The way I heard it, this lovely Italianate Victorian boarding house (now apartments) was actually the last operating brothel in Astoria. I don't know how late that was, but at one time Astoria was known for its brothels and boarding houses. As a port city with a lot of lonely workers in the docks and canneries, it's said to have had an extremely rowdy past.
I don't know much about the history of this building, and I didn't have time to do the research. If anyone can clue me in, I'll update the post.
One Ninety Three West Bond Street is about a block from the apartment at 40 West Bond where I lived for several years when I first came to Astoria in 2001. Someone told me after I'd rented it that Bond Street was "the bad part of town." (Notice I didn't say "in" the bad part of town - Bond street was the bad part of town. Limited.) Were they kidding? If this is bad, they need to take a look at a few more typical cities. I found Bond Street to be a great place to live. Or maybe things have cleaned up since Bond Street's disreputable days. I'm still a newcomer, and I know there are readers out there with stories.Besides the comments below, there is lots of discussion about this building on the blog's Facebook page. Thanks, everyone!
14 comments:
Whatever its history its a beautiful building.
Great photographs Sheryl.
Costas
I can tell you I think it was featured in an episode of Route 66 that was filmed here. I think it was called "One Tiger to a Hill" or something similar.
Brothels in Astoria?? I thought it sounded like such a quaint, cute city. I'm glad to hear it has a "darker" side (or at least did in the past).
I like the looks of those apartments. Old-timey buildings are just neat.
Major Hoople's
A brothel on Bond Street? NO, that can't be! Oh, I've got the wrong Bond street! ;-)
Interesting post, I might try to look into it for Versailles. And it's a lovely house, too.
This is weird and funny...
Where are all the red lights?
A great old building. What was it like inside? It looks huge! But you said there were a lot of "lonely workers," so they must have had a lot of lovely girls!
I know nothing more other than it waas called Maj. Hooples Boarding House but whether it was actually a brothel or not is a different story. I am sure it will be easy to find out its history.
194 Bond was indeed called Major Hooples and bore that sign in the 1962 episode of Route 66 " One Tiger to a Hill" A must see for Astoria buffs as It shows the area post WWII before the bridge with a vital fishing fleet, port docks grain elevator, ect. and features a smattering of old time Astorians as featured extras. While one may find a "party girl" at 194 Bond yet I had always heard the distinction of last operating brothel with a Madam and the whole nine yards belongs to the building that houses the Rio Cafe. Lets get some historians on this asap.
Find one of the surviving Karnas-they'll give you all the rundown on it.
Very interesting history ... I will check back again to see if more has been unearthed!
PS I love this building - so much class and style!
Long past it's heyday the old timers around Astoria refer to this place as the "Cozy Apartments".
I heard the brothel above the Dirty D was still running in the 1980s!!
My great grandfather built this house around 1888. I heard a lot about the architecture when I was growing up. I just found an article published in the Daily Astorian 7/30/99 about it which details a lot of my grandmother's history. Her name was Maude Ross. I was confused when I read this article because I recently found another article about her wedding which said the reception was held at her family's home at 517 Grand Avenue, not 193 Bond Avenue. But then I saw that the family sold the home on Bond Avenue in 1910. Her wedding took place in 1914 so the family obviously sold the Bond Avenue home. My great grandfather, John Thorburn Ross, used to own Ross-Higgins in Astoria, which was described to me as the largest mercantile on the Columbia River at the time. I am attaching a pdf file which is the article from the Daily Astorian. Hopefully it attaches correctly.
1999 July Bond Street Building.pdf
Post a Comment