Blue Sky on the Docks

Astoria, Oregon ~ January 15, 2014
Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Do You Remember Cecil?

Pier 11 ~ March 16, 2013

 

A lot of memories were born here! There are many Astorians and visitors to the town who enjoyed waterfront dinners, family events and prom night when "Cecil" the Sea Serpent made this his home. 

 

In 1919 Pier 11 was purchased by George W. Sanborn & Sons who was another major stakeholder of Astoria’s waterfront.  In 1944 the warehouse was remodeled by the Lower Columbia Cooperative Dairy Association and was used as a feed mill plant until the building was abandoned in 1968.  In the early days, horses and trucks pulled through the main mall where feed was unloaded.  In the late 1970’s Darrel Davis and George Brugh remodeled the structure and converted into a restaurant, lounge, and Astoria’s first interior shopping mall.  However, you can still see the influences of the feed mill plant through the main hall.

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Inside Xclusive

Astoria, Oregon ~ January 3, 2013

Festive decorations remain in the window at Xclusive Salon. By the way, I had dinner with Jane last night in the (still pretty new) buffet restaurant downstairs at Pier 11 (the red building in the middle of the photo). I was impressed with the food, and the price was only $10.00 for all you can eat with the senior discount. I'm not sure what the pricing is for regular folks. 

I had sushi, seaweed, tender creamed chicken, sauteed mushrooms,  a bite of beef, pineapple chunks, chocolate pudding, and I'm sure there must have been a vegetable in there somewhere (uh huh). I was proud of myself for not overeating, although it was very tempting. If it's too dark to see the water, you can enjoy the brightly-lit fishing boats.

I want to thank Jessie for helping me out as guest blogger. She is hitting the books again, getting ready for college.

~ Sheryl

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Where Cecil Lives

Astoria, Oregon ~ November 14, 2011

The other day, I showed you a picture of a long trailer with Cecil's picture on it. Here is his new home in the Pier 11 building. It was cold and wet and the wind was picking up when I took these photos. The sky seemed ready to make a dark day even darker, so I thought I'd wait for better lighting before going inside to reveal Cecil himself in all his wooden glory. I hope Cecil's Grill has a long and prosperous life. It's the most recent in a chain of many restaurants in this location. My friend Francisca will remember a pleasant evening we spent chatting over a project here one night in the pouring rain with a fantastic view of the river and munchy hors d'oeuvres. I've always loved the warning sign in the second photo!

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Pier 11 on the Waterfront

Astoria, Oregon ~ January 23, 2010

For those not familiar with Astoria, Pier 11 is one of the town's most recognizable buildings. It sits on the water at between 10th and 11th Streets. In fact, the entire building is over water. The River Walk and trolley run between the railing and the building, and in real life you can see the water lapping down in the dark space on the right. The windows look pretty when you can see the sky on the other side, but at least one of the suites is no longer empty. I featured Malama Day Spa and the view from aloft in an earlier post, and Riki Fleischmann and her spa are featured this week on the cover of Coast Weekend. Speaking of windows, note that there's an unusual item displayed in one of the downstairs windows: a motorcycle. The location houses a restaurant (Rollin' Thunder BBQ), and the owner loves bikes.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Hanthorn Crab Co.

Here is some of the interesting equipment you can still see inside Pier 39, where you can get crab live when the boats come in. Hanthorn retails crab out of a building on Pier 11. You can check out their day-to-day activity here on Facebook. Sorry, I took this photo back in April, before the season. I never seem to be at the right place at the right time, so I'll see what I can do about getting some live-action shots soon!

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Containers for Fish

August 16, 2010

Big plastic containers sit along the River Walk behind the fish packing plant. The rails on the right are for the Riverfront Trolley, not for shipping the containers. They are shipped out by truck; the truck dock is on the other side of the block. I've been meaning to post a photo, so maybe I'll get to it in the next few days. The red building on the far right is Pier 11, which houses a couple of restaurants and some shops.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Diamonds in the Evening

July 19, 2010

The sun made diamonds on the water between Pier 11's banquet room and waterfront fish packing equipment. The small shiny spots at the left-hand side of the photo midway up indicate the wood decking where the River Walk and Riverfront Trolley both make their way along the river. A fishing boat is docked on the right. I think the glass of the restaurant may be tinted but I did not desaturate.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Railroad Crossing at Pier 11

April 24, 2010

The only railroad that crosses Pier 11's wooden pier these days is the Riverfront Trolley. I love the remnants of the industrial district here, although remnants is mostly what they are. On a typical day, you'll find tourists or locals out for a walk, bike ride, run, walking the dog(s), or wandering around with a camera.

