Score.
Just when I think I’ve exhausted my 60s Portland finds, this sucker falls out of the sky.
The Clothes Horse [no, not the Clothes Whore] was located at 721 SW Broadway and was billed as “one of America’s most outstanding specialty shops!” [The exclamation point is theirs.]
The keyword here is “specialty” – based on the photos from the postcard, it looks like the joint sold clothes, hats, knick-knack and accessories for the cast of the Valley of the Dolls. The shop had different sections to the store.
Here’s the opening shot:
Let’s zoom in, shall we?
The Gift Horse section – featuring a less-robust Joan from Mad Men.
Men’s Clothing – back in the day when clothing and interior design were one.
The Casual Downs Shop – anything but.
The Winners Circle.
Here’s the back of the postcard in boring old black and white:
The site is now Cramer Hall at PSU. Nordstrom.
Looks like Google messed up this time around. The 700 block of SW Broadway is where the downtown Nordstrom store is now located.
This block did have a number of different small stores and a movie theatre on it that were demolished in the 1970s to make room for Nordy’s.
I’m pretty sure the Clothes Horse was a chain… swear I remember seeing that logo when I was a kid in Corvallis/
OMG I think I remember that men’s dept. They tried to sell me one of those plaid sportcoats. (1968) Found something more sedate in (probably) Meier & Frank’s.
I remember going in there with my parents in the 60’s. The mens department smelled of Borkum Riff pipe tobacco, the Winners Circle was where I touched my first sable coat.
It was ‘fancy’ and we were told to be on our best manners.
It was a wonderful store. If I remember rightly it was owned by one of the Horenstein family (I think it was Max Horenstein) who were prominent in Portland clothes retailing for decades. I think one of them owned The Gay Blade (also a clothing store), renamed simply “The Blade” after the secondary meaning became the primary meaning.
Thanks for the info, Isaac. On Main Street in Milwaukie where the Gay Blade used to reside, there’s a plaque in front of the storefront with the logo.
The Gay Blade!!!oh what memories. Had a friend that worked there. Had a store in Washington Sq. One in Lake O. When it changed it’s name to The Blade, it never recovered the image.
Also remember downtown before Nordstroms. Lipman & Wolfe’s, wonderful lunch counter on the mezzanine level. Never could afford to buy clothes there but would sit in the mezzanine and watch the women shoppers on the ground floor. Quite cheap entertainment.
The Clothes Horse – was NOT a chain,although they had a store in Palm Springs. It was way ahead of its time fashion wise for provincial Portland. Very hip, spendy & colorful. What they sold was high quality & beautifully made. You can still find apparel from the store in vintage shops around Portland.
Barbara