Friday, July 30, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
Author chronicles an era when artists ruled the coast
By NANCY McCARTHY
Coast Weekend
With its fabled scenery,
Cannon Beach has always
attracted artists. But when
hippies began showing up
with canvases, crafts and
cameras in the 1960s, res-
idents worried they would
ruin the town.
“In the late ‘60s, early
‘70s, it was a time of cul-
ture clash. Cannon Beach at
that time was very conser-
vative,” said Rainmar Bartl,
whose new book, “The
Best Thing That Ever Hap-
pened to Cannon Beach,”
chronicles the era between
1960 and 1985 when Can-
non 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 plan-
ner who moved to Can-
non Beach in the 1970s and
observed the village’s evo-
lution as a close-knit artistic
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
John Mersereau
A 1978 photo features a group of Cannon Beach artists at a moment author Rainmar Bartl describes as “when the arts in Cannon
Beach were at their fullest expression.”
friends started getting sick
and dying, and I thought,
‘Now’s the time.’”
The book consists of
short biographies and pho-
tos of 111 artists who spent
time in Cannon Beach. It
also describes 61 galleries
and studios — ranging from
a gas station annex to the
White Bird Gallery, which
celebrates its 50th anniver-
sary this year. Colored plates
of some artists’ works are
included as well.
In addition to interview-
ing artists, Bartl perused 25
years of local newspapers,
including the Cannon Beach
Gazette and Seaside Signal.
Bartl included stories about
artists and their exhibits in
the book.
The
reasons
artists
descended on the town
are as diverse as the art-
ists themselves. Painter and
sculptor Jane Horns, a Port-
land Museum Art School
student, visited the area on a
fi eld trip in 1964. Horns was
stranded when the school
bus left without her — so
she found a $25 room in
Cannon Beach.
She spent the sum-
mer exhibiting her work in
the M&M Building, home
to numerous art galler-
ies through the years. The
building now houses the
Sesame and Lilies store.
Painter Steve McLeod
rode his motorcycle to
Cannon Beach during a
cross-country tour in 1970
and became one of Cannon
Beach’s beloved residents
until his death in 2015.
Frank Lackaff visited
his family’s cabin in 1960
and eventually opened the
Sketch Pad Gallery at a gas
station. He later renovated a
building on Hemlock Street
into a home and gallery, and
sold that to artists Harry and
Hanne Greaver, who still
operate the gallery.
Jim Hannen decided to
open a stained glass studio
in 1975 in Cannon Beach
after a visit. In those days,
an artist could rent a place
large enough to live and
work in for $50 a month.
“I thought what a cool
thing it would be to live in
Cannon Beach and have a
shop in Cannon Beach,” said
Hannen, who still lives in
the area and sells his glass-
work. “It was such a diff er-
ent town. There was some-
thing kind of dreamy about
it.”
Bartl also tells the story
of Joe Police, a metal sculp-
tor who became Cannon
Beach’s mayor. Police was
commissioned to do a sculp-
ture of Sacajawea at the
then-new Breakers Point
condominium development.
Police died in 1980 before
he started the sculpture. His
wife, Pat Egan Police, com-
pleted it with the communi-
ty’s help.
“There was a lot of cre-
ative energy,” Bartl said.
“There were a lot of reason-
ably young people starting
out their lives and careers,
and they had ideas. They
were diff erent from 1950s,
early ‘60s mainstream ideas,
and it created something. It
wasn’t just in the arts. There
was a revolution in what
kind of town we should be
and how we get there.”
When Portland State
University opened the Hay-
stack Summer Arts Program
in 1969, Cannon Beach
became an even greater
draw for artists and visitors
from throughout the U.S.
The program, which contin-
ued for more than 30 years,
impacted the village eco-
nomically and culturally.
But those early days were
special, Bartl said, because
the arts were “woven into
the community.”
“That was the best time
in Cannon Beach, there’s no
doubt about it. I think it was
a special time, I really do,”
he said.
In Seaside, the Promenade turns 100
By GRIFFIN REILLY
The Astorian
In 1921, hundreds of
Oregonians gathered to
open the Promenade, a 1.5-
mile boardwalk that would
become a staple of the North
Coast. The mayor hoped the
future would bring hun-
dreds, if not thousands, of
visitors.
A hundred years later,
that vision is reality.
Coming amid a cautious
recovery from the corona-
virus pandemic, the Aug.
7 celebration honoring the
centennial anniversary will
serve as an opportunity for
locals to showcase their
pride in what has become
one of the most popular
tourism destinations on the
coast.
