The Commodore Hotel Comes Back to Astoria
June 6th, 2008 Categories: Fun Stuff, Real Estate News, Where to stay
Like me, most of you probably still think of the corner of 14th & Commercial in downtown Astoria as home to Chris’ News. Growing up, this was the hotspot for Archie Digests, jigsaw puzzles for family holidays, and cigars for grandpa. I had always assumed that Chris’ News had been there since the building’s inception, but come to find out this is not the case. Prior to being Chris’ News the building was home to the Commodore Hotel, which first opened it’s doors in 1925. Fast forward 83 years and The Commodore is preparing to re-open it’s doors once again. As part of the ongoing Renaissance that’s embracing Astoria, the Commodore Hotel is being reinvented by local builder and craftsman Paul Caruana. Known for his flare for combining traditional architecture with spaces designed to accomodate our modern lifestyles, The Commodore will be no exception. Geared towards the modern hip traveler, the hotel will feature 19 unique rooms that blur the line between youth hostel and urban boutique hotel. Many original details of the building will be stylishly recycled into the new design, insuring the approval of both Gen-Xer’s and adventurous Baby Boomers alike. As of right now, the grand re-opening is slated for fall/winter 2008. Look for more updates on the project at commodoreastoria.com.
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The Seafood School Rocks!
June 5th, 2008 Categories: Columbia River, Fun Stuff, Local Events
The “All About Albacore” class is this Saturday. I want to go. I’ve been waiting for this course. I am severely challenged in the fish cooking department. Besides, cooking courses are a great way to dirty up someone else’s kitchen and have a little fun with friends.
Astoria has two options for cooking classes. I’ve had appetizers with Chris at the Baked Alaska in his kitchen inside Mise en Place and attended a party where Eric at the OSU Seafood Center put on a demo course of what was soon to be our main course! If I could celebrate all my birthdays with a cooking class I would! According to my family, this is just one more sign of getting older and…geeky. This from the same folks who won’t let me get a ham radio. What do they know?
The OSU Seafood Center is really wonderful for lots of reasons. The Seafood School is but one of it’s many contributions to the community. The school is relatively new and very popular. I first became acquainted with their facility when I attended a class on canning. I’ve always been interested in canning my own tuna- it’s so tasty! Once you’ve tasted home-canned tuna it’s very hard to buy store bought again. Their website offers an online database of recipes searchable by type of seafood. If any of you are lucky enough to attend the Albacore course this weekend I’d love to hear how the Cherry Cola Grill was!
Here’s the synopsis of the tuna class:
Saturday, June 7th
All About Albacore
Try out summer barbecue dishes that we have put together to compliment the local bounty of troll-caught Pacific Albacore tuna. Bursting with Omega-3’s, Albacore is both nutritious and delicious!
Cherry Cola Grilled Albacore
Baked Beans
Corn on the Cob
Potato Salad
Grilled Flatbread
To view the entire course schedule click here and download the PDF file.
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Shifting Sands Communities and the Human Development Overlay District
June 4th, 2008 Categories: Local Events, Mill Pond Village
I admit it. I was lax in reading about the Ford Foundation’s visit to our fair city last year. I remember vaguely reading about it but for some reason it didn’t really sink in. I am ashamed. I think I was too busy changing diapers writing offers. My years of marketing the new urbanist community Mill Pond Village sparked an interest in urban planning. Tonight’s writeup in the Daily A finally got my attention. We’ve actually been selected to be part of a pilot program that is meant to help neighborhoods undergoing rapid change. The Human Development Overlay District (HDOD) is defined as a new initiative intended to integrate human capital, social, and community planning through the innovative use of information technology in rapidly changing neighborhoods and communities. Our input will be necessary and meaningful. This is very timely with all that the city has on it’s plate at the moment. I’m still researching this happening, I want to understand better what this really means for Astoria. There’s nothing on Ford’s website but here’s their mission statement. I like it. I did find a press release on the Environmental Simulation Center site. We are in good company too. Los Angeles, Boston, and St. Paul are the other three cities that made the cut. I can’t wait to see what develops!
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RE/MAX Ultimate Open House This Saturday!
