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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 4, 2015)
4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2015 Hunt: Geocaches related to the movie have been placed all over town Continued from Page 1A At the store, treasure hunt- ers take a doubloon and run it over a wall-mounted treasure map like a wand over a Oui- ja board, looking for the code that will take them to the next geocache. When the riddle is solved, hunters get a deleted clip from the movie on their phone. Faulkner has placed geo- caches related to the movie all over town, such as the Fif- ty Dollar Bill level at Lucy’s Books referencing the Fratel- li crime family’s counterfeit cash; and the I Smell Bubble Gum geocache at the Arc Ar- cade referencing Mama Fratel- OL¶VVQLI¿QJRXWWKH*RRQLHV Faulkner said Geocaching worked with Warner Bros. to provide clips and pictures from the movie for solving stages of the hunt. Goonies at heart “Goonies have been on our radar really since the founding of the company,” Schudiske said. “I think Goonies is in the blood of all geocachers, to an extent.” When Geocaching’s founder Jeremy Irish accepted the Bootstrapper of the Year Award in 2014 from technol- ogy news website GeekWire, Schudiske said, he quot- ed Sean Austin’s character Mikey from “The Goonies” in his acceptance speech. “Because it’s their time,” Irish said. “Their time! Up there! Down here, it’s our time. It’s our time down here.” JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Amy Faulkner, event production manager at Geocaching, demonstrates how to read a map in the window of Astoria Coffee Company (the convenience store in The Goonies) using a replica copper bones movie prop. The map will be one of many clues in the geo- caching event. Goonies: ‘It’s a very powerful movie’ for those who embraced it Continued from Page 1A “It seems like when they hear the name, ‘Astoria, Ore- gon,’ they think Goonies,” he said. ‘Washington Irving made us famous’ As the oldest U.S. settle- ment west of the Rockies and a former salmon and timber hub, Astoria was on the map long before Steven Spielberg’s story made the city synonymous with Mikey, Mouth, Chunk, Data, the Fratellis, Sloth and One- Eyed Willy. “Pop-culture-wise, we were famous because Washington Ir- ving made us famous,” McAn- drew Burns, the executive di- rector of the Clatsop County Historical Society, said of the famed writer behind “Astoria,” a book about John Jacob As- tor and the city’s founding by fur-traders in 1811. Astoria has been careful about preserving its history and architecture, both the beautiful and the blemishes, as the city reinvents itself as a tourist des- tination. The city’s draw is authentic- LW\VRPHWKLQJWKHPLV¿WEXQFK of Goonies wanted to save — in the form of an old house on 38th Street in Uppertown ² IURP FRXQWU\ FOXE JHQWUL¿- cation. Burns, who was a teenager when “The Goonies” was re- leased, is not a huge fan of the movie. “I’m the right age, but this movie didn’t resonate at the time the way it does for these people that make a pilgrimage here,” he said. But since Burns has gotten to know Goonies fans through the historical society’s Oregon Film Museum, he has had a QHZDSSUHFLDWLRQIRUWKH¿OP “It’s a very powerful movie for the people that have em- braced it,” he said. The message At the Film Museum, housed in the old county jail used in the opening jailbreak scene from the movie, visitors are encouraged to leave mes- sages for the Goonies. Thou- sands of fans have left little notes and their words help ex- plain why so many have emo- WLRQDOFRQQHFWLRQVWRWKH¿OP “Any stack that you grab,” Burns said, “you’re going to see somebody who came here because somebody died. ‘This GOON TALK We asked our readers on Facebook what they really thought of “The Goonies.” Here are some of the more colorful respons- es: • “Iconic movie makes for iconic fans from all over the world. We should welcome them all to our lil town. Just happy I don’t own that Goonie house ...lol,” Linda Benthin-Weirup • “Gag!!!” Mary Casper • “It’s fun but really ... how long can this go on? Let’s switch to Kindergarten Kid for a few decades. Then go back to Goonies,” Harry Grass • “A truly deplorable movie. BUT, the DVD makes a great ‘gag gift.’ It’s been ‘re-gifted’ countless times amongst family mem- bers,” Jerry Lampert • “My husband and I were attending Clatsop Community Col- lege at the time of filming. Everyone wanted to be an extra on the set. We laughed so hard about Ecola appearing as a short bike ride from Astoria,” Arlene May Stahly is my brother’s favorite movie. Rest in peace, Samuel.’ ‘I had to come from St. Louis for this.’ “‘This is my best friend’s movie. He died of cancer. I came because of him.’ There’s lots of ‘My boyfriend proposed to me on the porch of the house’ or ‘We’re here on our honey- moon.’ “There are always things like that.” Goon Dock The Goonies phenomenon has the largest footprint in the “Goon Dock,” the otherwise quiet, well-kept Uppertown neighborhood home to the Goonies house. Neighbors have complained for years about movie fans who wander the streets, park hap- hazardly and act as if they are in some sort of theme park. The city has improved sig- nage to discourage street park- ing or driving up the steep grav- el road to the Goonies house on 38th. Visitors are directed to park near Astor Elementa- ry School and advised to walk over to the house. Some resi- dents have turned to their own homemade parking signs. “We ask the same respect and privacy that a tourist would anticipate in their own neigh- borhood back home,” one neighbor who lives on 38th said privately. Astoria City Councilor Russ Warr, who lives a few doors down from the Goonies house, has worked with the city and the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce to re- spond to neighborhood con- cerns and help prepare for the 30th anniversary celebration this weekend. “The Goonies” is not exact- ly Warr’s favorite movie. “I had trouble staying awake,” he said, laughing. He saw the movie short- ly after it came out because it was shot in Astoria. “I didn’t get the bang out of it that would make it qualify as a cult thing,” he said. “But I’ve had so many absolutely fascinating conversations with people that are coming up to the Goonie house.” A few weeks ago, Warr said he spoke with one woman who stopped at his mailbox on her way up. “I just shook my head and I said, ‘You know, I really don’t understand.’ “And she said, ‘You know, my two brothers and I are from South Africa and we grew up with the Goonies. I mean ev- erything when we were little was about the Goonies. “And here I am in Amer- ica, and in a few minutes I’m going to get my picture taken in front of the Goonie house and I’m going to text it to my brothers and they’re just going to sh--.’” Larry Montoya, a retired stationary engineer, lives at the top of the ridge just above the Goonies house. Like many transplants, he watched the movie when he moved to Astoria a few years ago, a ritual that seems as com- mon for new arrivals as getting an Oregon driver’s license or FDOOLQJ3DFL¿F3RZHU “I can walk away from it,” he said. “It’s not a movie that’s going to grab me.” Montoya’s perch gives him a bird’s-eye view and full soundtrack to both of Astoria’s most peculiar — and occasion- ally maddening — attractions: the Goonies house and the horde of barking sea lions at the East End Mooring Basin. So which one is the bigger nuisance? “I’d say the Goonies,” he said. Otters: Many recent ‘sea otter’ sightings are really just river otters taking dips in the ocean Continued from Page 1A Here they eat sea urchins, clams, crabs and mussels. They must consume 25 per- cent of their body weight in food each day to maintain their high metabolism. Sea otter pelts were once considered a pillar of the Lower Columbia River economy. Be- tween 1700 and 1911, an estimated 1 million sea otters were trapped and killed for their fur DORQJ1RUWK$PHULFD¶V3DFL¿FFRDVW After being absent from the state for de- cades, 59 sea otters from Alaska were intro- duced to the Washington coast in 1969 and 1970. The sea otter was listed as a state en- dangered species in 1981, and has grown at an annual average rate of 8.2 percent from 1989 to 2004, according to WDFW surveys. By 2010, they were believed to number about 1,000. A survey from 2012 found the state’s largest concentration of otters was 562 