Phil Stanford writes today about Doug Baker, the late Oregon Journal columnist and bon vivant who characterized Portland in the way that Herb Caen characterized San Francisco. Mr. Stanford suggests that a plaque downtown should commemorate Mr. Baker, but Mr. Baker's three haunts have been torn down. I've suggested that the future park block would be a fitting place to commemorate Doug Baker and Mayor George Baker; it's just a block away from Jackson Tower, built by the family that founded the Journal and owned it until the 1950s.
Mr. Stanford tells some good stories about Doug Baker, and he brought more to mind. Mr. Baker occasionally ran contests in his column, asking readers to submit limericks or double-dactyls, or to find hidden words in sentences. (I once won a box of chocolates in one of his contests.) He moderated a talk show on KLIQ for over a decade, using only the best grammar as he debated the issues of the day with callers, and signing off each program with the cheerful disclaimer, "And remember, Charlie McGinnis, you old rascal, the opinions expressed at this end of the telephone have been strictly one man's opinions." (Charlie McGinnis may have had the same fictive existence as Jimmy Durante's "Mrs. Calabash.") Even after his heart surgery, he went to meetings of the Feinschmecker Society, a local group that enjoyed the pleasures of the table.
And he had a certain Puritan streak: one day he encountered a friend on the street, who told him that he had been at the beach the previous weekend with a certain woman. Mr. Baker raised one eyebrow disapprovingly. "It's all right," the friend rushed to say, "we got married last week, and this was our honeymoon." Mr. Baker relaxed, and asked where they were married and who were the witnesses (two business associates of the groom). He printed a short item a few days later.
The bride's reaction to being in print outdid Mr. Baker's raised eyebrow. "That's the first marriage announcement I've read," she said, "which instead of reporting what the bride wore, says who the groom's clients are."