Astoria, Oregon

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Astoria, Oregon

| settlement_type = City

| nickname =

| motto =

| image_skyline = {{multiple image

| total_width = 280

| border = infobox

| perrow = 1/2/2

| caption_align = center

| image1 = Astoria Oregon.jpg

| alt1 = View of Astoria and Astoria–Megler Bridge

| caption1 = View of Astoria and Astoria–Megler Bridge

| image2 = Pinkhouse (25100833).jpg

| alt2 = Peter L. Cherry House

| caption2 = Peter L. Cherry House

| image3 = Astoria Riverfront Trolley on trestle west of 2nd Street-crop.jpg

| alt3 = Astoria Riverfront Trolley

| caption3 = Astoria Riverfront Trolley

| image4 = John Jacob Astor Hotel in Astoria.JPG

| alt4 = John Jacob Astor Hotel

| caption4 = John Jacob Astor Hotel

| image5 = Fort Astoria replica 2011.jpg

| alt5 = The replica of Fort Astoria

| caption5 = The replica of Fort Astoria

}}

| image_flag =

| image_seal = AstoriaSeal.png

| mapframe = yes

| mapframe-zoom = 11

| mapframe-point = none

| pushpin_map = Oregon#USA

| pushpin_map_caption = Location within Oregon##Location within the United States

| pushpin_relief = yes

| pushpin_label = Astoria

| subdivision_type = Country

| subdivision_type1 = State

| subdivision_type2 = County

| subdivision_name = United States

| subdivision_name1 = Oregon

| subdivision_name2 = Clatsop

| government_type =

| leader_title = Mayor

| leader_name = Sean Fitzpatrick

| established_title = Founded

| established_title2 = Incorporated

| established_date = 1811

| established_date2 = 1876

| named_for = John Jacob Astor

| area_total_sq_mi = 9.95

| area_footnotes =

| area_total_km2 = 25.77

| area_land_sq_mi = 6.11

| area_land_km2 = 15.82

| area_water_sq_mi = 3.84

| area_water_km2 = 9.95

| area_urban_sq_mi =

| area_metro_sq_mi =

| unit_pref = Imperial

| population_as_of = 2020

| population_est =

| pop_est_as_of =

| population_footnotes =

| population_total = 10181

| population_density_km2 = auto

| population_density_sq_mi = auto

| population_metro =

| population_urban =

| timezone = PST

| utc_offset = −08:00

| timezone_DST = PDT

| utc_offset_DST = −07:00

| coordinates =

| elevation_footnotes =

| elevation_ft = 118

| website =

| postal_code_type = ZIP Code

| postal_code = 97103

| area_codes = 503 and 971

| blank_name = FIPS code

| blank_info = 41-03150

| blank1_name = GNIS feature ID

| blank1_info = 2409744

}}

Astoria is a port city in and the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. The population was 10,181 at the 2020 census. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. It is located on the south shore of the Columbia River in the northwest corner of Oregon, near where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean.

Astoria is named for John Jacob Astor, an investor and entrepreneur from New York City whose American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site and established a monopoly in the fur trade in the early 19th century. Astoria was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 20, 1876. The city has a deepwater port, operated by the Port of Astoria, and lies across Youngs Bay from Astoria Regional Airport in Warrenton. The city is the headquarters of the Columbia River Bar Pilots, which helps vessels navigate the Columbia Bar at the mouth of the Columbia River. Astoria is at the western end of U.S. Route 30 and is served by U.S. Route 101, which travels across the Columbia River on the Astoria–Megler Bridge to neighboring Washington.

History

Prehistoric settlements

The present area of Astoria was inhabited by a large, prehistoric Native American trade system of the Columbia Plateau.Rebecca Sedlak (August 2, 2012). "First archaeological dig 'scratches the surface' of Fort Astoria’s history". The Daily Astorian. Retrieved April 29, 2021.Galm, Jerry R., (1989), Prehistoric Trade and Exchange in the Columbia Plateau, Paper presented at the 42nd Annual Northwest Anthropological Conference, Spokane, Washington. Retrieved April 29, 2021.

19th century

The Lewis and Clark Expedition spent the winter of 1805–1806 at Fort Clatsop, a small log structure southwest of modern-day Astoria. The expedition had hoped a ship would come by that could take them back east, but instead, they endured a torturous winter of rain and cold. They later returned overland and by internal rivers, the way they had traveled west. During archeological excavations in Astoria and Fort Clatsop in 2012, trading items from American settlers with Native Americans were found, including Austrian glass beads and falconry bells. Today, the fort has been recreated and is part of Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.

