Readers’ choice awards
BEST RADIO STATION
BEST HAIR SALON
BEST CAR DEALERSHIP
Coast Community Radio
Salon Vervé
Lum’s Auto Center
KMUN 91.9 FM, KCPB 90.9 FM, KTCB 89.5 FM
Astoria, Oregon
Warrenton, Oregon
Runner-up: Salon Boheme, Astoria
Honorable Mention: Azure Salon & Spa, Ilwaco
Runner-up: Hayward’s Ocean Crest Motors, Warrenton
Honorable Mention: Astoria Ford, Astoria
Runner-up: KRKZ Hits 94.3 FM Chinook / Astoria
Honorable Mention: KLMY Clammy 99.7 FM Long Beach
By DWIGHT CASWELL
KMUN is a true community
radio station. Unlike public radio
stations that have a lot of em-
ployees, KMUN has only three
employees and some 100 vol-
unteers. This explains why the
programmers are your friends
and neighbors. In fact, it’s like-
ly that few people in our area
don’t know a KMUN volunteer
or two.
According to industry data,
KMUN is also the most-listened
to radio station in its listen-
ing area, which stretches from
Raymond, Washington to Pa-
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there’s something for just about
everybody, whether you like
blues, psychedelic folk music,
news and commentary, opera,
gardening, yoga, the arts — you
name it.
Of course, KMUN also does
the things that small town sta-
tions should do, like lost pets,
bedtime stories, and community
events. And the station produces
By JON BRODERICK
You’re walking into a lot of
history when you walk into Sa-
lon Vervé — though the salon’s
serene and inviting interior hardly
hints at it. Ask owner Sari Hart-
man to speak her native Finnish
Submitted photo
for you. It sounds, to a non-speak-
KMUN Coast Community Radio broadcasts er, busy but soothing, like a run-
live from the Astoria Event Center during ning brook, and it anchors the
the FisherPoets Gathering.
place deep in the community.
Sari, the youngest of seven
local shows like “Talk of Our children, came from Finland
Towns” or the quintessential with her family to Astoria in
Astoria program, “The Ship Re- WR YLVLW UHODWLYHV 6KRUWO\
port.”
they immigrated, staying with
Station manager Joanne KHUXQFOHSHRSOHLQKLVKRXVH
Rideout is proud that KMUN is until her parents soon built one
PRUH ¿QDQFLDOO\ UHVLOLHQW WKDQ of their own. Her dad, Reino
in the past, and that the station Vedenoja, worked at the Astoria
has been building relationships Plywood Mill, her mom, Raili, at
with emergency services since the Bumble Bee cannery.
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“My mom would come home
Most of all, she says, “I’m proud at night looking like she’d mur-
that KMUN is dear to the hearts dered something, but by morn-
of the people.”
ing her uniform was bleached,
pressed, the hat perfect,” Sari
Tune in to Coast Community Radio on your
recalls. “On Marine Drive you
radio, or listen online at coastradio.org
could see hundreds of women
like her, coming or going to their
shift. I used to wait with the other
Crossword Answer
kids at the bottom of the hill be-
U P S W E E P
S U B R O S A
F T D I X
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N I C E O N E
O R I E N T S
T R U C E
to walk the rest of the way home
I C A N N O T T E L L A L E I
C I D E R
with our moms. There’s a rich
T O R T S
T H U S
M E E T S
R E P S
history here that I’m very, very
E T E S
E E R
C O A L
C I E R A
proud to be part of.”
D O T A R D
Y O U V E G O T M A L I
Like all of the Vedenoja chil-
B A Y L O R
A T A S T E
A R S E N A L
dren, Sari worked at the plywood
E N C O R E D
W W I
R E W
C C L
mill. At 19 years old she was a
L G A
R A I S I N G T H E B R A
H E Y
shareholder and one of the few
A I S L E S E A T
N E O N
S R A
women on the graveyard shift. “I
Y E T I
M U T E
A T E M
R O T C
knew that mill work wasn’t for
D P S
N E A R
I R E M E M B E R
me,” she says. “That job moti-
E M S
A Q U A R T E R T O T O W
T M I
vated me to go to beauty school.”
L A M
S U R
C U E
S L I P U P S
She sold her share and enrolled
O P E N S E A
P L A S M A
A N I S E S
at Astoria Beauty School. She
I L L E G A L A L I N E
B U R G L E
found an apprenticeship at Port-
E L S O L
M A N E
I B N
L A S T
land’s high-end Salon Nyla where
S T A T
S P E N D
A R O D
S A N E R
she showed up early and stayed
late. She brought her knowledge
A R R I D
A N N I E G E T Y O U R G N U
of color, technique and style back
K E A N U
C R E E P I N
E D M E E S E
WR$VWRULDZKHUH\HDUVDJRVKH
S E T G O
S A R D I N E
D O O D L E D
opened Salon Vervé.
24 | January 29, 2015 | coastweekend.com
Photo by Jon Broderick
Sari Hartman, owner of Salon Verve, which
was named this year’s Best Hair Salon, is a
Finnish immigrant.
Submitted photo
Salon Verve in downtown Astoria won
Best Hair Salon.
David and Shirley Lum
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in 1969, and since then it has
become a multi-franchise car
dealership including Toyota,
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and Ram.
The couple’s three daugh-
ter now run the day-to-day
operations of the dealership
and service shop. Julie Lum
is parts manager, and Pamela
Lum serves as marketing man-
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Lori Lum-Toyooka, pres-
ident and general manager of
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process of family business
succession by working in sales
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ler Sons & Daughters Dealer
Academy and the National
Auto Dealer Association Deal-
er Academy, where she served
as president of her graduating
class.
Lori received Dealer of the
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during the North American
International Auto Show held
in Detroit, Michigan. She was
honored for demonstrating an
unprecedented record of ex-
ceptional sales, exemplary ser-
vice, strong customer relations
and an overall commitment to
excellence in the automobile
industry.
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ter received Excellence in
Family Business awards by
Oregon State University.
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recipient of the Astoria-War-
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merce’s George Award, a top
accolade awarded to those
who build community through
service.
The Lum family constantly
gives back to its community.
It helped develop the Asto-
ria Riverfront Trolley and the
Garden of Surging Waves and
contributed to the renovations
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Museum’s Barbey Maritime
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Lum’s Auto Center is located at 1605
S.E. Ensign Lane in Warrenton. For more
Sari favors the health-con-
information, call 503-861-1144 or visit
scious, relaxed Northwest hair-
www.lumsautocenter.com
styles. “Avant garde is fun,” she
admits. “It scratches an itch, but
what I love best is giving some-
one a completely different look,
but a believable look, they can
wear on a regular basis. It’s not
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purple or bright red — but to
transform gray hair into chestnut
hair with soft honey highlights
and to make that look like natural
hair color, that’s art.”
When Salon Vervé was de-
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the site of her old beauty school
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husband, Dean, and I worked
our tails off for a soft opening
in three weeks,” she remembers.
Photo by Brandy Stewart
“And we did it.”
“There’s a grit in this town The Lum family gathers at David Lum’s public 80th birthday party in November 2013.
Pictured, from left, is Pam Lum, David Lum, Shirley Lum, Lori Lum-Toyooka and Julie Lum.
that I’m so proud of,” she says.