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Portland, OR — The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is excited to share the most recent addition to its collections: the one-of-a-kind cargo bike from “The Pedal Powered Talk Show.” The bike, which has pedaled to rooftops, canyon rims, shoe factories, roller skating rinks, and goat fields, will take its final joy ride through downtown Portland at 4:30pm on Thursday, June 10.
A decade ago, Boaz Frankel and Phillip Ross embarked on a mission to combine two of their favorite things: talk shows and cargo bikes. Hailing from a state where bicycling is beloved, cargo bike builder Ross accepted the challenge of designing a mobile talk show — and a few months later, the Pedal Powered Talk Show was born. Built from aircraft grade steel, locally sourced bamboo, and custom wheels, the eight foot, seventy-five pound bike has transported host Frankel to interviews with unicycling bagpipers, best-selling authors, 80-year old drag queens, famous musicians, and the Baldwin brothers.
After recording 64 episodes over five seasons, concluding in 2016, Frankel and Ross decided that the bike deserved its own place in Oregon history, and contacted OHS Deputy Museum Director Nicole Yasuhara, who oversees the museum’s vast collections. The over 75,000 objects safeguarded in the OHS museum collection include costumes and textiles, Native American belongings, artworks, and both notable and everyday items. While the OHS collections contain various vehicles from the Benson automobile to a horse drawn hearse, a mobile talk show bike is a unique addition to the collection.
“Boaz and Phillip have created something so quintessentially Oregon with The Pedal Powered Talk Show,” said Yasuhara. “The bike has been privy to so many local stories through its travels across the state and beyond, and we are grateful that they have decided to entrust OHS with this important piece of local pop culture.”
“I’ve been a fan of OHS’s mission since I came here during an elementary school field trip,” said Frankel. “Since then, I’ve been a frequent participant in their festive Holiday Cheer author celebration, too. So, when we were deciding where we should pedal the talk show bike on its final ride, OHS was the obvious choice. We’re honored to have it join their collection and are excited to share our bicycling adventure with future generations.”
A small group of Oregon Historical Society staff and friends of The Pedal Powered Talk Show will gather at 4pm in the South Park Blocks between Madison and Jefferson for a 3.71 mile ride down to the Eastbank Esplanade and back. The route of the joy ride is included with this press release. Boaz Frankel and Nicole Yasuhara will both be available for media interviews that afternoon.
About the Oregon Historical Society
For more than a century, the Oregon Historical Society has served as the state’s collective memory, preserving a vast collection of artifacts, photographs, maps, manuscript materials, books, films, and oral histories. Our research library, museum, digital platforms & website (www.ohs.org), educational programming, and historical journal make Oregon’s history open and accessible to all. We exist because history is powerful, and because a history as deep and rich as Oregon’s cannot be contained within a single story or point of view.