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24 Hour Church of Elvis
Category: Arts & Entertainment Art Galleries Shopping Art Galleries Art Galleries [Edit]
408 NW Couch StPortland, OR 97209
Neighborhood: Old Town - Chinatown
(503) 226-3671
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 12 am - 12 pm
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- By Appointment Only:
- No
16 reviews for 24 Hour Church of Elvis
16 reviews in English
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Review from Nicole W.
12/28/2011 1 Check-in Here
Crack me up!
Definitely drop a quarter if you are in the area!
Not worth a special trip, but funny and different! -
Review from Daniel B.
10/8/2011
The first religious experience that has ever made any sense to me.
You are the one in control of your destiny. You choose your slot.
You feed money into a coin operated whizbob doodad.
You are spoken to in a surreal robot voice.
You are blessed by the spirit of the patron saint of fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
It makes just as much sense as anything else. It's less expensive, more rewarding and far more memorable. -
Review from Ivan S.
8/24/2011
Despite my unending love of Elvis Aaron Presley and my exhaustive research into all things Portland, research which consisted of 1) emailing a friend who used to live there 2) flipping through a travel book while standing in a soon-to-be-closed Borders and 3) clicking through Yelp for a few minutes, the 24 Hour Church of Elvis came as a complete surprise--a pleasant, awesome, creepy, crazy-ass surprise.
In fact, this "church" was the very first stop on the very first day of my sister's tour of her newly adopted city. In true Portland hipster fashion, she didn't even have the courtesy to prep me; all she did was walk me up the sidewalk on our way to The Bite of Oregon and nonchalantly stop and say, "Check this out."
"What. The. Fuck?" I said.
It was Outsider Art Meets Radio Shack. It was the unholy love child of Howard Finster and David Lightman. I scrambled for a quarter. A creepy, synthesized voice beckoned and instructed. It sounded like an angry, hungover Stephen Hawking. We selected from a series of pop culture-based menus and options:
"Do we want to get married?"
"Which of these pairs do you want as witnesses?"
"Select your vows."
And it was there, on the streets of Chinatown, my wife and I renewed our vows as witnessed by Kate, Allie and my little sister. Sis gave us additional instructions: "Yeah, they don't give prizes any more. And some of the other stuff does work either." She also admitted that she and her husband also renewed their vows on THEIR first trip to the Land of Ports. This turned out to be the best quarter I spent in my entire week there.
Keep Portland weird? Well, folks, you're off to a good start. -
Review from Winona R.
10/5/2011
Oh, Portland. This is just another example of your delightfulness, just tucked away on a random street--the 24h Church of Elvis. Happening upon this little permanent art installation/curiosity was fun--I popped in a quarter and had 3 predictions made about my future, which is a bargain, as far as I'm concerned. So far, I haven't misplaced my red sweater or been the recipient of an inheritance from my Aunt Betty, but hopefully I can afford a new sweater with my inheritance money....
Quirky, fun, worth a stop. I didn't get married, but if I needed to in a hurry.... I know where to go.Listed in: PDX
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Review from K P.
Spokane, WA
9/11/2011
LOVE. IT.
We found the 24 Hour Church of Elvis totally by a random twist of fate! After leaving a show at the Star Theater, we saw what looked like what I assume the child of an ATM and a Fortune Teller would look like. This was the most amazing thing you could POSSIBLY find at random after a show! And after depositing our quarter into slot A, the Church of Elvis started it's assault on my perceptions of reality, and I will forever be changed! Best 25 cents I've ever spent, and I plan to visit many more times! -
Review from Augusta S.
Costa Mesa, CA
4/2/2009 3 photos
An opus of eccentric artistic quirkiness... formerly located at 219 SW Ankeny, then later moving to 720 SW Ankeny - the kitschy and cramped gallery that asked 'Where's the Art?" and boasted proudly from the street that it was a self professed 'Church of Elvis' - offering 24-hr service... ("24 Hour Church of Elvis: Usually open Noon to 5, 8 - 11 a lot. Call (503) 226-3671 for reassurance") has since experienced a rebirth at 408 NW Couch Street...
