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Oregon’s ‘Little San Francisco’

Charming Astoria, Ore., keeps renewing rights on its historic nickname, said Susan Spano in the Los Angeles Times. Dubbed ‘Little San Francisco’ because of the cheerful Victorians that have lined its hilly streets since an early heyday, this town at the mouth of the Columbia River has made “a stunning comeback” in recent decades. The fishing and timber industries that built those homes all but vanished, but a now-thriving downtown has been made over by new galleries, shops, craft breweries, and cocktail bars. Four engaging history museums convey the locals’ reverence for their shared past, and it’s a quick drive to a national park that marks the spot where Lewis and Clark made their final camp upon reaching the Pacific. A sunny day sailing near Astoria can be great, but be aware that the town gets 200 wet days a year. No matter: “The city is at its most romantic when fog lies low over the river and rain pelts against the window.”

Utah’s ‘Little Hollywood’

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A long dirt road outside Kanab, Utah, took me back recently to a time when the good guys always won, said Jerry F. Boone in the Portland Oregonian. That’s because the desert outside Kanab was once Hollywood’s go-to location for shooting Westerns. Just walking the streets of the tiny town, I was treading ground once graced by the likes of John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, and Clint Eastwood. And Kanab didn’t want me to forget it. The free Little Hollywood Movie Museum maintains a collection of modest buildings from old film sets, and Parry Lodge—where many stars slept—screens Kanab’s greatest hits in its Old Barn Theater. Each year, the city even brings in aging stars for a “Western Legends” weekend, including this Aug. 22–24. But the scenery outside town remains the true star: brick-red mountain faces rising above a desert floor covered with sage and crisscrossed by the trails created by free-range cattle.