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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 2015)
GRAB BAG book shelf • glimpse • wildlife • pop culture • words • q&a • food • fun NW word probably before 1200 and is related to the Old English mœrels, which was a rope that could be used for such an act. Mooring, as a noun, has its fi rst known use occur in 1420. nerd By RYAN HUME Moor “In the background, with its own au- dience of sea lions, Port of Astoria staff ers started stringing orange safety fencing along the fi rst fi nger pier of P Dock, one of the three the Port has left at the East End Mooring Basin.” >Pݜԥr@ Photo by Matt Love The Chester Club & Oyster Bar in South Bend, Washington, sits on pilings over the Willapa River and serves fresh local oysters. A G LIMPSE I NSIDE An occasional feature by MATT LOVE Chester Club and Oyster Bar “Old, real old,” the bartender at the Chester Club and Oyster Bar in South Bend, Washington, said when I asked the joint’s age. I was there killing time before my presen- tation at the Pacifi c County Museum, one of the more charming little museums in the Pacifi c Northwest. Old, real old. That’s good enough for me. I tend to hate “new” in bars and restaurants. The Chester Club sits atop pilings on the winding Willa- pa River. At low tide, there is nothing but beautiful brown grooved mud below you. Mud is good. Mud is a wonderful contrast to all the concrete in our lives. I ordered a soft drink and surveyed the Chester’s inte- rior: two pool tables, a real CD jukebox (not the accursed digital kind,) old beer and liquor promotional posters fea- turing buxom women, hundreds of faded photographs documenting historic partying, and a huge black and white photograph of a local high school quarterback from the feathery 1970s, who was the spitting image of a wily young Ken Stabler, formerly of the Oakland Raiders and recently deceased. What more could you ask from the décor in a great dive bar in rural Washington? Something else about the Chester Club. They serve deep-fried oysters and oysters in shot glasses. The oysters are local. Everything about this joint feels local. They made me feel like a local, and I was there for half an hour at 11 a.m. on a summer weekday. Matt Love lives in Astoria and is the author/editor of 14 books about Oregon, including “A Nice Piece of Astoria: A Narrative Guide.” They are available at coastal bookstores and through www.nestuccaspitpress.com noun 1. (People) a member of the Muslim group descended from Arab and Berber ances- try and hailing from north- west Africa which conquered Spain in the 8th century 2. (British) a wide-open and overgrown tract of uncultivated land; also, a swamp or game preserve 3. a place for mooring, like a dock verb 4. to fi x or secure an object, esp. a boat or ship, in place by line, cable or other means Photo by Damian Mulinix —Edward Stratton, “Haul-out hurdles,” The Daily Astorian, Tuesday, May 5, 2015, P. 1 Boats are moored at the Port of Ilwaco in Washington. Origin: The three diff erent primary defi nitions — referring to the peo- ple (proper noun, always capital- ized), the British usage as applied to wild lands and the verb and noun forms meaning anchorage — all arrived at a common spelling following separate paths. Before 1393, the people were known in English as More, which was borrowed from the Old French of the same spelling by way of the Latin Maurus and the Greek Maûros, which referred to an inhabitant of Mauritania, the ancient African nation from which the Moors originated. The British term meaning wasteland or marshland traces back to the Old English mōr, fi rst recorded in Beowulf in 725. The verb referring to the act of fi xing a ship arrives from moren, “‘We look on Astoria as the great fi sheries port of this area. We hope you get your mooring basin, which will add materially to the $20,000,000 the fi shing industry brings annually to your commu- nity. We want to help get that mooring basin,’ Moores, who is also president of the Portland Rotary club and vice-president of Commonwealth, Inc., told the large gath- ering of businessmen at the luncheon held at Amato’s Supper club.” — “Portland Men Visit Astoria,” The Orego- nian, Thursday, Feb. 28, 1946, P. 10 T he Illah ee A partm ents D ow ntow n A storia’s M ost Respected A partm ent Com plex Since 1969. 1046 Grand Avenue Astoria, OR 97103 503-325-2280 August 20, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 19
