Flat Out Press

The Lents Collection

It seems as if transportation, or failing to travel, has always been entwined in Lents’ fate. The town was originally founded by Oliver Lent when his oxen-drawn wagon broke an axle, and the family decided to stay put. Later, the Mount Scott Trolley, aka “The Galloping Goose” hit the end of the line in Lents. In the mid ‘70s it looked like the end of the world had come to Lents in the form of a giant earthen berm, but it was only the construction for the I-205 freeway, severing the neighborhood from the city, while allowing North / South traffic to speed past the area.

Given this history, it’s not surprising that Albert Drake, drawing from his experiences growing up in Lents, decided to pursue writing about cars and the neighborhood he grew up in. His non-fiction books, such as Street Was Fun in ’51, and Overtures to Motion, document the cars and personalities of the ‘50s. But some might be surprised that before he decided to try hot rod history, Drake wrote poetry and fiction. Some of the books have been hard to find, so Flat Out Press is reprinting them in a new edition which we're calling the “Lents Collection.”

Perhaps people have read Beverly Cleary’s books about Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby, and gathered from these an image of Portland in the ‘50s as a clean, safe suburban neighborhood. Drake’s “One Summer,” however, shows a neighborhood frayed at the edges by wilderness. Things, such as the old Lents school, are cast aside, but the new things aren't quite in place yet. There's an uncertainty and dangerousness to this feeling, but there's also freedom and excitement.

"One Summer" evokes the sights, sounds and smells of Lents through the eyes of an adolescent boy. Drawing from personal experience, as well as historical events of Portland, Drake weaves the story of a teen in the summer of 1948 that is simultaneously nostalgic and honest. Chris and his friends read Real Clue and Detective Comics at the Mt Scott drugstore, hang out at the movies at a time when John Garfield was starring in "They Made Me A Criminal," and listen to "I Love A Mystery" on the radio. Meanwhile, hints of the adult world intrude on Chris' idyll: the responsibility of a paper route, involvement in petty crimes with his friend Mal, and a plane crash on 92nd Street. "One Summer" taps the feeling of being young, looking for adventure, and finding it in the most surprising places.

Interestingly, when Tri-Met published a study on Lents for the feasibility of the light rail project, they used “One Summer” as a reference.

“Beyond The Pavement” is an attempt to merge a pulp dime-store paperback with a literary novel, while placing it in the same Lents neighborhood. Selected as one of the 100 books that best define the state of Oregon and its people, it's an adult novel about hot rodding and changing times.

Mill Sederstrom suddenly returns from college, hoping to build a race car, get a good job, meet someone nice, but experiences only frustration in all of his pursuits. He’s back living with his parents, cruising 82^nd Avenue, and confused about where he’s supposed to go in life. When this book was first published in 1979 the some of the street names were obscured – “Forster” instead of “Foster”, for example. In this edition the true street names have been restored. Also, the events in the book include the spring break riots at seaside in 1962.

Of the three books in the Lents Collection, “Tillamook Burn” is the most compelling. It’s a collection of short stories and poems that capture the mood of growing up in Portland, Oregon during and after World War II. "The Chicken Which Became a Rat" tells the story of a Japanese immigrant living in the neighborhood during the war, and was included in "Best American Short Stories of 1971." Another story is of a father who needs to replace the U-joint for his '30 Hudson 8 so he can get to the new job on Monday with the Corps of Army Engineers. The first place is too expensive. So Chris and his dad weave through the Lents area looking for a used piece.

The poetry is clear-eyed and honest, too. As one reader has said “There aren't many middle-aged guys who won't understand [the poem] ‘Hearing Marty Robbins Sing White Sport Coat 20 Years Later.’”

All three books, "One Summer," "Beyond the Pavement," and "Tillamook Burn," were previously printed through small presses, and have been out of print and hard to find. Now they are back in print, in a matching set, the "Lents Collection", available from Flat Out Press.

Tillamook Burn

Now available as part of the "Lents Collection" of books by Albert Drake, the short stories and poems in "Tillamook Burn" capture the mood of growing up in Portland, Oregon during and after World War II. Highly evocative, they include memories of fathers, the fading Oregon landscapes, and studies of forgotten characters of the period.

"They drove in silence, the shadows already beginning to flatten, and soon the knife disappeared; the Indian sat back and sighed deeply, as if he was exhausted by simply driving. Chris suddenly found himself less worried about their being found murdered beside the road, and more concerned about the rumbling in his stomach. He dreamed of home, the cool shade of his back yard where he could be right now eating peanut butter sandwiches and reading comic books. When he left home, he had thought he would be right back, and how it looked as though he would be in Celilo tonight, hungry, fighting the cold desert wind."

Includes "The Chicken Which Became a Rat," from the collection "Best American Short Stories 1971."
This book is part of the Lents Collection of fiction by Albert Drake.

