Friday, October 10, 2008

Some of Astoria's interesting facades

The top photo is, of course, a residential building, and the rest of the architectural details on this page are all commercial. I didn't plan the day. It was cold and sunny and nice out, with, for the most part, blue skies. I couldn't help taking a lot of pictures as I walked first up to Polk Riley's graphic art and print shop to pick up my new batch of cards, then later walked to the post office and back along Commercial street. I'll let most of the pix speak for themselves. I love architectural detail. The first time I took a lot of photos in Europe, nobody was interested in looking at them, and it was then I realized they were mostly architectural detail and not "scenic." Nothing gave the big picture. I've tried to change that somewhat over the years, taking pix of the detail, of course, but remembering to give it a setting (sometimes!). Anyway, here's some detail of Astoria without much setting until you get to the bottom.






The Purple Cow (above) is a landmark and much-loved toy store in Astoria. Here you can see it in relation to 14th Street, which leads to the River Walk one block away.

The Fort George Brewery and Blue Scorcher Bakery and Cafe are in the historic Fort George Building. It was empty with broken-out windows for most of my time in Astoria from 2001 until a year or two ago. I mainly took the pic because I like the tree in autumn plumage. I'm not sure what the history is behind the building, but I'm sure it can be found online. This photo telescopes the distance. In the foreground is the Area Properties parking lot with the AP moving truck visible, then there's Duane Street, which you can't see, and Fort George fronting on Duane. The streets in Astoria are alphabetical parallelling the river, with Astor being short and cut off by the way the town sits, then Bond Street (also short). Marine Drive (not alphabetical) is the wide artery through town along the river, then Commercial with most of the businesses on it, Duane up from that with a number of businesses, but fewer, and and Exchange next, then solidly into the residential area with Franklin, etc.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just stumbled across your blog page and was thrilled to see a photo of our store and such a nice compliment! Thanks so much.
Katie Murray and Bill Colwill
Purple Cow Toys

tapirgal said...

Hey, it's true! Thanks for YOUR comment! I took a close-up of the wonderfully colorful fish in the window, but it didn't come out. Maybe next time :) (Sheryl)