Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Customers at the Gardenhouse seemed to love it—alas, the restaurant itself
was not long for this world. Wenner closed up shop in the midst of a recession
in 1984, but he was by no means out of the Gardenburger game. With finan-
cial backing from Harry Merlo, then CEO of Louisiana-Pacific, Wenner star-
ted Wholesome & Hearty Foods Inc. and continued to produce his trademark
veggie burger.
The company changed its name to Gardenburger Inc. in 1985; it grew quickly
and went public in 1992. Throughout the 1990s, competition from Boca Bur-
gers, MorningStar Farms, and other companies following in Gardenburger's
footsteps started picking up. Feeling the pressure, Gardenburger spent about
$1.5 million on an advertising spot on the final episode of
Seinfeld.
Even so,
the company continued losing money over the next few years: its stock prices
dropped from $18 to 50 cents a share, and finally, in 2005, Gardenburger de-
clared bankruptcy. Kellogg purchased the brand in 2007 and still owns it.
As for Wenner, he's written a couple of healthy-eating cookbooks and is now
marketing his latest invention, the Gardenbar—a protein snack bar that tastes
like vegetables instead of dessert.
BACK STORY: PIONEER
CEMETERIES
Scattered about Portland are 14 historic pioneer cemeteries, which Metro
maintains along with burial records for each of them. (The records have re-
cently been digitized, and Metro allows people researching genealogy or fam-
ily history to search them.) Many of the pioneer cemeteries are still active,
though Lone Fir and a few others have been closed to new burials because all
the spots are either taken or already owned.
Lone Fir is the oldest and largest of these cemeteries. Its “residents” include
Thomas J. Dryer, the politician and mountain climber who founded the
Weekly Oregonian
newspaper; Asa Lovejoy, the founder of Portland, who lost
the coin toss—he'd have named it Boston; Esther Lovejoy, suffragette and
physician; and Georgiana Pittock, of Pittock Mansion fame.
Most of the cemeteries were established between 1850 and 1870, when Cali-
fornia gold fever and the promise of land up for grabs drew the desperate and/