{{multiple image

| align = left

| total_width = 200

| image1 = Franchere fort astoria 1813.jpg

| alt1 = 1813 sketch of Fort Astoria

| caption1 = Gabriel Franchère's 1813 sketch of Fort Astoria

}}

In 1811, British explorer David Thompson, the first person of European ancestry known to have navigated the entire length of the Columbia River, reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria near the mouth of the river. He arrived two months after the Pacific Fur Company's ship, the Tonquin. The fort constructed by the Tonquin party established Astoria as a U.S., rather than a British, settlement and became a vital post for American exploration of the continent. It was later used as an American claim in the Oregon boundary dispute with European nations.

The Pacific Fur Company, a subsidiary of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, was created to begin fur trading in the Oregon Country. During the War of 1812, in 1813, the company's officers sold its assets to their Canadian rivals, the North West Company, which renamed the site Fort George. The fur trade remained under British control until U.S. pioneers following the Oregon Trail began filtering into the town in the mid-1840s. The Treaty of 1818 established joint U.S. – British occupancy of the Oregon Country.

thumb | alt=A grayscale ink illustration of a city of simple buildings, with pine trees throughout and the Columbia river dominating the background|Astoria in 1882, looking east towards Tongue Point

Washington Irving, a prominent American writer with a European reputation, was approached by John Jacob Astor to mythologize the three-year reign of his Pacific Fur Company. Astoria (1835), written while Irving was Astor's guest, promoted the importance of the region in the American psyche.In his introduction to the rambling work, Irving reports that Astor explicitly "expressed a regret that the true nature and extent of his enterprizeand its national character and importance had never been understood." In Irving's words, the fur traders were "Sinbads of the wilderness", and their venture was a staging point for the spread of American economic power into both the continental interior and outward in Pacific trade.

In 1846, the Oregon Treaty divided the mainland at the 49th parallel north, making Astoria officially part of the United States.

As the Oregon Territory grew and became increasingly more colonized by Americans, Astoria likewise grew as a port city near the mouth of the great river that provided the easiest access to the interior. The first U.S. post office west of the Rocky Mountains was established in Astoria in 1847 and official state incorporation in 1876.

thumb|An Astoria salmon cannery

Astoria attracted a host of immigrants beginning in the late 19th century: Nordic settlers, primarily Swedes, Swedish-speaking Finns, and Chinese soon became larger parts of the population. The Nordic settlers mostly lived in Uniontown, near the present-day end of the Astoria–Megler Bridge, and took fishing jobs; the Chinese tended to do cannery work, and usually lived either downtown or in bunkhouses near the canneries. By the late 1800s, 22% of Astoria's population was Chinese. Astoria also had a significant population of Indians, especially Sikhs from Punjab; the Ghadar Party, a political movement among Indians on the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada to overthrow British rule in India, was officially founded on July 15, 1913, in Astoria.

20th and 21st centuries

In 1883, and again in 1922, downtown Astoria was devastated by fire, partly because the buildings were constructed mostly of wood, a readily available material. The buildings were entirely raised off the marshy ground on wooden pilings. Even after the first fire, the same building format was used. In the second fire, flames spread quickly again, and the collapsing streets took out the water system. Frantic citizens resorted to dynamite, blowing up entire buildings to create fire stops.

{| class="wikitable collapsible autocollapse" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"

! style="background: #F3E5AB" | Panoramic views of Astoria in the early 20th century frameless|85px

thumb|alt=Port of Astoria|Port of Astoria

Astoria has served as a port of entry for over a century and remains the trading center for the lower Columbia basin. In the early 1900s, the Callendar Navigation Company was an important transportation and maritime concern based in the city. It has long since been eclipsed in importance by Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, as economic hubs on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Astoria's economy centered on fishing, fish processing, and lumber. In 1945, about 30 canneries could be found along the Columbia River.

In the early 20th century, the North Pacific Brewing Company contributed substantially to the economic well-being of the town.<ref>

</ref> Before 1902, the company was owned by John Kopp, who sold the firm to a group of five men, one of whom was Charles Robinson, who became the company's president in 1907. The main plant for the brewery was located on East Exchange Street.

