shanghaiing
a free trip to china — the art of shanghaiing in 19th century america .
shanghaiing was a popular method in the... - extreme seal adventures | facebook
dillon, richard h. shanghaiing days. new york city: coward - mccann, 1961 .
history lecture: the mysterious portland shanghaiing scene | wicked portland by finn j. d. john | # wickedpdx
lock, stock, and history — a free trip to china — the art of shanghaiing in ...
besides, they said, the law hardly covers extradition for shanghaiing a persian. [ eugene register - guard ]
old town - chinatown, what was known back in the days of shanghaiing as the
old north end
.
blalock says that jones is not the first person to claim that “shanghaiing” took place underground, but rather the latest .
pintarich, paul. “old portland tunnels explored to pen history of shanghaiing. ” the oregonian, november 22, 1976, d1 .
“shanghaiing” conjures up tales of the sea - - of forced voyages, secret liaisons, and oceanic crossings. while fully understanding and drawing upon the romantic side of these tales, mark strecker sets out to undertake a more scholarly examination of the phenomenon. his work shanghaiing sailors: a maritime history of forced labor, 1849 - 1915 “presents not only a comprehensive history of shanghaiing, which peaked roughly between 1850 and 1915 … but also examines the nineteenth - century seafarer’s world and the circumstances that created the perfect storm of events which made shanghaiing a lucrative business” (p. 1) .
by 1900 shanghaiing was still a real danger due to increased trade and gold rushes in the klondike and australia. in the early 20th century progressive lawmakers passed a series of laws regulating the practice of sailor recruitment. furthermore police and the secret service came down hard on boarding masters to end the practice of shanghaiing. in 1915 the seaman’s act was passed ending shanghaiing by making the practice a federal crime and instituting stiff penalties for those convicted .
alborn, denise m. “crimping and shanghaiing on the columbia river. ” oregon historical quarterly 93: 3 (fall 1992), 262 - 291 .
oh, i am totally shanghaiing mike into giving me a ride to mcd & apos; s for lunch by reminding him how we never hang out anymore .
shanghaiing and impressment was a well paid practice, 9, 500 per year in 1890s dollars, equivalent to about 220, 000 in 2007 dollars. | wikipedia | pinterest | s…
a segment of the once - hidden world of shanghaiing. you will venture into the
portland underground
to see remnants of this shocking maritime history - - - unique architecture, underground holding cells, a
deadfall
trapdoor, unearthed artifacts of this terrible, misguided labor practice, and more. this is a unique opportunity to learn about the secret history of shanghaiing .
it made them ripe for revolt, drove them to lawless acts, as their shanghaiing and the brutality of the officers could not have done. [ the blood ship, norman springer (1922) ]
citation: bradley cesario. review of strecker, mark, shanghaiing sailors: a maritime history of forced labor, 1849 / 1915. h - war, h - net reviews. august, 2017. url: urltoken
the role of crimps and the practice of shanghaiing resulted from a combination of laws, economic conditions, and practical considerations that existed on the american west coast in the mid - 1800s. crimps flourished in port cities like
‘so right off the bat, i' m thinking this nietzsche guy might be worth investigating, and i' m feeling pretty good about shanghaiing his name - at least temporarily - for my latest exercise in metaphysical gymnastics. ’
for an in - depth look at the history of shanghaiing in san francisco, order a copy of this book from bill pickelhaupt, 380 monterey blvd. , # 209, san francisco, ca 94131for $ 17. 00 postpaid .
“today’s center of the shanghai tunnel story is hobo’s restaurant and bar, ” blalock says. “ [ here ], mike jones gives the naïve and gullible a taste of old portland ‘shanghaiing’ in the dark recesses of the basement. ”
hadden served two sentences for sailor - napping in new york, but the salty character overstepped his bounds in new jersey in 1870 when the authorities sentenced him to ten years in state prison for an attempted shanghaiing. he was never heard from again .
mark strecker. shanghaiing sailors: a maritime history of forced labor, 1849 / 1915. jefferson: mcfarland & company, 2014. 260 pp. $ 39. 95 (paper), isbn 978 - 0 - 7864 - 9451 - 4 .
but shanghaiing - - drugging a man and then kidnapping him to work on a ship - - was real. it was commonplace. a ninenteenth - century sailor' s experience of san francisco generally involved the process of being kicked back out to sea again .
after his release from jail, levy went right back to his old tricks, shanghaiing sailors and relieving them of their money. he and his runners beat up a ship captain and one of his sailors because they had hired a sailor without levy' s consent .
