there is the Lions Lighthouse. Across from the Lions Lighthouse (not accessible by foot over the waters) is the Shoreline Village, which is very touristy with a little bit of photogenic quality. Then, again, across the waters, but to the south, is docked the RMS Queen Mary. It has been renovated recently, and reopened its doors for tours and visits.

I took a walk all around the Lions Lighthouse this morning.

The Lions Lighthouse

Situated at the estuary of the Los Angeles River is the Shoreline Aquatic Park. Shaped like a half-enclosed thenar space, the Shoreline Aquatic Park is a bay where the Los Angeles River meets the ocean. The Lions Lighthouse glistens under the midday sunshine. The vibe was relaxed. People took walks, jogged, biked, and living life there in as Californian a manner as it could be.

The Lions Lighthouse is a decorative lighthouse of the Downtown Long Beach Lions Club International, which set it up to commemorate their dedication to the blind. The lighthouse was first lit in 2000.

The fact that it was not a historic relic in the real sense of the word did not make it any less valuable. Its charitable purpose was plenty interesting to me. Besides, it was at the lighthouse that the love for Long Beach as a community shines. There are captions there explaining various aspects of Long Beach at the Light House.

A Brief History of Long Beach

Early Settlement

It is said that this area was long inhabited by the Native Americans, as early as the 1500s. At the time, the people called it “Bay of the Smokes,” referring to the smoke signals that the Native Americans used for communication at what is now the Signal Hill area. During the late 1700s, the area was owned by the Spanish, and it was divided into Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos (thus the beach being named Alamitos Beach).

In the 1880s, the residents voted to incorporate the city as Long Beach.

A Fortune Befallen

In 1921, with discovery of oil in Long Beach came an enormous economic boom. Long Beach also became a popular seaside resort and port town. The Pike was the area of recreational activities and boardwalk entertainment. Between 1902 and 1979, the Pike was first an amusement park, then throughout the years was the designated venue for different configurations of entertainment. Its main walkway was lined with hotdog stands, arcades, shooting galleries, and cafes. It stood for the best of all fun in Southern California, and was known as “Walk of a Thousand Lights.” As I walked in the shoreline area, I figured that perhaps a lot of the old Pike has retained its historical role to this day.

Another interesting history of Long Beach is that Calbraith “Cal” Rodgers, who flew the first airplane across the continental U.S., landed in Long Beach as the final destination for his flight that began in New York. This 1911 fanfare was known as Vin Fiz because Armour & Company, the sponsor of the flight, wanted to use the occasion to advertise its grape soda.

A Community Dedicated to the Nation

Yet Long Beach is much more than fun and adventures. Between 1943 and 1997, this is the site for the major naval base on the West Coast. The shipyard served fully its patriotic function during WWII, having done 303 major repairs on 9 battleships, 14 cruisers, 31 destroyers escorts, 46 destroyers and 30 oil tankers.

The story of Long Beach is a decorated one, and it really ought to be proud as a community.

After an easy walk at the Shoreline Aquatic Park, I decided to return to the hotel. That was a nice first day in Southern California.

Sources

The Wikipedia on Lions Lighthouse.

Descriptions on site at the Lions Lighthouse.

The City Government of Long Beach, Long Beach History.