As the Pacific salmon resource diminished, canneries were closed. In 1974, the Bumble Bee Seafoods corporation moved its headquarters out of Astoria and gradually reduced its presence until closing its last Astoria cannery in 1980. The lumber industry likewise declined in the late 20th century. Astoria Plywood Mill, the city's largest employer, closed in 1989. The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway discontinued service to Astoria in 1996, as it did not provide a large enough market.

thumb|Astoria-Megler Bridge

From 1921 to 1966, a ferry route across the Columbia River connected Astoria with Pacific County, Washington. In 1966, the Astoria–Megler Bridge was opened. The bridge completed U.S. Route 101 and linked Astoria with Washington on the opposite shore of the Columbia, replacing the ferry service.

Today, tourism, Astoria's growing art scene, and light manufacturing are the main economic activities of the city. Logging and fishing persist, but at a fraction of their former levels. Since 1982 it has been a port of call for cruise ships, after the city and port authority spent $10 million in pier improvements to accommodate these larger ships.

To avoid Mexican ports of call during the swine flu outbreak of 2009, many cruises were rerouted to include Astoria. The floating residential community MS The World visited Astoria in June 2009.

The town's seasonal sport fishing tourism has been active for several decades. Visitors attracted by heritage tourism and the historic elements of the city have supplanted fishing in the economy. Since the early 21st century, the microbrewery/brewpub scene and a weekly street market have helped popularize the area as a destination.

thumb|upright|alt=Astoria Column|The Astoria Column

In addition to the replicated Fort Clatsop, another point of interest is the Astoria Column, a tower high, built atop Coxcomb Hill above the town. Its inner circular staircase allows visitors to climb to see a panoramic view of the town, the surrounding lands, and the Columbia flowing into the Pacific. The tower was built in 1926. Financing was provided by the Great Northern Railway and Vincent Astor, a great-grandson of John Jacob Astor.

Since 1998, artistically inclined fishermen and women from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest have traveled to Astoria for the Fisher Poets Gathering, where poets and singers tell their tales to honor the fishing industry and lifestyle.

Another popular annual event is the Dark Arts Festival, which features music, art, dance, and demonstrations of craft such as blacksmithing and glassblowing, in combination with offerings of a large array of dark craft brews. Dark Arts Festival began as a small gathering at a community arts space. Now Fort George Brewery hosts the event, which draws hundreds of visitors and tour buses from Seattle.

Astoria is the western terminus of the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, a coast-to-coast bicycle touring route created in 1976 by the Adventure Cycling Association.

At least two United States Coast Guard cutters are homeported in Astoria, including fast response cutter David Duren and buoy tender Elm.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are covered by water.

Climate

Astoria lies within the Mediterranean climate zone (Köppen Csb), with cool winters and mild summers, although short heat waves can occur. Rainfall is most abundant in late fall and winter and is lightest in July and August, averaging about of rain each year. Snowfall is relatively rare, averaging under a year and frequently having none. Nevertheless, when conditions are ripe, significant snowfalls can occur.

Astoria's monthly average humidity is always over 80% throughout the year, with average monthly humidity reaching a high of 84% from November to March, with a low of 81% during May. The average relative humidity in Astoria is 89% in the morning and 73% in the afternoon.

thumb|Astoria city view

Annually, an average of only 4.2 afternoons have temperatures reaching or higher, and readings are rare. Normally, only one or two nights per year occur when the temperature remains at or above . An average of 31 mornings have minimum temperatures at or below the freezing mark. The record high temperature was on July 1, 1942, and June 27, 2021. The record low temperature was on December 8, 1972, and on December 21, 1990. Even with such a cold record low, afternoons usually remain mild in winter. On average, the coldest daytime high is whereas the lowest daytime maximum on record is . Even during brief heat spikes, nights remain cool. The warmest overnight low is set in May 2008. Nights close to that record are common with the normally warmest night of the year being at .

On average, 191 days have measurable precipitation. The wettest "water year", defined as October 1 through September 30 of the next year, was from 1915 to 1916 with and the driest from 2000 to 2001 with . The most rainfall in one month was in December 1933, and the most in 24 hours was on November 25, 1998. The most snowfall in one month was in January 1950, and the most snow in 24 hours was on December 11, 1922.

