A 45 Minute Driving Tour Of Port Orford, Oregon: Views Of Old Cars, Boats, Old (and Burned) Houses And Of Course The Ocean

We were in Port Orford last week and on Thursday morning I dropped Stephanie off at a yoga class and drove the Tracker to the car wash for its first cleansing in three years. Since I had 45 more minutes to kill, I decided to drive around town and shoot old cars at the curb or in driveways. That turned into a somewhat more comprehensive tour of the little beach town that time forgot, as it’s a pretty small place (1135 inhabitants).

That’s not to say I covered the whole town; mainly just the blocks comprising the older part of town, on either side of Highway 101 that runs through it—without a single traffic light. So it’s the grittier, or shall we say more “authentic” parts of town—which is precisely what attracted us to it, as it reminded us of little beach towns in California in the ’60s and ’70s before they were gentrified and built up.

Port Orford has a fascinating history, the oldest platted townsite on the Oregon Coast (1851). Captain William Tichenor was convinced that PO would be the next San Francisco due to its natural harbor and dropped off a contingent of men to drive off the natives living there and establish a town. That turned out to be more difficult than imagined due to the fierce resistance of the Athapaskan peoples that lived there; obviously it did happen, but not without bloodshed and tears.

So why are there still only 1135 inhabitants and so many empty lots and buildings in town 175 years later? Well, Captain Tichenor got it wrong; although the Port Orford Heads (on the right above) do protect the harbor from west winds, the very fierce winter storms actually come from the south or southwest, so the bay is very much not a year-round harbor. One can see a ship in the harbor in the old photo above, almost certainly loading lumber, but that could not happen in almost half the year, at least not without great risk. So the town’s growth was severely stunted, and very much did not become the next San Francisco.

So why hasn’t it been gentrified and built up like all the other beach towns in Oregon and California? Location, location, location. Due to the very rugged Siskiyou Mountains inland, there are no highways that make access easy from all the inland main population areas. It’s a good three hours from the closest spot on I-5 (Grants Pass) for folks coming from the Medford/Ashland areas, and coming from the north or south on 101, there are numerous towns that are closer. It’s also three hours from Eugene, so its just too far for a weekend getaway.

Port Orford is about as remote as it gets on the West Coast (except for Alaska), although of course not nearly as isolated as it and other Oregon Coast towns were before the Roosevelt Highway (101) was built, which took over 15 years to complete. It was an epic undertaking, with many long bridge spans and constantly shifting coastal headlands. This section, looking up to PO, has been rebuilt numerous times and still has sections that need rebuilding every winter, due to the highly unstable cliffs, not unlike Big Sur in California.

So the tourists that do find their way to PO are generally those that are driving (or biking) the 101, perhaps the whole thing or just the Oregon section. Some may spend the night or two, others just stop here at the Battle Rock beach viewpoint parking lot before continuing on. My tour was taken on a June day, late in the morning; prime tourist season. As you’ll see, it’s hardly an invasion.

Here’s a map of PO; on this little tour I drove up and down the two streets on either side of 101, no more further north than about 16th Street, and then went south on 101 down through the central business district and to the beach.

The newer and “nicer” houses tend to be outside of that area, in the hills to the east, around Garrison Lake and on the PO Heads, like the “glass house” just a half block from our modest little pole barn cabin.  But then we’re not looking for that at CC, are we?

I started my driving tour the block behind the car wash on 101. And as I turned the corner, I spotted this fine purplish TR6, somewhat unexpectedly. But one learns never to be surprised in PO; there’s all kinds of folks that live here and the cars reflect that.

Here’s proof that this car lives in PO and close to the beach and salty air: the steel spokes on the steering wheel are rusty.

But the exterior looks to be in fine fettle. Open air cars are of course popular at beach towns for obvious reasons.

In the same cluster of cars was this Mazda 929 (Luce HC), a relatively large RWD sedan sold here at a time when GM and other domestic brands were drastically downsizing. I titled my post on it “It’s As Big As A Cadillac!”

Next up was this Nissan Stanza (Bluebird U12) sedan. This has become about as rare on the streets as the 929. In these remote little towns in Oregon cars generally do not accumulate much mileage, as there’s essentially no place to go unless you work in the next town or such. So they get kept.

Not exactly the best of my finds, with a Caravan and an old Ford pickup behind the newish one.

