I'm sure that title is too strong. It could be a mellow blending on the inside. Outside, however, you can see that we have to be careful when we're driving or walking. I really hate one-way grids, and that's what we have throughout the downtown area of Astoria, Oregon. In other places, it always seemed much simpler and safer to me when everyone knew we had to look both ways at all intersections. The rules didn't change from place to place. After a little checking, it seems that the statistics on safety are . . . well . . . conflicted.
The old Ocean Crest auto repair building at the corner of Duane and 14th Street has been empty for several years until recently, when it was purchased by the owners of the
Fort George Brewery and Public House just around the corner. If they do for it what they did for the other building, we'll see the place come alive. Of course, what caught my attention was the primitive-looking cool art. Inside there are already barrels. And there's art. Whatever the plans are, I'm sure it will be interesting.
I also like this photo because it shows how buildings accommodate Astoria's crazy slopes.
I used to wonder about the name Fort George, until one day I read that this was the name for the entire town at one time. In 1813, Astoria's name was changed in honor of the King of England. The British-owned North West Company had purchased the town; there was incentive to sell to them, because a British ship was headed this way that would have attempted to take it by force as an act of the War of 1812 if the owners had not sold it! The town continued to be called Fort George until 1846, although the Treaty of Ghent in 1814 had caused ownership to be returned to Americans.
OK, yes. This is weird. Thank you, Stephanie Roley, for sending this photo (see yesterday's post). What appears to be Mrs. Shively posing in front of her own tomb is actually an actor dressed up for a special occasion. Stephanie wrote: "Here's another one from Pioneer Cemetery that I posted on Facebook after the annual Halloween cemetery event. Now I can't even remember which historic group sponsors the event, but they dress in character and have interesting stories about some of the people buried there. As you can tell from the photo, this lady was not very nice (Mrs. Shiveley I believe)."
I'm sure that title is too strong. It could be a mellow blending on the inside. Outside, however, you can see that we have to be careful when we're driving or walking. I really hate one-way grids, and that's what we have throughout the downtown area of Astoria, Oregon. In other places, it always seemed much simpler and safer to me when everyone knew we had to look both ways at all intersections. The rules didn't change from place to place. After a little checking, it seems that the statistics on safety are . . . well . . . conflicted.
I know I was surprised when I first found this plaque a number of years ago. It didn't compute. Why here? Actually, there's been some question about whether the Clark Gable story is really true, but I looked up the answer on this web site, and they give some of their fascinating research. The building itself is a replacement for the Astoria Theatre that burned down in the big city fire of 1922; it's now a small one-story hospice connected with Columbia Memorial Hospital.
This is a reconstruction of the original Fort Astoria. The blockhouse and palisade are made of wood, while the additional fort walls and the building with the flag are painted on the flat wall behind by local artists Roger McKay and Sally Lackaff. I took the photo on March 6, 2009. Theme Day at City Daily Photo takes place on the first day of each month. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
