3972

I have taken a picture of this sign before, so its reappearance here is just confirmation that some things in Portland stay, for now, satisfyingly familiar.

Picture it: it's the 60s, and East 122nd isn't the commercial corridor that it is today, and is certainly a lot more whitebread. And, out in this area, two brothers build competing car dealerships.

If they ever gave this road a name-name, it should perhaps be Tonkin Boulevard. At the north end, at NE Halsey St, Marv Tonkin built a Ford dealership (now Courtesy Ford) that left us a long time ago but whose jingle still rattles around in the mind of some of us old-timers.

It's brother Ron's dealership, however, that survived, and became a local empire unto itself, including a Nissan dealership across from his brother's old location (spun off into Russom's Nissan of Portland) and a ultra-luxury dealership called Ron Tonkin's Gran Turismo (which has latterly removed to Wilsonville).

The 122nd Ave dealership still stands strong in its original location though,as does the three-story sign, which was a common thing back when things like this were built but today is, truly, the last of an ancient breed, even outliving its namesake founder.