Astoria, Oregon: A walk near sunset

Here the light is better. I discussed these witches in my earlier post. This is nicer, too, because of the sky.

Red tree in the sunlight - corner of 10th Street and Marine Drive.

Remember Wacky Jackie's at Pier 11? The place is gone now, but I loved the color of the planter box on the deck. It looks like someone new is moving in.

Taken from the Commercial Street side of the hotel near 12th Street.

The Liberty Theatre, corner of Commercial and 12th.

From the street end of the 14th Street Pier. I like the small light at the bottom. You have to enlarge the photo to see it. Go ahead and click :)

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.

July 18: Lazy scenes of Astoria and the river

I still feel like I'm just beginning to investigate this new place. It seems there's a lot to do if you just go out and do it. Unfortunately, money is really tight, but it would be nice to just pick a few concerts and events and go.

What's free is the ever-changing river scene here. I took this photo from the Sixth Street Viewing Platform.

Here's another shot from the platform. Over the roof of the restaurant, you can just see the top of the hill near my apartment. It's actually a bit east.

This is the deck of the Sixth Street Viewing platform looking at the buildings upriver (east). When I was trying to decide whether to move here, some of the few photos I found online centered around this pier.

For some reason the lens makes a lot of the photos come out crooked, and I don't even notice until I see them. In this case, I like the result.

Here's the old pier below my apartment again.

I love this tall tree. Once again, I can't get the wire out of the view, and I'm too much of a historian to photoshop it out. If I were doing something with the photo, I would, but I'm just recording it for now. It really is a lovely scene, though, yes?

The power line is out of the frame, but you don't get the majestic feel of the tall tree.

These are my back steps. The ones further into the frame go up to the street on the outside of the building.

I like the patterns of the sunlight and the slats in the railing.

Overlooking Astoria on another matchless summer day. The max. temperature was 64 degrees. Average for today is 67 degrees. It can get into the 90s or even 100 or so, but it's rare. I've been told that there are only a few days each summer where the temps get that hot - maybe as few as 4 or 5 days per year. I still can't believe my good fortune in finding this place!