Lots of Lines

Some people separate sheep from goats. In Astoria, we separate Victorian from Deco. It's not because we like to segregate them, it's because two fires required the downtown to be rebuilt. This rock marks one of the corners of both fires. Behind me you will find a lot of Victorian architecture, and in front you will find mostly art deco, or in some cases just plain rectangular buildings.

The rock says:

THIS MARKER

IS NEAR THE SOUTH

WEST CORNER OF THE

BUSINESS DISTRICT OF

ASTORIA, OREGON, THAT WAS

DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1883

AND AGAIN IN 1922

The rock sits just past the street sign in the middle of the photo.

Here's the sign (at the corner of 9th and Exchange). If you follow Exchange for a few blocks, you'll come to another of the fire's landmarks, which I'll show another day. I read about it, but I don't think it has a marker like this corner has.

I took this photo of the Labor Temple a few paces down 9th Street toward the river. You can see clearly the deco influence in this building and the tan building on the right, which fronts on Commercial, the main street of downtown Astoria. Like many of the downtown buildings, the date, 1923, is stamped on the Labor Temple along with the building's name. Keeping up with the times, the Labor Temple Diner & Bar has its own page on Facebook. And here's an earthy review of the venerated landmark. I suppose "language or content warning" is appropriate on the second link, but I think it gives a true picture of what you'll find there, and it has a photo of the inside.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.