with the cooperation of police, politicians, and big business leaders, these riverfront neighborhoods became more notorious than the
barbary coast
. the
shanghaiing trade
was not just confined to portland' s downtown. instead, it existed along the waterfront in a network of
shanghai tunnels
, with some areas more extensive than others. oral tradition has kept the history of the
portland underground
alive. today, 150 years after
shanghaiing
began at this former
stumptown
along the willamette river, you can still view
1) the
shanghai tunnels heritage tour
- - - which is the main tour given and involves the history of shanghaiing in portland. you' ll leave knowing more about the shanghai trade in the
city of roses
than you ever considered wanting to know .
to shanghai is (1) to kidnap someone for service as a sailor, especially by drugging them or using force; (2) to use fraud compel someone to do something; or (3) to kidnap. inflected, the verb makes shanghaied and shanghaiing. the s is uncapitalized .
of all the shanghaisters of water street, tommy hadden was the best. the barkeeps in the business of shanghaiing sailors called this salty little man with a wandering eye the lime juicer, because he could drug drinks with chloral hydrate as easily as squeezing a wedge of lime into a mug of grog .
as the demand for sailors grew in the late 19th century with san francisco’s growing importance as a port city, the practice of shanghaiing, or the kidnapping of eligible men to be sailors on outbound ships, became common. while occasionally wildly exaggerated, there is some truth in the prevalence of these accounts .
historians of the old town district have confirmed that shanghaiing and crimping occurred there, along with other criminal and unsavory activities, but they have not found evidence of any network of tunnels linked to them. those who tour the so - called shanghai tunnels today walk into a basement, not through any iniquitous tunnels .
jones says his primary job has been uncovering the “real” history of human trafficking in portland, but his belief in the supernatural has lost him credibility amongst his peers. portland historians agree that the city has a dark past and that “shanghaiing” did happen in portland, but the vast majority do not believe that it actually took place in the tunnels .
this is quite understandable: the concept of shanghaiing was created on a very specific context among specific people: sailors in 1850. even though it expanded to mean
kidnap
, in spain this has never happened in a large scale (as far as i know), so there has not been the need to create a word to define it .
captains also paid levy a fee for each man received, sometimes as much as $ 50 each. once a sailor found he would be making the trip and working virtually without compensation, he would be somewhat reluctant to fulfill his commitment. that' s when shanghaiing came in. levy found various tricks, most of them illegal, to force them aboard .
the man in pulling the cork and joining in our conversation butted the matter of shanghaiing clean out of my mind. calico jim, who now sat at the same table with us, brought his glass and very suavely invited himself to join in our conversation. he gave us indeed from a special bottle a good swig - - ‘the best’ he said, complimentarily .
articles published between 1904 and 1935 also support blalock’s claims. these articles, most from the oregonian, describe underground systems like the shanghai tunnels being found in portland, seattle, san francisco, and vancouver, british colombia, but never reference the practice of “shanghaiing. ” the tunnels were generally in the news for being used for chinese gambling houses and opium dens .
to accomplish this, strecker divides his work into ten chapters. they are thematically rather than chronologically organized, and cover a great deal of ground - - chapter 3, for example, ranges over the topics of shipboard flogging, mutiny, piracy in hawaii, and desertion in china. the most relevant chapters to strecker’s central theme of shanghaiing are the fourth, sixth, and tenth. chapter 4 covers crimps, the common term for those who did the shanghaiing - - whether by false advertising, forced signature, or simple kidnapping. chapter 6 provides various brief case studies of those who were shanghaied, from england to australia and brazil. the final chapter covers the legal history of the court cases that ended the practice in the united states in 1915 .
since the 1970s, a myth has grown up that propounds the existence of a secret network of tunnels beneath the streets and buildings of the portland waterfront. the tunnels are said to have been constructed to support the illegal practice of forcibly supplying crews to outbound sailing ships in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. the practice was known as shanghaiing, and the alleged tunnels are known today as shanghai tunnels .
in his twenty - five - year - long career, the police figured that hadden had kidnapped at least 1, 000 sailors, but in addition to shanghaiing, tommy excelled in both murder and evading the law. like the time the lime juicer crushed a man’s skull with a slung shot in 1852 and walked away scot free. hadden’s secret of how he stayed out prison was no secret at all .
the pro shanghai - by - tunnel’s most prominent defender is the creator of the shanghai tunnel tours, michael p. jones, an outspoken proponent of the narrative who’s been leading tours since the 1990s. jones has long asserted a narrative of the underground shanghaiing trade, recently opening up a previously closed section of tunnel, and preparing to release a book he says will support his claims once and for all .