{{Weather box

|collapsed =

|location = Astoria Regional Airport (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1892–present)

|single line = Y

|Jan record high F = 70

|Feb record high F = 72

|Mar record high F = 80

|Apr record high F = 85

|May record high F = 93

|Jun record high F = 101

|Jul record high F = 101

|Aug record high F = 98

|Sep record high F = 95

|Oct record high F = 85

|Nov record high F = 73

|Dec record high F = 64

|year record high F = 101

|Jan avg record high F = 58.9

|Feb avg record high F = 61.4

|Mar avg record high F = 65.5

|Apr avg record high F = 71.9

|May avg record high F = 77.8

|Jun avg record high F = 79.1

|Jul avg record high F = 81.7

|Aug avg record high F = 83.7

|Sep avg record high F = 81.9

|Oct avg record high F = 74.1

|Nov avg record high F = 62.8

|Dec avg record high F = 57.9

|year avg record high F = 89.4

|Jan high F = 49.4

|Feb high F = 50.9

|Mar high F = 53.0

|Apr high F = 55.9

|May high F = 60.5

|Jun high F = 64.0

|Jul high F = 67.4

|Aug high F = 68.7

|Sep high F = 67.6

|Oct high F = 60.7

|Nov high F = 53.6

|Dec high F = 48.7

|year high F = 58.4

|Jan mean F = 43.7

|Feb mean F = 44.2

|Mar mean F = 46.0

|Apr mean F = 48.7

|May mean F = 53.4

|Jun mean F = 57.3

|Jul mean F = 60.6

|Aug mean F = 61.3

|Sep mean F = 59.0

|Oct mean F = 52.8

|Nov mean F = 46.9

|Dec mean F = 43.2

|year mean F = 51.4

|Jan low F = 38.1

|Feb low F = 37.4

|Mar low F = 39.0

|Apr low F = 41.5

|May low F = 46.3

|Jun low F = 50.6

|Jul low F = 53.9

|Aug low F = 53.9

|Sep low F = 50.5

|Oct low F = 44.9

|Nov low F = 40.2

|Dec low F = 37.6

|year low F = 44.5

|Jan avg record low F = 27.2

|Feb avg record low F = 26.7

|Mar avg record low F = 29.6

|Apr avg record low F = 33.3

|May avg record low F = 37.6

|Jun avg record low F = 43.0

|Jul avg record low F = 46.9

|Aug avg record low F = 46.7

|Sep avg record low F = 41.8

|Oct avg record low F = 34.1

|Nov avg record low F = 29.3

|Dec avg record low F = 26.8

|year avg record low F = 22.6

|Jan record low F = 11

|Feb record low F = 9

|Mar record low F = 22

|Apr record low F = 26

|May record low F = 30

|Jun record low F = 37

|Jul record low F = 37

|Aug record low F = 39

|Sep record low F = 33

|Oct record low F = 26

|Nov record low F = 15

|Dec record low F = 6

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation inch = 10.59

|Feb precipitation inch = 7.18

|Mar precipitation inch = 7.90

|Apr precipitation inch = 5.80

|May precipitation inch = 3.40

|Jun precipitation inch = 2.30

|Jul precipitation inch = 0.83

|Aug precipitation inch = 1.12

|Sep precipitation inch = 2.67

|Oct precipitation inch = 6.74

|Nov precipitation inch = 11.05

|Dec precipitation inch = 10.68

|year precipitation inch = 70.26

|Jan snow inch = 0.4

|Feb snow inch = 0.5

|Mar snow inch = 0.0

|Apr snow inch = 0.0

|May snow inch = 0.0

|Jun snow inch = 0.0

|Jul snow inch = 0.0

|Aug snow inch = 0.0

|Sep snow inch = 0.0

|Oct snow inch = 0.0

|Nov snow inch = 0.3

|Dec snow inch = 0.2

|year snow inch = 1.4

|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in

|Jan precipitation days = 21.6

|Feb precipitation days = 18.8

|Mar precipitation days = 21.5

|Apr precipitation days = 19.2

|May precipitation days = 15.5

|Jun precipitation days = 13.7

|Jul precipitation days = 8.1

|Aug precipitation days = 7.7

|Sep precipitation days = 10.1

|Oct precipitation days = 16.6

|Nov precipitation days = 21.1

|Dec precipitation days = 22.0

|year precipitation days = 195.9

|unit snow days = 0.1 in

|Jul snow days = 0.0

|Aug snow days = 0.0

|Sep snow days = 0.0

|Oct snow days = 0.0

|Nov snow days = 0.1

|Dec snow days = 0.3

|Jan snow days = 0.6

|Feb snow days = 0.7

|Mar snow days = 0.0

|Apr snow days = 0.0

|May snow days = 0.0

|Jun snow days = 0.0

|year snow days = 1.7

|Jan humidity = 82.7

|Feb humidity = 82.2

|Mar humidity = 80.9

|Apr humidity = 79.5

|May humidity = 79.5

|Jun humidity = 79.8

|Jul humidity = 79.8

|Aug humidity = 81.6

