Sabin History Series – Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

by former Sabin resident Mel Cook

In 1941, when I was eleven and we lived at 101 N. Fremont Street, between Williams and Vancouver Avenues, I had a newspaper route. I delivered the evening edition of the Oregon Journal to homes in my neighborhood. I was a student at Boise-Eliot Elementary School, just four blocks from home. When school was over for the day, there was still plenty of time to play around before I had to deliver my papers.

I carried the papers in a double pouch carrier bag, with half of the papers in front of me and half in back. I would fold the papers into a very tight roll so they could be thrown, with accuracy, from the sidewalk onto each customer's porch, without coming apart.   

On Saturday afternoons and evenings, I sold the Journal’s Sunday edition from a prime location – in front of the Oregon Liquor Store, between Fremont and Beech on NE Union Avenue, which is now Martin Luther
King Jr. Blvd. The foot traffic was heavy, not only because of the liquor store, but also because Bihn’s Lincoln Park Market was next door. That was where many Volga Germans purchased Bihn's famous smoked German sausage links – a Saturday dinner ritual.

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Oregon Journal printed a special edition due to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I stood on the southwest corner of Fremont Street and Williams Avenue because there was a
stop sign there. When a car stopped, I held out the paper and shouted, “Extra, extra, read all about it!” The paper sold for three cents a copy and many a customer gave me a nickel, and told me to keep the change.

Story condensed from a longer version by Mel Cook and published on the volgagermans.net website, courtesy of Steve Schreiber.