Thank god it dinnit close!
I love Portland. I love kitsch. And Stevie Pierce's gallery, which is elaborately, heavily, and excessively ornamented with objects she's collected and found over many a year...is the embodiment of all that is absurd and loveable. I have always made it a point to visit while in Portland.
This, my friends... is what it is like to live life as composed by Tom Waits. At least that's my take.
As far as I know, it really is 'The World's First Coin-Operated Art Gallery".... when the Church of Elvis was located on Ankeny, there were indeed vast assemblages, coin-operated art and other interactive displays... Video psychic, anyone? Check. Vend-O-Matic Mystery Machine? Got it. .... (what IS that, anyway?) I first visited when the gallery was at 219 SW Ankeny... and visited again when it moved down the street.
I also remember the awesome Prize-O-Matic... which dispenses prizes like little plastic insects or army men... (some of which can be purchased on her website, too...)
Best of all, is the wedding service, which I have indeed contemplated.... if only with the right groom.
But you have options here... for 5 bucks you and a friend can pretend to marry... how cute... or for 25 bucks you can have the real deal (plus $60 for an Oregon marriage license) Yes, Stevie is ordained... and really, how could you resist? Sure... if you are looking for that real church feel... white dress... 200 plus guests, I get it....
But at the Church of Elvis you get a wedding march, a fashion twirl, testimonial time, an inspirational message (!), a "touching legalization of the vows", that first smooch as man and wife, a first dance and.............. a traditional sidewalk parade!
Traditional sidewalk parade?!
Yes! I love that! Everyone loves a parade!
The best thing about the 24 Church of Elvis... is that it isn't open 24 hours... it's not really a church... and other than a friend of Stevie's performing 'Hound dog' for me, behind a pair of thick glasses, inna bathrobe, using a Fisher Price Ages 3 and Up tape recorder.... it really doesn't have much to do with Elvis, either.
Sure, you can purchase t-shirts and magnets with a crude depiction of Elvis P. (I have both, in fact) but it really isn't about him... it's about Stevie and her unharnessed and vivid expression.
Stephanie G Pierce (Stevie) I heart you with all my heart of hearts... you were once a big corporate professional and you said Eff It and decided to live your life free and full of art... and for that, you will always have my admiration and respect. 200 cheers to you... in my 200th review.Listed in: Yo' History Book Ain't Got…
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Review from Jaina D.
4/2/2010
This is my kind of religion.
Fancy, messy, interactive, inspiring, helpful, baffling, multi-cultural, resourceful, kinetic, accessible, overly accessorized--and whatta bargain!
Stevie was (and is!) one of my earliest and most deeply resonant role models for creative expression. She's created an elaborate world and has found a way to share some of its magical mysteries with any passerby.Listed in: Art Environments
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Review from Amy P.
Eugene, OR
5/29/2008
Not even the stinch of urine on a hot day could've kept me away from the 24 hr church of elvis.
Might I mention that I seriously believed he faked his death and is out in the open playing a really good Elvis impersonator?! Come on..didn't you see that special with Bill Bixby in the 80's?! Would the hulk lie to us?
This store front offers a shrine/temple to the sultry Elvis Presley. You can insert money and get all kinds of fun items like- An Elvis Detector- Is he near? Mine always reads No, damn!
You can also pay for a t-shirt and become a saint in the Church of Elvis, which I did of course.
Pure kitsch and a good time. Maybe I will drag my man down there to do a commitment ceremony. We could then go to voodoo for bacon topped maple bars...yes... -
Review from Judith B.
Los Angeles, CA
8/30/2010
We rushed right past this "gallery" the first time. Glanced. Took noticed. Wondered what it was, but we were in a rush.
Second time, we glanced and stopped. Dead in our tracks. What are we looking at? After $2.00 worth of quarters, a marriage, a fortune, and a review of our past lives, I'm still not sure but all I know is I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Funky and fun. Like the city, itself. -
Review from Kristeen C.
