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Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Where We Live
Local business preserves the past
Photos by Zoe Gottlieb / The Chronicle
2Cs Vendor Mall keeps history alive with its antique goods and old architecture.
Originally published in The Chronicle Vol. 139 November 3, 2021 ZOE GOTTLIEB chronicle2@countrymedia.net
A local store is lending a hand in preserving the past. In a building that now holds a three-floor antique and secondhand goods store, 2Cs Vendor Mall was once the home of a longstanding fraternal organization, and later, a Pendleton garment factory. Current 2Cs Vendor Mall Owner Mitzi Ponce rents from Philip Stanton, who bought the property in 2016. His family corporation owns various properties in St. Helens, including Molly’s Market, Plymouth Pub, and Running Dogs. Ponce said she used to work in high tech before she turned to managing antiques, a move which has helped her transition into retirement. “I don’t really fit in well with in a corporate world,” she said. “This is something that aligned with my own interests and hobbies. I had booth space in the store, under the previous owners. (When) they were ready to retire from owning the store, I was ready to retire from my job, and it just kind of worked out.” A brief history The 2Cs Vendor Mall building, located on 215 S. 1st St., was built in 1927
and once housed an international, non-sectarian fraternal organization called The Order of Knights of Pythias. The fraternity was founded in Washington DC by Justus H. Rathbone in 1864 and became the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under U.S. Congress. According to Ponce, the Pythians ran a JC Penny, which helped it finance its large gatherings. “The way that we understand it is that back in the day, they would build a larger building than they needed for their lodge and a commercial portion of it would pay for the mortgage,” she said. “That way, instead of indebting your members into the future for building a new lodge, you actually had a commercial organization that was paying that bill every month.” These events were held in the ballroom, an area of the building which still stands today. “That ballroom was their Kingdom Hall, but then they also have rented it out to the old John Gumm school, and they would have dances over here, rented it out for weddings and for bands and for private parties and things like that,” Ponce said. “Since the very beginning, people in St. Helens have had events up there.” The Pythians used the Lampson carrier system to manager their transactions, according to Ponce. “They were a spring-load-
ed pulley device,” she said. “The accounting was up in the loft over the front door. And so, the people on the sales floor would put the money in this carrier, and then pull the cable and it would go zinging up to the accounting, and they would take care of the money and then send the receipt back down.” Ponce said she still receives comments from customers who witnessed the Lampson carrier in action. “We still have people, at least once or twice a month come in and tell us that, you know, this is the first store where they got a real pair of big boy pants and the cashiers use the pneumatic tubes to send the money zinging around,” she said. Once the property changed hands in the 1980s, it became a Pendleton garment factory, where young women spent hours together in tight quarters, dyeing fabric and working looms. “In the very back of the building where you go up the ramp and where we have retail sales, at one time that was a steam press room. They took the sweaters and they would put them on the steam presses in order to size them,” Ponce said. The name Pythias originates from the age-old story of Damon and Pythias, who lived around 400 B.C. and attended the school founded by renowned Greek philosopher Pythagoras. According to legend, the
pair was cemented by loyalty and friendship, having withstood many trials together. The fraternal order stands for three principles the knights upheld through large events and gatherings: friendship, charity, and benevolence. Unique features Ponce said that the building’s unusual architecture contributes to its allure. “It’s funny, on our surveillance cameras, we can see people there trying all the doors they want to go in,” she said. “They’ll get up on those steps of the pews in the ballroom to look into those old radiators up there and look out the windows because they just want to know what’s in the building.” Ponce told The Chronicle why she believes the building’s features are explored so thoroughly by residents and tourists alike. “I think we all like a little bit of a little bit of fun in our lives, right? We have people who come in who they ask us if the building is haunted, who really want it to be haunted. Right, so we have some stories and we can share those stories with them,” she said. A thriving business With over 70 vendors, 2Cs offers a selection of handcrafted and antique goods for interests of every niche. “We’ve got some people
who focus on this century, and some people who are more interested in The Depression Era. I’ve got people that don’t care what era what it was, they just want things that are rusty and fun. So, you know, they’re all different,” Ponce said. Ponce said the shop goods come from both the vendors, who require a St. Helens-issued license, and secondhand dealers, who only require a permit from the St. Helens Police Department. Vendors each have their own section in the store, and an individualized approach to managing their collections. The oldest object in the store’s possession, said Ponce, is glass dating back to the 1800s. Shoppers passing through 2Cs may find themselves intrigued by a Bible less than an inch in width and height or the images inside of a Stanhope lens. Stanhope lenses are any kind of object with a pinhole in it that gives you a view of an image or series of images, similar to a kaleidoscope, according to Ponce. “Sometimes we see them as rings,” she said. “So, the ring will just look really odd. It looks like a stainless steel or a sterling setting with a hole in it and you’re thinking what’s missing, but
no it’s a Stanhope lens.” Ponce is on constant watch for the collectible, she said. “Right now, we have an ivory colored barrel, and it has a little pinhole in it and when you look through it, you see five scenes from Niagara Falls,” she said. Ponce said that the 2Cs development has given an old property a second life and worked to preserve its legacy as a historical building. “I think there’s a lot of synergy there, because we see so many times when older buildings go into disrepair and then they’re torn down. You lose the building, right, and then you have the expense of erecting a new building, she said. “Here you have one that’s being maintained, is a commercial driving venue, and brings people in.” The dealers have created the warm and inviting atmosphere of 2Cs, a fact which Ponce said she wants her customers to know. “We’ve worked really hard to get a group of dealers in who want to create an experience for customers, not just to bring in a lot of stuff that they can buy, but to create an atmosphere if they walk into their booth and give them a specific experience, she said. “To the extent that we’re successful or that we’re well liked, it’s because of our dealers.”
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