finally, shanghaiing was made possible by the existence of boarding masters, whose job it was to find crews for ships. boarding masters were paid
by the body ,
and thus had a strong incentive to place as many seamen on ships as possible. these factors set the stage for the crimp: a boarding master that uses trickery, intimidation, or violence to put a sailor on a ship .
blalock wrote in his recent book, portland’s lost waterfront: tall ships, steam mills, and sailor’s boardinghouses, that “shanghaiing” took place above ground. according to blalock, drunkards would commonly be coerced into signing a chunk of their lives away to ship captains, who would take the drunkards to sea as slaves. blalock claims this was common knowledge and lack of law enforcement made it unnecessary to take the crooked behavior underground .
lots of stuff in this post. we rarely get to visit a big city with william least heat - moon (lhm) because he tries to avoid them. no avoiding portland, however. we' ll look at some of the nefarious history of shanghaiing in portland' s past, and relate it to human trafficking today. there are, count' em, two musical interludes in this post. what a deal !
in 1906, shanghaiing came to an abrupt halt. new laws prohibited any runner, shipping concern, or steamship agency from hiring a sailor who was drunk. the law also stated that once a sailor was on board, he could leave for just cause by bringing it before the board of commissioners. steep fines, from $ 200 to $ 500 for each occurrence, were imposed against those who failed to obey the law .
widely - shared tales of “shanghaiing” tell of drunken patrons falling through trapped doors in seedy bars to wake up enslaved as seamen; men lured by prostitutes into underground holding cells where they’d remain until being sold to the next ship that docked in town; and women drugged and kept in solitary cells underground in conditions meant to break their will. the unscrupulous practice took its name from the destination many unfortunate victims found themselves en route to .
shanghaiing was normal practice in iceland during the 1950s and 60s as there was a lack of personnel for the nation' s fishing fleet, due to a large influx of faroese fishermen willing to work for less. fishermen would be given vast amounts of alcohol and the boats would leave when the sailors were sleeping or too drunk to realize what was happening. as the faroese fishermen returned to the faroese islands during the 1970s the practice stopped [ citation needed ] .
on the west coast of the united states during the 1800’s there was a high demand for sailors, deckhands, and other ship laborers. however many sailors abandoned their ships and crew in order to find riches in the gold fields of california or the klondike. with a shortage of crewman but a greater need for sailors, unscrupulous captains resorted to the practice of shanghaiing; the involuntary enlistment of men to a ship’s crew through either coercion, force, or trickery .
blood money (which, though outlawed partway through the century, continued to be paid when necessary) was just part of the crimps' inducement. sailors were allowed two months advance on their wages before a trip, to pay off debts and to outfit themselves for the trip. the sailor wasn' t given the money: he might abscond. his creditors got it directly from the ship. this was the taproot of the shanghaiing system. according to a former seaman :
edward norton plays an apparent western transplant to the san fernando valley; trouble brews when he romances underage sylph evan rachel wood against the wishes of her father david morse. as it turns out, norton is clearly not in his right mind, being given to make - believe shootouts in his motel room and shanghaiing woods brother rory culkin for target practice. alas, the only interest in the film is watching it float between admiration and damnation for its deluded protagonist as he gets increasingly possessive and drifts towards violence .
shanghaiing or crimping is the practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence... . the verb
to shanghai
joined the lexicon with
crimping
and
sailor thieves
in the 1850s. a theory of the word' s origin is that it comes from the chinese city of shanghai, a common destination of the ships with abducted crews. the term has since expanded to mean
kidnapped
or
induced to do something by means of fraud .
sources: port townsend daily leader, august 12, 1893; ibid. ,, august 13, 1893; ibid. , august 15, 1893; ibid. , august 16, 1893; ibid. , august 24, 1893; ibid. , september 13, 1893; ibid. , september 24, 1893; ibid. , november 15, 1893; port townsend morning leader, may 19, 1896; port townsend morning leader, may 21, 1896; port ibid. , may 23, 1896; port townsend weekly leader, november 23, 1899; port townsend morning leader, april 6, 1906; lucile s. mcdonald ,
a captain usually got his crew in port townsend' s uninhibited past ,
the seattle times, september 9, 1962; peter simpson, city of dreams: a guide to port townsend (port townsend: the bay press, 1986); gordon newell, h. w. mccurdy marine history of the pacific northwest (seattle: superior publishing company, 1966); james hermanson ,
shanghaiing sailors to fill crews ,
port townsend leader, august 28, 1996; gordon newell, sea rogues gallery, (seattle: superior publishing company, 1971); dillon, richard h. , shanghaiing days (new york: coward - mccann, inc. , 1962); james g. mccurdy, by juan de fuca' s strait (portland, oregon: binford & mort, 1937); thomas w. camfield, port townsend, an illustrated history of shanghaiing, shipwrecks, soiled doves, and sundry souls (port townsend; ah tom publishing, 2000) .
