Recently I spied a plea on social media from Dan & Louis Oyster Bar requesting supporters to stop on in for a meal. Like a lot of local businesses, they’re being challenged economically by the times, and perhaps, their location. But unlike other Portland restaurants, this one is the most sentimental for my family. After all, this was Dad’s favorite spot for many years: the one he would take us out to and foot the bill as we young adults returned for a visit.

And talk about history! Dan and Louis celebrates five generation of family in this family-owned business. The story begins, as shared on their website: “It was 1907, and Louis C. Wachsmuth was carting them inside to the big, briny crab pot. Oysters, shrimp, live lobsters from the East, and all kinds of fish were handled in carload lots. Dealing in seafood was nothing new for Louis. He grew up working with his father and brothers on the family oyster farm in Oysterville, Washington….” It’s an interesting story and I urge you to check it out in their words. See “About Dan & Louis Oyster Bar – Five Generations.” Included in the story are the Wachsmuth family roots in Denmark and travel to the US, first as a fourteen-year-old stowaway, and the building of the restaurant with its sailing ship interior. No wonder it truly was Dad’s favorite restaurant. (And only mere blocks from Oregon’s Maritime Museum or Portland Steamer.) Oh, he loved chowder and oyster stew too. And of course, he too had grown up spending time on the Long Beach Peninsula, with Oysterville at its tip, just as his kids, grandkids and now great grandkids. (See Old Times in Ocean Park and Other Stories.)

I still remember this day, I had come down to Portland while living and working in Seattle. Around this time I worked for EPA Region 10 in their Seattle Regional Office (where I looked from my desk above I-5 and directly into Mount Rainier on a sunny day) and would occasionally travel to the various operations’ offices, including Portland’s, to provide training, respirator fit-testing or attend some high level meeting. Believe it or not, it was around that era when I was asked to meet with the director of Oregon DEQ (Fred Hansen back then) and his senior staff to explain why it was DEQ staff did have to follow OSHA hazardous waste training regulations even if it meant they could not step foot on certain DEQ controlled superfund clean up sites. But yes, that’s another story.

Perhaps the most sentimental part of the Dan & Louis story for me is that it was my employer while I was a senior at Lincoln High and through my summer before college. It wasn’t my first job – I had poured endless cups of coffee and worked as a waitress at PSU’s nearby Kopper Kitchen, and even had a very short lived job as a telephone subscription solicitor for Willamette Week. (I was very bad at this.) But it was the first job when after writing my given name on the job application, I felt embarrassed to tell them I went by Dede and so was called Dorothy all that year. I learned to carry three bowls of chowder at a time by the very kind older women who were most of the waitresses back then (I still remember the waitress named Helen), and watched them as they ate raw oysters each morning as we set them on the half shell. Oh, and once I spilled most of a bowl of chowder down a man’s leg during the – then – very busy lunchtime weekday lunch hour. But it was a great job and awesome people. Too, it was the only job I was audited for by the IRS nearly two years later. They “tracked me down” as a college student in MIssoula claiming I hadn’t reported all my tips, Dan & Louis one of many Portland restaurants that year investigated for tip reports. Dad was so proud of me working there. In fact, he insisted on using the photo below when the Port of Portland announced me a recipient of their annual scholarship awards. (Maybe he was embarrassed as the one tasked with writing the Portsmouth newsletter to show that I actually did work to earn my dollars?)

But back to present day! Dan & Louis seemed the perfect place to grab a bite yesterday after spending a wonderful afternoon at Oregon HIstorical Society’s Holiday Cheer. Russ and I enjoyed a bowl of chowder and a beer. I felt immediately transported to another place and era as I passed through its welcoming front door. The staff was friendly and loved updating me on both family management changes as well as a few structural changes since the long ago day when I carefully carried those steaming chowder bowls.

I could have chatted with our waiter all night, but knew he had work to get back to. Without a doubt, I will make an effort to make a monthly visit there. Let me know if you want to meet me sometime. And yes, yet again, it is up to us to help these longtime Portland businesses through today’s challenges in this city we love so much.