The Old Heidelberg Garden Resort opened in 1933 (Today, we know it as Black Bear Diner)

When Anna Berthold opened Old Heidelberg Park in 1933, Beaverton had yet to expand from its downtown commercial core. The new business was along the highway, within the western city limits in a location known as Raynard’s Oak Grove, the site of a resort called Drift Inn.

The name, referred to as Old Heidelberg Inn and Old Heidelberg Garden Resort, was likely a tribute to her heritage: Anna was born in Germany in 1882 and her husband, Charles, in Hungary in 1877. Its grand opening in 1933 celebrated a family style eatery serving German food cooked by Anna, draft beer, and stayed open for dancing after 8 p.m. Although Prohibition was still in effect, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the 1933 Cullen-Harrison Act that allowed the sale of low-alcohol beer and wine before the official end of Prohibition later that year.

She eventually expanded the menu to include hot tamale pie and BBQ sandwiches while continuing as sole proprietor after Charles death in 1939. Loyal customers helped keep the diner open during the blackout and rationing years of World War II, although it was briefly closed because of a labor shortage. Upon her retirement, Harold and Mabel Corby of Portland bought the business in 1946, but two years later sold to prominent Beaverton residents, brothers Albert and Raymond Rossi, who revamped the menu to fried chicken and steak. Anna, known for her “charming manner”, stayed on to greet the public as hostess.

The address for the place to “Dine, dance, and be happy” in that era was 1110 NW Canyon Road. By 1959, ownership had again changed to Andrew and Lula Berkholt. Then, Portland restaurateur Edward Palaske bought the aging roadhouse and its surrounding forested three acres in the “boondocks west of Portland” in 1973, renaming it Grub ‘N Grog and revising the cuisine to beer and sandwiches.

Dining out habits and trends changed in the 1970s, however, as diners gave way to eateries with more diverse offerings, and in 1980-81 it had been purchased and renamed Lyon’s Restaurant and Lounge by the Lyon’s West Coast chain of family restaurants. An advertisement for Diamond Head Grill, a Hawaiian-themed eatery, shows up in a 2004 local newspaper. It was apparently short-lived as the now ever popular Black Bear Diner leased the space in 2005.

The years passed, ownership changed, and the original building demolished. The location nevertheless has endured as a favored and visible site for a mixture of popular places to gather and dine.

By Ann Koppy. For more info, visit us at www.historyofbeaverton.org, email info@historyofbeaverton.org.