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This week Nike added a dunking Ja Morant to the iconic “Portland, Oregon” sign. This led me to notice, for the first time, that the lower part of the “g” in “Oregon” is missing. According to Google, it’s been missing all along, during both the “Made in Oregon” and “White Stag” eras. Did D.B. Cooper take it with him into the Gifford Pinchot?—Oh G Signster
One of the few perks of being old is the opportunity to act insufferable about things you remember that younger, healthier and better-looking people don’t. When some Gen Z stripling mentions the “Portland, Oregon” sign, the millennial may smile condescendingly and say, “Oh, you mean the ‘Made in Oregon’ sign?” That allows me, the hoary Gen Xer gesturing feebly from an oxygen tent, to wheeze triumphantly, “I think you guys mean the ‘White Stag’ sign!” as my juniors slink off in humiliation, probably to have sex or go more than four hours without urinating.
Imagine my chagrin, then, to hear a muffled voice from underground (I forgot to mention we were having this conversation in a cemetery) say, “Nuts to you, chucklehead—every savvy joe knows that’s the ‘White Satin Sugar’ sign. You’re all wet!”
I doubt any Greatest Generation Portlander could forget the 40-foot sign erected by the Amalgamated Sugar Co. in 1940, featuring 1,100 feet of neon tubing and 550 incandescent bulbs. “It tells its story in five separate changes,” The Oregonian reported at the time, “the purport of which is ‘White Satin Sugar, Oregon’s Own and Only,’ animated by a pouring sugar sack.” (The story featured the headline—I shit you not—“Big Sugar Sign ‘Beets’ All.”) This animated sign was later supplanted by a less ambitious version with a static White Satin logo (perhaps they got tired of replacing those 550 incandescent bulbs) before White Stag took over in 1957.
Hopefully, all this fascinating information has distracted you from the fact that I don’t have a definitive answer to your actual question. The likeliest explanation is that the “g” in “White Stag” (before it was moved to be reused in “Oregon”) came pretty close to the red “SPORTSWEAR” bar running along the bottom, and its loop was truncated to avoid crowding that bar.
The thing is, it wasn’t that close. To me, it looks like there should have been room for the full loop even in the “White Stag” days, but who knows? Until somebody can dig up Terry Schrunk and ask him, that’s what we’ve got.
Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.
