After taking the history of G.I. Joe’s offline for over a year, I have decided to write a new, enlarged version, with a lot of photos, and publish it as a book.
It will include not only the story of my father starting the company, but also how the business grew to a large sporting goods and automotive chain and how it reflected Northwest character and attitudes. Part of the story, too, is my growing up in mid-century Portland.
Stay tuned for updates as the book-to-be starts to take form!
Janna Orkney, January 7, 2012
The G.I.Joe’s on Vancouver Ave. was part of my playground. We lived in the Portland Auto Camp on Union Ave. just behind G.I.Joe’s. The war years us kids would go to the store to buy military patches to put on our clothes. There was also a time about 1948 or so when all the girls bought a small leather box, I think it was for amunition, and it became a fad. Also before the store was built, the Portland City Dump was there and we used to look for tin cans for the war drive. By the time I was married the store was still there and we used to take out kids there to look around and try on hats. A wonderful time and wonderful memory, thank you G.I. Joe’s.