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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2019)
A6 • Friday, January 11, 2019 | Cannon Beach Gazette | CannonBeachGazette.com Mi Corazón: Restaurant offers authentic ambiance Continued from Page A1 “You will see more art than anything else,” Alvarez said. “You don’t see those clichéd things you see here (in the U.S.). We just want to show people the real way we have Mexican.” The two men have long possessed a dream to open a Mexican restaurant in the community they love. They both have roots in the local restaurant industry: Alva- rez worked several years at the Lazy Susan Café and Monrroy worked his way from dishwasher to break- fast cook at the Stephanie Inn. They opened a restaurant in Warrenton about four years ago, but still hoped to eventually fi nd a location closer to home. Accord- ing to Alvarez, they also were determined, “If we’re going to open a restaurant, it doesn’t matter how long it takes us, we have to be in downtown.” “We feel like it’s worth it,” he said, adding they passed up other locations in Tolovana. “We’ve been waiting for this for so many years.” Their patience paid off when, about a year ago, they found the ideal spot. Fruffl es vacated the build- ing at 140 S. Hemlock, Five Zero Trees took part of the space for a cannabis store and Alvarez and Monrroy jumped on the other half, which included an upstairs space for Alvarez to rent and use for a salon. The building needed plumbing, electricity, and restrooms — everything to transform it into a restau- rant — but they could not be deterred. In February, they closed the restaurant in Warrenton, eliminat- ing the commute and free- ing themselves up to run the salon, which opened in March and where Mon- rroy is a makeup artist, and The Daily Astorian The Shilo Inn in Seaside will soon add a Mo’s Restaurant. Mo’s coming to Seaside By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian ‘LIKE IN ME XICO’ ‘We really w ant people to feel like they ’re in Mexico. ’ — Emiliano Alvarez Katherine Lacaze Longtime Cannon Beach residents Enrique Monrroy (left) and Emiliano Alvarez are fi nally recognizing their dream of owning and operating a Mexican restaurant in downtown Cannon Beach with the opening of Mi Corazón. more importantly, focus on the new restaurant. Their journey during the past year has not been with- out challenges, mostly pro- fessional, but also personal. Their friend and partner Claudia Salgado, a Cannon Beach resident, traumati- cally passed away July 8 in a car wreck near Salem. “It’s been hard for us, because we were a team of three,” Alvarez said. “She wasn’t really an employee. She was part of the family.” She was Monrroy’s de facto right-hand in the kitchen. The men relied on her work ethic and enthu- siasm, and they expressed regret she will not see their collective efforts come to fruition. They have planted an herb garden near the restaurant, which doubles as a memorial to Salgado. When they sent a video of the nearly completed inte- rior to her children, they responded that their mother would be proud of what has been created. All the furniture within the restaurant is custom- ized, except for the chairs. The light fi xtures were created by Russ Mor- gan, who designs upcy- cled chandeliers and light shades with found objects, wire, and tumbled glass. Local woodcarver Dennis Thomas hand-crafted the tables, which each have a unique shape. Socorro Sanchez-Cantu’s art hangs from the walls, along with hand-crafted Milagros, decorative heart-shaped votive offerings tradition- ally used to ask for healing in the Catholic Church. “They’re pretty trendy at this moment, but very traditional, as well,” Alva- rez said. Under Monrroy, the head chef, the restaurant’s menu derives its range of dishes and fl avors from Michoacán, a state in Cen- tral Mexico. The food will be made from scratch, down to the condiments and tortillas. Even the bar drinks, served on the rocks, will incorporate fresh- pressed ingredients. They also have made a conscious effort to cre- ate an environmentally friendly location. They will not use plastic straws and the to-go boxes are made with recyclable materials. Sitting inside the restau- rant, refl ecting on the months of hard work they have poured into it, Mon- rroy confessed, “there’s a lot of feelings right now.” “I’m excited and emo- tional,” he said. “It’s my baby.” The restaurant will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the off-sea- son and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the summer. For more information, visit the Mi Corazón Facebook page or call 503-436-4074. Aya: The man behind the ‘mooing sirens’ dies at 94 Continued from Page A1 intricate ways of doing things,” Hawley said. “He clearly had that bent of mind.” As a child, those skills fueled Aya’s sense of humor and propensity for pranking, said Hawley, who knew Aya since elementary school. He remembers one day when Aya fi gured out how to hook into the school’s bell system and rang the bell early during a physical education class. “He was just incorrigi- ble until he graduated high school ... until he went into the Army,” Hawley said. “But he was great fun to be around.” Aya graduated from Gabel Country Day School in 1943 and soon after decided to join the Army. After World War II, Aya attended Stanford Univer- sity, where he earned his degree in philosophy, but soon after served in the Army again in Stuttgart, Germany, during the post- war Allied occupation of Germany. In 1953, Aya moved to San Francisco, where he began his career as a researcher and statistician for the Pacifi c Bell Tele- phone Co. He continued to serve in the Army Reserve before retiring with the rank of major in 1968. After more than 30 years, he retired from Pacifi c Bell in 1984 and moved to Can- non Beach. Warning system Aya’s curiosity and incli- nation to create came to defi ne his local legacy in unexpected ways. Shortly after moving to Oregon, Aya was elected to the fi re dis- trict’s board, where he led the charge to design and install the famous “mooing” community warning system (COWS) for tsunamis at a time when tsunami danger was not at the forefront of the community’s mind. In fact, Aya himself voted against funding the system the fi rst time around as a board member. “It’d been 21 years since the last tsunami in 1964, and at the time it seemed like a waste of money to invest in alarms when these events were so rare,” Aya said in a 2017 interview. But two days after the vote, Aya remembered see- ing a group of children building a sandcastle at the edge of the surf with no adults watching them. The sight made him wonder how these kids would know about a tsunami warning and inspired him to research and discover the threat of a tsunami hitting the Pacifi c Northwest was much more likely than people assumed at the time. Experience Family Dining in a Relaxed & Friendly Environment Rainmar Bartl, who knew Aya both as a friend and colleague on the Plan- ning Commission, remem- bers him talking about his research and “being ahead of his time” when it came to tsunami preparedness. “At the time it was kind of revolutionary,” Bartl said. Before he knew it, Aya became the voice of tsu- nami preparedness, leading the drive to establish a warn- ing system that was a fi rst of its kind in U.S. and has been used as a model for others down the coast. In the 1990s, Aya led the push to move the town’s fi re station out of the tsunami inundation zone on Spruce Street and build the new station at higher eleva- tion at Sunset Boulevard, said Garry Smith, the fi re dis- trict’s board president, who worked with Aya for years. “If it hadn’t been for his persistence I’m not sure if (the new fi re station) would have happened when it did,” Smith said. “He had the foresight and drive to get things done at the dis- trict. He contributed not just to the COWS and the fi re station, but to all the proj- ects, whether it had to do with the trucks, the equip- ment, fundraising ... He was an avid supporter of the fi re department.” Finding humor But even in something as SEE FULL OBITUARY | A2 serious as a tsunami warning system, Aya found a way to incorporate humor. When it came to test the warning sys- tem, he worried about how the public would react after hearing the loud alarms over and over for multiple days. To lighten the mood, Aya decided to use a prerecorded “mooing” sound he found in a BBC sound effects library instead of a regular siren. “I was emailing with an author friend of mine, who is an archconservative guy, about the problem. As a joke, I thought because the acronym for our system was COWS — for Com- munity Warning System — that maybe we could broad- cast a mooing sound,” Aya said in 2017. “He thought it was hilarious, and I fi gured if someone serious like him thought mooing was funny, maybe less serious people would, too.” Though Aya retired from the fi re district in 2015, his voice is still the one that tells everyone to get to higher ground. “It’s kind of ironic ... now he’s gone, but his voice is going to live on as the one who tells you to evacuate as long as that system is in place,” Smith said. powered by Serving Seafood, Pizza, Sandwiches, Espressos, Beer, Wine, Ice Cream and our Homemade Desserts We have a fabulous patio where you can enjoy the weather and your meal. 156 N. Hemlock • Cannon Beach 503.436.9551 Meyers: Former fi re chief brings experience Continued from Page A1 “It has nothing to do with her. She’s going to be awesome for the bureau,” he said. “It’s all about life- style change. It’s such a unique opportunity. There are not a lot of emergency management opportunities on the coast.” Myers was known for his “Blueprint for Suc- cess” plan in Portland, which aimed to equip the city’s fi refi ghters with more skills to respond effectively to health emer- gencies like overdoses and mental health cri- ses — calls that have become increasingly more common. He was also recognized for hiring the department’s fi rst equity manager and for doing a complete revi- sion to the employee disci- pline process. Cannon Beach cre- ated the full-time emer- gency manager position to restructure the way the city approaches emer- gency planning. The city had previously contracted with consultant Stacy Burr for emergency planning. “He’s extremely quali- fi ed and he’s excited about what we’re trying to do, and that’s to develop an emergency management program that involves everyone in the city,” City Manager Bruce St. Denis said. His fi rst day will be Feb. 1. “I think Cannon Beach needs a comprehensive plan, and that starts with me meeting with the com- munity and seeing what the needs are,” Myers said. “My ultimate goal is for Cannon Beach to be the gold standard for coastal community resiliency. I think we can do that.” Phone and Internet Discounts Available to CenturyLink Customers The Oregon Public Utility Commission designated CenturyLink as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier within its service area for universal service purposes. CenturyLink’s basic local service rates for residential voice lines are $15.80-$17.55 per month and business services are $23.00-$28.00 per month. Specific rates will be provided upon request. CenturyLink participates in a government benefit program (Lifeline) to make residential telephone or broadband service more affordable to eligible low- income individuals and families. Eligible customers are those that meet eligibility standards as defined by the FCC and state commissions. Residents who live on federally recognized Tribal Lands may qualify for additional Tribal benefits if they participate in certain additional federal eligibility programs. The Lifeline discount is available for only one telephone or qualifying broadband service per household, which can be either a wireline or wireless service. Broadband speeds must be 18 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload or faster to qualify. A household is defined for the purposes of the Lifeline program as any individual or group of individuals who live together at the same address and share income and expenses. Lifeline service is not transferable, and only eligible consumers may enroll in the program. Consumers who willfully make false statements in order to obtain Lifeline telephone or broadband service can be punished by fine or imprisonment and can be barred from the program. If you live in a CenturyLink service area, please call 1-888-833-9522 or visit centurylink.com/lifeline with questions or to request an application for the Lifeline program. “TO-GO” Orders Welcome Owned and Operated by the Cleary Family SEASIDE — Mo’s Restaurant is coming to Seaside. The regional seafood and chowder chain has signed a long-term lease with the Shilo Inn for the hotel’s restaurant space overlooking the Prome- nade and Pacifi c Ocean, according to an announce- ment from Mo’s. The restaurant will start ren- ovations this month and could open in the spring. “The addition of Mo’s in Seaside is a great opportunity for our entire company,” Jolee Ban- croft, the company’s pres- ident, said in a release. “We are so excited to bring our culture of fam- ily dining to this esteemed community.” Mo’s has been in Can- non Beach since 1991 and opened a new location and commercial chowder kitchen in Astoria in 2017. Shilo Inns reached out to Mo’s about moving into Seaside, said Riley Plesha, the restaurant’s director of marketing. The new location will have a mix of indoor and outdoor seating for up to 200 diners. The restaurant is closed for renovation until March or April. music fi rst