Astoria: Oregon's First City

A 125-foot column on the highest hill above Astoria, built in 1926 on the site of the original American settlement — the exterior is covered in a continuous sgraffito mural depicting the region's history from the first Native inhabitants through Astor's Pacific Fur Company to the railroad era. The 164 interior steps spiral to an open platform with 360-degree views: the Columbia bar, the Astoria-Megler Bridge, the Pacific Coast Range, and Mt. Rainier on clear days.

The finest maritime history museum on the West Coast documents the Columbia River bar — the most dangerous navigable river entrance in North America, responsible for over 2,000 shipwrecks since 1792. The Coast Guard rescue boat Peacock is displayed at full scale; the Native canoe collection, the cannery history exhibits, and the lightship Columbia (docked outside) constitute a comprehensive portrait of river and sea. The building itself by Bart Prince is a 1982 landmark.

Astoria's Victorian Flavel House served as the Goonies' police station in the 1985 film — the Oregon Film Museum occupies the original jail. The collection documents 40 films made in Oregon from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (filmed at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem, 1975) through Short Circuit, Point Break, and Grimm. Astoria's Victorian neighborhoods are still recognizable from the film shoots.

Captain George Flavel built the finest Victorian house on the Oregon coast in 1885 — a Queen Anne masterpiece with original furnishings, 11 fireplaces, and a corner tower that served as Flavel's shipping lookout. The Columbia River bar pilots, which Flavel monopolized from the 1850s through the 1880s, made him the wealthiest man in Oregon; the house he built reflects that wealth with original Eastlake-style woodwork and period wallpapers intact.