A not uncommon sight: an old boat of one kind or another in the yard along with an old car. Port Orford does have a moderately-sized fishing fleet and a fair number of its citizens are still involved in fishing.

We now get to perhaps the most controversial place in town. It’s a cluster of houses, trailers, trucks, a goat pen and other animals.

“Controversial” as in I hear that neighbors finally got some results from their repeated complaints, and the goats are gone now. I rather miss the goats that climbed up on the roof of one of the unused trailers.

This is very much right in the town, just some blocks from the very center, so presumably there are some land use laws that would apply, although there seems to be a pretty relaxed attitude generally.

Around the corner is the first of several boats resting on the side of the street.

A gen1 Rabbit/Golf. It appears to have a leaky roof? It does rain some 100 inches per year here, essentially all in a few winter months.

This lot, like some others in town, is being used for storing commercial fishing boats and related equipment. These guys were working on some gear, looks like nets or such.

Another shot of them and their Impala.

A stereotypical older cedar shingle cottage.

A gen2 Taurus and a Prius and…more boats.

A repurposed school bus.

An older Ford 4×4 along with a trailer.

This Civic has seen better days. No, it didn’t come with Honda’s Four-Wheel Steering from the factory.

“Officer Bob” lives here and he’s brought his patrol car home with him. PO has a surprisingly large police department; I hear it eats up almost half the city budget. There’s always one sitting on the side of 101 to catch out of town speeders that ignore the 30 mph limit through town.

Another beached boat.

Seemingly unused buildings like this are not uncommon.

Sadly there are very few historic houses left in Port Orford, due to several major fires. These two are survivors; the far one was once a hotel back when this street (Jackson) was the main road through town before 101 was built. They’ve been renovated and are used as rentals.

We’ve joked that we should have bought this dilapidated house being swallowed up by the vegetation. I assumed it would be torn down, but then the vegetation has been cleared out some on the left, and it looks like some sort of work may just be starting, but I still have some doubts as to whether the house will be saved. Maybe?

Next door lives this old Mustang and a Chevy conversion van.

Next up is the Auto Spa, where cars are treated to therapeutic treatments. We covered that and the old city jail here, so we’ll just drive by with a few shots as some (not all) of the clientele has changed since 2023.

A nice piece of driftwood to hold up the sign.

A Winnebago VW Rialto, the successor to the Le Sharo. I shot and posted that Ford F600 wrecker at a different location.

A boat and a couple of RVs out back.

Around the corner is another boat.

One of many older Toyota pickups. Looks like the upstairs window has been leaking; it undoubtedly faces south, where the winter storms blow in from.

There has to be at least one Previa in every self-respecting Oregon town.

As well as several Jeep Cherokees XJs. Another shingled cottage.

This is the saddest empty lot in town.

It’s is where builder Pehr Johan Lindberg built his own home, in 1896. He also built many of the other finer old homes here back then.

It was covered with his trademark artistic shingle designs. This photo is from 2011. We walked by it several times in our first months in PO but didn’t take pictures at the time.

But then in December 2021 it caught fire, presumably from faulty wiring. It was a very sad scene as I took these pictures a short while afterwards.

Quite a bit of the house survived. It had never been painted. The old growth cedar shingles were still in very good condition.

The long-time owners had just started trying to raise funds to put a proper foundation under it as well as to do a restoration. Then this happened. And the house was not insured, or not adequately so. To me, it seemed possible to rebuild and restore it, but it would have cost a lot and it was finally torn down in 2023.

Whoa! I’ve not seen this jacked up Studebaker pickup before. Well, it does have a flat tire. Almost certainly it’s sitting on a later 4×4 chassis.

And what’s that agglomeration ahead?

Another boat, with fire damage, along with a Chevy truck and a few other odds and ends.

An early Toyota 4Runner.

Stephanie is fond of this cute little cottage.

The senior center with a senior Ford pickup out front. Port Orford has a remarkably strong community spirit, with various volunteer organizations including a very active Rotary club that undertakes many projects. There’s a lot of retired folks here and they are still active, energetic and involved. It’s very palpable, and quite wonderful as it brings folks of all stripes together. Reminds me of the old days, in more ways than one.

We watched this new house go up during the time we were fixing up our pole barn/cabin (2022-2023), and then the charming tower went up. We met the woman who owns this place, in the middle of Garrison Lake in our kayaks. She retired here and designed it herself.

