4A • August 25, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Views from the Rock
Viewing the world upside down
Seaside’s latest innovation
goes topsy-turvy
Finding family
where, when you
least expect it
Small-town connections prove
powerful when tracking kin
T
KEITH BAKER/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Th e editor takes a ride at the Inverted Experience.
I
f the world seems to be a little
upside down, you’re not alone.
Keith Baker fi rst imagined
a topsy-turvy outlook as a kid
watching TV shows upside down
while lying on the living-room couch.
During the long months as a commer-
cial fi sherman in Alaska, he would let
his imagination run as he gazed over
the horizon.
Back in Seaside, Baker has turned
his longtime vision into a reality at
the Inverted Experience, appropriately
located at the former location of the
Ferris wheel on Broadway.
Today, the room is decorated like
a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers Holly-
wood stage set, with fi xtures on the
ceiling and upside down on the walls.
Barstools are upside down at the
“inverted saloon” and on a side wall,
a 1950s kitchen scene hangs from
above.
Reactions are “unbelievable,” Bak-
er said. “It’s steamrolling.”
He developed the concept about 10
years ago, during those long moments
on a fi shing boat in the Bering Sea.
“When you are isolated on a boat you
have a lot of time to think,” Baker
said. “You don’t have a lot of infl uenc-
es, TV or i nternet.”
The Inverted Experience is the
product of Baker’s imagination and
his love for Seaside.
A $6 admission fee gains entry; a
family pass is $20 for four. Visitors
CANNON SHOTS
R.J. MARX
pass their phones to an attendant, who
snaps and rotates the shots so people
appear to be hanging, fl oating, running
or scrambling upside down.
The surreal images hang like a
Salvador Dali in cyberspace. The em-
porium’s Facebook page is fi lled with
children “diving” into a toilet bowl,
families blown in the wind clinging to
bicycle handlebars or holding onto a
lamppost in midair.
New technology
Baker, who lives in Gearhart, is a
fi fth-generation North Coast resident.
His grandfather was stationed at Camp
Rilea Armed Forces Training Center,
and family members remain.
He recalled the memorable up-
side-down Astaire dance scenes and
the 1980s Lionel Richie video, “Danc-
ing on the Ceiling.”
A Google search revealed a house
in Orlando, Florida, made to look like
a mansion uprooted by a tornado. Oth-
er than those, he said, he hadn’t seen
anything like this before.
“It’s only come to light in the last
four or fi ve years,” Baker said. “Ev-
erybody has a camera. You just invert
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Roscoe Baker, left , takes photos of
Reed and Cooper Helvey of St. Lou-
is, Mo., at the Inverted Experience
in Seaside. Th e attraction, owned
by Keith Baker, features sets that are
upside down.
that on your phone. That is the nature
of the experience.”
Baker designed the room at 111
Broadway himself, and called on
friends to help install props.
Images include the Prom, a side-
walk, the “inverted saloon” and a
vintage kitchen.
Baker plans on changing it up this
winter and adding a mural. Decor will
be changed at Halloween and Christ-
mas time to refl ect holiday themes.
He hopes to make it a family-friend-
ly destination suitable for birthday
parties, receptions and reunions. Next
door, the Pacifi c Pearl Coffee Co. sells
T-shirts reading “The Inverted Experi-
ence” and “Inverted Lives Matter.”
September bustles with activity at the library
H
appy end-of-summer to locals
and visitors alike! It’s been
maybe a little cooler and
foggier than most of our summers, but
it’s still been a good one .
To kick off September, we will
enjoy our fi rst membership meeting
and brunch of the autumn at 10 a.m.
Wednesday, Sept . 6 . Our speaker will
be Charles Dice, who will talk about
estate planning. Our hostesses will
organize a delicious brunch. Let’s
gather together for good food, an
informative talk, and most importantly
— renewal of our fellowship s.
For September, there will be no
Northwest Author Series. We have
been talking about a new format for
the author series. According to series
organizer Jean Furchner sometime
this autumn we might be having a
speaker on the Mount St. Helens
eruption, but she is also looking at
May which marks the 37th anniversary
of the eruption. More information will
Publisher
David F. Pero
Editor
R.J. Marx
Circulation
Manager
Jeremy Feldman
Production
Manager
John D. Bruijn
AT THE LIBRARY
CARLA O’REILLY
follow; we’re in the planning stages
right now.
Cannon Beach Reads meets at
7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept . 20 . This
month, members have been reading
“Wise Blood,” by Flannery O’Connor.
O’Conner was an American writer
and essayist. She was an important
voice in American literature who often
wrote in a southern Gothic style. “Wise
Blood” was her fi rst novel and is
about a recently discharged World War
II veteran who fi nds his family home
abandoned. The book follows him
as he struggles with issues of faith.
This month, Linda Schaeffer will be
the discussion leader. Newcomers are
always encouraged .
