Monday, January 22, 2007

Seaside Excursions

Once upon a time, the Seaside Aquarium was a "natatorium," or indoor swimming pool. Natatorium is one of those words that you were taught if you took Latin in school, just to show that Latin gave you something useful. Anyway, the natatorium was a great idea in 1924, but during the Depression, times got tough and the swimming pool business didn't work out. So the pool was converted to an aquarium, which it remains today. It's one of the few private, family-owned aquariums around the Oregon Coast.

Seaside has been another hot spot for Oregon Coast real estate in the last few years. There isn't a lot of available oceanfront, most of which is taken up with hotels and resorts.

1 comment:

Zacchaeus said...

Rob,

Speaking of natatoriums (natatoria?), up on the spit of Tillamook Bay, there was a huge swimming pool in Bayocean, born 1907, died 1948.

Bayocean was a resort community literally razed by the Pacific Ocean. Today, it doesn't even amount to a ghost town.

It wasn't the Depression that closed the natatorium there, but persistent, pitiless waves.

SWA
Florence