r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • 1d ago
TIL from 1994 to 2002, there was a strange art installation in Portland, Oregon called the "24 Hour Church of Elvis" containing assorted 70s pop culture memorabilia. The "church" would perform real, legal marriages for $25, as well as "cheap, not legal" marriages for $5.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hour_Church_of_Elvis?wprov=sfla1•
u/adibbs 1d ago
I remember this place. It was a neat thing to show friends who were visiting from out of town. I wish I still had some of the old items you get get from the vending machine, like my "Where's the Art?" button.
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u/12-34 1d ago
Stephanie was awesome too. Funny, personable, quick-witted, and bright. IIRC, went to Georgetown Law.
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u/antiterra 1d ago edited 16h ago
I enjoyed her museum but I occasionally would be derailed from work by hearing her through her floor/walls, screaming at the absolute top of her lungs for a good duration.
EDIT: oh wow. This article suggests that's why she got kicked out of the building :( https://whyisportlandlikethat.substack.com/p/yelling-at-tourists-outside-the-24
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u/NateNate60 1d ago
Also, it was not actually open 24 hours. It was only open from 12:00 to 17:00, and 20:00 to 23:00 "a lot".
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u/chanmagic 1d ago
five dollars for a fake wedding is such a steal honestly
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u/poonmangler 1d ago
Take all your homies for a big fake gay poly wedding. Go to Chili's after, make a day of it ya know.
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u/NateNate60 1d ago
There are no Chili's in Portland, sadly
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u/NodePoker 1d ago
I am pretty sure there was a Chili's across from Clackamas Town Center and one over in Lake O, off I-5 at the time. Granted neither of those are technically "Portland".
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u/lshifto 1d ago
5 blocks up from there was an old parking garage where many of the best PDX raves of the late 90s were held.
It’s all gentrified now.
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u/twoinvenice 1d ago
I just realized something, Portland might be the only city I can think of where the airport code has become a shorthand for the city when it is not an obvious shortening of the name.
Like Dallas Fort Worth can obviously be shortened to DFW so doesn’t count. SEA is just the first three letters of Seattle Tacoma and same with anything similar as there are a bunch of
Maaaybe ATL or PHX since they aren’t as obvious of shortenings, but they feel kinda obvious.
No one calls the city of San Francisco SFO, Los Angeles LAX, or Chicago ORD…
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u/Laura-ly 1d ago
The airport had a fun design on the carpeting that people passing through really liked. They used to sell T-shirts and hats with the carpet design on it, but six or 7 years ago they replaced the airport carpeting with some other design. I like the new carpet design better but when they replaced it people were allowed to buy up chunks of the old carpeting.
It's got its own Wikipedia page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_International_Airport_carpet
And then we also have the Naked Bike Ride every year.
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u/twoinvenice 1d ago
Oh I know, I remember the old carpet and was very confused when that became a whole thing
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u/Mentalwards 19h ago edited 19h ago
I went to a party and the carpet in the house was the same pattern. I walked in and said "Airport carpet!". Everyone who came in after me said the same thing.
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u/Devilsadvocate430 23h ago
ATL is definitely a nickname for Atlanta, but I think the airport code is pretty incidental to that
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u/BurrrritoBoy 1d ago
I was walking by and saw the vending machine (you put in a quarter and a person behind the big display window flashed a bunch of lights behind the colored backdrop and cerimoniously put a goodie -in my case a condom- in the retrieval hopper. I laughed and before I knew it I was recruited as a real witness to a real wedding. The wedding couple rewarded me with a 24 Hour Church of Elvis t-shirt (bright fluorescent green Church of Elvis logo and Elvis' likeness) The woman who performed the ceremony warned me not to wash it in hot water or put it in the dryer or Elvis would get "even more puffy and bloated". Many laughs later I donated like $5 to their hilarious vending endeavor. We all walked our separate ways with smiles on our faces.
So bummed when I went back a couple years later and it was gone.
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u/copperleave 1d ago
the real question is how many people paid $25 thinking it was a joke and then found out they were actually married
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u/DickweedMcGee 1d ago
Dammit. I hate finding out cool shit that existed during my lifetime but has since been torn down so all I have is regret. Add it to the list: Kowloon Walled City, Death Valley Phone Booth, etc…
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u/JiveChicken00 1d ago
Why was I not informed that illegal marriage was an available option?
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u/OZeski 1d ago
It's not 'illegal' so much as it's not legally binding as a marriage which requires you obtaining a marriage license from the state in advance.
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u/JiveChicken00 1d ago
So it’s not legal but it’s not illegal? :)
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u/JosephFinn 1d ago
Hey I was there once! Opening weekend of Blair Witch Project and then we made a wrong turn on the way back to the hotel and ended up in the woods at night.
Fun night.
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u/supershinythings 1d ago
I visited in the late 90’s. She kept screaming at people not to look at her “art”.
One of the most interesting things she had was a poster about Japanese relocation during WWII. Naturally because I was staring at it she screamed at me not to do so. She was pushing the t-shirts HARD.
The place was stacked high with tons of books and magazines. On the tour we were not allowed to touch or peruse anything closely. It seemed like a massive fire hazard.
Other than being screamed at by a crazy person, and that fascinating WWII poster, it was unremarkable.
This was in the era before everyone had cell phones, or I would have sneaked a photo of it.
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u/TypicalColdd 1d ago
The $20 difference between legally married and just vibes is the greatest upsell of all time.
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u/grab_a_can_of_splode 1d ago
I used to have a Church of Elvis T-shirt. Got lost sometime in college.
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u/thomasonbush 1d ago
Not surprising. Mojo Nixon confirmed around that time that Elvis is a perfect being.
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u/AlienBurnerBigfoot 1d ago
I got married at the Church of Elvis!!! It was just the $5 one so it didn’t count. That place was like Pee Wee Herman took a lot of acid.
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u/MrBones-Necromancer 1d ago
Really bizarre that the owner and artist Stephanie Pierce doesn't have her own wikipedia page. The storefront does, but she doesnt?
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u/TheEyeOfTheLigar 1d ago
"We went with the $5 ceremony, and spent the remaining $20 on our honeymoon at the liquor store and a couple scratch offs."