This is another relatively rare survivor, from 1890. It too was built by Pehr Johan Lindberg,  It has been fixed up very thoroughly and is currently for sale.

A gen1 Honda Odyssey, unless it’s the rare Isuzu version.

An older Dodge pickup.

A Saturn at the entrance of this RV park.

There’s a Smart and a Tercel back there.

My trip was rather haphazard and somewhat random. I’ve just crossed over Hwy. 101 to Idaho Street, where there’s another car repair shop.

I haven’t needed any repairs yet; the Tracker is running just fine with some 230k miles on it. I take it on back-roads trips in the remote mountains and it’s been great for that. I did finally bring the materials to change its oil this trip, as it’s been three years! There’s no Jiffy Lube or such within 60 miles or so.

An Isuzu Amigo.

Another sad burn sight; a large steel industrial building that was here burned down last year. The owners have been slowly hauling away all the steel to be recycled. It quite possibly was also not insured.

This building, where I shot that F600 wrecker just a year ago. At least it didn’t get torched.

Folks try to put empty lots to some income producing use but this storage lot doesn’t seem to be generating very much.

Two MR2s and two old Japanese pickups.

A gen2 Honda Accord resting on a jack with one wheel off.

And another three-wheeler, a Cherokee.

Another shingled cottage with a BMW 540i in the driveway.

And another Toyota pickup. No, I didn’t shoot them all.

The two-door version of our Tracker. That would be fun, to be able to open the top when cruising the wooded back forest roads.

One of several older former motels along 101 that have been repurposed into low cost housing. The cost of housing is a big issue in towns like PO. The median home value is almost $400k.

A bruiser of an old Chevy. In the lot below are stacks of crab pots, a common sight around town. The crab season is in the winter and starts only when enough of them are a certain size.

There’s two old tractors in front of the Golden Harvest deli.

Here’s the other one, an Allis Chalmers. The road there (9th Avenue) leads up to the heads, where our place is, right to the left of those cell towers up there. It’s a five minute walk into town for us.

This older retired couple bought a very run down old house across the street there at the same time we bought our property in the summer of 2022. They’re completely rebuilding it, mostly from the (new) foundation up; it’s not what they expected. And they’re still just finishing the lovely cedar siding and shingles; the interior is still just the studs. They are doing 100% themselves, and living in the trailer until it’s habitable.

I didn’t drive up to the heads for this tour, and stayed down in the flats. A Dodge Durango.

And another old Dodge pickup.

Another hard to explain building. Looks like it originally was a shop of some sorts, with a large door opening visible in the siding.

Another empty lot with what may be the beginnings of a project of some sort.

There’s a large Oregon Department of Transportation facility right here in almost the middle of town. Highway 101 needs very regular maintenance due to the poor soil along the coastal bluffs, which are perpetually sliding down into the Pacific.

Here’s a retired bulldozer.

And behind it is what appears to be a private or commercial storage lot of some sort, but not much seems to ever happen here. But that sort of applies to all of PO.

Across the street is another shingled house with a trio of older vehicles in front.

I decided to pull into one of the two boat launches for Garrison Lake, and there was this shiny, red, new water truck parked there.

Ah; it’s a new truck for the Port Orford Volunteer Fire department, and they were doing a training session with it. Presumably they would fill up the tank here.

The ocean is just over that strip of dune in the distance. I assume the lake was once part of the ocean but then at some point the dune formed, creating a lagoon. It’s a great place to kayak when the wind is down (PO is famous for its “breezes”). There’s lots of houses facing all around the lake.

Down the street is this fine 1956 F350 with a 9′ express bed. I wrote it up here.

Another trio of disparate vehicles.

An older Toyota Class C RV.

A Toyota Echo taking a break.

Having covered the two blocks on either side of 101, let’s now drive down that main thoroughfare, heading south towards the ocean. This is the car wash where I cleaned off three years’ worth of pollen and lichen that were getting a bit out of hand on the Tracker. And here’s a late Panther of some stripe or another at the intersection. The laundromat conveniently is next door.

The block next to the car wash is empty and has become a de facto used car lot where folks park their cars with signs on them. It’s the closest thing PO has to a used car dealer, never mind a new car dealer. And of course there’s a boat there too.

Next up on the east side is Mr. Ed’s, a very popular live music spot with groups playing at least two nights per week. It’s surprising what a lively live music scene there is here, and groups traveling up and down the coast stop to play here. He built this a few years back after growing out of his old place. It’s one of the local business success stories.

