The Origin Story of Slabtown Tours
Northwest Portland Champion
Mike Ryerson 1940-2015
In 2012 Mike Ryerson felt that his friend Tanya March was not using her education to its fullest. Mike Ryerson was born in Northwest Portland in 1940, a fourth-generation resident of the neighborhood. He had just lost a long time job and wanted to start a new business. While his best known claim to public fame may be the famous “Expose Yourself to Art” poster that depicted soon-to-be Mayor Bud Clark doing just that, Mike’s lasting legacy is our deeper understanding of the buildings and the character of Northwest Portland that he championed for decades. In 2012 Tanya Lyn March PhD agreed to joined forces to run a two person walking tour company Mike’s History Tours. Our guided walking tours emerged as part of our joint effort to help a meaningful sense of place. Guided walking tours can change the way locals and tourists think and act by presenting them with distinctive place experiences that looks at cultural transformation and historic structures.
Mike was a noted advocate, historian, writer, baseball fan, tavern owner, photographer and a newspaper reporter. Mike was a public character and a local lecturer who freely shared his detailed historical knowledge of this neighborhood usually illustrated by examples from his nearly 100,000 Portland images. Mike compelled old and new residents alike to do more to save the old homes and the historic places of Portland.
