The Slice: There’s no reason plaid has to go bad

Quite a few readers raised their hands when The Slice asked how many remember when plaid Pendleton shirts were a Northwest icon.

And a number took issue with the suggestion that those days are gone.

“When did that change?” wondered Gary Polser, who still has a closet full of them.

We can agree to disagree. But Pendleton shirts were popular enough in California 50 years ago that the Beach Boys originally called themselves the Pendletones. So one could argue that the defining “Northwestness” of the classic woolen garments has been eroding for some time.

Still, some allowed that they did have a special status back when they were made in Oregon.

“My husband and I got married in 1956, and either our first Christmas or the following year, I bought him his first Pendleton,” wrote Joan Butler. “He owns five of the shirts now, and they look as good as the day we bought them even though some of them are over 50 years old. He still wears them every fall and winter.”

“My husband wore only Pendleton shirts, blue jeans and wing-tips shoes in high school in the late ’60s,” wrote Kathie Mathews.

Mike Altig had a bunch, even though he found them a bit itchy.

Lynette Torres remembers that her late father loved those shirts. “It was a big deal when he was able to get a new one,” she wrote.

But it wasn’t just shirts.

“As a teenager in Portland, I wore the female equivalent, which was the knife-pleated reversible skirt that sold for $29.95,” wrote Maxine Sullivan. “At 35 cents an hour and 50 cents after midnight, I put in a lot of babysitting time to finance my wardrobe.”

Marilyn Othmer remembers that those skirts truly were a high-school status symbol.

And it has been said that guys of a certain age remember that those skirts gave girls a pleasing appearance, especially as the young ladies walked away.

Inattention to detail: A Spokane guy I know went to see a friend in a play. But he showed up at the wrong theater and didn’t realize it until the show started.

Today’s Slice question: When you haven’t seen a peripheral acquaintance in ages, are you more apt to assume that the person moved away or that he died?