in 1933, journalist stewart holbrook broadcast stories of shanghaiing and bawdy times on the portland waterfront in a series of romanticized articles in the sunday oregonian. his stories, several of dubious authenticity or attribution, contributed to the emergence many years later of stories of a network of underground tunnels used for the shanghai trade. in the 1970s, articles appeared in portland newspapers featuring michael p. jones, manager of the transit bank, a social service agency in the old town area, who was identified as the person who discovered the long - hidden tunnels .
at one time, this great city that we know today as portland, oregon, was a river town whose beginnings we often look upon as being nothing more than a humble victorian settlement. however, in reality it was considered the most
dangerous port in the world
because of the
shanghaiing trade
that existed. stopping for a drink in such notorious establishments as erickson' s saloon, the snug harbor saloon, and the valhalla saloon, people became unsuspecting victims who found themselves beneath the streets in tunnels and being carried out to the waterfront and sold for
blood money
.
the remnants of portland' s infamous history of the
shanghai tunnels
and the
portland underground
, are still with us. the stories have lingered, along with the rubble, the trapdoors, the secret entrances, and the catacombs that still extend their presence beneath the sidewalks, streets and buildings. so join the cascade geographic society and view the remnants of these infamous secret catacombs that earned portland such a dubious reputation. see the surviving artifacts of this shocking history of shanghaiing. explore the remnants of this intriguing and, up until now, hidden piece of portland and the west coast' s maritime heritage .
“when sailors were scarce, the boarding - house master who supplied the ships with crews had recourse to the shanghaiing of any man who would sit and drink with him. friends of the boarding - house master signed the ship' s articles for the proposed victim, giving the man' s name, if they knew it; but sometimes a man would wake up at sea and find himself with a new name. after the ship had sailed the boarding - house master would collect the advance made out in his favour for board and lodgings and clothing supplied. the game was very profitable... . ” (farmer n. d. )
the secrets of the past, venture through the
shanghai tunnels
and cast your sights on a history that has been nearly forgotten and buried. tours have been given by the cascade geographic society reveals the stories of shanghaiers and crimps who, at one time, controlled west portland, east portland, albina, northwest portland, lair hill park, corbett, st. johns, linnton, brooklyn, lents, kenton, milwaukie, oregon city, sucker (today' s lake oswego), and other waterfront towns and nearby communities. during the
heyday
of shanghaiing, a minimum of 1500 people per year were shanghaied out of portland .
all tours are done by appointment only! these include pre - organized groups or groups that we put together. tours are held after 4 pm, when our host / cooperating restaurant opens for business [ note: when we have our festivals or special events, no tours will take place. please see our festival and events schedule .) you must make arrangements with cascade geographic society at 503 - 622 - 4798; the restaurant does not schedule tours! ! tours include pre - organized groups or groups that we put together. the majority are done during the evening hours, because this is when shanghaiing took place. however, we will do afternoon tours, if they can be scheduled .
portland underground tours
highly recommends hobo' s restaurant. this unique antique old portland bar of yesteryear includes the ornate mirror from a former
red light
establishment (that was tactfully labeled in the old city directory as a
woman' s boardinghouse
). this 1880' s victorian - era historic building creates an ideal setting for enjoying food or drink. all of this, coupled with the fact this was a former shanghaiing and
white slavery
joint - - - known back then as
lasso saloon
- - - makes it the perfect place to gather before or after a tour of the
portland underground
and have a meal or a place to toast the old shanghaiers and their infamous and colorful maritime history .
abandoned train tunnels and old freight transport tunnels san francisco’s hidden depths are vast, and several urban explorers have documented their findings… after they endured foul sewage, rats, and waist - deep freezing water. (no thanks .) along with other major cities, sf has its share of underground speakeasies / brothels with escape routes, as well as abandoned utility and train tunnels. you can find those antique railways on market street through an old muni station, but then there’s the feces, rat, and water issues we mentioned. north of civic center, there’s an early 1900s tunnel used to transport soldiers and materials, and it was in service until 1990. like portland, fog city participated in “shanghaiing” and the old ship saloon has a trap door to a secret basement which, naturally, linked to another set of tunnels. (cue more ominous music .) sign up here for our daily thrillist email, and get your fix of the best in food / drink / fun .
