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What was 7UP is now Guayakí l
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Iconic Portland sign changes
brands: What was 7UP is now Guayakí
By Helen Jung, The Oregonian
February 24, 2010
The "uncola" has
been unseated.
The green bottle that sat atop the Art Deco 7UP sign above the
Portland Bottling Co. building
has been painted canary yellow and now bears the name Guayakí.
Not only that, but Weston Investment Co., which owns the building
and the sign near where Sandy Boulevard, Burnside Street and
12th Avenue intersect, has draped white tarps over the three
sides of the sign, covering the 7UP lettering and its fanciful
bubbles with ads promoting other Weston businesses.
Representatives for Weston did not return phone messages for
comment. But an executive with Guayakí, the beverage company
whose product now graces the top of the sign, said he hopes Guayakí can
become a new icon for Portland.
"My hope is that it will be a beacon for people to enjoy
an organic beverage brewed locally here in Portland," said
Patrick Lee, a principal with the company who lives in Portland.
Only time
will tell if that's going
to happen, but one local sign buff is sorry to see Portland lose
a piece of its past.
The sign dates back several decades, said Jeff Kunkle, who co-owns
Vintage Roadside with his wife, Kelly Burg. The two research
and document mom-and-pop roadside places from the 1930s to 1960s
and sell T-shirts with vintage graphic designs.
The bottling factory was built in 1941, and the sign was likely
built at the same time, he said. It originally could rotate,
but the owners at the time decided to weld it in place following
the big Columbus Day Storm of 1962.
Kunkle is sorry to see it change, saying it's a sign that "makes
Portland, Portland."
"You drive down I-5 and every exit has the same fixed signs," he
said. "You don't get the individual sense that 'I'm in Portland.'"
But Lee, the executive with Guayakí, feels as though
the new company, with main offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
and Sebastapol, Calif., will fit in with the Portland esthetic.
The company sells organically grown yerba mate leaves, tea and
tea-based beverages. Its products have been certified as "fair
trade" by the Switzerland-based Institute for Marketecology.
The company said it places a premium on sustainable practices,
including investing in reforestation projects to ensure a healthy
supply of yerba mate.
Although Guayakí has been distributing bottled yerba
mate beverages in the Portland area for years, it decided to
step up its marketing presence since it introduced a canned product,
Lemon Elation, last fall, he said.
The Portland Bottling Co. will produce the drink and can it
at its factory at Northeast 13th Avenue and Couch Street, he
said. In addition, the company is rolling out two other canned
yerba mate drinks this year that will be produced and canned
locally at the plant.
"We want to be congruent with Portland, Oregon's effort
to be the greenest city in the country," he said. "So
many people are interested in developing new businesses that
are planet friendly. We felt this was the place where we should
introduce a sign like this for Guayakí."
Kunkle, meanwhile, said he doesn't fault the decision to change.
"It always comes down to people have to do what financially
makes sense for them," he said. "There's always a little
bit of melancholy when things change or go away."
-- Helen Jung
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