Just to pass along some interesting finds, I was in Portland last weekend for a technical conference and found the "Portland Penny Diner" across the street from Morgan's Alley. (Simple pleasures in life that only coin nerds appreciate!) And no, I didn't go in and tell the guy to change the name to "Cent Diner" even though it was the first thought on my mind. It appears to be a "large cent" swirling around in the sign. Hard to take a good picture while driving - and dangerous. And of course no post from me would be complete without horrible photos!
The Penny Diner has great food. As background for the inspiration for the name of the diner, Portland got it's name on the toss of a coin. Asa Lovejoy of Boston, Massachusetts, and William Pettygrove of Portland, Maine had established a land claim of the area that is now Portland. The growing township needed a name. One day in 1845, in the parlor of Francis Ermatinger’s home on Sixth Street in Oregon City, Lovejoy and Pettygrove agreed to flip a coin to determine the name. Pettygrove retrieved a "penny" from his pocket, and they agreed to a two-out-of-three-toss contest. Boston if Lovejoy won, Portland if Pettygrove won. With three tosses of a "penny", Portland got its name. The one cent coin was kept by Pettygrove and eventually wound up in being donated to the Oregon Historical Society and is now in it's museum.
I live just outside of Portland, OR and have seen the Penny Diner before. It's an 1835 LC and is now on display at a museum in Portland.
You weren't too far away from Silver Dollar Pizza Company!! I used to eat there for lunch on occasion when I worked in the downtown area.
I'm afraid I must... Those are pesto breadsticks on the top BTW. This is also a reference to the 1888-O "Hot Lips" dollar.