|Sep humidity = 81.1

|Oct humidity = 82.9

|Nov humidity = 83.3

|Dec humidity = 84.0

|year humidity = 81.4

|Jan dew point C = 2.6

|Feb dew point C = 3.7

|Mar dew point C = 4.1

|Apr dew point C = 5.2

|May dew point C = 7.7

|Jun dew point C = 10.1

|Jul dew point C = 11.7

|Aug dew point C = 12.3

|Sep dew point C = 11.0

|Oct dew point C = 8.4

|Nov dew point C = 5.5

|Dec dew point C = 3.2

|source 1 = NOAA (relative humidity and dew point 1961–1990, snowfall & snow days 1981–2010)<ref>

</ref><ref>

</ref><ref name= NOAA2>

</ref>

}}

Demographics

{{US Census population

|1860= 252

|1870= 639

|1880= 2803

|1890= 6184

|1900= 8351

|1910= 9599

|1920= 14027

|1930= 10349

|1940= 10389

|1950= 12331

|1960= 11239

|1970= 10244

|1980= 9998

|1990= 10069

|2000= 9813

|2010= 9477

|2020= 10181

|footnote=Sources:Moffat, Riley. Population History of Western U.S. Cities & Towns, 1850–1990. Lanham: Scarecrow, 1996, 206.

| align = right

| align-fn = center

}}

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Astoria had a population of 10,181. The median age was 43.0 years. 17.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 23.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.0 males age 18 and over.

As of the 2020 census, 99.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.5% lived in rural areas.

As of the 2020 census, there were 4,728 households in Astoria, of which 21.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 36.7% were married-couple households, 22.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 38.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

As of the 2020 census, there were 5,266 housing units, of which 10.2% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 47.8% were owner-occupied and 52.2% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.8%.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census

! Race !! Number !! Percent

| White || 8,399 || 82.5%

| Black or African American || 49 || 0.5%

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 121 || 1.2%

| Asian || 159 || 1.6%

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 29 || 0.3%

| Some other race || 441 || 4.3%

| Two or more races || 983 || 9.7%

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 1,076 || 10.6%

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, 9,477 people, 4,288 households, and 2,274 families were residing in the city. The population density was . The 4,980 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 89.2% White, 0.6% African American, 1.1% Native American, 1.8% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.9% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 9.8% of the population.

Of the 4,288 households, 24.6% had children under 18 living with them, 37.9% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 47.0% were not families. About 38.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.15, and the average family size was 2.86.

The median age in the city was 41.9 years; 20.3% of residents were under 18; 8.6% were between 18 and 24; 24.3% were from 25 to 44; 29.9% were from 45 to 64; and 17.1% were 65 or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female.

Arts and culture

Museums and other points of interest

thumb|right|The Captain George Flavel House

thumb|Columbia River Maritime Museum

Astoria Riverwalk with Astoria Riverfront Trolley, Uniontown Neighborhood, Columbia River Maritime Museum, Uppertown Firefighters Museum and Pier 39 Astoria
The Astoria Column (the highest point in Astoria) with nearby Cathedral Tree Trail
Heritage Museum, located in the Old City Hall
Fort Astoria, Fort George Brewery
Astor Building, Liberty Theater
Museum of Whimsy, Astoria Sunday Market, Garden of Surging Waves, Astoria City Hall
Oregon Film Museum, Flavel House
Astoria Regional Airport with CGAS Astoria
Fort Stevens, Clatsop Spit, Fort Clatsop and Youngs River Falls

Shanghaied in Astoria is a musical about Astoria's history that has been performed in Astoria every year since 1984.

