‘THE
BEST
THING’
New book chronicles
Cannon Beach’s
early artistic era
BY NANCY M C CARTHY
With its fabled scenery, Cannon Beach
has always attracted artists. But when hippies
began showing up with canvases, crafts and
cameras in the 1960s, residents worried they
would ruin the town.
“In the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, it was a time
of culture clash. Cannon Beach at that time
was very conservative,” said Rainmar Bartl,
whose new book, “The Best Thing That Ever
Happened to Cannon Beach,” chronicles the
era between 1960 and 1985 when Cannon
Beach was a true artists’ colony. “The city
fathers in those days were freaked out by all
of these young hippies coming to town.”
Despite residents’ fears, however, the
arts focus became what then-Mayor Gerald
Gower called the “most wonderful thing that
ever happened to Cannon Beach.”
Bartl, a retired city planner who moved
to Cannon Beach in the 1970s and observed
the village’s evolution as a close-knit artis-
tic community, tried to capture that history
before it was too late.
“It was a special time in Cannon Beach; I
thought there should be a record of it,” Bartl
said. “Some of our friends started getting sick
and dying, and I thought, ‘Now’s the time.’”
The book consists of short biographies and
Photos by Nancy McCarthy
TOP: Rainmar Bartl looks at his book ‘The Best
Thing That Ever Happened to Cannon Beach.’
LEFT: A plaque at the bottom of a life-sized
wire sculpture pays tribute to artist Joe Police,
who was commissioned to create the piece.
Where to purchase the book
‘The Best Thing That Ever Happened to
Cannon Beach’ by Rainmar Bartl
Available at Cannon Beach Book Co. and
Jupiter’s Books in Cannon Beach; Beach
Books in Seaside
Bartl will sign books from noon to 2 p.m.
Aug. 3. at Cannon Beach Book Co.
See Page 9
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