8A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018
Asylum: Final night is set for Halloween from 5 to 9 p.m.
Continued from Page 1A
Throughout the first floor
of the house, the backyard and
a detached garage, the couple
intricately arrange a collec-
tion of around 1,200 children’s
toys into various scenes both
horrific and humorous. Their
inspiration comes from the
dolls themselves, pop culture
and other vestiges from their
love of Halloween.
“I’m into vintage, 1930s,
creepy, original Bela Lugosi
Dracula movies,” Loutzen-
hiser said. “That’s my love of
Halloween, is all very vintage
stuff. Mark was very much the
full-on gore, zombies, skel-
etons, that kind of stuff. We
have creepy, vintage, gory
stuff, so I think it all kind of
goes together.”
Williams grew up in a
very religious family that he
said frowned upon Hallow-
een. When he did get to trick
or treat, Williams would see
the people who went all out
on their decorations and said
he grew up wanting to do the
same.
The couple, who both work
from home in electronic medi-
cal records, had bought a new
house in north Portland about
a decade ago and were think-
ing of a theme for their Hal-
loween decorations. Williams
was leaving to take a friend to
the airport when he was fright-
ened by a doll in his rearview
mirror leaned up against a tree.
“It scared the crap out of
him, and it was super creepy,”
Loutzenhiser said. “And we
just went, ‘that’s it.’”
The couple started amass-
ing a collection of dolls from
Photos by Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Mark Williams and Heidi Loutzenhiser, pictured with their dolls, from left, Clover and Eu-
nice, arrange around 1,200 children’s toys into horrific and humorous exhibits each Hal-
loween. See more photos of their doll asylum online at DailyAstorian.com
local thrift stores and dec-
orated the stairwell inside
their house for a party, which
soon attracted trick-or-treat-
ers passing by. The next year,
they held an open house and
hosted droves of people com-
ing to see their ever-expanding
collection.
Over a seven-year run, the
Doll Asylum became a staple
of Portland, featured in multi-
ple newspapers and on televi-
sion stations, gathering inter-
national attention. People
started dropping off dolls at the
house, both original and adul-
terated, to add to the collec-
tion. Some come regularly to
see how their donations have
been incorporated.
The couple moved to Asto-
ria two years ago to care for
Loutzenhiser’s father, who,
along with her late mother,
was raised in Seaside.
The move also helped the
couple escape a growing Port-
land, where their Doll Asylum
could attract several thousand
people. The final straw came
one night when a large group
of Burning Man attendees
showed up on a bus, blocking
the street and setting up a mari-
achi band inside their house
unannounced, Williams said.
After spending their first
year in town fixing up the
house, the couple hope to
become more involved in the
community, volunteering with
the Astoria Riverfront Trolley
and the Liberty Theatre. Some
of their displays have taken on
a local theme, such as a Blind
Pirate concert scene in their
backyard paying homage to
locally connected band Blind
Pilot. In the coming years, the
couple plan to unveil more
North Coast-themed exhib-
its like the trolley, cannibalis-
tic sea lions, shipwrecks and a
Mark Williams’ and Heidi Loutzenhiser’s Doll Asylum in-
cludes around 1,200 children’s toys, along with some taxi-
dermied animals, arranged into elaborate exhibits.
Finnish sauna.
Aside from Halloween and
Thanksgiving dinner, the cou-
ple go all out for Christmas
with a private display of orna-
ments, German smokers and
music boxes inherited from
prior generations. They do
nothing for the other holidays,
Loutzenhiser said.
“Before the first open
house, both of us are like, ‘Oh,
my God, we’re never doing
this again,’” she said. “But
then after an hour of being
open, we’re like, ‘Oh, that’s
right; this is why we do it.’
Because everybody that comes
is so nice. It’s a great way to
meet our neighbors.”
The final night of the Doll
Asylum is from 5 to 9 p.m.
Wednesday at 1188 Harrison
Ave.
Crew: Coast Guard rescued more than 10,500 people Quakes: ‘People are
Continued from Page 1A
include astronaut Buzz Aldrin,
Gen. Douglas MacArthur and
U.S. Sen. John McCain.
“It’s a little surreal,” said
Petty Officer 2nd Class Alli-
son Dowell, an avionics elec-
trical technician. “It’s kind of
one of those things everybody
jokes about when you’re going
out on a case, like, ‘Oh, this is
going to be the Air Medal.’”
Dowell has been in the
Coast Guard for six years, but
was only certified for hurricane
response seven weeks before
Harvey.
“There are people that go
20 years without getting, you
know, a good operation hoist,
so it was such an honor to be
chosen to go do that,” Dowell
said.
The medal recipients also
included Lt. Tripp Haas, Lt.
Cmdr. Kevin Rapp and Petty
Officer 2nd Class Dan Wilson.
Haas was a pilot, first nav-
igating hurricane-force winds
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Members of the Coast Guard were recognized Monday for
their contributions to rescue efforts during Hurricane Harvey.
and then, after the storm sub-
sided, heavy air traffic. Pilots
used tricky landings, includ-
ing one on a highway, and hov-
ered near large objects, such
as a downed power pole. His
crew’s rescues included two
women who were in labor.
Haas recalls the vast num-
ber of people who needed help.
The Coast Guard rescued more
than 10,500 people during the
hurricane, which killed dozens.
“If I could have had an
unlimited amount of gas and
an unlimited amount of time,
we could have done that for
two or three days straight,”
Haas said.
Wilson, a rescue swimmer,
saved 30 people from heav-
ily polluted water and assisted
59 more. One rescue involved
a 400-pound man trapped in
the upstairs part of a house.
Wilson got the man out of the
home and moved him about
200 feet away before waving
for a helicopter.
In addition to the woman
whose face he remembers dis-
tinctly, Murphy’s crew rescued
five other elderly people.
“To get the award, to get the
level of the award, is certainly
special,” Murphy said, “but
anybody would have done it if
they were in our shoes.”
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thinking about the
reality of earthquake
hazards more’
Continued from Page 1A
media has changed in recent
years, Roeloffs said. Most calls
or inquiries are usually timed
when earthquakes hit in clus-
ters. But public education sur-
rounding the 9.0 earthquake
expected to rock the Casca-
dia Subduction Zone appears
to have played a role in the
increase of calls or reports.
“After one of the earth-
quakes near Vancouver, 169
people entered a submission
to our website to say they felt
something,” she said. “It’s
good, because I think people
are thinking about the reality
of earthquake hazards more.”
Horning hopes, if any-
thing, the recent quakes have
reminded North Coast resi-
dents that the Big One could
come anytime.
“This activity should not
encourage people to be less
alarmed or more alarmed,”
Horning said. “You should
always be a certain amount of
alarmed living here … and you
should always be prepared.”
Come Trick-or-Treat
at Clatsop Care!
The residents of Clatsop Care
will be passing out treats
from 3-5pm on
Halloween Day.
Please stop in
and see us!
646 16 th Street, Astoria
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
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and Lunch
Winter Hours
Open at 6 am
Now Open for Dinner!
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