Astoria

The Clatsop and Chinook peoples lived around the mouth of the Columbia for thousands of years, trading and fishing for salmon. Captain Robert Gray sailed into the river in 1792, and in the winter of 1805–06 the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped at Fort Clatsop, a few miles south-west of the present town. In 1811 John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company built Fort Astoria here, the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. During the War of 1812 it was sold to the British North West Company and renamed Fort George, and it was returned to American control after the war.

The town grew slowly until the salmon canning boom of the later 19th century, when dozens of canneries operated along the river and the town grew quickly. Chinese workers staffed the canneries, while Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and other immigrants fished the river in small gillnet boats. Pilots guided ships across the Columbia River Bar, one of the most dangerous river entrances in the world, and sea captains and merchants built large houses on the hill.

A fire in 1922 destroyed much of downtown, which was rebuilt over the following years. The salmon runs declined through the 20th century and the canneries closed one by one; Bumble Bee shut its last Astoria cannery in 1980. Astoria then turned towards tourism, helped by its film locations — The Goonies of 1985 above all — and by the restoration of its old buildings, while the port, fishing and the bar pilots remain part of its economy.

Astoria's identity is maritime. The Columbia River Bar, ships waiting to cross it, the pilots and the Coast Guard are constant presences, and the maritime museum is the town's main institution. The fishing tradition is celebrated each winter at the FisherPoets Gathering, where people from the industry read poetry and sing songs about the work.

The town's Scandinavian and Finnish heritage is marked by the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival in June and by old halls and churches, and the Chinese contribution to the canneries is remembered in a garden by the river. Astoria has also become something of a destination for artists and craftspeople, with galleries and a performing-arts scene in its restored theatres.

Films have given the town a second identity: The Goonies, Kindergarten Cop and Short Circuit were all shot here, and Goonies fans still visit the locations. Locals are informal, outdoorsy and proud of the weather-beaten character of the place, and conversation often turns to fishing, ships and the rain.

About 10,000 people live in Astoria at the 2020 census, and it is the county seat of Clatsop County. The economy has shifted from canning and timber towards tourism, health care, education, government and the port, with fishing and seafood processing still important. A community college and a branch of the state university's seafood research programme are in town.

Most residents live on the hillside streets above downtown or in the older districts at each end of the waterfront, in wooden houses with views of the river. Ships passing to and from Portland and the Columbia ports are a constant sight, and fog horns and sea lions are part of the soundscape.

Housing costs, short-term rentals and a shortage of homes for workers are local concerns, as is the town's vulnerability to earthquakes and tsunamis from the Cascadia Subduction Zone offshore. The rain sets the rhythm of much of the year, and the long summer evenings bring everyone out to the riverwalk.

Astoria's food comes from the river and the ocean. Dungeness crab, salmon, albacore tuna, rockfish and oysters from nearby bays appear on menus across town, often as clam chowder, fish and chips or simply grilled. Fish and chips made with albacore tuna is a local favourite, and smoked salmon is sold in fish markets and delis.

The town's brewing scene is one of the most active on the Oregon coast, with brewpubs in restored downtown buildings and old cannery piers, and local beer is part of almost every meal out. The Finnish and Scandinavian past survives in pastries, pickled fish and festival food, and coffee roasters and bakeries are scattered through downtown.

The Sunday market brings farm produce from the valleys to the south and east, along with berries in summer. Cranberries are grown in bogs along the coast nearby, and blackberries grow wild along the roads and trails in late summer.