4A • July 28, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Views from the Rock
Remembering a ‘salty local’
at his favorite hangout
I
wish I had known Mike Knop.
Horse racing, brewing beer,
cooking great meals, baseball,
hockey and fl y-fi shing were
Mike’s favorite pastimes.
“Mike believed in living life to the
fullest, chasing dreams, placing bets,
cherishing and cultivating relation-
ships, enjoying hobbies, learning
something new every day, and read-
ing,” read his obituary. “It was import-
ant for Mike to live in paradise, catch
and release and spend quality time
with friends especially at Cheri’s.”
R.J. MARX/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
What more alluring tourist desination than “Th e
Rock”?
A tourist in
Cannon Beach
CANNON SHOTS
W
R.J. MARX
Cheri’s of course is the quintessential
Cannon Beach hangout — locals hold
sway here, but well-behaved visitors are
always welcome. Former bodybuild-
er-turned-restaurateur Cheri Lerma pre-
sides over the establishment, where you
check your ego at the door and settle in
for the news of the day.
“One of the reviews said there were
a bunch of ‘salty locals’ in here,” author
Peter Lindsey said.
Mike died suddenly at their place
near the Metolius River, suffering a
heart attack while driving and drove
into a tree. He was 59.
When Mike wasn’t fl y-fi shing, work-
ing on his cabin or betting on the horses,
he made his living as a house painter,
his longtime friend Rex Amos said.
“He must have painted most of
Cannon Beach,” Amos said. “He was
also a great cook. His scalloped potatoes
were front and center on Cheri’s food
table. Everyone loved Mike, especially
Cheri.”
It was appropriate then, that I cajoled
Rex to put in a good word for me with
Barb Knop to gather a few friends
together at Cheri’s for some informal
memories. Amos and his wife Diane
were joined by Lindsey, Marilyn and
Cleve Rooper, along with Barb and of
course Cheri, who was doing double
duty on a busy Friday afternoon taking
orders and sharing stories.
Mike Knop
SUBMITTED PHOTO
‘A Ph.D. in life’
Mike was a large man who embraced
life with abandon, Amos said.
“Expert fl y fi sherman, prize-winning
beer brewer, avid horse racing fan who
packed Cheri’s whenever the races were
on TV,” he wrote in a remembrance.
“He’d run the numbers and study the
horses then take up a collection and
place the bets. Sometimes the gang got a
few bucks, but for me it was just a way
to have one hell of a good time losing
a few bucks. Mike was one of Cheri’s
favorite customers. As she said, ‘and he
was the youngest of the group.’”
Mike came to Cheri’s every night.
“Since he’s not here, it’s weird,” Lerma
said. “We all interact together. Most of
them are old locals who live here — I
mean old in the sense they’ve lived here
quite a while. We just had a good time
with each other as a group, from work
to play.”
“I could look out the window and
still expect to see him with his baseball
cap like he would do it every night,”
Lindsey said.
Topics of conversation ran from
the gamut: horse racing, fi shing, cigar
connoisseur and the merits of beers.
Mike was gifted at everything he
pursued, brewing the best home brew
Lindsey had ever tasted. He recalled a
fussy friend who swore he would only
drink Budweiser. Mike’s beer changed
his mind, Lindsey said. “He said, ‘This
is the fi rst beer I really like besides
Budweiser.’”
As a fi sherman, Knop could effort-
lessly cast, either from the Ecola Creek,
Metolius River or along the surf in
Cannon Beach.
“It’s a bit of a cliché, but Mike could
read the water,” Amos said.
He was “strictly catch and release,”
Lindsey recalled. “We told him, ‘That’s
like shooting an elk then taking it to the
veterinarian to get treated.”
“He wasn’t pretentious,” Amos said.
“With his fl y-fi shing, he didn’t worry
about getting thousands of dollars worth
of gear. He’d just go out there and fi sh.
He didn’t do all this false casting or
bring out all the gear in the world. Mike
would just go out and cast out and there
would be the fi sh.”
Publisher
David F. Pero
Editor
R.J. Marx
Circulation
Manager
Jeremy Feldman
Production
Manager
John D. Bruijn
R.J. MARX/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Rex Amos, Cheri Lerma, Marilyn Rooper (back) Peter Lindsey, Cleve Rooper
and Barb Knop, front, in Mike Knop’s bar chair.
“I always thought he had a Ph.D.
in life, because he knew about every-
thing,” Barb Knop said. “He was an
expert at everything he did.”
Humor was his forte
Knop, described as “Mike the
Wheel” in his obituary, was born in
Detroit, Michigan, on May 3, 1958.
After high school he started his journey
to the West Coast with stops in Denver,
Colorado, and Kennewick, Washington.
Knop met his future wife in Denver in
the summer of 1982 when Barb was on
vacation and needed a golf partner.
The couple married on the beach in
Cannon Beach on June 1984.
“We came here for the summer and
we never left,” Barb said.
The only thing Mike never took to,
Barb said, was serving in local govern-
ment.
Though he served briefl y on the Pub-
lic Works board when he fi rst arrived in
Cannon Beach, he spurned the public
spotlight.
“His defi nition of ‘communist activ-
ities’ were all the volunteer things that
I was involved with,” Barb said with a
smile.
After working as a bartender, Mike
launched a painting business. He soon
became “the” painter in Cannon Beach.
Though he had the opportunity, he
didn’t want to become a big business.
That would’ve interfered with his hob-
bies, Barb said.
He had something in common with
everybody, Amos said, and humor was
Mike’s forte.
“He always had something funny to
say,” Lerma said.
Cleve Rooper remembers Mike play-
ing practical jokes, swapping habaneros
for martini olives and creating ice cream
“sundaes” of bear droppings.
