“Everyone here is a millionaire”
Oceanside, Ore. – We arrived at 3pm, checked into our second-story two-bedroom rental, and set out, camera and microphone in tow, for some simple seascapes.
Oceanside is a tiny hamlet of 326 people, according to the 2000 US Census. Etched into a sharp and rocky cliff – agate hunting and hang gliding are popular sports here – Oceanside boasts one cafe (Brewin’ in the Wind), one restaurant (Roseanna’s), and one tavern (the Anchor), along with dozens of ocean-view rentals.
“Everyone here is a millionaire,” says Mitch Watson (pictured), a former realtor who lives on the edge of town and ventures out to the beach with his binoculars as often as he’s able. Though it’s not much of a tourist haven – the tourists who do come here tend to keep quiet about it so it doesn’t become one – property is pricey.
In 1926 one still prominent family, the Rosenbergs, blasted a tunnel through Maxwell Point, a tall heap of land that juts out toward Three Arch Rocks (named individually as Shag, Storm, and Finley). The tunnel is dangerous to venture through during high tide, but clear over on the other side is the aptly named Tunnel Beach, whose tidepools house many large anemones.
There isn’t much to do here but eat, sleep, and watch the tide – and after clocking in an invigorating but long 20 hours of reporting on the Trappist monks yesterday, we’ll try to do just that.
Posted by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore on Sunday, September 17th, 2006 | Email This PostThis entry was posted on Sunday, September 17th, 2006 at 6:26 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
2 Responses to ““Everyone here is a millionaire””
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September 30th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
People may be millionaires in Oceanside but not from owning their homes there. The highest price house on the market is currently $995,000. I am assuming these are mostly second homes.
October 8th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
My Mom and Dad bought a lot in Oceanside near the top of Maxwell Mountain years ago. Though Daddy is gone now, the home that perches there is a treasure for our family, and not one of us is a millionaire. Yes it is a magical place, and the tunnel makes it even more so. In my hundreds of trips through that tunnel, I have never found it to be the least bit dangerous. Great pictures, but a shot from the top of Maxwell Mt. would have been super.