This Week in the Mercury
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Portland 24-Hour Church of Elvis Closes
Posted by Alison Hallett on Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 12:44 PM
The history of Portland's 24-Hour Church of Elvis has been marked by frequent closures and relocations, so it's not a huge surprise that its most recent incarnation in downtown's Goldsmith Blocks is now shuttered.
Stephanie G. Pierce's oddball vending machine/art gallery/wedding chapel is definitely a vestige of old weird Portland—not new weird Portland, which is not actually all that weird—and it's been located, variously, at SW Washington, Ankeny Alley, an upstairs storefront on Ankeny, and, since 2008, in the Goldsmith building at 4th and Couch. Most incarnations hinged on Pierce's interactive, coin-operated displays, though for a time she offered both real and fake weddings from the upstairs Ankeny museum. (I think I might've married a gay friend there when I was in high school?)
I don't have any info on the closure, aside from some unverified rumors; I'm gonna poke around a bit and I'll update if anything interesting turns up.
In the meantime, here's an awesome/adorable piece from KBOO's archives about Pierce's 1991 attempt to run a booth at the Rose Festival. It's pretty priceless.
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