attention has lately been directed to the idiosyncrasies, so to speak, of those who make a living by “shipping” sailors on board of merchant vessels leaving san francisco. this business is in the hands, principally, of the proprietors of sailor boarding - houses, otherwise and generally known as “boarding - masters. ” there may be, in fact there are, a few honorable exceptions, but as a rule, a more dishonorable, dishonest crowd of blood - suckers than the “boarding - masters” of san francisco it would be hard to find. the hardest case in san quentin, indeed, would be an honorable gentleman in comparison to one of these fellows .
the moment an incoming ship touches the wharf, the “runners” of these leeches are on hand with their wagons to carry off the easily seduced sailors. once the sailor reaches the boarding - house, he occupies the same position toward the “boarding - master” that the fly does toward the spider in whose net it has been caught. he is at once filled up with vile whisky, and carefully kept in that state. his wages - and he generally pays off with $ 100 and upwards - are taken by the “boarding - master” “for safe - keeping, ” and he is judiciously supplied with a few dollars occasionally “to spend outside the house. ” at the end of a couple of weeks he is gently informed that his money is all gone, and it is time for him to go to sea again. as the sailor has kept no account, he is obliged to accept the “boarding - master’s, ” and is generally cheated out of from $ 50 to $ 80, according to the length of time he takes to sober up and get ready for signing articles .
when he is in a fit condition to perform this operation he is taken before the united states shipping commissioner, signs his name on a ship’s articles, and obtains his advance not for $ 60. to the sailor this advance note is so much waste paper. the “boarding - master, ” however, kindly discounts it and charges a liberal rate for his kindness. the convivial mariner is again filled up with bad whisky and then taken to an outfitter’s establishment to buy such things as he wants. for about ten or fifteen dollars worth of goods he is charged about thirty or thirty - five dollars, the difference being divided between the outfitter and the “boarding - master. ” from that period up to the time he is due on board his ship, which is generally within twenty - four hours after signing articles, the jolly tar is allowed to drink and to treat all he wants to. the amount thus drunk and treated depends upon the carrying capacity and liberality of the sailor; but whether it be much or litt le it always exhausts the balance coming on the advance note. at the end of the twenty - four hours the sailor is on board his ship, and all he has to show for the $ 60 advance note received the day before is about fifteen or twenty dollars worth of “slops! ”
we have not space to describe the “blood - money” and many other exploits of these “boarding - masters; ” but we have space enough to ask the u. s. shipping commissioner to stand up and explain how he happened to let two kidnapped boys to be shipped on board american vessels recently. one of the principal functions, for the performance of which he is paid an extravagant salary, is the prevention of such crimes. his wife, the amiable emily pitt - stevens, of whom we have not heard for a long time, should comb his hair; or, better still, uncle sam should “fire” him .
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urltoken
we use annual data for our computations, therefore, it is necessary to have an annual observation for both the initial year and the desired year. for the indices based on gdp, it is only after the year is over that gdp can be measured. for price indices, the annual observations are usually the average of monthly observations. it would not be valid to compare a monthly observation in the current year with an annual observation in an earlier year .
we have created many of the historical series in measuringworth, but the most recent observations are obtained from government agencies. the annual cpi and rpi observations are usually published in the first month or two of the next year, however the numbers for gdp do not come out until later. we strive to get the new numbers up as quickly as possible .
computing the purchasing power of a monetary transaction in the past compares the relative value of a past amount of dollars to a present amount. a simple
calculator
uses only the prices of consumer purchases to do this whereas a complete purchasing power comparator, such as found in this website, uses various prices, wages, output, etc. , depending on the context. for more information on this issue, consult seven ways to compute the relative value of a us dollar amount, 1774 - present where you will find a more extensive discussion of how to compute relative worth with many examples .
the answers you get from this comparator will be the same as those from the relative value comparator. that is, you will get the
simple
purchasing power calculator result and other choices that may be better depending on the context .
to determine the value of an amount of money in a particular (
original
) year compared to another (
desired
) year, enter the values in the appropriate places below. for example, you may want to know: how much money would you need in the year 2000, to have the same
purchasing power
as $ 500 in the year 1960? if you entered these values in the correct places, you will find that the
the simple purchasing power
answer is $ 2, 910. 00 .
samuel h. williamson ,
purchasing power of money in the united states from 1774 to present ,
measuringworth, . url: urltoken
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third street | no. 1 sixth street | no 10 sixth street | 12 seventh street | eighth street
astoria originally had trolley service back in the 1880s, first horse - drawn, then electric. after the great fire in december 1922, some trolleys were stranded on the east end of town and couldnt get back to the trolley barn, which was south of the astoria warehouse area .
