Disharmonious

Astoria, Oregon ~ November 25, 2011

The colors clash in this photo taken yesterday at what's left of the 6th Street Pier. They go with the mood. The destruction is equally as complete on the other side of the pier, but I chose to post this picture today since I was initially focused on the ship, which seemed to be much closer to land than I usually see them at this point. It may be an illusion. When seen from even a block further onshore, the ships look terribly close. They recede visually as you approach the waterline. I don't remember when the viewing platform received this coat of paint, but I much preferred the previous look, which blended better with the natural and man-made elements.

The Cannery Cafe is gone (burned beyond saving in that horrendous fire and now razed by heavy equipment) which all makes me feel sad, but the condos slated for that space of open water were put on hold in 2008 when the economy tanked. I can't say I'm sorry about that. Astoria's setting and vistas are what give it its charm. The rest is gravy.

The ship is Power Loong, registered in Panama.

. The old platform colors

. Wind and flags: One of my favorite photos of the pier

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Astoria Fire: A Sad Day

Astoria, Oregon ~ December 17, 2010

It all looks fairly placid, but last night and into the morning, two much-frequented and well-loved iconic Astoria buildings were completely gutted by fire. (I've also shared a very clear and telling video by Chris Patenaude on this blog's Facebook Page.) No one "on the ground" was injured; one of the approximately 80 firefighters on the scene had some damage to one shoulder, according to accounts I've read this morning. Several people took videos of the conflagration in the night. Not only are as many as 10 businesses homeless this morning, but this location was a favorite of locals and tourists alike.

Gunderson's Cannery Cafe (a favorite of mine since I arrived in Astoria and a place I've especially enjoyed lately), on the left, is the most talked-about casualty, but there was also a restaurant inside of Number 10 Sixth Street (on the right) that many of us enjoyed at lunch time. The prominent red roof in the middle of the picture is the 6th Street Viewing Platform, another place I cherished. I couldn't tell if it had sustained any damage.

You can look on Google for Astoria fire and see what comes up. At the moment, I'm sad, tired for other reasons, and need to get to work.

Number 10 Sixth Street this morning. At the moment, I don't have time to go into my thoughts or list the businesses that were inside. Suffice it to say, it's a sad day for a lot of people, and not only the owners of the property and businesses.

How many times have I gone in the door on the far right? I used to walk though the building as I was strolling the River Walk in order to look at the paintings by local artists, and I've enjoyed lunch at the Lazy Spoon Cafe just to the right of that doorway. Clatsop Behavioral Center helped many, many people with their counseling and groups, and upstairs was a remarkable refurbished Victorian suite (quite big, maybe 4 bedrooms and an incredible view) where I attended two events, and it could be rented for weekend getaways. I have a number of photos of these two buildings "in life," but they're filed by date, so I'll post them as I find them. Two of my all-time favorite pictures on this blog are of the 6th Street Pier and its buildings:

. Festive banners on the 6th Steet Pier with the now-burned buildings on either side of the walk

. The lighter colored building on the right is Number 10 6th Street

I got a comment and an e-mail about Number 10 having been the Bumblebee Cannery. I should have mentioned it before, but it was before my time here. Check out the comments linked below, and also the following e-mail:

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I didn't see any mention that 10 6th st. used to be Bumblebee Tuna's main offices. And it set vacant till Chester Trubuco took it over and made something of it. The fire is just many that dotted the waterfront of Astoria. I've watched many buildings burn down on the waterfront over the years. It is sad to see Chester's Dream go up in smoke. But the old facility had seen its better days and it was sad to see it go. One of the landmark was the big radio tower and antenna which used to be on the top of the building for many years. It was given to Sunset Empire Amateur Radio Club many years ago and was taken down piece by piece.

The city looses another major landmark.

When people visit the East Basin they forget or don't know about the building of George and Barker that was turned into a fish buying station and burned down in the 80's. It had a long pier and a building at the end which they stored some personal belongings. And it burned down this community has seen its share of spectacular fires over the years since the big fire since Dec. 8th 1922 every few years we have had a big fire. Which one is going to be next?

The way this city is constructed a fire in a basement could cause a good part of the city to go again!

What happened to our fire boat? Did they think we would have no more fires next to the water so they had to get rid of it?

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Good question. I was also wondering about the fireboat. Don't we have them at some of the demos during Regatta?

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Because Things Change

June 2002

One reason for snapping photos everywhere you go is to save images for the "memory book." We do this with photos of ourselves, our friends, our pets, and events. When I look back through my photos of Astoria, I often see things that have changed over the short nine years I've been here. This dumpster on the 6th Street Pier - whimsically painted by Diane Beeston - disappeared a number of years ago. This dumpster actually had a sentimental meaning for me, because when I planned to move to Astoria in 2001, it was one of my first glimpses of the town. When I decided to move here I had never been to Astoria. I did what research I could using travel books and the Internet, but there were many fewer photos online at that time, and one rare web site (gone now, I think) showed this dumpster (from the other side) and a seal poking its head out of the water. These were some of the strange pieces that helped determine my direction. A town with painted dumpsters and seals at the edge of town seemed welcoming.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Park with Blossoms

At the corner of Commercial and 6th is a small park made just for kids. At the moment, it's wearing cherry blossoms - or I believe that's what they are. This view is looking east along Commercial Avenue with the post office in the background.

It looks nice and warm out, but I'd gone back to the car for my jacket, although several kids and their parents were out playing on the sun.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Daffodils at Number 10

Daffodils can be seen almost everywhere as Astoria glides into spring despite continuing changeable weather and daily and nightly downpours. I realized yesterday I'd gone out without my jacket, hadn't thought about it, and didn't need it for a few hours. So at least for awhile, the air was warmer.

This building at No. 10 Sixth Street is built over water. If you enlarge the photo, you can barely see light glinting off the river under the boardwalk. The boardwalk here is used for both the River Walk pathway and the Riverfront Trolley tracks. The building itself contains offices and the Lazy Spoon restaurant.

Earlier I showed the other side of the building in this photo, and the 6th Street Pier and viewing platform to the left in this photo.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

A lace cap for a long winter's night?

Since I happened to be in the neighborhood, I wanted to catch this fanciful scrollwork on the eaves of a house at 6th Street and Bond. It's too bad that the day wasn't brighter for a more glowing photo, but we're into the season now and there will be many, many cloudy and rainy days before we see much sun again.

The scrollwork is in a similar style to that on the steeple of St. Mary Star of the Sea, visible in this post from last May. I wonder if it was a local style or if it was done by one person. I've seen it on at least one or two more buildings, so it could possibly turn up on this blog someday :)