Wicked Portland: The Wild and Lusty Underworld of a Frontier Seaport Town

by Finn J.D. John

Tucked away in the northwestern frontier, Portland offered all the best vices: opium dreams, gambling, cheap prostitutes, and drunken brawling. In its early days, Portland was a combination rough-and-ready logging camp and gritty, hard-punching deep-water port town," and as a young city (established in the late 1840s) it developed an international reputation for lawlessness and violence. In the early 1900s, the British and French governments filed formal complaints about Portland to the US state department, and Congressional testimony from the time cites Portland as the worst place in the world for crimping. Today, tours of the alleged Shanghai Tunnels offer Portland visitors a taste of that seedy past."

Genres: History, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2012

Reviews

[Frankie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3.5! Far better than the other salacious Portland crime book I read recently

[Heather Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finn John, you had me at "floating brothel."

[Deanna Lynn Sletten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting history of Portland.

A very interesting book on the history of Portland, Oregon. I’m researching a family connection there and this gave me insight into how the town was in its early days.

[Mark NP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book in anticipation of an upcoming trip we're taking to the Pacific Northwest this spring. It was a quick and enjoyable read for me since I'm a fan of the "politicians behaving badly" genre of historical narrative, particularly when it relates to the vice industry. I was unaware of Portland's bawdy past until reading the book, but the author goes well into the population demographics, industries, and cultural forces that shaped this frontier seaport town's wild side from its charter in 1851 to the turn of the 20th century. Stories of saloon shootouts, crooked gambling rings, low and high end brothels, dank opium dens, human trafficking nightmares, political corruption and the election rigging it took to keep it all smoothly operating for over fifty years make this book an entertaining, if shocking, read. I like the author's style of writing, and his clear passion for the subject matter shines through. I appreciate his efforts to incorporate QR technology into the pages as a hook for 21st century readers, though to be honest I didn't use them. It's the kind of bonus material I like in theory, but perhaps not so much in practice.

[Ramon]

I read this one slowly, over time, a chapter here and there, and like the other Portland history books, I had a great time reading it, but I also wish I could remember everything I read about in it.

This one goes back to the 1800s and chronicles the criminal foundation of Portland and how the North End (Old Town) was kind of cordoned off from the rest of the city, and as long as it stayed there, the rich and fancy people who lived to the south and in the hills didn't mind. They had a kind of symbiotic relationship, as the saloons and brothels paid tax on booze, so everybody won. And then, there was the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and our Union Station is right there in the center of Old Town (the North End), and the thought of people coming into town for the Expo and seeing all the carousing was one of the big things that ended this period of history.

But sounds like they had some good times. The stories in this book are generally light and funny, about dumb opium thieves and comically corrupt politicians, and it made me really wish I could go back and see it all, knowing full well I'd get killed within five minutes.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the way history should be written. Finn J.D. John spins a wildly entertaining, and factually instructive, romp through the early days of Portland, Oregon, from its inception in the mid-19th century through the turn of the 20th century. If I differ from John's perspective, it's only in that he suggests that the chicanery that permeated Portland politics, business and life in the latter part of the 19th century had impacts for decades; I believe the impacts continue to influence Portland, and Oregon, even now. What a gem this book is.

[Tara N.]

A fascinating glimpse at some of the dastardly pioneers of my favorite town. Wish there was more, but that's the point - to tempt the reader into wanting to dig into the dark corners of our old buildings and be able to hear the whispers barely heard in the North end and all over our dirty, dangerous, wonderful city.

[AdriAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finn's work coverd the broad subject of Portland's troubled past in the late 1800s. Although the book was written in a very manageable size for newcomers to the subject (and non fiction), I had hoped that some terms would be explained more in depth.

[Olives Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean, Mary Cook though. I need a whole book on her now. I live here, I actually have worked/currently work for some of the places mentioned here. It’s delightful.

[Rebecca Mildren · Rating 5 out of 5]

informative and a lot of fun. recommend for anyone wanting to know about Portland Oregon's legendary political chicanery and rip-roaring rapscallions.

[Carye Bye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finn J.D. John is a fun writer. There are now quite a few books on "seedy" early Portland but i hadn't read this one and this one focuses on the early days of Portland as a seaport town. There's a chance to use a QR code to go to more on the web but i did not. The laying of the land is an interesting story. Who settled Portland, where did they come from, what are their values or immediate interests. Lots of wicked from crimps to bad mayors. It's kind of vignette style. stories follow stories sometimes a connection or reflection remark. I have read a couple of books since this one, and that's probably my only issue I have with vignette style books -- is they are fun (or shocking) to read at the time, but my brain doesn't hold that much random stories that I can't tie to a physical place etc so the stories don't last in my memory. John also does a lot of podcasts and is part of the storytelling series Stumptown Stories 2nd Tuesdays at the Jack London Bar in Portland so there's more ways to hear and see all these Portland "wicked" stories! Oh and I really like the cover!

[Marily Quesnel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Details of the underlife of a seaport city are often only passed along through oral stories throughout the years and most people from this side of life don't let the stories get too trapped in the truth. The tales may have as much truth to them as the headlines of a magazine on the grocery store check out line, but they are fun to hear and visualize. In reality they most likely have a basis in truth. Mr. John creatively weaves the tales with the news to give an overall view of a town with a life beyond the headlines. There is enough real news to flesh out some facts and make the stories believable, at least in part. By highlighting some colorful individuals he brings alive the early days of city life in Portland. (I have family histories that tell of the agrarian life outside the city, which are interesting to read, but not nearly as colorful!) The links to web pages with more photos and short videos means you get more for your money than the printed page.

[Jim Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and I don't only say that because Finn and I went to elementary school together. Finn is a gifted researcher and storyteller. He delves into aspects of Portland's past that I'd imagine most people moving here after seeing a few episodes of "Portlandia" know nothing about. The city had quite a seedy history, and I found the passages about "shanghai" to be genuinely chilling. The chapters about local politics were entertaining and even timely, considering the current climate. Overall, this is a read well worth your time, whether you're a native Portlander or a recent transplant looking to learn more about your city.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and entertaining history of the questionable activities and people who engaged in them during the tail end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. There were a few names that I recognized, but not the seedy goings on. Best quote of the book: "Sea air is good for loggers." Joseph (Bunco) Kelly, Shanghaier.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough. Definitely a pop-history book. Light on history, events are not contextualized, has a light breezy conversational tone that can be clumsy and affected. Portland history for people who aren't really in to history.

[SA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty niche, and could have used a stronger editing hand, but thoroughly entertaining for this avid Portalnder.