Tillamook Burn
84 pages, 8 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches, perfect-bound (December, 2011)
Stone Press; ISBN: 0-936892-26-9; $9.95
Also available as an e-book on Kindle.

One Summer

"One Summer" is a semi-autobiographical novel that evokes the sights, sounds and smells of small-town Lents through the eyes of an adolescent boy growing up on the edge of 1940's Portland, Oregon.

Drawing from personal experience, as well as historical events of Portland, Drake weaves the story of a teen reaching adulthood in the summer of 1948 that is simultaneously nostalgic and honest. Chris and his friends read Real Clue and Detective Comics at the Mt Scott drugstore, hang out at the movies at a time when John Garfield was starring in "They Made Me A Criminal," and listen to "I Love A Mystery" on the radio.

Meanwhile, hints of the adult world intrude on Chris' idyll: the responsibility of a paper route, involvement in petty crimes with his friend Mal, and a plane crash on 92nd Street.

"One Summer" taps the feeling of being young, looking for adventure, and finding it in the most surprising places. This book is part of the Lents Collection of fiction by Albert Drake.

One Summer
122 pages, 8 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches, perfect-bound (July, 2011)
Stone Press; ISBN: 0-936892-24-2; $8.95

Also available as an e-book on Kindle.

Beyond the Pavement

Selected as one of the 100 books that best define the state of Oregon and its people by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, "Beyond the Pavement" is an adult novel about hot rodding and changing times. Set in the Lents neighborhood of Portland, Oregon in the '50s, Drake weaves local landmarks and historical events into a book that is both literary, and evokes the pulp fictions of the past.

Mill Sederstrom steps into a time warp when he returns from college to the small house where he grew up. But the world has changed, and Mill learns that one can't go home again-- not easily, nor completely anyway. Family pressures mount as his parents urge him to find the Big Job. He meets his younger brother, Tonto, and his gang--the "pavement dancers," a lethal group.

A woman takes him to a roadhouse called "The Place," but it is not his place, the gangster who owns it tells him. The tension between brothers grows when Mill becomes involved with Tonto's girl friend. The uncomplicated life Mill had hoped for soon becomes complicated, and when serious trouble threatens he has no idea which of the several antagonists is responsible.

This book is part of the Lents Collection of fiction by Albert Drake.

Beyond the Pavement
168 pages, 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches, perfect-bound (October, 2011)
Stone Press; ISBN: 0-936892-25-0; $12.95

Also available as an e-book on Kindle.

Overtures to Motion

In this collection of 46 essays, many of which were previously published in Old Cars Weekly and Goodguys Gazette, Drake examines a boy's desire to be mobile. He takes the two great themes of the 20th Century, motion and competition, motivation of the great builders of the Industrial Age, and brings it to a personal level. These essays, some memoir, some lyrical, start with the chemicals that imprinted brains -- gasoline, hydraulic brake fluid, exhaust -- and caused young men to wrap their lives around machines as surely as any drug. Next comes the Wheel: the baby carriage, the scooter, the sidewalk flyer. Before there was power there was gravity and the soap box racer, when every driver had to reinvent the Wheel. And of course, a moment that looms large for every rider: that first bicycle.

There are essays analyzing reading material: anthropomorphic fables, the Motor Boys books, the comic strips, True Magazine, wartime reading fare. Some define a time period: buying a squirrel knob, painting tires white, overhauling an engine in the driveway on a weekend in order to get to work on Monday, painting a car with a brush. Some are unsentimentally frank: a boy and his father getting a 1934 Terraplane home on a winter night, the father who refuses a gift, the boy riding home on a runningboard, the group of naked high school boys who discuss the merits of new cars after a shower in the locker room.

Some highlighted historical moments: a piece on a new 1941 DeSoto and a 1942 Mercury, the problem of rationing gasoline and rubber, the use of old cars as bomb shelters in case of an atomic bomb attack. Among the memoirs are essays about a family camping in 1937, traveling to North Dakota in a 1935 Packard and to California in a new 1941 Chevrolet; it is not possible to separate the machine from family history or even global events. An essay on the Fisher Body Craftsman Guild Competition, where boys were asked to build models for a scholarship, brought reality to dreams.

130 pages, 10 x 7 x 0.3 inches, perfect-bound (April, 2011)
Stone Press; ISBN: 0-936892-20-X; Signed copy...$19.95
Order from Flat Out Press,
or directly from the printer.

Northwest Rods Magazine

A number of people have inquired about a rodding magazine that was published in Portland, Oregon in the late 'Fifties. It was a "little" magazine with a short life. Only four issues were published; the first two were called Northwest Rods while the last two were called Northwest Rods and Sports Cars. The dominant word in both titles was "rods". The magazine published features on motorcycles, dragsters, sprint cars, customs, etc., so I assume that the change in titles was not simply to identify any shift in content but to attract a larger audience. The magazine was published from October, 1957 until April, 1958, a period when the interest in sports. cars sky rocketed. But that was also true of custom cars and car shows.

