Wicked Portland

In its youth, Portland, Oregon, was a bit like a rough-and-ready logging camp with a gritty, hard-punching deep-water port. Lusty lads dallied with hard-eyed beauties in dark alleys, and captains forked over “blood money” to buy men for their crews from shanghai operators. From the seedy waterfront to the notorious North End, Portland's sin sector offered vices packaged in pint glasses and perfumed corsets. Establishments like Nancy Boggs's floating bordello and city police chief James Lappeus's Oro Fino Saloon beckoned to the city's wastrels and grifters, votes could be bought for the price of a pint and opium flowed freely into the city with the help of friendly port officials. Join Finn J.D. John of the “Offbeat Oregon” column as he reveals the roughest, most colorful era of Portland history, when the Rose City developed an international reputation for violence and lawlessness.