1 On May 7, 05:27 pm, Bunny von Munchausen wrote:

Just say no to tourists and tourism.

3 On May 7, 09:36 pm, Bunny von Munchausen wrote:

Well, when you put it that way it sounds sensible. But in the past it was the south county beach towns that drew yeoman’s share of the tourist trade and traffic. Now that these quick buck artists are bound and determined to turn what was once a relatively tourist free town, Astoria(there wasnt anything here for them) into some destination resort, where are the working class stiffs and oldtimers supposed to go for that tourist free oasis feel that Astoria used to provide?
It’s getting liker Seaside around here. Maybe it’s getting worse.

5 On May 8, 08:02 am, KISS wrote:

As long as my little burg [ rockaway] doesn’t use taxpayer money I’m for tourism. The big question: Where do the bucks go that the bigga boat bring in? To improve the docks and get rid of the unsightly pilings? Bettcha not!

7 On May 8, 08:45 am, Bunny von Munchausen wrote:

On May 7, 10:13 pm, THartill wrote:

Maybe I’m just too young
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Young feller, some day when you are a lot further down your road of life you’ll realize there is no such thing as “too young” (unless it prevents you from to getting into bars and dirty movies)

Just out of curiousity and if you don’t mind me asking, just how old are you? And do/did you have a grandfather named Dave and an uncle named Scott?

9 On May 8, 08:52 am, Bunny von Munchausen wrote:

On May 8, 08:02 am, KISS wrote:

Last I heard, the Port Comissioners haul it all down to Las Vegas where it’s invensted in limos, luxury suites, and hundred dollar bills for lighting cigars

11 On May 8, 12:38 pm, Carrie wrote:

Woohoo! I might be too young for something! I love the tourists and I love the pilings. The “dead” look of the 1990s was really a frightening look for downtown. Dilapidated buildings with empty windows staring out into vacant streets. Now we have new buildings, busy windows beholding with astonishment vibrant streets alive with people at all times of the day and often late into the evenings. Our sidewalks no longer roll up at 6 PM, our lights no longer turn out at 10.

If locals don’t like it they can stay in their clubs, or whatever their norm. Moose, Lions, Elks, Eagles, American Legion, the Bowling Alley, Hazels, the Desdemona, the Duck Pond, the Iredale, Annies. Church. The Grange. Bingo, Bridge, Pinochle, Quilters, Knitters. PAC. Home. No tourists invading any of these havens.

Nice pictures Tryan. Working hard at the Smokehouse or getting tired of being the main contributer here? Something, maybe, to think about is being a mentor next year to a senior project for one of the high schools (Seaside, Astoria, Knappa, Warrenton, Ilwaco, Long Beach, etc) and get someone interested in journalism to do a year long project with the site? Inject young blood and another layer of perspective to the site?

No criticism intended, at all. As I’ve mentioned dozens of times, you do an outstanding job. Just thinking of ways to get more contributions on a variety of levels.

13 On May 9, 12:08 am, Meg wrote:

Speaking of the Desdemona Club… You know, when I was first looking at Astoria as a place to move to, I was bowled over that there was actually a bar here (with a neon sign, no less) named after a Shakespeare character. Of course, considering Desdemona’s fate (suffocated by her husband in their bed with a pillow), I wasn’t sure who would actually want to go to such a club—misogynists? co-dependent women? wife-beaters? Then I saw a map in the restroom at Gunderson’s Cannery Cafe that labeled the shifting sandy area under the bridge as the “Desdemona Flats”, so maybe it’s a club for seamen whose boats have sunk there? Still, who named the sandbar and why? Inquiring minds want to know…

Speaking of funnily-named establishments; last weekend my Mom was visiting from Cleveland (the land of Cleve?)and I decided to impress her with some Oregon beach driving. I pulled onto the beach at the entry near Gearhart’s golf club and we had a great time—until I tried to get back out that same way and got my Jetta wagon stuck in the sand. Several people tried to help, to no avail, so we called AAA. They wanted to know our exact location and all I could remember was that the clubhouse restaurant was at the top of the ramp. This didn’t impress the guy in Bangalore who answered the 800 number and wanted to know the exact name of the restaurant and was I more than 50 ft off the legal roadway, because if I was, AAA wouldn’t help me! Right around then a yahoo drove up with a big truck with a winch and hook on the front bumper. He said he’d just bought the thing and had been wanting to try it out, so I hung up on the AAA guy and started chatting him up. While my poor dear mother sat in the car, he attached the hook to tow eye on the rear end and yanked the car back onto the beach (we couldn’t get to the front end because it was buried in sand…) Then he drove some figure eights across the grooves in the sand to give me some traction and I gunned it up and over onto the roadway. It was a swell adventure. But the real punchline came when we got up to the clubhouse restaurant and looked at the sign for future reference—it’s called the Sandtrap!!!

15 On May 9, 07:37 am, THartill wrote:

I had to think a bit about what the Desdemona was…..then it hit me the….The Dirty D!

17 On May 10, 09:51 pm, MomOfThree wrote:

My kids and I never tire of “Ship Days.” We love to see the enormous ships towering above the skyline and we love to play “Tourist/Not a Tourist” as we drive through downtown.

I talked to Lucy’s Books and they did great when the last one came in.

I’ve made several images of those pilings…