the spokane portland & seattle trailway. which merged with burlington northern railroad owned the tracks were running on until 1996 when they were railbanked and turned over to the city. the railroad once crossed youngs bay on a long trestle and went to warrenton and seaside .
the west end mooring basin provides moorage for pleasure boats, sailboats and sportfishing boats. it is operated by the port of astoria, which has dockage farther west for large, ocean - going ships .
kindergarten cop,  a 1990 movie, was filmed in several astoria locations. the restaurant at the red lion inn, seafare, was used in this movie and was the setting for schwarzenegger and his co - star to have a romantic dinner. several local people were used as extras in that, and other locally filmed movies .
the rubble - strewn dock east of the red lion is all that remains of the old union fishermens cooperative packing co. that opened in 1896. it will be the site of a new, four - story, victorian - style hotel, called the cannery pier, in spring 2004. and we expect a conference center to built along here in the next couple of years .
from 1843 to 1844 all the land from youngs bay east to tongue point was taken up in donation land claims .
samuel cole ticky smith took up the western end of astoria (west of the trolley barn) up to what is now first street. the area is still known as smith point .
an important feature in uniontown is the historic pathways and stairs, which are part of the public right - of - way. two of the more notable in the district are located along the southern extension of flavel street to w. duane and the stairs at the corner of w. duane and lincoln streets. these stairs and pathways are still utilized .
two historical objects in the district are the world war i doughboy soldiers monument (july 21, 1926) and the uniontown curfew bell (1904) located at the fire station .
uniontown was named after the union cannery. it was settled largely by finns and was also known as finntown. the single men came first and lived in boarding houses while working in the fishing and canning industries. soon, the single women followed and the new families moved up the hill .
from 1895 to 1905, the homes built up on the hillside were done in the vernacular (ver - nack - ular) style. in other words, workingmens homes with no specific architectural plans. the building style was a tradition passed down from generation to generation .
the uniontown area covers roughly 30 blocks. there are 132 primary and secondary historically significant buildings in the district. building styles include typical late 19th - and 20th - century architecture, such as italianate, queen anne, stick style, commercial, bungalow and craftsman .
homes built during the primary building period are typically one to two story with a front - facing gable roof. an unusual feature of these simple, early buildings is the elevated basement level, which raises the house one full story off the ground .
after the turn of the century, the bungalow style replaced the earlier vernacular and queen ann styles. characteristics of the bungalow or craftsman style are low - pitch gable roofs, wide overhanging eaves and exposed brackets. craftsman - style homes could be ordered through the mail .
the immigrant stage of uniontown area was halted with the advent of wwi and the passage of new u. s. immigration laws in the early 1920s .
suomi hall, the big white square building, was originally a one - story structure built up the hill by the finnish temperance society and was originally known as temperance hall. later it was dragged down the hill to its present location and another level was added. temperance hall was later sold to the finnish brotherhood, which was organized in 1886, and is still used for their meetings today .
the big yellow building near suomi hall was one of the old finnish boarding houses .
the old finnish meat market across the street is now the home of the astor street opry company. the company puts on a melodrama called shanghaied in astoria.  shanghaied is a great play based on the custom of kidnapping men from bars and putting them on ships going out to sea. playgoers get to throw popcorn at the villain and learn more about astorias infamous past. it runs mid - july to mid - september every summer .
the 4. 21 mile long astoria bridge opened in 1966. it is the longest continuous truss span bridge in the world. it had a $ 1. 50 toll until 1994, when the bridge was paid for and the toll was removed. the bridge has more than 200 feet of clearance on the oregon side so the huge ships can pass beneath it in the shipping channel. it is 150 feet more to the top of the span. it has been featured in several car and truck commercials and the 1985 movie short circuit featured the bridge .
one morning every october, traffic is stopped and you can run or walk across the bridge during the great columbia crossing. more than 2, 000 walkers and runners participate
friday and saturday before the run the silver salmon celebration takes place at the west mooring basin. this event features fresh salmon direct from the fishing boats, a salmon barbecue, food and craft booths, live entertainment, and a salmon cookbook .
under the bridge is maritime memorial park, dedicated to the memories of local people who were involved in the maritime industry. it also honors those members of the u. s. coast guard who lost their lives while serving here on the columbia river .
the small boats seen on the river may be sportsfishing for sturgeon. to keep a sturgeon, it must be at least 42 inches long and not more than 60 inches. every thing else goes back in the river for another day .
