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N W
word
FOR COAST WEEKEND
NORBLAD
[NƆR•BLÆD]
noun
1. Albin Walter Nor-
blad, Sr.: Born in Malmö,
Sweden, in 1881, Norblad
moved with his family to
Grand Rapids, Michigan,
when he was 12. After
receiving his degree from
the University of Chicago
Law School, he became the
district attorney of Delta
County, Michigan. In 1909,
he moved with his wife to
Astoria.
He became deeply en-
trenched within the culture
of his new hometown, serv-
ing as city attorney, Cham-
ber of Commerce president
and a member of the school
board. He also joined many
civic and social organiza-
tions. He was elected to the
Oregon Senate in 1918. He
briefly became the state’s
19th governor in 1929 when
the sitting governor, Isaac
Patterson, died suddenly
due to complications of
pneumonia. Norblad was
serving as president of the
state Senate at the time of
Patterson’s death, which,
back then, was the position
next in line in the succes-
sion to the state’s highest
office.
During his time as
governor, he oversaw the
beginning of construc-
tion on the Oregon Coast
Highway. After losing the
Republican nomination for
governor in a 1930 primary,
Norblad returned to Astoria
where he practiced law and
created the Lower Colum-
bia Association of Chamber
of Commerce. He died in
Astoria in 1960.
His son, Albin Walter
Norblad, Jr., would follow
his father into law and
FILE PHOTO
A.W. Norblad
FILE PHOTO
politics, eventually serving
as a Republican representa-
tive of Oregon to the U.S.
House of Representatives, a
seat his father ran for sever-
al times but never won.
2. Norblad Hotel and
Hostel: a 35-room, sec-
ond-floor historic hotel and
hostel at 14th and Duane
streets in downtown Asto-
ria. The two-story, concrete
and brick building was
designed by famed local
architect John E. Wicks,
who was commissioned
by two local businessmen,
A.C. Miller and J.H. Jeffers,
the proprietors of Sunshine
Dairy.
Lauded for its attention
to detail, including two
entrances framed in terra
cotta, the hostel fell into
disrepair and disrepute
when operating as The
Hideaway Inn and Hostel
before being purchased and
restored in 2008 by Paul
Caruana and Brian Faherty,
who are also responsible
for the revitalization of the
Commodore Hotel, anoth-
er one of Wicks’ post-fire
designs. Ground-floor retail
space in the Norblad build-
ing is currently occupied by
Déjà Vu Thrift Store.
Having undergone mas-
sive internal and external
renovations with an eye
toward historic preservation
and the introduction of a
chic modernist aesthetic,
the Norblad Hotel and Hos-
tel currently has a four-and-
a-half star rating on Yelp.
The Norblad Hotel stands at the base of 14th Street’s hill on the
east end of downtown Astoria.
Origin
The name Norblad is
extremely rare and does not
appear to have any distinct
meaning. The word, blad,
in Swedish, means “blade,”
“leaf,” “page” or “sheet.”
The prefix nor may be
a variant of nord, which
means “north” in the same
Scandinavian tongue.
Albin Walter Norblad, Sr.
was actually born with the
family name Youngsberg,
but his name was changed
by the Swedish government
prior to his immigration to
the U.S. to clarify military
records. It appears, then, that
“north leaf” is the creation
of a bureaucrat.
The historic building and
hotel was named after the
prominent politician, who
helped secure funding for
the construction and initially
entered into a 10-year lease
for the second-floor hotel
space upon the building’s
completion. The Hotel
Norblad opened in January
1924 and now lays claim to
being the oldest continually
operating hotel this side of
the Rockies.
“The Norblad is being
temporarily taken over by
local artists and hooligans
in a ‘Hostel Takeover.’
Beginning at 7 p.m., a
contingent of artists will
set up a cavalcade of works
throughout the hotel. Food
will be provided by chef
Marco Davis, rock ‘n’ roll
will be controlled by metal-
head DJ John Gentner, and
wine, beer and punch will be
served.”
—“ Astoria Second
Saturday Art Walk: January
2016,” Coast Weekend, Jan.
6, 2016
“The board of directors
of the Astoria chamber of
commerce this afternoon
adopted a resolution urging
A. W. Norblad, state senator
of this city, to enter the race
to obtain the republication
nomination for represen-
tative in congress from the
first congressional district of
Oregon.”
—“A.W. Norblad
Indorsed,” The Morning Ore-
gonian, April 7, 1922, P. 6
Correction to the Jan. 4,
2018, Word Nerd:
Recently, when writing
about the word “Desdemo-
na,” I inaccurately included
the adjective “adulterous” to
describe the Shakespearean
character and wife of Othel-
lo, a play I had not revisited
for several years.
Thankfully, dutiful readers
pointed out that, in fact,
Desdemona was always
faithful to Othello, and it
was the character Iago’s lies
to Othello that convinced
the Moor of his wife’s false
infidelity. Her tragic arc is to
be murdered by her husband
because of Iago’s lies. CW