Astoria, Oregon, Discovers a Waterfront Chic
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IT was a damp, wind-whipped Thursday night in Astoria, Ore., but inside the Fort George Brewery & Public House an eclectic, standing-room-only crowd kept warm and dry. Ol' Danny Barnes, a Washington State-based singer and banjoist, twanged and crooned before a hooting audience of Astorians who had poured into the space on their way home from work. In the crowd were Coast Guard officers, marine biologists, nursing students -- and the waitress who had served me lunch earlier that day.
I finagled a stool at the pub's sturdy wooden counter and, taking a cue from my bar mates, ordered beer-battered fish and chips and a dark, potent stout. Occupying the next stool over was Josef Gault, a Fort George regular and self-described "wild Hungarian." Mr. Gault -- actually a native of Detroit -- is a musician and cultural events coordinator at the local community college. In his estimation, the town's blustery climate and its cultural vibrancy are intertwined. "Because of its turbulent weather," he said, "Astoria attracts artists."
It wasn't always so. For most of its history, Astoria -- a former pelt trading post named after the fur baron John Jacob Astor -- was a hub of the West Coast fishing industry and home to more than a dozen seafood canneries. It is also the place where the tuna fish sandwich, that national cultural icon, was popularized. Before becoming the quintessential lunchtime meal of post-war America, albacore was "discovered," tested and canned at the local Bumble Bee lab. The town, you might say, is to canned tuna what Detroit is to the automobile.
But in the years since Bumble Bee, once Astoria's largest employer, closed its plant in the early '80s, the town has transformed itself from an industrial whistle-stop -- albeit one with more than its fair share of glamorous Victorian homes -- to a cosmopolitan artists' enclave, rife with funky shops, fine art galleries and enticing cafes. And in May, Astoria will celebrate its bicentennial as the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies with a series of fairs, festivals and lectures.
First Published March 27, 2011 12:01 am
