The 1960s ushered in a new breed of dinning establishment. Unlike their predecessors, they sought to combine two unlikely elements: "food" and "fun." The babe of this unholy union was the family restaurant. This wasn't the first time eateries employed gimmicks to draw in customer but had it ever been done with such creative pandering? In 1963, McDonald's rolled out their spokesman, Ronald McDonald, clearing the way for various tie-ins and all those Playlands. Mom and Pop joints, like Oregon's long-gone Pixie Kitchen chain, also utilized themes and novelties to draw in customers. 40 years later, there's a family restaurant catering to every taste. Appleby's and TGIF's offer standard fare. Red Lobster pines for popcorn shrimp lovers and Chuck E. Cheese draws in for the "those-bearing-rugrats" contingency. More locally, there's the McMenamins empire, which seems lazer-focused on attracting ex-hippies but somehow manages to appeal to everyone. But for every Olive Garden or Spaghetti Factory, there's a million others that aren't nearly as fortunate. Some family restaraunts grow into franchises and manage to open locations in Tokyo. Others close and fade into obscurity. One pizzeria in Southeast Portland may have never hit the big time but it remains notorious in the minds of those who grew up in the city in the '70s and '80s.
"The opening on August 26, 1973 in Portland, Oregon of the unprecedented ORGAN GRINDER introduced one of the largest pizza parlors in the Untied States to Pacific Northwest pizza lovers. The ORGAN GRINDER accommodates approximately 500 patrons in a plush surrounding never before seen in a pizza parlor. Customers choose from dozens of combinations of pizza, make their own tossed salads from an ice cold salad bar and select their favorite beverage. A generous luncheon of specialty sandwiches is a pleasing addition to the pizza menu for the midday crowd. During both luncheon and dinner hours, 6,600 lights sparkle as ORGAN GRINDER patrons are entertained by theatre pipe organ music, totaling approximately 70 hours of music each week. Silent movies with organ accompaniment, floating bubbles, life size Disney and animal characterizations and Pizza Pete, the organ grinder man's playful live monkey combine with the Hurdy-Gurdy toy and gift shop to make a visit to the ORGAN GRINDER an unforgettable experience." Indeed, many Disney characters did take up residency in the east Portland pizzeria. I remember wondering as a child how Mickey and Donald could pull shifts at Disneyland, do all those movies and TV specials AND fly up the west coast to dance around at the Organ Grinder. And why was Minnie was usually stuck greeting patrons in the parking lot while her male colleagues regaled customers inside? William Beutler, a journalist who grew up in east Portland, offered this recollection of an average visit: "I remember the bubble window by the front door. I remember walking past the floor-to-ceiling organ pipes. Impossibly tall. More impressive than any church I went to. I recall the walk past them, all the way across the width of the place, then a turn left to the actual eating area. Very cheesy, stringy-cheesy pizza. I remember this annoying me, for some reason I can no longer recall."
"The Wurlitzer pipe organ at the ORGAN GRINDER was originally installed in the Oriental Theatre in Portland, Oregon and was first played by Glenn Shelley for that theatre's opening on December 31, 1927. Shortly before the theatre was demolished in 1970, one of the owners of the ORGAN GRINDER purchased the organ with the hope that one day it might again play for the enjoyment of the public. With carefully selected components from other theatre organs throughout the country, the already giant instrument has been enlarged from its original 13 ranks of pipes to a staggering 39 ranks in its present form at the ORGAN GRINDER. The organ is powered by a 60 hp. turbine blower, contains 2,681 pipes ranging in size from 32 feet to 1/4 inch in length and scores of percussion instruments and special effects which are accented by twinkling lights."
An electronic tic-tac-toe board of sorts was hung over the kitchen, telling patrons when their pizza was ready. For kids busy throwing away their parents quarters upstairs, their table's number always seemed to come up too quickly. As the organist played, silent cartoons and Laurel and Hardy shorts filled an overhead screen lowered in front of mechanical drums and cymbals. About once an hour, bubbles would "magically" float out of the organ's pipes. I remember ducking and weaving through a crowd of kids and chairs, frantically trying to catch as many possible. The restaurant's mirror ball would light up about as often, sending me in to near hysterics as I tried to catch these "light" bubbles. There was also the "Hurdy-Gurdy." I have no clear memory of the shop but it apparently offered t-shirts, records, toys and various other Organ Grinder paraphernalia. Dan Atkinson, now a 25 year old law student, recalls a "wall of monkeys" on one side of the store. Diners could take home their very own clanking "Pizza Pete," not that he would have wanted to.
(Artist's sketch. Pizza Pete. Adult perspective.)
For most four year olds slurping the cheese off their pizzas, this sketch was the height of hilarity. Even now, years later, Atkinson claims he still fears Pizza Pete. "Do you have any idea how frightened I was/am of that monkey," he said. "Utterly and totally petrified. Strangely, I became even more afraid when the organist would hit the monkey."
(Artist's sketch. Pizza Pete. Tyke's perspective.)
But this place wasn't designed by a would-be Walt Disney. The designers seemed to have more a Tex Avery theme in mind. With its mad monkey mascot, cascading bubbles, burping video games and hoards of future Gen-x, y and z'ers running around with pizza sauce dribbling down their faces, the Organ Grinder may as well have been a live action cartoon.
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