around Destruction Island off the northern Olympia Peninsula. WDFW recovery plans predict that sea otters could be found once again in their historical southern habitat such as Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay. The first modern Columbia sighting was on March 12, 2009, at North Head. Later in the same week, a sea otter was spotted at Cape Disappointment State Park. No official sightings were reported between then and the recent discoveries of deceased otters, though occasional appearances have been rumored. The animals are protected by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, with steep fines and imprisonment for anyone convict- ed of harming or harassing them. Because sea otters are so rare, confirmed sightings and strandings are important to re- port. If you see a sea otter, gather as much detail about the sighting as possible — its color, what it was doing, and where it was — then call 1-87-SEAOTTER to report your sighting. If you encounter a stranded sea otter, do not approach it. It is illegal to handle sea ot- ters and other marine mammals. “The best advice we can give is stay clear and observe, don’t get near it no matter what,” Lynch said. “They can move faster than you think they can.” ‘Sea’ versus ‘river’ Many “sea otter” sightings in modern times are really just river otters taking dips in the ocean. Both species are members of the weasel family, a group that includes ev- erything from minks to wolverines. But they with The Daily Astorian Keepsake Newspapers Ea ch da y du rin g the Goon ies 30 th A n n iversa ry celebra tion , the Da ily A storia n w ill prom in en tly fea tu re fron t-pa ge stories a bou t the even ts a n d people w ho a re a pa rt of this piece of A storia history. Plu s, the Thu rsda y issu e w ill a lso con ta in Coa st W eek en d w hich w ill ha ve a specia l fron t pa ge dedica ted to the Goon ies celebra tion . Don ’t m iss you r cha n ce to collect a ll these specia l issu es of the Da ily A storia n w ith ou r Goon ies 30 th A n n iversa ry pa ck a ge. Y ou get a ll fou r n ew spa pers, in clu din g Coa st W eek en d, for on ly $4.00.* Ca ll 5 03 -3 25 -3 211 o r em a il circu la tio n @ d a ilya sto ria n .co m to o rd er yo u r Go o n ies p a ck a g e NATALIE ST. JOHN — EO Media Group T HE D AILY A STORIAN A deceased sea otter washed ashore near Cranberry beach approach May 27. The marine mammals remain very rare in the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia Riv- er after rampant overhunting between the late 1700s and early 1900s. This otter and another found earlier in May could have been delivered here by ocean currents, a federal biologist believes. are very different from each other. Several characteristics can help you identify which type of otter you are seeing: • Adult sea otters are much bigger, reach- ing close to 5 or 6 feet long. • They are stout animals with a thick multi-layered coat of fur. • The fur on their bodies is usually dark brown while the fur on their heads can some- times be lighter tan color. • Both river and sea otters have webbed feet, but while river otters have distinct paws with claws and webbing, sea otters possess two flipper-like back feet in addition to their clawed and webbed forepaws. • Sea otters rarely come to shore. They eat, sleep, mate and give birth in the ocean. They may drape themselves in kelp to keep from drifting while they sleep or gang up with other sea otters to float in large “rafts” on the ocean. • They rarely come to land unless they are sick or the waves are simply too rough for them. Get them before they ’ re gone There a re very lim ited n u m bers of pa ck a ges from the 25th Goon ies celebra tion a va ila ble. Get you rs w hile su pplies la st for a n a ddition a l $6.00*. Tha t’s on ly $10.00* for both the 30th a n n iversa ry a n d 25th a n n iversa ry pa ck a ges. *Pa ck a ges ca n a lso be m a iled for a n a ddition a l cha rge for shippin g a n d ha n dlin g. A sk ou r represen ta t ive a bou t shippin g w hen you ca ll. Pa ck a ges ca n a lso be pick ed u p a t the Da ily A storia n offices du rin g n orm a l bu sin ess hou rs. The office is loca ted a t 949 Excha n ge St., A storia , OR 97103.
