A SW 6th and Yamhill enterance. Come on down! Credit: Vintage Portland
A SW 6th and Yamhill enterance. Come on down!

Did you know? Public toilets have always been a hit in downtown. The city’s recently been caught up in the heavily marketed “Portland Loos”—the downtown public bathroom brigade led by Commissioner Randy Leonard—but little has been leaked on the interesting history of the city’s public restrooms. I like to call them the Shanghai Tunnels of toilets (and not because people tossed you into them when you were blitzed).

In 1913, the city opened a handful of public restrooms, or “comfort stations,” located underground downtown. They were incredibly classy, with porcelain tiles, comfy seating areas and a lovely ventilation system. Of course, the ruffians of the 80s led these to closure. I’m curious if they were completely filled in or remain creepily in good shape under foot. Here are a few photos of the old poo dungeons (clarification: they were never called this).

restroom-6th-yamhill-interior-5371-1912.jpg
Nothing like a bathroom ventilation vent/drinking fountain combo
  • Vintage Portland
  • Nothing like a bathroom ventilation vent/drinking fountain combo

Alex Zielinski is a former News Editor for the Portland Mercury. She's here to tell stories about economic inequities, cops, civil rights, and weird city politics that you should probably be paying attention...

11 replies on “Ye Olde Underground Loo”

  2. They are still down there, just closed off from the street. I’ve seen much newer color pictures of them in disrepair, probably from somewhere on Vintage Portland.

  4. I was in the underground men’s room at least once before they closed those, back when I was a teenager. I don’t remember there being a ghostly maid, just plenty of leering men admiring my long, dirty-blonde hair, lithe form, and purty mouth.

  6. aren’t there still a couple of those entrances by the old Federal courthouse across from Pioneer Courthouse Square?

  7. yes, those entrances over by the square are still intact. no idea what’s inside. if they offered a tour, I would pay good money.

    this is exactly like those old tyme nyc subway tours

  9. These seem much like the public restrooms in France, where you pay half a euro to use them and I presume that covers the salary of the attendant.

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