Coffee and Cake

by Lyle Hehn
The “Crystal Blocks” in Downtown Portland and the people associated with this roughly 60,000 square foot section of mishappen blocks have provided countless opportunities for McMenamins’ historians and artists to make connections to other McMenamins’ properties across Oregon and Washington. Artist Lyle Hehn makes references to some of these properties as he leads the viewer on a circuitous journey from the coastal city of Gearhart, Oregon to the Alphabet District in NW Portland, to the heart of Downtown, and back to Gearhart.

The setting for this painting is the beach at Gearhart. Around 1890, Robert Livingstone had a summer house built on a bluff overlooking the beach. The prominent Scotsman named his Gearhart retreat Drumtochty Cottage after a castle on Scotland’s east coast. This cottage is the house in the upper left corner of the painting. While in Gearhart, Livingstone mapped out a few rough golf holes that would eventually become the Gearhart Golf Links – the first golf course west of the Mississippi. McMenamins Gearhart Hotel – along with the Sand Trap Pub – is situated on this 18-hole course.

Livingstone’s primary residence prior to 1912 was at the corner of NW 23rd Avenue and Hoyt Street, in the heart of what some Portlanders refer to as the Alphabet District. Portland’s population boomed from 1890-1920, and the house was torn down to make way for The Campbell Hotel. The chair in center right of the painting bears the “C” used by the hotel’s first manager and namesake, Jean Campbell. The coffee cup on the chair refers to an era in which the restaurant on the ground level of the hotel was run by Sidney McDougal. She served liquor in coffee cups to avoid prying eyes during Prohibition.

Byrl Coyle, the smiling man holding a coffee pot, was the owner of Hot Coffee Service, Inc. in the 1940s. The company operated coffee shops around Portland and delivered mass amounts of coffee to office buildings and event spaces in 10-gallon urns. Their primary customers were the office workers of the time who were just being introduced to “the coffee break.” The Flatiron Building at SW 13th & Harvey Milk Street – now McMenamins Annex – became headquarters for Hot Coffee Service and had a coffee shop on the ground floor that was open from 6am to 5pm.

The bride and groom are Fritz and Pat Strauch. They worked together – along with Byrl Coyle – while the company was headquartered in the Flatiron Building. The delivery car – unique enough to get a shout out in the Oregonian in 1950 – is topped with the newlyweds’ cake. Lyle made the cake in the shape of the Flatiron Building as a nod to the architectural design known as “wedding-cake style.”

Closing this remarkable circle, Nancy Coyle, – Byrl’s ex-wife, moved from Portland to Gearhart with her two young sons in the early 1940s. She managed a restaurant there and the three of them lived in an apartment above the restaurant. They eventually moved into the Robert Livingstone house, Drumtochty Cottage, on the bluff overlooking the beach