Photographs courtesy of Joseph F. Junker
Over the years, CoHoots were occasionally reminded about the heritage of our site in southtown. We saw a painting of one of the hop barns that had been on the property. We sometimes found old equipment when digging in the garden area. The hop barn design was our architect’s inspiration for the 2nd-story tower in the atrium of our Common House. CoHoot Peter Erskine is taking advantage of the windows in the tower to create a solar art project. And a CoHoot planted hops with a trellis climbing up to the second story of building 4 to grow hops for brewing on The Path.
And then, something amazing happened….
Here’s the message a neighbor sent out via email.
“One of our members was working in the garden and noticed a man looking around the area. They got to talking and come to find out the man, who was originally from Corvallis, had made a short film about the hop drying barns that were on this property 35+ years ago. The man’s name is Peter Eberhardt and he expressed an interest in showing the film. SO, coming to a CoHo Common House near you on Sunday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. will be “Hop Drying Barns” by Peter Eberhardt and Ellen Storm. Here’s what Peter has said about this short (15-17 min) film:
This movie “Hop Drying Barns” and was filmed by Ellen Storm and myself 1973-74. The hop drying barns were hauntingly beautiful in their setting. The eight barns represented a wooden architecture that spoke of decades of work followed by decades of abandonment. There was a dusty patina covering them inside and out. The movie was a project we enjoyed making while being very much in love.
We shot Super-8 movies of the Hop Drying Barns from different angles, always attempting to not show any signs of modernity like cars or telephone wires. The movies were spliced together and first shown at our premiere at Westminster House at 21st (?) and Monroe Streets off the edge of campus.
There is also footage from the OSU experimental farms where hop research was being conducted. Guy Seghetti, my close friend from Corvallis High School, was working at that facility is makes a brief appearance in the movie. Guy and I are both CHS graduates from 1969.
The importance of hops to beer making as an essential ingredient underscores the importance of hop production in the Willamette valley to the local economy. Good beer making remains an important part of the local economy, particularly with the recent addition of dozens of microbreweries in the Willamette Valley.”