Q&A with Judi Brandel, Sunnyside resident for 60+ years
From my back window, I can see the backyard of the house Judi Brandel grew up in with her parents and older sister. She moved out of her parent’s house in the late 1960s, but returned to Sunnyside as a homeowner and mother in 1980, just a couple of blocks away from her childhood home. Brandel is a retired photography and art history teacher who learned to play the accordion from YouTube. As one of Sunnyside’s longtime residents, she’s seen a lot change in this neighborhood.
Conversation has been edited for time and clarity.
How long have you lived in the Sunnyside neighborhood?
Judi: When I was born, we lived over on Washington, between 34th and 35th, in a little house and it’s still there. There’s another one just like it up on Salmon. My uncle owned that house and the one on Washington and rented it for $60.
Then my parents found the house on Taylor; it had been empty and it was all overgrown. But, that house had really good bones. It was really well built. I remember it cost $6,500 in 1960 and so we moved in with a trailer on the car. I rode in the trailer, and we did all these trips between that house and this house, and I got my own bedroom. It was so exciting.
I moved out of my parents’ house in 1969, and we moved into this house in 1980. I was still in Portland, but I wasn’t living here. Portland, 75 years, but Sunnyside, 64 years.
What would you say was your earliest memory of living in Sunnyside?
Judi: I have memories of kindergarten. I really liked my kindergarten teacher. We had full day kindergarten, so we took naps, did the whole thing—I have a vague memory of going home for lunch. So my earliest memory of this neighborhood would have been that, ‘cause I remember going to the school and it was the same as it is now.
So you went to Sunnyside [School], and I heard your kids went to Sunnyside.
Judi: My sister and I both went to K-8 there. Then we went to Washington [High School, which is now Revolution Hall] and my daughter went there as well. Our mother was the cook at Sunnyside. She started substituting and then she got the job as head cook. When I had our daughter, I would go in there and get lunch sometimes if I was out somewhere. And then our granddaughter went there too.
What is your favorite thing about Sunnyside as a neighborhood?
Judi: It’s so centrally located. Growing up, when I lived on Washington, all summer long we’d go to the kids’ park at Laurelhurst.
Up on Belmont, the grocery store, the barber shop, the hardware store, the dime store and all the things were right there. I was always able to walk. Living in this neighborhood, for me, there’s always been such great access, to this day. I like that I can leave my house and pretty much walk anywhere I need to go.
You know where Stumptown is? There’s Stumptown, and then right next to Stumptown is the bar [Aalto Lounge]. That entire space was the Grocerteria, and that’s where we went shopping when I was a kid. Then you could walk through it, and where Tantrum is, was the butcher shop.
Tell me a little bit about how you’ve seen the neighborhood change.
Judi: When I was first living here, my mom was pretty fearful. She was a fearful person. When we first lived here, it was my first exposure to people that were weird and creepy. There were definitely strange people and strange situations.
When we moved in in 1980, there was an arsonist going around this neighborhood. Families were leaving, and Sunnyside was having trouble. People were sending their kids to different schools. I don’t know what happened. It just kind of bottomed out. And then the environmental school moved in and all of a sudden everybody wanted
to live in this neighborhood and all the families came back and now it’s amazing, I mean, all these young families and all the kids. It’s so fun watching them go to school, and the bike bus!
What could be improved in Sunnyside?
Judi: Parking, and that’s true for Portland in general. Portland always feels like it’s a day late and a dollar short. You know, it’s like all of a sudden it goes, ‘Oh, maybe we shouldn’t have built all those big apartment buildings next to the neighborhoods where there’s no street parking.’ My mom used to get so outraged when someone would park in front of her house and I’d say, “Well, mom, it’s a public street.” But I’m the same way. Like, people, come on, can you at least park well?”
What is your favorite place in Sunnyside?
Judi: I love the library, I can’t wait for it to come back. As a kid growing up, that was one of my favorite places to go. I read every single Beverly Cleary book. I read all the Nancy Drew books. I went there and checked books out all the time. When I was big enough to go by myself, I went and did my homework there. I loved that library and I still do. I feel so lucky to have it–that it’s one of the old libraries and they’re keeping that part of it and that it’s still so close.