Finally saw a functioning 1950s Otis in the wild last weekend

I was up in Portland visiting my cousin and we walked through this old building on SE Grand Ave. There's an Otis elevator in there from 1952 that still has the original steel buttons and that old whirring sound when it moves. The car stopped perfectly level on every floor, no shimming or nothing. Made me wonder how many of those old units are still running in the Pacific Northwest.

2 comments

2 Comments

amyh213d ago

Saw a video about an old one in Seattle that's been running since the 40s!

sarahpatel3d ago

Ngl I think that might actually be the Monorail from the 1962 World's Fair, not the 40s. The Seattle Center Monorail opened in 1962 and it's still running today between Westlake Center and Seattle Center. Its been going for over 60 years now, pretty impressive for an old system like that.