The magazine was the creation of Peter Sukalac, who contributed photos, stories, elbow grease and money. Sukalac was a photographer and journalist who contributed hundreds of articles to automotive magazines between 1954 and 1980. His work put Oregon on the map in the hot rod world. He understood design and workmanship, and the examples in Northwest Rods are quality machines. His publication is much closer to the small size Hop Up or Rod and Custom than to the East coast small mags in layout and editorial matters.

There was a large audience for this regional magazine, and it should have continued. It didn't fail, it ceased publication, and the reasons were complicated. Although Sukalac died in 2002, there's an article on his magazine in my book, Fifties Flashback, and an interview with Sukalac, perhaps the only interview he granted, in my book Hot Rodder.

Squirrel Knobs

We used to call these Squirrel Knobs, Suicide Knobs, or Necker Knobs. I have an essay about them in my new work-in-progress "Overtures to Motion." They were a cheap and easy way to add style to your car.

Zocchi’s 1939 Dodge Coupe

I took this photo of Richard Zocchi’s 1939 Dodge coupe when it was in the 1992 Oakland Roadster Show. Who could of thought that a ’39 Dodge could be so beautiful? The top has been chopped, the car lowered front and rear; the grille is from a 1940 LaSalle and the headlights are 1958 Lincoln. The car is so smooth: no louvers, no spot lights, no striping, no flames.

Ford 5-Window

Here’s all you needed to do to a 1936 Ford 5-window in 1950 to have a deluxe cruiser. Car has 1941 Ford bumper, dual spot lights, bull nose strip, reworked sheet metal around stock grille, two extra chrome strips on hood side panels, WSWs and single bar Hollywood hub caps. 14 year old car might have original paint.

Peterson's Roadster

Bill Peterson and Bob Knowles were buddies and members of the Road Knights club. Peterson’s red ’32 roadster (left) was featured on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine. Knowles’ blue ’32 was what guys today call a highboy (although we did not use that term then.) Both cars ran hopped up flatheads. They were outstanding examples of hot rods, especially in the late 1950s when such cars were disappearing. Both cars are still in the area, and Knowles is still building neat cars. Pete Sukalac took this photo in 1958 at the site of the future Lloyd Center.
Copyright 2010, Albert Drake and Flat Out Press.

Christmas at Ed's Richfield - Second Printing

Stores seem to be getting ready for Christmas earlier and earlier these days.

In a similar way we here at Flat Out Press are getting ready with a second printing of "Christmas at Ed's Richfield & Other Holiday Stories for Guys", a collection Christmas stories, with cars.

Do you remember Christmas when you were a kid, a teenager, a young man, a newlywed? Albert Drake has a story for each situation, capturing the nostalgia and anticipation of the holidays as well as some disappointments and adventures.

This book is great to read before Christmas, or as a holiday gift for the "old-timer" on your shopping list.

Christmas at Ed's Richfield & Other Holiday Stories for Guys
60 pages, perfect-bound (November 2009)
Flat Out Press; ISBN: 0-936892-23-4; Signed copy...$10.95 + shipping.

X-51 in Miniature

In the mid-1950s Ron Courtney, a bodyman at a little shop in a little town in Oregon, built the X-51, a sectioned and restyled 1951 Ford that appeared on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine as “the Ford of the future”. In the 1980s the late Dale Poore built a model of the X-51 and created this diorama. He later sold it to John Corno, who owned the X-51. Dale later got the diorama back when it was found in a yard sale. I don’t know where it is today, but the X-51 exists in California, in perfect condition, owned, I believe, by Bob Page.
Copyright 2010, Albert Drake and Flat Out Press.

Made in Detroit

I took this photo in 1985 at the union parking lot in Lansing, Michigan, where the Mid-Michigan Street Rod Association held its meetings. In those days there were strong feelings against foreign machines. Fortunately, I was driving this 1977 Ford pickup, which was totally Made in Detroit.

The Lincoln Cadillac

Proof that not all the ideas applied to custom cars worked out. It’s impossible to tell what the builder began with, but we can be certain that the car was built before 1950. Front end is from a 1942 Lincoln, and rear is from a 1946-47 Cadillac. The front fenders and hood have been lengthened. Split windshield has curved glass at sides.
Copyright 2010, Albert Drake and Flat Out Press.

Matranga’s 1940 Mercury

Nick Matranga’s 1940 Mercury was a stunning example of custom bodywork when it was introduced in 1950. The chassis was lowered front and rear, and the top was severely chopped. The quarter windows slid in and out on channels. The car created a style that is still being copied today, although it was destroyed in an accident a mere six months after it hit the road.
Copyright 2010, Albert Drake and Flat Out Press.

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