Government

thumb|City hall

Astoria operates under a council–manager form of city government. Voters elect four councilors by ward and a mayor, who each serve four-year terms. The mayor and council appoint a city manager to conduct the ordinary business of the city. The current mayor is Sean Fitzpatrick, who took office in January 2023. His predecessor, Bruce Jones, served from 2019 to 2022.

Education

thumb|alt=High School|Astoria High School

The Astoria School District has four primary and secondary schools, including Astoria High School. Clatsop Community College is the city's two-year college. The city also has a library and many parks with historical significance, plus the second oldest Job Corps facility (Tongue Point Job Corps) in the nation. Tongue Point Job Corps center is the only such location in the country which provides seamanship training.

Media

The Astorian (formerly The Daily Astorian) is the main newspaper serving Astoria. It was established , in 1873,Newspapers Published in Oregon Oregon Blue Book. Retrieved July 22, 2012. and has been in continuous publication since that time. The Coast River Business Journal is a monthly business magazine covering Astoria, Clatsop County, and the Northwest Oregon coast. It, along with The Astorian, is part of the EO Media Group (formerly the East Oregonian Publishing Company) family of Oregon and Washington newspapers. The local NPR station is KMUN 91.9, and KAST 1370 is a local news-talk radio station.

Filming location

The early 1960s television series Route 66 filmed the episode entitled "One Tiger to a Hill" in Astoria; it was broadcast on September 21, 1962.

In recent popular culture, Astoria is most famous for being the setting of the 1985 film The Goonies, which was filmed on location in the city. Other notable movies filmed in Astoria include Short Circuit, The Black Stallion, Kindergarten Cop, Free Willy, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Benji the Hunted, Come See the Paradise, The Ring Two, Into the Wild, The Guardian and Green Room.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Astoria is at the intersection of U.S. Route 101, the primary coastal highway in Oregon, and U.S. Route 30, which follows the Columbia River inland to Portland and into Eastern Oregon. The Astoria–Megler Bridge carries U.S. Route 101 across the Columbia River into neighboring Washington state. It opened in 1966 and carries an average of 7,000 vehicles per day. Public transit service within the city is provided by the Sunset Empire Transportation District, which was established in 1993 by the county government. It also operates intercity service that connects to neighboring parts of Northwestern Oregon; other intercity connections include the Pacific Transit System, which runs a bus from Astoria to Ilwaco, Washington.

The Port of Astoria was established in 1910 and operates cargo and recreational facilities on the Columbia River. It also manages the Astoria Regional Airport in Warrenton, which opened in 1935 and is also used by Coast Guard Air Station Astoria. Passenger service from Astoria Regional Airport to Portland International Airport was briefly operated by SeaPort Airlines until it ceased service in 2011.

Notable people

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{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