just like seaside and cannon beach, astoria prides itself as a beach community. coming up on the waterside is astorias only sandy beach. dont blink, youll miss it !
the pile of rubble in the water is a cold storage plant that burned down in the early 90s. there is a legal dispute about ownership, and therefore, a dispute about who will clean it up .
to the south is the site of the first electric plant in the area, dating to 1885. it was operated by the trullinger family. customers paid $ 16 per lamp a month .
in 1881, samuel elmore built the original elmore cannery on this site and out over the water on pilings. the mid - 1880s were boom years for the cannery and elmore employed 350 fisherman and 100 cannery workers and canned 37, 000 cases of one - pound chinook tins. the elmore cannery was known as one of the best equipped operations on the pacific coast.  it employed many chinese as cannery workers, doing nearly all the hard labor. the original cannery was replaced in 1886 and the second plant was replaced by a third in 1899 when elmore cannery consolidated with other canneries to form the columbia river packers association .
the cannery continued to be successful until the 1940s when the salmon run declined sharply, and the cannery would have shut down if not for the discovery of the albacore tuna industry. the crpa built a tuna cannery alongside the salmon cannery. the combined canneries were said to be the largest fish cannery in the world .
in 1976 the cannery, by then known as bumble bee seafoods, had ceased to can salmon and dealt strictly with tuna production until 1980 when it was closed down completely .
associated with the cannery was a bunkhouse, constructed 1915, for the chinese labor. the building was later used as the office for the cannery. the bunkhouse burned down in 1984 to make way for new warehouses. nothing remains of the first cannery elmore built .
astoria warehousing was the site of american can company that supplied all the cans to bumble bee. now, it receives and stores canned fish from alaska and labels the cans when the fish are sold. it stores as many as 72 million cans of salmon .
most of the piling you see in the river once supported fish canneries, packing houses, warehouses and wharfs. some of the pilings supported flourmills. wheat used to be milled before it was shipped out, unlike today when the unprocessed wheat is shipped .
the large object in the river (just opposite josephsons) is all that remains of the white star cannery, which burned down about 50 years ago. what you see is the cannerys boiler. the plants are courtesy of seeds brought by the birds which nest there .
astoria was the port of entry for the great river of the west. in 1877 the astoria daily budget reported that 189 buildings were in all stages of construction in town .
col. john mcclure had the second donation land claim in what is now astoria located between first and 13th streets (downtown astoria). he donated the city block for the county courthouse, putting the county seat in astoria. mcclure school once stood up the hill from the present - day courthouse .
in 1866 mcclure sold the claim to cyrus olney for about $ 10, 000 and mcclure returned to indiana. when cyrus olney became owner of astoria, he slashed down 40 acres of forest, making a great change in the look of the place. in 1852 the entire peninsula on which astoria stands today was one solid forest of tall hemlock and spruce timber. many of those trees measured 12 to 17 feet in diameter, except about 14 acres of astor hill and 6 acres on the south side of smiths point, which had been burned off by the indians many years before. the tall forest reached down to the very edge of the little town of 20 families .
just off the trestle in front of the ship inn are ballast rocks, which are visible at low tide. ships would sail to astoria to pick up cargo. when they got to astoria they unloaded the ballast rocks, and loaded up with seafood, lumber and other cargo and sail off to other ports .
columbia house is astorias first condominium, built in the mid - 70s. the units sell for $ 200 - 225, 000. the building illustrates how piling is still used today to support buildings over the river .
up at the top of the hill, the house set by itself with green trim was used in the filming of kindergarten cop.  it was the home of arnold schwarzeneggers love interest, the schoolteacher .
the red brick building on the waterfront behind burger king was built as the astoria wharf and warehouse co. in 1892. it earned the nickname the bonded warehouse because of its design, but was never used for u. s. customs. the primary purpose of this building was the storage of tin plate and accessories for manufacturing tin cans for early salmon canning. it was occupied by seven different can companies until 1949. it has survived three major fires. it was made from locally fired brick and the foundation goes down into the river bed. this is unusual because all the other over - water structures are built on pilings. the granite keystone over the doorway and the granite door were relocated from the customs house in east astoria. it is the only surviving building to show this early tin can industry on the lower columbia river .