Sacramento, CA
1/11/2011
It's so fun here! You probably won't spend more than 7 minutes and maybe $1.50 here but it's still a lot of fun. Put in a quarter, press a button, and the screen talks to you. Put in a quarter, press another button, and the barbies start exercising on the bikes! Oh yeah you can also get married for $1! It's colorful and fun :)
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Review from kate k.
Portland, OR
10/15/2011
after free game night at ground kontrol, my companion and i walked in the wrong direction down couch, trying to find the max. instead, we found god and it was totally worth missing the last train of the night.
cheap thrills, don't forget your quarters! -
Review from Adam C.
5/22/2008 1 photo
I started the exciting yet awkward transition from college student to working professional with a couple-month backpack trip through Europe. When I returned, one of my best friends told me about the fascinating, ingenious, bisexual woman he'd been dating. Apparently she was on a jag for men, but their relationship wasn't really gelling. She showed him a personal ad that she wrote, describing her ideal mate: a worldly Jewish man with a slight edge of Woody Allenesque neuroticism. My friend thought immediately of me.
Their relationship ended around the time he told her of me, about the same time I got back from Europe. They both lived in Eugene at the time, and on a weekend visit we were introduced.
A few weeks later, the woman and I had the strangest rendez-vous of my life. We met in Portland, at a shady short-term motel. After a few drinks, sometime in the darker hours of the night, she took me to the 24 Hour Church of Elvis where we were wed by a surly Presleyterian Minister. I remember the Church being decorated with all sorts of things that made me dizzy and confused.
The knot was tied, a Polaroid shot, and we were given an enormous sign that we were gruffly told to march around the block with. It read "Just Married" and had a handful of beat up old tin cans tied to it. We marched through that wet alley on that cold Portland night, disturbing one wino who cursed our fortune at finding fleeting true love.
After the ceremony, we went back to the motel, where I had my first one-night-stand, and I believe her last tryst with a man.
We kept in touch for a while. She had a particular interest in neocolonialism in Botswana and would tell me all sorts of facts that I wish I could remember now that I understand the topic. Eventually, the phone calls became fewer and farther apart. I'm not certain where she is today, though I know she settled down with a woman. I'm not sure whether that was my fault or inevitable. I'm not sure whether the marriage counts or anything, but I'm not asking questions or claiming any tax benefits.
I never outright told my friend of this night, not really being sure what to make of it. In fact, I have never told anyone, now that I think of it. Somewhere, there may be a Polaroid that would be the only evidence that the night ever occurred. -
Review from Patrick S.
Oakland, CA
1/24/2010
There are times of deep Spiritual need within our lives that happen when we least expect them. It's good to know that now there is a 24 Hour place of worship to satisfy our Spiritual needs. That's right, the 24 Hour Church of Elvis! It's impossible to walk down the street and not stop and gaze with awe & wonder at the beauty of devotion to the King!
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Review from lucia j.
Portland, OR
8/20/2010
I told a tv screen that I was very bad, and I was so so sorry. I was saved for being very bad. I watched the Barbie gym three times. I posed for a picture taken by some Chicago tourists with three Portland policemen and one of them was doing an Elvis pose on his bike. I lost a quarter or five on things that didn't work. I just stood there for a little while after I ran out of stuff to do. Thank you..thank you very much, 24 hour church of Elvis.
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Review from Jarrod S.
1/23/2010 2 Check-ins Here
Places like this make Portland Portland. Lots of bizarre stuff in a few windows labeled a coin-op art gallery with small notes warning your quarter might get stolen, and another explaining the new ones on order. I had seen on the travel channel this place in it's hay-day, sure it doesnt stack up, but to say it isnt worth a trip down Couch street to see this electric orgasm of visual oddities would be a crime. Go, snap a few pictures and bask in the glow of coin op media art.
Listed in: ...But I like to get crunk…
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Review from John H.
Portland, OR
2/8/2011
Fun attraction and one of those things that keeps Portland weird.
