Astoria embraces 200 years of history

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." 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. 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 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.

Town's rebirth

Astoria, a town of about 10,000 just two hours northwest of Portland, has actively preserved its on-the-waterfront identity. Each February, during the lull between the end of Dungeness crab season and the spring run of king salmon, Astoria honors its maritime culture with the Fisher Poets Gathering, an art, music and literary festival devoted to work that "comes from experiences living and working" on the water. According to the event website, it draws "skippers and deckhands, cannery workers and deck grunts" from around the region to read and sing and celebrate the life of the commercial fisherman.

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12/10 "Lyndi, maybe some day you'll be a big girl and help clean up your room better" Lyndi- "Hmmm maybe Daphne will" Me- " No maybe you can be be big and clean up after yourself" Lyndi- "Well maybe someday I'll have a mommy who is nice and not mean sometimes" 8/10 Lyndi is very good at coming up with Funny names for things and people. Some of her little stuffed animals have the best ones: Chiefy (the Koala), Chubb (The Bulldog), Sharp (the Eagle), Kitty (The Beagle), Torcha (the Dragon), Seal (the seal-original I know, but its funny because usually she's so creative), and Last but not least, inspite of my motherly protests- Weener (The Dachshund). 3/10 "Somebody wipe me fer sale! Somebody wipe me fer SALE!" (This is what I woke up to this morning as Lyndi yelled to us from the bathroom) 4/09 Some of Lyndi's vocab: fingern- finger, cheddar cheddars- Better Cheddars, squisquird- Squidward, cwabby cwabbies- Crabby Patties, insterding- Interesting, chin chin ladas- enchiladas, sumping- something, janjerus- dangerous, boice- voice, assidink- accident 8/10 poscible- popsicle 3/09 "Mommy why that yady mad? Hers eyebwows is mad!" (Lyndi asked me this when were at Ross and the lady checking us out had those really skinny penciled eyebrows.) 2/09 "Mom, I pee slow, and don't run- you make a my hair cwazy!" (I told Lyndi we had to hurry really fast cause mommy needed to go potty real quick.) 3/20/09 "Whoa, that baby is creepy!" (when asked why she said that) "Yook at hers eye, they crazy yike Yucky's!" (Lucky is the Mac fam dog-Jake took Lyndi with him over to his cousins house and they have a little 7 month old girl. Lyndi ran up to see her then said that to Jake's suprise and embarrasment.) 1/09 I told Lyndi her shirt said My Dad Is the Man when I put it on her. Later that day she went up to Jake and told him it said "My Dad is Mad", so he corrected her and said "No, it says my dad is the man" so she thoughtfully replied "Hmmm, I like that story" 10/18/08 "Aw man why did they take that out, its just people burning?!"(We were watching a scary vampire movie on our clearplay editer and their was a skip in the scene when my father in law said this) 9/1/08 "Gamma shoes....Gamma MAD!" (Lyndi found some black high heels and put them on her hands and stomped on the ground with them, wrinkled up her nose and with her "mad voice" said this) Spring of 05' ? "I call this supreme!

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