Bobby Anet, college basketball guard who helped guide the University of Oregon to win the inaugural NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship in 1938–1939 attended Astoria High school AHS Hall of Fame
Alexander G. Barry, American attorney Republican member of the Oregon House of Representatives
Jona Bechtolt, Grammy nominated electronic musician and multimedia artist raised in Astoria
Del Bjork, a professional American football offensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL). He played two seasons for the Chicago Bears (1937–1938)
Brian Bruney, Major League Baseball relief pitcher
Ebba Wicks Brown, architect
Honey Lee Cottrell, photographer, filmmaker, LGBTQ activist born in Astoria
Marie Dorion, the only female member of an overland expedition sent by the Pacific Fur Company to Fort Astoria in 1810
George Flavel, maritime pilot and businessman
Charles William Fulton, lawyer and Oregon senator
Grouper, American ambient musician (Elizabeth Anne Harris)
Jerry Gustafson, football player
Darrell Hanson, American politician in the state of Iowa
Michael Hurley, American singer/songwriter
Duane Jarvis, American guitarist and singer/songwriter
Wally Johansen, a college basketball guard who played for the University of Oregon when it won the inaugural NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship in 1938–1939
Consuelo Kanaga, a photographer and writer who became well known for her photographs of African-Americans
Augustus C. Kinney, a physician and scientist, was a leading expert on tuberculosis
Kenneth Koe, chemist of Chinese descent, helped develop sertraline, which was branded and sold as Zoloft
Carl W. Leick, a German born architect who moved to Astoria. His Astoria designs include the Captain George Flavel House, the Clatsop County Courthouse, and the Grace Episcopal Church
Rosa Lemberg, a Namibian-born Finnish American teacher, choral conductor and socialist
Armand Lohikoski, American born – Finnish movie director and writer
Robert Lundeen, American businessperson, most notable for his association with the College of Engineering at Oregon State University (OSU) and Tektronix Inc.
Ranald MacDonald, first man to teach the English language in Japan and one of the interpreters between the Tokugawa shogunate and Commodore Perry when the latter made his trips to Japan on behalf of the U.S. government in the early 1850s
Holly Madison, Playboy model and one of Hugh Hefner's ex-girlfriends, born in Astoria, but left before her second birthday
Donald Malarkey, World War II U.S. Army soldier of the 101st Airborne Division who was portrayed in the television series Band of Brothers
Petra Mathers, a German-born American writer and illustrator of children's picture books
George H. Merryman, a doctor who made house calls by horse and buggy then later built the first modern hospital in Klamath Falls. Served in both the Oregon House of Representatives & Oregon Senate
Royal Nebeker, American painter and print maker. Lived and worked in Astoria for 30 years
Gene Nelson, American dancer, actor, screenwriter, and director, starred as Will Parker in Oklahoma! (1955)
Albin W. Norblad, Attorney in the U.S. state of Oregon, and a judge of the Oregon Circuit Court for the 3rd judicial district
Kerttu Nuorteva, A Soviet intelligence agent during World War II. Daughter of Santeri Nuorteva
Santeri Nuorteva, Finnish socialist politician and journalist, who edited Toveri ("The Comrade") in Astoria in 1912–1913Paul George Hummasti, Finnish Radicals in Astoria, Oregon, 1904–1940: A Study in Immigrant Socialism. New York: Arno Press, 1979; p. 44. Father of Kerttu Nuorteva
Maila Nurmi, a.k.a. 1950s TV horror hostess Vampira and co-star of Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space attended Astoria High School in the late 1930s
Mike Pecarovich, American college football coach, lawyer, and actor
Allan Pomeroy, mayor of Seattle from 1952 to 1956
Jordan Poyer, NFL football player, raised in Astoria and played for Astoria teams
Ken Raymond, an expert in bioinorganic and coordination chemistry
Arnie Sundberg, American weightlifter who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics
Wilbur Ternyik, American civic leader who has been characterized as a founding father of coastal planning. Mayor of Florence, Oregon
Willis Van Dusen, businessman and mayor of Astoria from 1991 through 2014
Gary Wilhelms, American politician who was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives
Stanley Paul Young, American biologist
Eric Zener, American photorealist artist best known for figure paintings of lone subjects, often in or about swimming pools

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In popular culture

thumb|alt=old Clatsop County Jail|Oregon Film Museum, formerly old Clatsop County Jail, used in first scene of The Goonies.

Actor Clark Gable is claimed to have begun his career at the Astoria Theatre in 1922.

Leroy E. "Ed" Parsons, called the "Father of Cable Television", developed one of the first community antenna television stations (CATV) in the United States in Astoria starting in 1948.

The fourth album of the pop punk band The Ataris was titled So Long, Astoria as an allusion to The Goonies. A song of the same title is the album's first track. The album's back cover features news clippings from Astoria, including a picture of the port's water tower from a 2002 article on its demolition.

The pop punk band Marianas Trench has an album titled Astoria. The band states the album was inspired by 1980s fantasy and adventure films, and The Goonies in particular. That film inspired the title, as it was set in Astoria, the album's artwork, as well as the title of their accompanying US tour (Hey You Guys!!).

The film Green Room prominently featured Astoria and the areas surrounding Portland.

thumb|USS Astoria

Two U.S. Navy cruisers were named USS Astoria: A New Orleans-class heavy cruiser (CA-34) and a Cleveland class light cruiser (CL-90). The former was lost in the Pacific Ocean in combat at the Battle of Savo Island in August 1942, during World War II, and the latter was scrapped in 1971 after being removed from active duty in 1949.

Sister cities

Astoria has one sister city, as designated by Sister Cities International:

Walldorf, Germany, which is the birthplace of Astoria's namesake, John Jacob Astor, who was born in Walldorf near Heidelberg on July 17, 1763. The sistercityship was founded on Astor's 200th birthday in 1963 in Walldorf by Walldorf's mayor Wilhelm Willinger and Astoria's mayor Harry Steinbock.