A Historic Burger Joint Tantalizes Passersby

ADDRESS: 8410 NW Skyline Blvd.

YEAR BUILT: 1960

SQUARE FOOTAGE: 776

MARKET VALUE: $311,000

OWNER: 8410 LLC

HOW LONG IT’S BEEN DARK: Decades

WHY IT’S EMPTY: Location, location, location.

Atop Cornell Mountain in the West Hills are towering trees, beautiful scenery and palatial homes aplenty. Customers for burgers and ice cream, however, are few.

That’s the challenge for the forlorn Forest Park Drive-In, an aging white cinderblock structure that sits moldering at a four-way stop where Northwest Germantown Road and Skyline Boulevard intersect. A faded red neon sign promises burgers and “freshly frozen soft cream,” but it’s been many years since anybody got a meal there.

As The Oregonian detailed in a lengthy remembrance last year, a World War II veteran named Benjamin Pachkofsky built the joint in 1960, outfitting it with a zipline and a giant swing as added attractions.

Although bucolic and even beautiful, the location didn’t generate much traffic. (A nearby watering hole, the Skyline Tavern, eked out an economically marginal existence for a much of the past century before closing permanently in 2022.)

A couple in the sparsely populated neighborhood, Scott and Michelle Posey, bought the property from Pachkovsky in 2011. Records show some permitting activity in 2014 and 2016, but nothing has happened with the property, which sits on a 26,000-square-foot lot.

Scott Posey, who did not respond to WW’s request for comment, told The Oregonian last year he’s turned down lots of suitors.

“I don’t want a 7-Eleven,” Posey said. “I don’t want a ‘bikini barista’—they’ve approached me a hundred times.”

Becky Newman is among those who hope the Poseys or the building’s next owners can roll the clock back.

“It’s on a stretch of Skyline where there’s otherwise very few nonresidential buildings,” Newman says. “As a cyclist who frequently rides on Skyline, I’d love to see this building restored to its original use as a snack stop.”

Every week, WW examines one mysteriously vacant property in the city of Portland, explains why it’s empty, and considers what might arrive there next. Send addresses to newstips@wweek.com.