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In 1973, 4-year-old Bob Richardson first found himself enamored by the Organ Grinder. The family friendly pizzeria enticed Richardson and many other children like him not with its pizza, but with the all-encompassing sound of its large Wurlitzer pipe organ. Now 50 years since his first visit and nearly three decades since its closure, Richardson is trying to make a documentary about the iconic restaurant.
The Organ Grinder, once found on Southeast 82nd Avenue between Foster Road and Holgate Boulevard, was made immediately notable by the spectacle of its 32-foot diaphone pipes visible from the street, a display that eliminated any need for advertising. As Richardson recalls, lines spilled out the door of the restaurant, which served over a thousand pizzas a day (though they weren’t known to be particularly tasty), all the while providing professionally performed pipe organ renditions of popular songs. The Organ Grinder shut its doors in 1996 after Interstate 205 changed the drive-by traffic, and companies like Chuck E. Cheese came in swinging to capture the child’s entertainment restaurant business.
For Richardson, the Organ Grinder sparked a lifelong interest in the pipe organ. Now an organist himself, the Organ Grinder’s impact has yet to leave Richardson. Since its closure, questions about the pizzeria’s failure have nagged at him. Now, Richardson hopes to preserve the legacy of the Organ Grinder and shed new light on its history, fame and eventual collapse in Pipe Dreams and Pizza Crusts: The Rise and Fall of the Organ Grinder, a film to be created entirely by Richardson.
“There was something special about that organ that connected with me,” Richardson says. “I think it was just being able to see all the mechanicals and all the electronics. It wasn’t just the immersive music, it kinda felt like you were a part of this big machine.”
Richardson has run his media company CONVEY for over 20 years, and as a freelance videographer and web developer, is more than familiar with the ins and outs of a production. He only entered the world of the documentary recently, though, when he created a short promotional documentary for Portland Streetcar.
Richardson has already spent a considerable amount of his time and resources to try and capture the allure of the Organ Grinder. He estimates he has already put more than $55,000 in labor costs into the film project. Now he’s looking for help to complete the film, having recently launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise an additional $55,000.
So far, he’s interviewed co-founders Dennis Hedberg and Judy Hedberg, performers Don Feely and Jonas Nordwall, and a few other select individuals involved in the restaurant. Just last week, he released a film teaser featuring clips from interviews he’s already completed, recordings of music played at the Organ Grinder that Richardson has managed to find high fidelity copies of, and first glimpses of some of the archival footage to be featured in the documentary.
At this point, Richardson is 80% finished with filming of “principal interview subjects” in the Portland area. While he’s done about all he can in the Portland area, he’s charted a path to talk to the remaining people on his list via a series of road trips around the country. Traveling to over 18 cities and 11 states, Richardson is making sure that he has as much of the story as possible. Richardson hopes to capture the magic of the Organ Grinder in a way that future generations can understand.
“I’m 55 now, and when I try and explain it to someone who either didn’t live here or is in their 20s or 30s—you can explain it, but to show it, to give you a chance to actually experience it with the sound and the visuals, it makes a difference,” he says.
To help capture this experience, Richardson has uncovered and restored archival footage of the Organ Grinder. Some of it is promotional footage he’s managed to locate original copies of, but other footage was found thanks to Richardson’s Facebook community dedicated to the documentary.
“I’ve got dozens of hours of home videos that I’ve cleaned up and upscaled, including a local man by the name of Ted Welty who just felt, when the Organ Grinder was closing, that it should’ve been documented,” Richardson says. “He went there the last five nights with a camcorder. He captured the very last performance, when people wept and lights got turned off. Thanks to him we have that.”
Richardson was also present for the Organ Grinder’s final week of business, driving nearly 100 miles through a troublesome storm from Oregon State University to pay tribute to the once consequential pizzeria. That storm preceded the floods of ‘96, a series of storms that debilitated the Portland area with overwhelming amounts of the snow and ice. That very ice ended up destroying part of the Organ Grinder’s sign, located outside an inoperative cafe in Northern Washington.
While the process of finishing the documentary is a long and expensive one, Richardson is passionate about sharing the story of a unique and awe-inspiring pizzeria called the Organ Grinder.
“It’s a point-of-view documentary,” he says. “I am celebrating the place but also reviewing the color and drama. It’s time to go out, hat in hand, and see if the folks who remember it in the larger community can help out, too.”
SEE IT: Visit the Indiegogo campaign and watch a trailer at indiegogo.com/projects/pipe-dreams-and-pizza-crusts-documentary#.