Following the Brew In Astoria

This morning we were 15 minutes early for our interview with Liisa Penner, so we decided to take advantage of the time and take a quick walk around the area. We walked by a winery that sold Chocolate Orange Whey Wine (Liz nor Laura could find anything wrong with that), then we passed a snow covered garden enclosed in a red gate with what looked like its own personal address, and finally we came upon a unique and neat reproduction of the first fort in Astoria, Fort Astoria. The reproduced fort was maybe 1/8 of the size of the original fort and was structured against a wall where part of the fort was painted on the wall. (see the picture in the upper left corner so you can fully understand.)

At promptly 8:30am we were back at the Clatsop County Historical Society, where the friendly curator, let us in and we were able to meet Liisa Penner for the first time. It turns out that her name is spelled with two is because she was born in Finland. (Laura was wondering about that since she first started emailing Liisa but never asked.) Liisa gave us free reign to pick a location for her interview. After being tempted by the old-fashioned bar on the second story of the building with a giant moose head hanging by it, Liz decided it would be too hard to properly light the area and the giant mirror behind the bar was not helpful either. (The mirror might have aided the bartender in keeping his eyes on his patrons when his back was turned, but the last thing a person with a video camera wants is to see their self in the shot)

Liz found the perfect location in one of the downstairs galleries while Laura set to the task of scanning in Evelyn’s photos and documents as well as a photo and ads of the North Pacific Brewery. (In the picture here you can see Laura making herself at home at yet another historical society.)

About an hour later, it was showtime, and we sat Liisa down and began asking her questions about Joseph Schamberger (he was married to Mary Stenger making him John Stenger’s son-in-law) and the North Pacific Brewery. Liisa had a wealth of information which she had gleaned from various newspaper articles, Cumtux articles (Cumtux is the Clatsop County Historical Society’s quarterly magazine), and census records. She provided us with all of the facts she could find on Joseph Schamberger and the North Pacific Brewery as well as some insights such as Joseph Schamberger wasn’t so far off base thinking that moving to Astoria would improve the health of his wife, Mary. Apparently malaria and other such infectious diseases were not common in the town. According to Liisa, air is clearer here because it comes off the Pacific. We agree, the air is a lot different from the kind we breathe in Chicago.

After the interview with Liisa, we met with Evelyn again at the Clatsop County Historical Society so we could meet her brother, Bill Leahy. Paulette, Evelyn’s daughter was there as well with more Goonies gifts for Laura. (Sidenote: Paulette is wonderful and has been a great help to us while we were in Astoria. We hope she will come out for the Stenger Brewery Documentary Premiere with her sister, Patty, and mother, Evelyn. It helps that the Oprah show is taped in Chicago, because apparently Oprah is to Paulette what the Goonies are to Laura.)

While Paulette went out for coffee with her husband, we sat down with Evelyn and Bill and talked about the Stenger Brewery, the Germann family (remember the hard G there), and the history of Astoria. Bill’s father-in-law was a manager for the telephone company back in the late 1800’s—early 1900’s and Bill had brought along two phone books to show us. One was from 1899 and had phone numbers from the whole West Coast from San Diego and Los Angeles to Portland and Seattle. Then he showed us a phone book from 1910 that represented phone numbers only from Portland, Oregon. The phone book of the whole west coast was only half the size of the phone book that was printed 11 years later for Portland, Oregon. Talk about a growth spurt!

As you all must know by now, Astoria, OR has been a location for many Hollywood films. Evelyn has one more idea for a movie that should be filmed in Astoria which she has written to Steven Spielberg about. Evelyn’s idea is based on a true story that involves a shipwreck, the only surviving sailor, and the Native American girl who saved him. Evelyn is a romantic woman who has even published a book of poetry. Listen up, Mr. Spielberg, Liz and Laura give this idea two thumbs up!

After meeting with Evelyn and Bill, we headed over to The North Pacific Brewery building which now houses a Firemen’s Museum as well as a children’s museum to tape some footage for the documentary. There we got footage of bottles embossed with North Pacific Brewery and a small glass with the brewery’s name on it. (Sidenote: No Stenger bottles were found.) In the museum, there was also a receipt for ice sold from the North Pacific Brewery. Lots of old time breweries sold ice as well as beer and this brewery was no different.

When we were done taping at the brewery, we only had one more thing to see on our way out of town: the Goonies house (or what we thought was the Goonies house? Paulette, am I standing in front of the right house? There was no sign! ;))

Currently we are driving to Portland, trying to get off of the mountain before any of the forecasted rain, snow, or ice hits. What a view!

Tomorrow we are off to interview Ann Chick, another descendent of John Stenger who lives in Veneta, OR. Our blog may be a little bit late because of all of the driving we will have to do. To be continued. (Feel free to post some comments, folks. We like feedback)