I can't see the symbol close enough to have any input.

Living in the country I don't have an idea what they did during the area of civil defense in town, other than up there across from the swimming pool and on the side of the street above the Hood River shops was this look out tower. Now whether that was for WWII or later I can't tell you.

In the country,k my aunt would save us all. She put tin foil over her basement windows, had us each pack a bag to keep down there, because that was where we would survive, because that was where all her zillion of jars of vegetables from the garden was canned up..

Charlott on 27th February 2012 @ 7:15am

This is definitely some sort of celebration as there is what one might call the area for speakers, etc. Flag, with greens around that area in front of the drug store. What was Dixie Bread???????????

Charlott on 27th February 2012 @ 7:17am

The very first First Friday event? :)

Dan on 27th February 2012 @ 7:41am

I see a camping scene.....pup tent and "Smoky Bear hat" on possibly a Forrest ranger....could be some static camping display???

Dr. Steelhead Catcher on 27th February 2012 @ 7:47am

Correction....Forest Ranger...

Dr. Steelhead Catcher on 27th February 2012 @ 7:50am

Any idea who owned The Guide Restaurant?

l.e. on 27th February 2012 @ 9:10am

That appears to be a Crag Rat shirt in the middle of the photo.

l.e. on 27th February 2012 @ 10:02am

Hanging near the Keir sign is a neat Union Pacific (RR) sign that I think says Union Pacific Stages, can't tell what the diagonal word is.......on other UP signs it says Overland.
Yes, my memory of the old look out tower near the swiming pool was a WW II relic. Love the memory of the regular duck and cover drills.....get under your wooden desk to protect yourself from a nuclear blast........and yes, we did duck and cover thinking that we were now saved............
Sure looks like a great celebration.

Arlen Sheldrake on 27th February 2012 @ 11:55am

There was the "Yellow" and black sign indicating an area where the courthouse employees could go in the event of a "nuclear attack". It was on the wall just above the stairwell when you went down to the basement/first floor of the courthouse during the 70's I often laughed because the little room was so small and there were no provisions, etc. we would not have lasted long. Government at work?

judy on 27th February 2012 @ 12:40pm

In 1961, the Army Corps of Engineers began researching the production of signs for public shelters.
Blair Inc. was hired to come up with the designs. The colors yellow and black were chosen because yellow was an easy color to see by the light of a cigarette lighter.
The triangular design was chosen in late 1961. At the time, it was noted that the design already existed.......
"The circle and triangle arrangement is not new and original. Fig. 349 in Hornung, Handbook of Designs and Devices (1946) shows this same circle-triangle arrangement."
In early 1962, contracts were sent out, to begin manufacturing the signs.

l.e. on 27th February 2012 @ 1:47pm

http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/signs/index.html need to look at the sign closer. it's not a fallout sign. fallout signs have triangles that point down - presumably to the shelter.

spinsur on 27th February 2012 @ 3:29pm

Excellent work finding the pup tent and the ranger in the middle of the street. I can see it now-- it sure does look like a camping related display. Maybe Esther has seen something like this in the HR News archives.

I agree with spinsur that the light and dark areas in the sign are reversed from the fallout shelter design.

To answer Arlen's question, the diagonal word on the "Union Pacific Stages" sign is "Columbia River". It is a beautiful old sign-- I'm sure a collector would kill for it.

Arthur on 27th February 2012 @ 4:33pm

Thanks Arthur. Union Pacific Stages was acquired by Overland Greyhound Lines in 1952 and yes, the sign is worth $$$ as are these pictures.
Interesting audience on the "balcony" with "stairs" going to the upper "balcony". An amazing picture.....Arlen

Arlen Sheldrake on 27th February 2012 @ 6:15pm

What I found interesting besides the signs, was the guy in uniform or is it a statue on the stage and that the street looks like it is paved in concrete and that the "gutters" or next to the curb are brick pavers. Again a lot of kids attending this event. Another Cash and Carry store where the Hallmark store is now.

Jim Gray on 27th February 2012 @ 7:13pm

There appear to be lots of young men in the photo. Could this be a Boy Scout related event?

Jeffrey Bryant on 28th February 2012 @ 4:25am

Looks like cobblestones next to the sidwalk.
Could the structure with the pup tent and soldier be a parade float?

Ralph on 28th February 2012 @ 7:10am

I am weirded out by the possible "Fallout Shelter" sign (1960's) in a photo from the 1920's....Maybe the photo IS from the 60's and there's going to be a parade of old cars?

Kate D on 28th February 2012 @ 8:29am

Looking at the photo detail again I see the office of Dr. Plyler, Chiropractor right above the symbol. I was surprised to find Hood River had a Chiropractor in the 20's. I wonder if he had anything to do with the sign.

Arthur on 28th February 2012 @ 10:08am

The National Register app for the EL Smith Building says Dr. Plyler's offices were there from 1926-1933.

Arthur on 28th February 2012 @ 10:10am

Every time I look at this I see something else. I definitely think now that that is a float and look up at the bank. There appears to be a man and woman standing much higher than others, could they be on some type of float that is blocked by the crowd.

Why the ladder up on the drug and meat store?

Love the little girls in the left part of the picture with their arms around each other and is that sister holding little brothers hand? Where do you suppose the lady in the middle of the picture is off to in such a rush?

Charlott on 28th February 2012 @ 10:55am

She appears to be avoiding horse apples on the road.

Ralph on 28th February 2012 @ 12:20pm

Oh, I wish I had time to ferret out some of this information right now. I know I've come across all kinds of references to parades and what the highlights were and so forth. The float strikes me as a forest service display of some sort or that of some other outdoors group. I was really intrigued by the "fall-out shelter" icon, too, and tried looking it up online. There was a cracker company in the early years (I'm thinking before 1920) that had a swastika as its logo, long before the Nazis used it, and it's probably a similar type of thing. That "fallout" symbol (which has a name, which I can't remember) is ancient, as someone mentioned.
Anyway, I'll try to spend some time on this sometime soon.

Esther Smith on 6th March 2012 @ 5:04pm

This photo is like a Waldo puzzle.
Esther, it might help to know who owned the "Guide Restaurant" at the time. I wasn't able to find any information.
I am assuming the sign is attached to the building?

l.e. on 7th March 2012 @ 8:06am

Does anyone else remember doing duty in the tower by where the swimming pool and Mormon church are now? My sister and I were part of the volunteers for the Civil Air Patrol and we spent a few hours a week reporting all the planes that flew over. The Hood River name which I had to say when we communicated with other towers was "Alpha Foxtrot Zero Zero Red"! That would have been in the mid '50s.

Dorothy on 1st April 2012 @ 4:56pm