The season Terry Porter starred for
the Portland Trail Blazers, Mike im-
mortalized him by brewing a dark beer
called “Terry Porter,” Rooper said.
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Staff writer
Brenna Visser
Contributing
writers
Rebecca Herren
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Nancy McCarthy
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
The Cannon Beach Gazette is
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SUBMITTED PHOTO
Barb and Mike Knop
“When some hops fell off a truck,
Mike made beer out of it. He called it
‘Roadkill Ale.’”
Mike loved parties: The Super Bowl,
Kentucky Derby, Christmas and any-
thing with his fi shing group.
“He lived to celebrate every day he
was alive,” Barb said. “If it involved a
party that was OK. There weren’t too
many occasions that we missed.”
hile my companion took a meeting at Cheri’s
Café, I decided to take a two-hour vacation
from my normal life to roam downtown Cannon
Beach. My goal was to behave in a touristy manner, i.e.
shop, walk around, eat and drink something, take in the
sights. Since it was a super sunny day, I thought it a good
chance to soak up some Vitamin D. Doctors are always
telling me I need more Vitamin D.
My fi rst stop was to Ocean Spa to replenish my supply
of Epionce Ultra Shield Lotion, SPF 50. A few years ago
I learned the hard way that any brand I found in the drug
store made me itchy and bumpy. I only get 50 percent UV
coverage because
I like a bit of
tan. For better or
VIEW FROM
worse, I still asso-
THE PORCH
ciate tanned skin
EVE MARX
with travel and
health and wealth,
even though every
dermatologist in the world will tell you tanning is verbo-
ten. To me, this ban on taking in natural sun is the reason
we need Vitamin D supplements.
On my way over to the beach, I dropped into the
boutique Purple Moon to eyeball cute handbags and luxe
undies. If you’ve got a hankering for lingerie, this is the
place. Purple Moon also has a selection of attractive bags
fashioned of leather strips leather and repurposed feed
bags; they have a chest full of lovely scarves ideal for
dressing up any outfi t and camoufl aging throat wattle. This
is where the sunscreen comes in. I use it to prevent more
throat wattle.
I dropped into the Cannon Beach Book Company be-
cause it’s such a special shop. A voracious reader, I try to
get my books these days from the library, but it’s tempting
to step into a bookstore to see what’s new and hot. I ended
up buying greeting cards. The store has the loveliest se-
lection. The cards are so beautiful you may want to keep
them, not send them.
Winding my way over to the beach, I couldn’t help
noticing cute dogs. There were so many, all of them
leashed, and all of them, as far as I could see, well man-
nered. I saw a crew of Corgis and then a pair of dogs I call
“powder puffs” who were probably Shih Tzus or a hybrid
of Shih Tzu, Lhasa apso, Yorkshire terrier and bichon
frisé. Whatever they were, they were precious. Next came
a giant Cane Corso. I remarked to its owner its brindle
color. A blue-eyed collie mix so evenly split black and
white it resembled a four-legged Oreo cookie, strained at
its leash, eager to get to the water. A very young golden
retriever pup (its human said it was only 6 months old)
made as though it might want to sniff my crotch. That’s a
big puppy for you.
Clusters of visitors strolled past, conversing in what I
imagine was Japanese, although since I know not a word
of Japanese, I can’t be sure about that. Many had in hand
lunch-to-go from Crêpe Neptune. My go-to thing to order
there is the ham-and-cheese crepe they call the Manzanita.
Others were eating ice cream.
By the trash bins at the entrance to the beach, a teenag-
er covered in sand and dressed entirely in black was lying
on the ground in a fetal position. Her face was covered but
her hand in the classic posture of anguish. To my surprise,
a dozen or more people walked straight past. After a few
minutes I walked over and quietly asked if she was all
right. “I’m OK,” she mumbled without moving. I stood
nearby for a few minutes until she got up and left.
There was a beautiful messenger-style bag in Cannon
Beach Leather I seriously coveted. I must go back soon
before some lucky tourist nabs it.
An empty chair
At Cheri’s, it’s not only the barstool
with his name on it that will serve to
remember Mike Knop.
“I always looked at him like a
growly bear that was a little bit cuddly,”
Lerma said. “He was soft — crunchy on
the outside and chewy on the inside.”
“We miss him,” Marilyn Rooper
said.
“It’s not the same without him,”
Amos said.
“I’m thinking of closing early,”
Lerma said mournfully as the late-lunch
crowd settled down.
“I will make a rare appearance and
sit in his chair,” Barb said, moving to
the wooden chair with “Mr. Knop”
painted on the back.
A community event in his memory
is planned for November, she said.
“I think if he were looking down, he
would say, ‘Just make sure every day
you tell the people you love that you
love them.”
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LETTERS
A plea for a
Seaside bypass
Dear City of Seaside.
You have a heart problem.
Your arteries are clogged
and you need a bypass.
I know this issue has
come up in the past and
the consensus was that if
Seaside had a bypass that
people may not stop to
shop. Well… people are
stopped for sure. In fact,
they are dead stopped on
101 going both directions
most days and certainly
on weekends. They are
able to pick up an order of
Grizzly Tuna or a coffee
from Human Bean or shop
at Nike outlet that is how
slow the traffi c moves.
There are more travelers on
the road than in previous
years and it is only going to
get worse, not just here but
everywhere.
The local businesses
are the losers because
local residents stay home
to avoid the traffi c and it
is becoming increasingly
diffi cult just to go to the
grocery store.
Those vehicles that are
waiting to move through
Seaside are not going to
veer off and lose their
place in line and most are
wondering if there has been
an accident as there is no
signage that tells them why
traffi c is congested. Travel
See Letters, Page 5A
THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING