Because of Bill: An Intimate Look at One of the City’s Greatest Champions

Because of Bill:
An Intimate Look at One of the City’s Greatest Champions

By Erin Schmith & Lucy Capehart
NAP Contributors

Almost everyone in Portland, Oregon, has heard of Bill Naito. The street along the downtown waterfront bears his name but many do not realize the extent of his influence on the city we know today. A new exhibition, “Because of Bill: William Sumio Naito’s Legacy in Portland,” at the Japanese American Museum of Oregon offers visitors an in-depth look at all that he built in Portland and the personal motivations that drove his success. The exhibition is open to the public through September 1, 2024.

Bill Naito was a force of nature whose infinite imagination, unbridled determination and limitless persistence transformed Portland during the second half of the 20th century. Starting in the 1960s, when the Naito family bought their first building in Portland, Naito took an interest in downtown particularly in transforming it into a livable city center with green space, and places to live, work, shop and play. An influential civic leader, he was often the only person of color amongst any given group of businesspeople or politicians.

Earlier in 2024, Erica Naito-Campbell, Naito’s grandchild, published “Portland’s Audacious Champion.” The biography explores how the extreme racism and xenophobia of World War II in 1942 traumatized her grandfather. He confronted that trauma by becoming a successful businessman who sought to make Portland better than the city that had expelled him and his family. Using the book as a foundational document, the new exhibition explores intimate details of Naito’s life alongside the origin stories of many iconic Portland structures and even a replica of his famously cluttered desk.

Naito had his hand in the Japanese American Historical Plaza, preservation of Old Town, Portland Saturday Market, downtown transit mall, Portland Galleria and Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park among many other development, revitalization and quality of life projects in the city. He championed the 1972 downtown plan after noticing that many worthwhile historic buildings were being replaced by parking lots and a lack of life in the city after offices closed for the day. “People with pride in where they live, that’s what makes a city work,” he told the Cincinnati Enquirer in1995. Visitors will come away inspired by his civic-mindedness and how much of the Portland we know and love today is because of Naito.

Bill Naito not only fought for the livability of Portland for its citizens; he also saw the value and importance of preserving crucial historic buildings,” said Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong, executive director of the Japanese American Museum of Oregon. “The Japanese American Historical Plaza would not be here today if it weren’t for his advocacy with the city. We look forward to celebrating all Bill Naito did for Portland.”

“We invite you to learn more about Bill Naito and what he did to help create much of what we love about the city of Portland,” said Anne Naito-Campbell, Naito’s daughter. “We hope that you will find inspiration and a new civic pride in our great city after reading his new biography. We all can do more to help with Portland’s revitalization after COVID. The first step in recovery is to come back downtown and support the businesses here. This is something that my father did after World War II. He came back to Portland, and for that we are forever grateful.”

This exhibition is generously supported in loving memory of Bill and Micki Naito.

Bill Naito and the Remaking of Portland Through Its Buildings Talk and Walking Tour
Saturday, August 17, 1-3 p.m.
220 PDX
220 Northwest Second Avenue, Portland
Erica Naito-Campbell, author of Portland’s Audacious Champion, will give this presentation about Bill Naito’s historic and architectural preservation work in Portland. After the talk, she will give a walking tour of some of the buildings he saved in Old Town. The walking tour portion of the event is optional and will be limited in size, so be sure to register at: jamo.org.

About the presenter
Erica Naito-Campbell was born in Portland, Oregon, and grew up next door to her Grandma and Grandpa Naito. They instilled in her progressive values of social justice and equality for all, as well as a profound personal connection with nature. She followed in her grandfather’s footsteps and attended Reed College in Oregon, where she cemented a passion for learning, history, and the well-crafted word. Recently, she worked on Oregon Rises Above Hate, an annual event highlighting Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander issues and community. Her recent book, Portland’s Audacious Champion, tells the story of her grandfather, Bill Naito, and how he became an influential civic leader in Portland. The book is the foundation for the exhibition, Because of Bill: William Sumio Naito’s Legacy in Portland, on view through September 1, 2024, at the Japanese American Museum of Oregon.