the fish packing industry developed quickly in astoria. kinney cannery was built in 1876 between fifth and sixth streets, and was the third cannery in astoria and the first to be built in the downtown area. built as a salmon cannery, in its first year of operation, it experimented in canning of beef and mutton. inexperience and lack of facilities curtailed this enterprise. by 1891, kinney was the leading salmon packer in astoria, packing 67, 000 cases. kinney owned two other canneries, 138 fishing boats, and 300 men were needed to operate his fleet. the cannery was rebuilt in 1894 on its original supports to replace the original building, which had burned to its pilings. large mounds of melted cans are still located beneath the building from the 1894 fire. canning was discontinued around 1920 and the building served as a central machine shop and warehouse for the crpa, later called bumble bee, until 1980. the kinney cannery building was placed on the national register of historical places in 1989 .
the kinney box factory was built in 1908 as a box factory and office for the crpa. the building was enlarged to the east in the 1920s and the northern section has undergone a series of renovations ever since. the columbia river packers association used this building for its office and warehouse from 1915 through 1976. it has been renovated for use as an office building with bakery and shops. there is a beautiful penthouse on the riverside that can be rented for meetings, reunions, etc
sixth street has a viewing platform that is a small city park and a small dock area where folks fish for sturgeon in season .
astor street was astorias red light district, site of numerous establishments euphemistically referred to as female boarding houses.  a young man visiting the bars and boarding houses of astor street might be shanghaied  kidnapped and forced to work on the crew of a sailing ship for months or years. astoria had a barbary coast atmosphere that prevailed at the turn of the century, when houses of questionable business dotted the waterfront and men were shanghaied from saloons. seafaring life was little better than prison for the hands of a sailing ship. there were labor brokers who resorted to kidnapping and trickery to man these vessels. many a farmboy woke up bound for shanghai with a hangover or a knot on his head .
one of the most beautiful of the astor street bars, the four - story louvre, opened in 1896 on the site now occupied by mcdonalds. artifacts from the louvre can be seen in the vice & virtue exhibit at the heritage museum .
this 1906 building was originally the elmore dock and served as a fish landing for samuel elmores cannery. from 1924 to 1938, the owen - peeke feed & grain company occupied the building. in 1939 the new england fish company of oregon, used this building as a fish processing plant and for cold storage until the companys bankruptcy in 1980 .
presently the building is occupied by bornsteins seafoods. at bornsteins, the shrimp peeler and other processing equipment were invented and manufactured by carruthers equipment in hammond / warrenton. the fish - unloading machine is like a big vacuum cleaner that sucks the fish out of the boats hold. fish, shrimp, crab and oysters are all processed on astorias waterfront .
bornsteins even collects the shrimp casings in large bins to sell for use in cosmetics, soap and contact lenses .
capt. george flavel played an important role in astorias history. he was a very successful businessman and had a virtual monopoly on pilotage services, after a lively campaign to run off the competition. he also had extensive real estate holdings; a wharf and warehousing business because he owned both steam tugs and the steam tug business. in 1885 he built a house for his retirement. he died in 1893, the first astoria millionaire. this home, at eighth and exchange, is one of astorias biggest and most beautiful queen anne style victorian homes. it is now a museum run by the clatsop county historical society .
sebastian - stewart fish company occupied this building from 1945 to 1965. then ocean foods used this building for their processing business .
currently, the astoria holdings co. operates the sardine plant at ninth street. they recently processed 22 million pounds of these trout - sized fish in a year. seventy percent of that was used as bait for long - line tuna fishing. the rest is shipped to japan as food grade under the label, delicious seven star fish.  astoria is prominent on all boxes used for shipping .
sardine fishers employ spotter airplanes to locate schools of sardines. the ships then encircle the fish with a purse seine net and can fill their holds with just one net full .
our post office dates back to 1847. who can guess what postage cost then? it was 40 cents a letter. the original post office location was between what is now known as exchange and franklin on 15th. there is an obelisk marking the location of this, the first u. s. post office west of the rockies .
in the 1850s, there were no improved streets or wagon trails. walking from sharks point (at the foot of ninth) to astor hill or shivleys astoria meant walking a narrow gravel path skirting the bay. going this way meant one had to pass through welchs sawmill where commercial intersects the shore. vessels anchored out in the river sent freight and passengers ashore in small boats. the landing was two large fir logs (50 or 60 feet long) spiked together, making a floating wharf at the foot of ninth.
shanghaiing or crimping is the practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery , intimidation , or violence . those engaged in this form of kidnapping were known as crimps . the related term press gang refers specifically to impressment practices in great britain 's royal navy . 
shanghaiing or crimping is the practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence. those engaged in this form of kidnapping were known as crimps. the related term press gang refers specifically to impressment practices in great britain's royal navy.
shanghaiing or crimping is the practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence. those engaged in this form of kidnapping were known as crimps. the related term press gang refers specifically to impressment practices in great britain's royal navy.