“It’s the most import-
ant thing to the town,” said
Laurie Mespelt, the execu-
tive director of the Seaside
Downtown Development
Association. “That is who
we are, that Turnaround
and the Promenade — it’s
who we are and it’s what
brings people here.”
The Seaside Visitors
Bureau has been promoting
the anniversary throughout
the year. Of the $400,000
budget the city receives to
promote tourism, funded by
local lodging taxes, Joshua
Heineman, the director of
tourism marketing for the
visitors bureau, estimates
the bulk of it went to pro-
moting the anniversary.
“Everything was pointed
at the centennial,” he said.
The primary compo-
nent of the campaign is a
32-page booklet that can
be picked up for free at the
visitors bureau. The book-
let, Heineman said, features
scavenger hunts, stickers,
entrances to sweepstakes
and other ways for visitors
to interact with the Prom.
He recalls seeing a
group of visitors from a
recent event at the Seaside
Civic and Convention Cen-
ter out on the Prom fol-
lowing guides and activ-
ities in the book. “It was
good to see people taking
advantage of it and having
a smile on their face as they
look through the book and
remember all the times they
came here with their fami-
lies and things like that,” he
said.
Evoking that sense of
nostalgia, he said, is the
biggest goal of the centen-
nial. In a collaboration with
the Seaside Museum &
Historical Society, the Sea-
side Public Library has a
collection of classic photos
of the Prom over the years
on display.
“That’s the history right
there,” Mespelt said. “It’s
one thing to look at period
pieces, but those are true
snapshots.”
A parade will show-
case many of the businesses
and organizations that have
helped promote Seaside,
such as the Rotary Club,
representatives from the
Miss Oregon pageant and
Portland’s Royal Rosarians.
Regional
dignitaries,
such as state Sen. Betsy
Johnson, D-Scappoose, will
make speeches commemo-
rating the Prom just as Gov.
Ben Olcott did a century
ago.
Later in the day, offi cials
will bury a time capsule
near the Turnaround to be
opened in 2121.
City Councilor Steve
Wright, the president of the
historical society, echoes
the words of offi cials who
commemorated the board-
walk and welcomed visitors
a century before him. He
hopes the Prom will forever
remain a playground for the
town and the Pacifi c North-
west as a whole.
“It’s free, once you’re
here. It’s an attraction. You
don’t have to pay an annual
pass for it, or pay for a daily.
It’s just there to enjoy,” he
said.
Bookmobile: Builds vocabulary, expands perspectives
Continued from Page A1
districts statewide for sum-
mer educational and recre-
ational programs for stu-
dents in response to the
coronavirus pandemic.
The school district’s
bookmobile kicked off July
5 and will run through Sept.
2. Each week, the bookmo-
bile spends from noon to
2 p.m. Tuesdays at the city
park in Cannon Beach; from
1 to 2 p.m. at Broadway
Park and 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.
at Cartwright Park in Sea-
side on Wednesdays; and
from 1 to 2 p.m. at Gear-
hart City Hall and from
2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Cul-
laby Lake Boat Ramp on
Thursdays.
All children are welcome
to stop by and select a book.
There are materials tailored
for every age group, from
preschool to high school.
Students also don’t have
to attend a Seaside school
in order to pick out a free
book.
“With all the setbacks
from COVID at the school,
any chance kids can have
to read a little more on
their own will assist with
their educational experi-
ence,” said James Downes,
a teacher assistant at Pacifi c
Ridge Elementary School,
who helps run the book-
mobile at the Gearhart
locations.
Mejia was equally appre-
ciative of what the bookmo-
bile has to off er students this
summer. When the school
district asked for volunteers
to help work the program,
she enthusiastically signed
up.
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“This is a great way for
our kids to want to learn and
want to read over the sum-
mer,” she said.
Even if the material
isn’t necessarily academic,
reading in and of itself has
numerous educational ben-
efi ts. And it can also pique
continued interest in learn-
ing new information.
“Anywhere that you start
is a good start,” Mejia said.
Downes shared a sim-
ilar sentiment about the
importance of keeping stu-
dents learning and engaged
through reading over the
summer.
“It builds their jargon,
their vocabulary, helps them
understand diff erent ways
of thinking and perspec-
tives, and all of that blends
into bigger-picture ideas,”
he said.
Katherine Lacaze
Brothers Isair (right) and Zander Leon-Mejia help their mom Daff ne Mejia (not pictured) at the
Seaside School District Bookmobile.
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