We've been having a lot of this changeable weather lately: gray skies, blue skies, towering white clouds, pouring rain, and those in-between moments when the sun breaks through the clouds and lights up the land or water.


Notes from The (Weather) Underground for Portland: ...Record number of rainy days for April...A passing shower in the past two hours has now tipped April into the record books. In April 2010... Portland Airport has recorded 25 days with at least 0.01 inch of rain. The previous record was 24 days... set in 2003. Normally... Portland can expect 15 such days for April.

I don't know how the statistics look for Astoria, and we are on the coast and a distance from Portland, but I'd been thinking that April seemed extremely wet this year. One of my fellow bloggers in Florida says their dry season has been extremely wet, and now everyone is wondering what they're going to do with the water now that the wet season is at hand. At least here, it runs into the river and ocean. I'm not sure what the cumulative effect is.

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Enchanting Atmosphere on a Rainy Day

January 12, 2010

A rainy day in Astoria, Oregon. So what else is new? I thought this view from the white building on Pier 11 was especially nice, and the colors were muted and interesting. You might want to click on the photo to enlarge it. The building you see is Doc's on 12th, with Baked Alaska on the "ground" floor. The hill in the background is Tongue Point. We're looking east, up the Columbia River.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Colorful deterrent

January 12, 2010

This colorful gate is nailed shut at the moment. It can be found on the east side of the white building on Pier 11. Yesterday I posted the "Oregon Wild Products!" mural from the other side of the building. Can you tell it's been raining?

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Oregon Wild Products!

This mural on the side of the metal building on Pier 11 is a local landmark. I don't know if there's a date on it, but several buisnesses have come and gone and the mural remains the same - fortunately.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Reflections in The Wet Dog

Astoria, Oregon ~ July 15, 2009

This window of the Wet Dog Cafe reflects the red Pier 11 building along with other buildings on 11th Street. The door you see is on 11th Street. Another entrance and the deck eating area are on the River Walk. I showed the top of the building in this post last December.

Happy Ruby Tuesday.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Do we get the message?

These signs are clearly posted on the dock, but what's not as clear if you're not familiar with Astoria is that this is also part of the River Walk, so the foot traffic and bike traffic are fairly constant in all weather, and the boards do get slippery. I know.

But the second sign is not warning about wet boards. The cyclist has come to grief in the spaces between the planking. I usually ride in the other direction, where the walk is paved, but it can be fun to ride along the planked part of the walk. I have hybrid tires, which helps some, but I find myself making wide turns and cutting strange diagonals across the decking so as not to get into a groove and end up looking all too much like the guy on the white sign. It can happen.

I took this photo on the wharf at Pier 11 on a day recently that was less rainy than today. The white buildings are part of a working fish processing plant where I took this photo earlier in the year. I don't know where summer went. I never did get back to show the fish processing right along the edge of the River Walk. Maybe next year, OK? Or maybe I'll find a pic in the archives and bring it out on a rainy day.

Astoria Panorama - Pier 11 on the River Walk

Astoria's waterfront curves along the Columbia River. The red building is Pier 11. It now houses two restaurants and a couple of shops. The streets in Astoria are named alphabetically (starting with A at the water and L near the top of the hill) running parallel to the river and numbered from west to east going perpendicular to it. Thus, Pier 11 is at the end of 11th Street. The downtown area is approximately 7th Street to 15th Steet and Astor to Exchange, although many other businesses exist outside of this grid. Since the town is on a curve and many of the streets are straight, Astor is a short street, Bond stops where downtown starts, and Commercial is what would typically be known as Main Street, with most of the older downtown business buildings located there. I think the City Fathers must have been quite proud of themselves for managing to find such a fitting name for their business street starting with an appropriate letter for that location! The River Walk runs the length of town and much farther than downtown. You can see it on the right with its trolley tracks. Some of it is boardwalk as you see here, and some is paved. There is a lot of bike traffic here, too, skateboarders, runners, wakers, people with their dogs, baby strollers, and more. It's really pleasant in nice weather, but people use it even on our rare snow days. The old pilings in the water are typical. They practically line the waterfront. So many of them held up canneries at one time. The bump on the horizon is Tongue Point, forming a peninsula in the river. If the photo were wider, we'd see the expanse of the Columbia upriver to the left of Tongue Point.