Feature

by Benjamin Tertin

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Hippo Hardware
Reclaims Throwaways

Dave England and the film crew for the reality prank movie "Jackass" used this second-floor Hippo Hardware plumbing showroom for a scene in their debut movie. --Benjamin Tertin, photo

Toga-toting hippopotami smile from six storefront columns at Hippo Hardware & Trading Co. on 1040 E. Burnside St. The company hired Andy Olive, a homeless artist, to paint the murals.

Hippo Hardware co-founders and owners Steve Miller and Stephen Oppenheim said they loved the artwork and offered to hire Olive full-time, but he graciously refused. He still lives under the big tree near the 16th Street exit ramp off Interstate 84. Miller, 58, and Oppenheim, 56, have been friends more than 40 years. Miller joined the U.S. Navy at age 17 and, from '65 to '69, served one tour in Vietnam. Oppenheim studied at Portland State University, majoring in sociology with a minor in urban studies.

They were both working for A-Ball Plumbing on West Burnside Street in the early '70s when they received their calling--to open a secondhand junk shop.

"The city told us, 'You can't have a junk store; it'll ruin the neighborhood,'" Miller said. "So we told them we'd put in a hardware store."

The partners opened Hippo (affectionately named after a girl Miller once dated) in 1975 and relocated in 1990. "We moved the whole store using street people, shopping carts and two pickups," Miller said. "It was the first Gallo-powered parade in Portland's history." The whole move took more than one year, Miller said, because of the sheer volume of merchandise.

Ten feet inside the front door, Hippo swallows customers in a sea of ornate light-switch plates, hinges and vintage doorknobs.

Thousands of brass and porcelain cupboard handles line the walls and fill the shelves. From curtain hooks to locks and latches, every available inch in the store displays some sort of home improvement hardware, or, as the Hippo work van terms it, "Architectural jewelry."

Curious looking hippopotamus trinkets and toys hide in shadows or on shelf ledges.

The Hippo staff arranges merchandise into semi-organized groups according to its function, and nothing comes pre-packaged. Miller said he and Oppenheim watch the paper for auctions and estate sales to find Hippo's products. Miller salvages hardware from demolition projects, and his daughter, Morgan Miller--Hippo's bookkeeper and assisting manager--searches the Internet for pre-owned architectural treasure.

As a reputed broker of historic hardware, Miller also purchases Hippo merchandise directly from individuals looking to sell their antiques. "I bought an old rib-cage shower and an original Thomas Crapper toilet from a woman who first tried to sell them to me 11 years earlier," he said.

Back then, Miller advised her to keep the antiques in her family for a while. She took the tip and called him back this year when she wanted to sell.

Miller said the toilet, restored to its original 1906 condition, will sell for more than $3,500.

"Our specialty is the hard-to-find, the unique, the custom-designed, the bizarre and the off-beat," he said. "Our merchandise, in a way, almost reflects the ownership and the staff of the company."

Regarding hiring, Miller said he admires "all of the Maker's makings" for who they are now instead of where they have been.

He said Hippo staff is "good family" and that one way he looks after the "10...or maybe 11" Hippo employees is to provide them with 100 percent medical, dental and vision coverage.

Robert Jacobs, 40, scrubbed an antique bathtub on the front sidewalk while he described the tub renovation trade. Jacobs said Hippo bought the antique at an old farm in Corbett, Ore. He said the tub is worth $2,000 or more, depending on its final restored condition. Miller said that seven to eight months ago Hippo didn't have a single bathtub in the house, but now the second floor plumbing department displays more than a dozen claw-foot tubs.

That plumbing showroom is home to a classic scene in "Jackass," the popular reality stunt movie.

Miller said the movie stars filmed their Exlax-fueled toilet test drive bit in his store under two conditions: One, Miller and Oppenheim could not warn the on-duty managers about the prank; and two, the film crew needed to purchase and remove the toilet.

That scene engraved Hippo's plumbing department showroom into Gen-X history.

Creaky stairs rise from the plumbing showroom to Hippo's third-floor canopy--a thick jungle of light fixtures.

Crystal chandeliers compete for ceiling space with giant glass globes and dangling pendants, while floor lamp forests border skinny paths cleared for browsing customers.

"Fight Club" author Chuck Palahnuik referred to Hippo as "a clearinghouse for chunks of Portland's history" in his travel memoirs book about Portland, "Fugitives and Refugees."

Hippo Hardware & Trading Co. is listed under "museums" in the Portland yellow pages. Oppenheim, the curator, knows what's up with odd hippo sculptures and toys placed in hiding spots throughout the store.

Bright and dull, small and large hippos beg to be found, but none have a price tag.

"A while ago," Oppenheim said, "we had some kids come in to count them for us, and they came up with 392 hippos." Donations from friends and loyal customers have since doubled the collection.

"None of them are for sale," Oppenheim said, "but sometimes, if a kid gets attached to one or really expresses interest in a particular hippo, we'll give it away."

Through their "reuse and recycle" hardware store, Miller and Oppenheim said they have tried to salvage more than historic hardware.

"I truly believe that we have a responsibility to each other in the community we live in," Miller said. He said that if someone hadn't helped him at times when his own life crumbled, he wouldn't have made it and that he wants to transfer a similar kindness through Hippo.

Miller and Oppenheim once hired a man named Ben after he was released from the state penitentiary system. Oppenheim said that, considering all the benefits from owning Hippo, helping Ben start anew has been one of his greatest personal rewards, and Ben helped Hippo in return.

Oppenheim said Ben caught a car thief red-handed in front of the store one day. "When the guy pulled a knife, Ben lifted his shirt up and yelled, 'What? What are you going to do!?'"

Previous gunshot and knife wounds had left the skin on Ben's abdomen mangled with thick scars, Oppenheim said. At the sight, the thief took off and never returned.

Working his way up from Hippo's brass polishing room, Ben eventually went on to start his own taxi service. He is happily married now and owns several Portland cabs.

Andre Jehan, founder and owner of the Pacific Northwest pizza company Pizza Schmizza, started working as Hippo's hardware manager right out of high school.

Jehan said that, although he was in and out of trouble while employed at Hippo, "Miller and Oppenheim were like older brothers to me; they kept me in line."

Rating Hippo Hardware & Trading Co. from a solely economic standpoint, Miller said the company has not been overly successful but admitted, "We always seem to have as much money coming in as we do going out."

Miller said Hippo has been the quiet refuge he was looking for when he left the military. Staring out at Hippo's monumental hardware collection, he said: "What is all this? It's stuff. Nobody's going to bury you with it; nobody's going to remember you for it.

"They're going to remember you for how you reached out and tried to make a difference in someone--a ripple on the pot."

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