This is the view looking down 101. If you think it’s quiet on this nice June day, you should see it in the depths of the winter. The liquor store is on the right.

This garage had been closed until just recently. Signs of life! The third auto repair business in PO; got to keep all these old cars going.

The pet store on the left. Like so many PO businesses, the owner is very generous, helping feed semi-feral cats or folks who can’t afford supplies. I doubt they’re making much money (like other businesses) but they love living here. As a matter of fact, except for the gas station there is not one single national brand franchise store or restaurant in town; 100% locally owned.

Ray’s supermarket; a regional brand, but 100% employee owned.

The PO Library is one of the biggest and nicest buildings in town. It speaks to the priorities of the voters who were willing to pay for it.

There’s a Chevy Venture in front of Coastal Swag, a classic tourist trap attraction. Actually, it’s a fun store to check out, as essentially everything is local, including lots of handmade items and such.

This collection of vintage Mercedes, and Audi, and BMWs has been sitting outside this shop since we bought our place here in 2021. The Golf is a recent addition or more likely a visitor. Nothing seems to happen inside anymore.

 

There’s a fintail Mercedes in the group, along with two W126s and an old 5-Series.

What’s this coming down the road?

An old International small dump truck riding a bit low with a heavy load of gravel. My friend Alan told me about a guy hauling smaller loads of gravel—as I need some—and it turns out this is him. Of course! And he was heading to Alan’s house at the time.

On the right is The Wooden Nickle, a maker and seller of Oregon myrtlewood products (known in California as Bay Laurel). Its wood is prized for making fine objects, especially bowls and such. We’ve bought a beautiful salad bowl from them. The building and/or business has been for sale for a couple of years, so I suspect it’s not exactly prosperous.

Driftwood Elementary school. PO is too small for a middle-high school, so it shares one with Langlois, the next town heading north. It’s located halfway in between. The 2025 graduating class was 16, up from 13 last year.

The recently rebuilt Chevron station, the only one in town. And it’s now self serve, which is increasingly allowed in Oregon now. That brought the prices down a bit too, but it’s still some 40-50 cents more than bigger town on the coast.

A couple blocks further south (I’m not showing everything) brings us to Coos Curry Supply, our little local hardware store. BTW, Curry is the county PO is in and Coos is the next county north. I never fail to be amazed at how much they can jam into the fairly small building.

They make sure to have plenty of items for the fishing fleet, like odd size large plumbing pipes, pumps, fixtures, etc..  There is a newer and somewhat larger hardware/lumber yard on the north end of town, but I can walk down from our place to Coos Curry in 5 minutes.

The lumber yard out back carries all the most popular sizes. And they’ll order anything else.

The next block has a number of small businesses, including a little bakery open just a couple days per week. The next corner is 9th Street, where we turn to head up to the heads and our place.

On the corner is the Portside deli and cafe as well as this daily driver VW I’ve been seeing here since we arrived in 2021.

Across the street is this old van/food truck used for special occasions like the 4th of July, which is a four day rolling festival in PO.

Across the street is a cafe and the PO Food Co-op, run by all or mostly volunteers. Local produce and bread from a bakery in Coquille that is some of the best ever.

And a newly opened nursery, an outpost of a well-established one a ways north on 101. This is where 101 makes a bend, towards a more easterly direction.

Across the street, a couple of sweet old cottages used as businesses.

Behind the far house is this trio.

One of three former gas stations, now a realtor office.

A sweet little bookstore, with a focus on regional and local subjects. The house to the right is also one of the few survivors built by Pehr Johan Lindberg. The owner has been replacing parts of the wood shingle roof the past few years.

The other existing former gas station, now for sale. Interested?

Next to it is Crazy Norwegian Fish and Chips, a popular spot. It’s quite good, but the best fish and chips we’ve found are at The Anchor in Bandon. Amazingly well done, with very large pieces of fresh-caught cod, (optional) sweet potato fries and superior cole slaw.

Two of the few remaining old buildings left in what was the heart of the town. The closer one has of course been “remuddled”.

Just past it is The Dive, a popular comfort/seafood spot. It’s owned by the same family that used to own and run Griffs, a classic sea shanty right down on the dock. Sadly, it’s closed down.

Across the street is the former Dana’s restaurant, which apparently was the nice place to eat in town until the new, more upscale Red Fish presumably put it out of business. It’s been for sale for years.

