PORTLAND, Ore. — What was the original food cart in Portland?
Kenzie Larson asked that question for PDXplained, our public-powered reporting partnership with the local publication Bridgeliner. Here’s what we found out.
THE ORIGINAL CART
Portland’s very first food cart appears to have been a horse-drawn produce cart that Italian immigrant Joseph Gatto operated in the 1910s.
But most sources agree it wasn’t until 1965 that Portland got its first modern food stand: a Hebrew National cart that sold kosher hot dogs across from City Hall.
The cart’s owner — either “Morrie” or “Maury” Dragoon, depending on the source — is pictured fixing franks in this 1979 photo by The Oregonian.
“With a name like Morrie Dragoon — which sounds more like an exotic drink — it seems that a guy would have to be [a] special and different person,” the caption reads. “And he certainly is.”
One interesting fact about Dragoon: In addition to peddling hot dogs to local politicians, he was also a distinguished actor at the Lakewood Theater Company, where he won the Best Actor award in 1973-74 for his performance in Man of La Mancha.
Dragoon’s hot dog stand is no longer around (he died in 1997), so we turned our attention to finding the oldest cart that’s still in business.
THE OLDEST CART
We started by asking Multnomah County for a list of the oldest “mobile food unit” licenses on file, dating back to the 1970s.
The county sent us the names of six carts, but only one of them, Oaxaca Super Tacos, is listed on Yelp, and apparently it closed two years ago.
Jeffrey Martin, the county’s inspections supervisor, says it’s difficult to pinpoint the oldest food cart by looking at license records. “We have changed databases twice, and names have changed,” he said. “It’s hard to tell who’s still operating.”
We also sifted through news reports and found several that named Shelly Sorenson’s Honkin’ Huge Burritos as the city’s oldest cart. But Honkin’ closed last August after 25 years.
So finally we called up Kelly Rodgers, co-author of Cartopia: Portland’s Food Cart Revolution, and she told us what she’d heard from a source for her book — that the oldest food cart in Portland is now Snow White House Crepes.
Martin confirmed that Snow White House Crepes received a license from the county on March 31, 1997, making the cart more than 21 years old. (Do you know a Portland food cart that’s been around even longer? Let us know.)
ORDERING OFF THE MENU
You might remember seeing Snow White House Crepes at 10th and Alder downtown, but that food cart pod closed last month to make way for a luxury hotel, forcing Snow White House to move to the Cartlandia pod in Southeast Portland.
We dropped by the new location and met the cart’s owner, Abby Tian, who agreed with the theory that her cart is now the oldest in Portland.
She also gave us a pro tip: Don’t be afraid to order “off the menu.” In addition to her 15+ official options, Tian says she’s happy to make ice cream crepes and other special orders by request.
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