“I’m sorry, but if you don’t have a prescription I’m not able to sell you medical marijuana.”
“OK, I’ll have some recreational marijuana, please.”
“Of course. Will that be cash or card?”
Reminds me of a business trip several years ago. Arriving on a late-night flight into a southern California resort town I took a shuttle to an off-airport, cut-rate rental-car operation. They could not find my reservation. Showing a printed copy of the confirmed reservation, including confirmation number, did not help. The clerk could not find my reservation. Exasperated and wondering what to do next, I asked, “Well, do you have any cars at all?”
Most days he would step inside the front door of our office on Northeast 42nd Avenue to declare, with a loud and dissonant voice, that it was going to rain that day; or announce something that was – or maybe wasn’t – happening up the street. He would then abruptly turn and leave to share his news report with other businesses or passersby along the avenue. Eddie Morgan, aka the Mayor of 42nd Avenue, was standing on the corner of 42nd and Alberta Street early one morning when he was shot to death.
Marin County is known for a number of things: German automobiles cluttering its roads, George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch and the stereotypical affluent California lifestyle in general. It’s also rolling hills and, miles from anything, the town of Nicasio, home to a church, a little league field, a volunteer fire department and the venerable Rancho Nicasio. The roadhouse was built in 1941, a year after the 1867-vintage Nicasio Hotel burned.
Rainer wasn’t the only Northwest beer with clever commercials that couldn’t keep it in business. Blitz-Weinhard marketed itself as “The Beer Here.” Today, it’s another brand from somewhere.
Henry Weinhard opened his Portland brewery in 1856, three years before Oregon became a state. For decades, Blitz-Weinhard was the largest-selling beer in Oregon. Pabst Brewing bought the company in 1979; sold to G. Heileman in 1983; Heileman’s bankruptcy in 1996 prompted sale to Stroh Brewing Co; Stroh sold to Miller in 1999; Miller immediately closed brewery and moved production up I-5 to Olympia; Miller closed that brewery in 2003 and contracted with Full Sail in Hood River to brew the brand; Miller became MillerCoors in 2007; Full Sail contract ended in 2013 and now Henry Weinhard’s is brewed… somewhere.
The brewery, adjacent to Powell’s City of Books, is now the Brewery Blocks, a conglomeration of condos and apartments, offices, trendy retail – Whole Foods, Sur la Table and others – and a location of MillerCoors franchised Henry’s Tavern.
But that’s not what this post is about. It’s to share the story of Schludwiller beer, a fictitious California brand and attempts by intrepid truckers Vern and Earl to bring it into Oregon. The Schludwiller truck actually was used by the brewery to distribute its beer and could be seen traveling the highways throughout the state.
Rainer Beer had great commercials. Some featured Mickey Rooney; some were parodies of other commercials or Saturday Night Live Skits. Bud’s croaking frogs? Copied from Rainier. Others were just plain clever. Unfortunately, they did not convey that hot-looking babes were attracted to Rainier drinkers.
Big Time Wrestling – also known as Portland Wrestling – was a staple of Portland’s late-night TV for four decades. It went off the air in December 1991 despite being the highest-rated, locally produced show in the Portland television market. Its demise was a result of the bankruptcy of its main sponsor, “Tom Peterson’s” furniture and electronics stores. Tom Peterson died last month at age eighty-six.
“I’m sorry, but if you don’t have a prescription I’m not able to sell you medical marijuana.”
