Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2016)
2C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016 HISTORIC PHOTO OF THE WEEK Cannon Beach History Center and Museum The Log Cabin Restaurant. The Log Cabin Restaurant Theme survives through Morris’ Fireside in Cannon Beach By ELAINE TRUCKE Special to The Daily Astorian H ave you ever wondered why Morris’ Fireside Restaurant in Cannon Beach is a log cabin? Well, the answer is pretty cool. In that very spot sat an old local favorite, The Log Cabin Restau- rant (shown here.) The Log Cabin Restaurant’s original structure was built by Paul Bartels for his sister, Marie, in 1921. Before electrical power was avail- able in the evening hours, the restau- rant used oil lamps at the tables. The restaurant sold ice cream sodas and milk shakes, sundaes for 15 cents, and banana splits for 35 cents. The building was replaced by the current Morris’ Fireside Restaurant, whose owners, Tom and Suzy Mor- ris, liked the cabin feel and have kept it for all of these years. They still have the original fire- place built by Bartels, a longtime resident who was well-known for his specialty fireplaces. Elaine Trucke is the executive di- rector of the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum. Crabs safe after toxin scare, but prices plummet Associated Press PORTLAND — A toxic algae bloom that shut down the West Coast’s entire shell¿ sh industry may actually be good news for crab lovers, some crabbers believe. The price for crabs has plummet- ed because people are hesitant to buy them after the highly-publicized toxin scare, The Oregonian reported. But the creatures are safe to eat. “The consumer is going to get a far superior product,” said John Corbin, head of the Oregon Dunge- ness Crab Commission. “They’re going to get a great, stuffed-full crab right now.” Oregon’s crabbing season opened Jan. 1, months after the typ- ical date. It was delayed by an algae bloom that mixed with the “blob” of unusually warm El Ni ño waters. Fishing didn’t resume until a couple weeks after the crabs test- ed negative for domoic acid three times. But even with the toxin, the crabs would have been safe to eat. The creatures store domoic acid only in their guts, or “butter,” and not in the meat, according to Hugh Links, director of the Oregon Crab Commission. When Dungeness crabs tested positive for domoic acid in the ear- ly 1990s, 2003 and 2004, the crab industry kept on harvesting. Razor clams and mussels keep the poison in their meat, so they were unsafe to eat, but crab ¿ shers simply killed the crabs, ditched the butter and sold the meat. This year was different because of Asia’s newfound appetite for the crabs. For the past eight years, Chinese crab buyers have paid high-dollar prices for live crabs to export to Asia. According to Corbin, about 40 percent of Oregon’s crabs have been sent to China alive in the last few years. So crab ¿ shers decided they’d rather wait until the toxin cleared, allowing them to sell live crabs. “We didn’t want to go down that road and lose that live market,” Corbin said. “We opted to stay put until we were sure the crab were in excellent shape.” The delay meant Dungeness weren’t available for the holiday season, when many families make a crab dinner and Dungeness can go for $13 a pound. Crab season was delayed in California, too, and still hasn’t opened. “When you miss that window, the whole season is kind of shot anyway,” said Lyf Gildersleeve, who owns Flying Fish Market in Portland. “It’ll be ¿ ne for the next month or two months, but as we get further into the spring, crabs are available, I’ll have them for retail and they won’t sell. It’s unbeliev- able.” The opening price for crab is ne- gotiated with the state just before the season’s start. It was $2.90 per pound this year, down from $3.10 last year. “We’re hoping they’ll go up, but our production is dropping off already,” said crabber Rick Lillien- thal, who estimated he pulled in about 45,000 pounds two weeks into the season. “They’ll work out. It’s going to take a little while for people to get over their fears.” Winterfail ? M aybe the cold, wet weather is taking a toll on folks. Verbally accosting a high school basketball referee in Warrenton? Throwing rocks at elk in Seaside? Urinating in front of a business in Astoria at 2 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, then sitting on a bench, drinking a beer? 2 p.m.? Police yourselves, people ... 9-1-WHAT? THE BEST OF THE WORST CALLS TO ASTORIA 911 DISPATCH Follow reporter Kyle Spurr on his 9-1-What? Twitter watch, where a few of the sometimes head-scratching calls to area dispatch take center stage. The full feed is at www.twitter.com/9_1_WHAT. W hile other n ew spa pers give you less, The D a ily Astoria n GIVES YOU From left: H illa ry Borru d , M a teu sz Perk ow sk i, Pa ris Achen O u r n ew M ORE C APITAL B UREAU covers the sta te for you