May 16th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
FINALLY the gray shroud of cold and drizzle has momentarily lifted from our sunshine challenged town. We are on our second day in a row of mood enhancing, vitamin D producing, sunny blue skies! Dare we hope for a three-peat? Despite the lure of the beach on a sunny day, my fellow RE/MAX agents and I will be working this Saturday at our Ultimate Open House. We are holding 22 of our listings open on Saturday from Seaside clear to Knappa! Homes will be open from 10am - noon and 1pm - 3pm. Look for our ad in tonight’s Daily Astorian that has a full schedule of times and addresses for the event. We look forward to seeing you there!
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How did a Queen Anne Victorian in Astoria end up with English Bullion Glass?
May 14th, 2008 Categories: Fun Stuff, Real Estate News
I learned something new this month about the history of glass. It’s always a history lesson when entering the stately homes that are the heart and soul of Astoria. Keep in mind that Astoria is full of historic homes and each house has a story. It’s always a delight to be called upon to assist someone with a historic home sale. It’s the best part of being a Realtor in our fair city!
It’s a rare thing to find a house that has it’s woodwork, flooring and windows intact! We don’t get to see that often. Nor do we get the privilege of being in many restored vintage homes. Unfortunately, the term ’remuddled’ more often fits the bill than remodelled. Read the rest of this entry »
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Video Tour: 36142 River Point Drive
May 13th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, Video
With sites like YouTube getting huge amounts of traffic, creating over-night celebrities and brand awareness, you had to imagine real estate wouldn’t be far behind in bringing video’s to the web. Several sites are promoting online video tours of homes for sale, adding another tool to our collective agent “tool belt”. Here’s my first attempt at video, a video tour of my listing at the River Point neighborhood just outside of Astoria.
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Reality Check Courtesy of Citibank
May 11th, 2008 Categories: Life in General
Wednesday, as I sat sipping my coffee, fantisizing about watching Matt Lauer and enjoying the brief peaceful moments I have in the day after getting my daughters on the school bus and before I leave for work I got a call on my home phone. I screened it and ignored it as I always do since anyone who really needs to get a hold of me calls my cell phone, but the message on the answering machine perked my interest. “This is the Citibank Fraud department and we need to speak with you immediately involving some suspicious activity on your Mastercard account” My first reaction was ” Why don’t they understand that I live in a tiny town on the Oregon Coast without a Target or Nordstroms, of course I do a lot of online shopping, and sometimes it adds up….”, but I decided to call them back and check it out anyway. Imagine my suprise when the friendly and english speaking customer service specialist on the other end asked me if I had been overseas?,” Um NO” , “So you didn’t purchase a $1200. Air France airline ticket”, “NO, I wish, but NO”, “How about a overseas shoe store purchase” “NO”, and again an overseas cosmetic store…well could have been me but “NO”.
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Columnist blasts financial media about housing
May 7th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
A recent column in the Realty Times claims consumers aren’t getting the whole story about the state of our housing market and the economy. This doesn’t come as a surprise to me. The part that really drives home her point focuses on the Case-Shiller Index, often thought to be an accurate indicator of the housing market nationwide. It seems that the AP didn’t do their fact checking before writing their headlines: “The glaring discrepancy in this case is that 17 of the 20 metro areas posted record annual declines, and yet 78 percent of the 330 metropolitan regions that the NAR tracks reported price increases … .”
It’s apparent to anyone with a TV or internet connection that the market has slowed, but I can’t help but think the media has exaggerated just a bit.
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Kudos to the new Urgent Care facility at the Health & Wellness Pavillion
May 6th, 2008 Categories: Life in General, Real Estate News
We’ve all been watching the contruction of the new Health & Wellness Pavillion for months now. Many have been anxiously awaiting an alternative to the Emergency Room. Well, now we have it. Yesterday was opening day for the Urgent Care Clinic located at the western entrance of the Pavillion and as luck would have it, I found myself in need of medical care!
While going to the doctor could never be considered pleasant, I did find my visit to the Urgent Care clinic to be just that. Despite being their first day open and a waiting area full, Read the rest of this entry »
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Living on the edge or living off the grid during Astoria’s first hurricane?
May 5th, 2008 Categories: Columbia River, Life in General, Weather
A random series of events has awakend my inner green self. All disconnected events really. But the sum of all has changed how I think of my daily routine . When I first heard the phrase living off the grid I thought it was some new hip expression that my teenager had for a dangerous/crazy lifestyle. It was around that time that I saw the documentary Kilowatt Ours ( the documentary channel is my current PVR addiction) all about energy consumption. Enter the Advent Storm (really a hurricane but don’t tell the rest of the world that). Read the rest of this entry »
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