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Astoria is an awesome little seaport that has always captured my imagination. I've been wanting to photograph it for a long time, but kept waiting for the rainy season to come back before doing so.
The town has a rich heritage of well-built wooden houses and mercantile structures dating from the turn of the century. Since its population peaked back in 1920 at around 14,000, Astoria has weathered many wet and stormy winters and has taken on a rich patina of age. Downtown is mostly brick and concrete, having been subsequently rebuilt after being subjected to two fires in 1883 and 1922.
I always fancy myself moving up there and opening an architecture studio in one of the old Victorian houses (or if I was a writer I'd want to pass a winter or two writing novels.) I probably wouldn't get many clients, but the lifestyle would be completely worth it.
Nice photos holladay...looks like a really well kept and lively town with some good density (for a town). I wonder why Oregon never built a decently sized city on the ocean. It's not like Portland is like how Seattle is, not on the coast, but easy access to it (Seattle would be in a bay or whatever).
Nice to see. It looks a little gritty, but also looks like it has good bones to eventually develop its downtown into something more akin to Victoria, BC or Monterey, CA (though on a smaller scale since it's significantly smaller than Victoria and about 1/3 the size of Monterey).
Good call waiting for wet weather -- definitely sets the right mood. It's funny how damp weather can sometimes give a comforting feeling. That certainly comes through in your beautiful photos.
I noticed the Hotel Elliot in one of the photos, so looked up reviews on tripadvisor, and found that it has very good reviews. I may be up that way next year on a trip so will definitely check out Astoria (looks very nice and green) and maybe stay at that hotel.
I wonder why Oregon never built a decently sized city on the ocean. It's not like Portland is like how Seattle is, not on the coast, but easy access to it (Seattle would be in a bay or whatever).
Probably because there are no large natural harbors along the Oregon coast. The Columbia is very wide at Astoria, almost harbor like, but has extremely dangerous currents.
Astoria is actually a mini-San Francisco in many ways. It's on a peninsula with steep hills, a large bridge and it's on the Pacific. It's also quite dense for such a small city (pop: 10,000+; density 1,597.6/sq mi. which is the same density as Portland)
Great pics Holladay! I love how you can see how the climate has taken its toll on some of those older homes.
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I wonder why Oregon never built a decently sized city on the ocean.
I believe they have a policy safeguarding the coast from development for ecological and environmental reasons. I can't recall the name of the policy, but looking at the disastrous environmental effects of coastal (over-)development in Florida, I'd say it's a good thing Oregonians are so protective of their coast.
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