This is Red Fish, and an adjoining art gallery, both owned by a local guy who sells his and his son’s art in the gallery. Red Fish is excellent, featuring local seafood and such; the place to go to treat oneself after clearing brush all day. And of course it has great views. Both were designed by Gary Robertson, a local architect who has built several new houses in town.

This is the public parking lot next to Red Fish, which overlooks the bay and accesses Battle Rock beach below. It’s a popular spot for travelers to stop. That’s Humbug Mountain in the distance, one of our regular hiking sport. The views from the top are stellar.

Here’s a photo of CC’s “dman” (Dimitry) on top of Humbug taking a picture of his dog Riley when they visited last year.

This is one of two older motels that have been upgraded some. This one has an eatery we’ve not yet tried.

We’re driving up behind the Crazy Norwegian. There’s art here, of one kind or another.

We’re heading up the hill for a better viewpoint. And on the right is a Toyota Coaster bus I’ve been seeing around town. I met the owner and will be doing a more detailed write up of it.

On the top of this hill is the Castaway Motel, with superb views.

This is the place where we caught up with Calvin Mehlert and his 1970 Rover 3500 V8 back in 2014, when we were driving north on 101 from California. I’d seen his car on the highway earlier, and then we both ended up staying here. We’d been coming to PO for several decades, usually in our Dodge Chinook to camp in the area.

Since the harbor is not protected year-round, it is one of only two that uses cranes to lift the fishing boats in and out of the water. That means the fishing fleet is fairly small. The main catches seem to be ling and black cod and rockfish, along with some others and crabs in season.

This arrangement rather discourages amateur sportfishermen, another reason PO is still so underdeveloped. Other towns have safe harbors and marinas for that, as well as rivers for fishing.

And yes, there’s a big yacht anchored out there, an unprecedented sighting since we’ve been coming here.

I zoomed in a bit. Yes, it is big.

A bit of digging reveals that it’s the Attessa (ex. Lady Aviva), a 225′ long motor yacht built by Feadship in the Netherlands at their De Kaag shipyard. Her interior is styled by design house Glade Johnson Design and she was completed in 1998. This luxury vessel’s exterior design is the work of Glade Johnson Design and she was last refitted in 2003.

The Attessa was owned by Washington billionaire Dennis Washington, but he’s moved on the significantly larger Attessa IV. Presumably it’s now a charter yacht and has decided to hang out in PO for a while. The helicopter was not on it here.

A few new houses have been going up here on this hill. Gentrification is inevitable, especially with such stellar views.

These are new short term rental units that Gary finished this past year. He rents them out on vrbo and other sites.

Right next to the Port Orford Sustainable Seafood company, which makes a few fab seafood dishes on Friday through Sunday. I’ll stop and order our two favorite black cod bowls for lunch.

Here’s the freshly washed Tracker. 230k miles and not a single issue since I got it three years ago for one of our EXBRO overlanding-off road trips in Eastern Oregon.

While I’m waiting I’ll walk right behind their building, where the best views are from Lookout Rock, between Battle Rock beach and harbor beach. And they’ve put in new stairs! Before it was a just a steep slope with a rope to help out.

Here’s harbor beach and the heads.

The other direction, Battle Rock beach.

And out over the bay and the ocean, and the Attessa.

Time to pick up Stephanie and go home to eat our lunch, shown half eaten here. The most tender and delicious cod ever. And then it’s back to limbing and clearing trees followed by a fine hike. Gotta’ keep moving!

 

 

Related Port Orford reading at CC:

Port Orford Outtakes: The Car Spa And The Old City Jail

Port Orford Outtake: 1973 Ford F600 Tow Truck – Rustic

Curbside Classic: 1956 Ford F350 With 9′ Express Bed – Yes, Express; Not Pickup

Curbside Outtake: The Not-Niedermeyer’s New Glass House In Port Orford

Curbside Classic/COAL: 1970 Rover 3500S V8 (P6) – “Sell It Now? I’d Rather Cremate It And Have It Interred With Me”
Auto-Biography: Port Orford Journal, Part 1: The F100’s Junkyard Transmission Is In, But It’s…Junky – Meanwhile I’ve Taken On A Much Bigger (Coastal) Challenge

Port Orford Journal Part 2: Ten Days Of Work, Hikes, And Superlative Views

Auto-Biography: Port Orford Journal, Part 3 – One Year Later, A Room With A (Better) View