Classifi ed Sales
Jamie Ramsdell
Advertising Sales
Holly Larkins
Chris Olson
Staff writer
Brenna Visser
Contributing
writers
Rebecca Herren
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Nancy McCarthy
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
The Cannon Beach Gazette is
published every other week by EO
Media Group.
1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside,
Oregon 97138
503-738-5561 • Fax 503-738-
9285
Calling all crafters and bakers! The
annual Fall Festival is on Saturday,
Sept . 30 , and is an important fundraiser
for the library. Donated crafts to be sold
are appreciated. And if you’re a baker,
we are in need of items for the bake
sale. Stop in at the offi ce soon to sign
up to work at the festival or contribute
baked goods or craft items. Sign-up
sheets are next to Buddie’s desk.
Library Board member Pam
DeVisser is in the process of collecting
interesting local gift certifi cates for our
September Gift Certifi cate Drawing and
Hotel Stay Silent Auction. The tickets
are $1 each, six for $5 or 25 for $20.
Winners will be announced at 3 p.m.
on the day of the Fall Festival. Tickets
will be on sale at the library beginning
Sept . 1 , so stop in and take a look at our
drawing and silent auction items and
purchase your tickets. You do not have
to be present to win.
So that’s what our September looks
like so far, library-lovers . Come join us!
www.cannonbeachgazette.
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the owners.
here’s something special about small-town living.
That something special is a phenomenon I found
myself defending when I made the decision to move
to the Oregon Coast. I was halfway through my last quar-
ter of college in Bellingham, Washington, when I took the
job with the newspaper more than six months ago, and the
announcement was usually met with either some jealous
statement about an opportunity to live on the beach, or
some form of this question:
“Why there? It’s so small. Do you have connections
down there?”
They meant
connections in
a vague sense
LIFE AT THE BEACH
— professional,
BRENNA VISSER
personal, familial
or otherwise. Six
months ago, my
answer was “no.”
Deep down, I was nervous to leave all my friends and
family for somewhere unknown. But then I would line up
my defenses. I grew up in a small town, so I know what
to expect. You connect with people stronger and more
quickly, I would argue.
So what if there’s no big strip malls or large concert
venues? So what if most of the bars and restaurants close
by 10 p.m.? I had faith in having that small-town, fami-
ly-like culture carry me through.
Turns out I was wrong. I did have a connection to
the North Coast. It took me physically moving here to
discover I had a whole branch of extended family I never
knew existed. And I found my family through a series
of conversations and connections that only a small town
could provide.
For those of you reading and wondering: yes, I am
related to longtime North Coast residents Dan and Sharon
Visser, and their kids Jennifer, Julie and Lori Visser.
I was fi rst tipped off to their existence when sources
would ask me if I went to Seaside High School, or if my
name was Jennifer. Apparently we look similar. They
would ask if I was one of the “local Vissers” in town,
and each time I would answer that I wasn’t sure. After
this happened fi ve or six times , I decided to fi gure out
who these “local Vissers” were to be able to answer these
inquiries .
When I asked my parents about being related to some-
one named Jennifer, the answer was more or less “plau-
sible.” The description sounded like the daughter of my
dad’s cousin, but he wasn’t sure.
If at this point you are wondering how I could not be
aware of an entire branch of my family, it may be worthy
to note, I haven’t met a large portion of Vissers related to
me because my grandfather’s generation had 10 siblings.
Many live all over the country, and when each of those
siblings have babies, and those babies have babies, the
number of Vissers to keep track of starts to become quite
the task.
Sorting it out
To sort the local connections out, I found one of my
colleagues was a mutual friend with Jennifer Visser . I sent
her message saying I thought there was a chance we were
related.
Around this same, an article about my arrival ran in
The Daily Astorian, which listed the fact I grew up in
Wenatchee, Washington, where a sizable portion of the
“Visser clan” still live. Between Sharon reading the article
and the timing of the Facebook message, dots were con-
nected and before I knew it I had received an invitation to
Easter dinner from my new-found family .
I showed up the next day with a bottle of wine and a
lot of questions. We had 22 years to make up for, anyway.
Over the course of dinner, we found that Dan was my
dad’s cousin, and our grandfathers were twins. I left Easter
with fewer questions and fi ve new lovely people to call
family.
Looking back, it’s uncanny to think of all the intersect-
ing, moving parts that lead to this culmination of events.
I often wonder if this situation had unfolded in a place
like Los Angeles or New York would I have ever met this
family.
One of my greatest fears moving here was the possibil-
ity of feeling lonely. But by moving here I not only was
able to connect with biological family, but also with the
tight -knit North Coast community that allowed me to fi nd
them in the fi rst place. There is a lot of power in knowing
your neighbor, and in small towns like this, a lot of impact.
And taking the energy to know your neighbor is what
makes small -town living so special.
Uncommonly common
REX AMOS
An unbroken common murre egg found at Chapman
Point by Diane Amos.
THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING