Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2015)
6A • August 7, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com Local hotel owner is recognized by industry Khan lauded as ‘Lodging Operator of the Year’ By Katherine Lacaze Seaside Signal SEASIDE PROVIDENCE SEASIDE/SUBMITTED PHOTO A crowd gathered for the ribbon-cutting and open house of the Providence ElderPlace North Coast facility located at 1150 N. Roosevelt Drive in Seaside. Providence ElderPlace debuts in Seaside Nearly 100 people gathered last month for the ribbon-cutting and open house of the Providence ElderPlace North Coast facility located at 1150 N. Roosevelt Drive, Suite 104 in Seaside. Providence ElderPlace is part of the program of all-inclusive care for the el- derly, a federally recognized program with over 114 sites operating in 32 states. PACE helps seniors maintain indepen- dence and health for as long as possible by combining medical coverage with long-term care and social services. PACE is widely viewed as a program that en- hances the quality of life for seniors. The program is open to anyone who is age 55 or older and is in need of support VHUYLFHVDVGH¿QHGE\WKHVWDWHRI2UH- JRQ,QGLYLGXDOVZKRHVSHFLDOO\EHQH¿W from ElderPlace services have increas- LQJIUDJLOLW\DQGGLI¿FXOW\LQJHWWLQJWR medical appointments for preventative and optimal care and services. Support is also provided to families and caregiv- ers. For more information about Elder- Place North Coast, call 503-717-7150. Crossing the Oregon Trail Gearhart resident shares stories from family’s 19th-century journals Somewhere along the way, Arvazena gave birth to a second child. The anonymous location made LW GLI¿FXOW IRU KHU VRQ WR later obtain a birth certif- By Katherine Lacaze icate, which was not an Seaside Signal uncommon ordeal for chil- dren born on the plains and Nancy Bell Anderson’s mountains along the Ore- lineage is intertwined gon Trail, Anderson said. with strong-willed, tena- When they arrived in Or- cious women, such as her egon, they settled about 10 great-grandmother Arva- miles northwest of Salem in zena Angeline Spillman a community named Spring Cooper, an early pioneer Valley that was established women, and her great-aunt, in 1858. The newly arrived Emily Belle “Little Belle” pioneers renamed the com- Cooper, who co-founded munity Zena, after Arva- The Dalles Hospital. zena and her sister, Melze- An audience was intro- na Spillman Cooper, who duced to these women and also was Daniel Cooper’s told about life on the Ore- brother’s wife. The com- gon Trail during Anderson’s munity now is considered a presentation, titled “Little ghost town, although it re- Belle Crosses the Oregon mains home to the historic Trail, held at the Seaside Spring Valley Presbyterian Public Library July 16. Church. Anderson, a Gearhart “Their new life in Or- resident and the Knappton egon was everything they Cove Heritage Center di- had hoped for,” Anderson rector, presented the story said. as told in Arvazena’s jour- Arvazena eventually nals, which were passed had 13 more children. Her down to Anderson. In 1901, daughter Prudence was An- Arvazena wrote down her derson’s maternal grand- recollections of the west- mother by way of Ander- ward journey, Anderson son’s mother, Katharine. said. The Little Belle charac- The story begins with ter in the story also is an 16-year-old Arvazena, a interesting one, Anderson seamstress and her husband said. She grew up and mar- Daniel Jackson Cooper, ried Dr. Willard Rinehart. who were married in 1861. One of their sons found- Two years later, Missouri ed the Rinehart Clinic in was overrun with disrup- Wheeler. tion, discord and devasta- After her husband died tion because of the Civil in 1984, she took up the War — or the War of the study of medicine, eventu- Great Rebellion, as Arvaze- ally receiving her medical na called it. degree from the Universi- “There was some real ty of Oregon in 1897 and unrest going on in the land, doing post-graduate work which is a little hard for us in New York. She moved to realize now,” Anderson back to Oregon to practice said. “Certainly in other and co-founded the Dalles countries we have this going Hospital with her second on, but it’s hard to believe husband, Dr. E.E. Fergu- we had that right here.” son. Deciding it was not a Emily “Little Belle” safe place to raise a family, Rinehart Ferguson eventu- the young Cooper couple ally moved to Seaside after traded their land for a few her career winded down. head of stock and some In her journal, she wrote, wagons and started West “after a period of strenu- with their 16-month-old ous work, ministering as daughter Little Belle, Dan- best I could to the illness LHO¶V SDUHQWV DQG KLV ¿YH of humanity, I have retired siblings. to this ideal ocean resort on With all the preparation, the northwest coast of Ore- Arvazena wrote, she “was gon.” too bewildered to think During the presentation, much of the partings.” She Anderson displayed her was beginning to realize ancestors’ photographs and “the little backwoodsy cor- artifacts, which she pre- ner of Missouri was all the served. The items includ- world to me,” and that she ed an instruction book for was not only leaving her seamstresses, published in native land but her loved 1855, and a toddler dress ones, as well. made by Arvazena. “I had not the remotest Anderson’s daughter, idea I would see any of my Heather Henry, created kindred again,” she wrote. and published a children’s Arvazena’s detailed picture book in 2014 with DFFRXQW RI WKH ¿YHPRQWK the help of her family. trip includes stories of in- Henry used photographs teractions with other fam- of clothespin dolls and ilies traveling the trail, dioramas to illustrate the their dealings with mem- Coopers’ Oregon Trail sto- bers of the Cherokee tribe, ries. The photographs are surviving a cattle stam- overlaid with direct quotes pede and the monotony of taken from both Arvazena’s crossing the plains in the and Little Belle’s journals. Midwest. The purpose, she said, was SUBMITTED PHOTO Learn more about Little Belle and her journey to the West at a lecture at the Seaside Public Library. to preserve the family lega- cy in written form. Copies of the book are available at the Seaside Mu- seum, 570 Necanicum Drive and the Knappton Cove Heri- tage Center in Naselle, Wash. Managing director Ma- sudur Khan of Seaside Lodging is the 2015 Lodg- ing Operator of the Year, an honor bestowed by the Or- egon Restaurant and Lodg- ing Association. “In any industry, you got to do what exactly you need to do,” he said. “Take care of what is needed, rather than just worrying about the business’s bottom line too much. I believe that if you do all the things right, the bottom line will be good.” Khan lives in Portland with his wife and two chil- dren, but he visits Sea- side frequently to provide hands-on management for his three hotels: the Inn at Seaside, the River Inn at Seaside and the City Center Motel. According to Khan, a successful hotelier must meet guests’ needs, care for and properly train employ- ees, maintain facilities and operate in a smart, ethical way. Sometimes a business focuses too much on one aspect and neglects the oth- HUV.KDQVDLGKH¿QGVLWLV best to equally focus on all different aspects of a busi- ness. “I don’t feel like I did something different,” he said. “I just did whatever I felt was right.” Seaside Lodging’s inventory Born and raised in Ban- gladesh, Khan moved to Portland in 2009. His com- pany bought the Inn at Sea- side that same year. In 2013, he acquired a second motel, an older model that was de- molished to make way for the River Inn at Seaside, which opened in 2014. Dining on the While the River Inn at Seaside was under con- struction, Khan purchased the City Center Motel in 2013. The facility, which is the oldest operating motel in Seaside, underwent a sig- QL¿FDQW UHQRYDWLRQ DW WKDW time. Three months ago, Khan acquired the Surfside Inn and merged the 12- room facility with the City Center Motel to make one entity. Khan said he believes an important part of success is staying ahead of the curve by constantly keeping up to date on what’s happening in the industry, what cus- tomers are looking for and what property is coming on the market. He described travel with his family as both a hobby and an educational experi- ence, giving him an oppor- tunity to see other hotels and what they’re offering. Business ethics, community service Khan was selected as the Lodging Operator of the Year Award based on exemplary performance, maintaining high industry standards and customer sat- isfaction. Additionally, the award acknowledges the winner’s community involvement. Between all three hotels, Khan’s company has do- nated more than $250,000 to local charities. He spon- sors events, donates free hotel stays for prizes and compensates employees for their volunteer time. “You are working your business in your communi- ty. If the community is not successful, your business will not be successful,” Khan said. “It’s kind of a win-win situation.” In 2014, Khan received the Entrepreneurship award from Clatsop Economic Development Resources and the Business Ethics award from the Seaside Ro- KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL Masudur Khan, managing director of Seaside Lodging LLC. tary Club. The Inn at Sea- VLGH DOVR ZDV D ¿QDOLVW IRU the small business category in the Rotary Club of Port- land’s 2015 Oregon Ethics in Business Awards. To Khan, business ethics means running the business “as it should be run.” “You take care of em- ployees and build loyalty to your guests and build loy- alty to employees and also follow the rules and regula- tions,” he said, adding it’s just about “doing the right things.” Since the lodging indus- try relies heavily on cus- tomer service, “it’s really important each and every employee is very trained and knows the expectation from the company and indi- vidualizes service for each customer,” he said. Sales, Marketing and Revenue Manager Kaarina Vera has worked with Khan since the start. “I’ve been learning so much about the lodging in- dustry and just business in general,” she said. “He is my boss, but I see him like a mentor.” She said she believes he plays that role to other em- ployees, as well. Khan and other Hospital- ity Industry Award winners will be formally recognized at the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association’s annual conference in Octo- ber. North Coast Grea t res ta ura nts in: G EAR H AR T | S EAS ID E | C AN N ON BEAC H D iscover Patty’s Wicker Cafe on the B ea utiful N eca n icum R iver B R E A K F A ST & L U N C H M O N D A Y th ru F R ID A Y 6 A M to 2 P M G rea t A tm osphere • G rea t Food • G rea t P rices 600 B road w ay Su ite 7 & 8 • 503.717.1272 NATIONALLY FAMOUS CLAM CHOWDER • FRESH OREGON SEAFOOD M A Z AT L A N M E X IC A N R E S T A U R A N T Pho n e 5 03 -73 8-96 78 14 4 5 S. Ro o sevelt D rive • Sea sid e WANNA KNOW WHERE THE LOCALS GO? • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner R E ST A U R A N T S CANNON BEACH • Lighter appetite menu • Junior Something for Everyone menu BEST BREAKFAST IN TOWN! 503-436-1111 O cean Fron t at T olovan a Park w w w .m osch ow der.com Excellence in family dining found from a family that has been serving the North Coast for the past 52 years Great Great Great Homemade Breakfast, lunch and pasta, Clam ★ ★ ★ but that’s dinner steaks & Chowder, not all... menu,too! seafood! Salads! Seaside • 323 Broadway • 738-7234 (Open 7 Days) Cannon Beach • 223 S. Hemlock 436-2851 (7am-3pm Daily) Astoria • 146 W. Bond • 325-3144 Fish ‘n Chips • Burgers • Seafood & Steak Friday & Saturday - Prime Rib Lounge Open Daily 9-Midnight All Oregon Lottery products available 1104 S Holladay • 503-738-9701 • Open Daily at 8am TO PLACE YOUR AD HERE! Call or Email Wendy Richardson 503.791.6615 wrichardson@dailyastorian.com