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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2021)
B1 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2021 CONTACT US FOLLOW US Alyssa Evans aevans@dailyastorian.com facebook.com/ DailyAstorian THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2021 • B1 Oregon’s lost coastal city The tale of Bayocean inspired Maryland musician’s new album By MALLORY GRUBEN For The Astorian VISIT THE SPIT BAYOCEAN PENINSULA PARK A lthough he lives in Maryland, musician Matt Cutter is inti- mately familiar with a lit- tle-known piece of Oregon’s history: the rise and fall of Bayocean. His band, Rectangle Creek, released an eponymic album about the city in June. Cutter discovered the so-called “city that fell into the sea” while researching for a speculative fi ction novel he wants to write about post-ecological collapse in the U.S. Bayocean was once a resort city on a peninsula between Tillamook Bay and the Pacifi c Ocean. The peninsula is now covered with brush, with few remaining clues about its history. “It is literally a ghost city because there is nothing left of it whatsoever,” Cutter said. “It’s all just fl at and smooth for miles and miles. (There is) literally no trace of this town but it’s amazing that there was a natatorium — a huge indoor, steam-powered wave pool with a 1,000 seat movie the- ater. They were trying to build an Atlantic City on the W est C oast.” Bayocean has all the mak- ings of a compelling saga: rich investors, luxurious ame- nities, fearsome natural forces, persevering fi gureheads and inev- itable destruction. It is the tale of how a once extravagant resort des- tination eroded away a few decades after it was built. between Tillamook Bay and the Pacifi c Ocean. Potter decided to build a resort community on the land. Potter and his son, T. Irving Pot- ter, built dozens of lots, recruited buyers and contracted with other developers to erect what they envi- sioned would become a “play- ground for millionaires.” By 1914, roughly 2,000 people lived in the resort city. Dozens more vacationed there in the summer. See Bayocean, Page B4 ‘The Atlantic City of the West’ In 1906, well-established real estate promoter Thomas Benton Pot- ter stumbled upon a stretch of beach LISTEN TO THE ALBUM ‘Bayocean,’ by Rectangle Creep, is a 22-track album retelling the story of Bayocean. Online album available at rectanglecreep.bandcamp.com/ album/bayocean Tillamook County Pioneer Museum TOP: One of Bayocean’s most prominent attractions was its natatorium. ABOVE: Francis Drake Mitchell and his wife, Ida, were the fi rst family on record to buy a plot of land in Bayocean. BACKGROUND: Erosion of the beach at Bayocean left a number of houses perched on sand dunes a few yards from the shore, including the Burger Boodie house on Clark Street, pictured here circa 1950.