The release of The Birth of A Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915) around the country made big waves. D.W. Griffith and James Q.

On Saturday, July 26, 1926, an advertisement was posted in

According to The Sunday Oregonian, a Portland office for Associated First National Pictures opened, in the city, on November 1, 1920. This was big news for Portland theaters as Associated First National Pictures was a large nationwide film distributor, with famous stars attached to their films, such as Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, meaning that Portland theaters will be able to get better pictures easier and faster.

Oaks Amusement Park, located on the Willamette River and near the present-day Sellwood Bridge, opened its gates for the first time on June 1st of 1905. The amusement park was a huge family place of amusement for their rides, live music, roller arena, picnicking and many other activities.

As early as 1897, local film censorship boards regulated film exhibition with standards that varied city to city, and because of a lack of enforcement power, even theater to theater. In 1911, Portland debuted a censorship board of its own. The chairman of the board, at least in 1916, was a man by the name of F. T. Richards.

While I was scouring the Historic Oregon Newspaper archive for an advertisement concerning the Alhambra Theater in Portland, a common subject continued to crop up: The Iron Claw.