Gunderson's Cannery Cafe

Building on Astoria's History

Four generations of Gunderson family members fished the River for salmon, beginning at the turn of the century.

From a Cafe window vantage point, look across the vast Columbia to the Washington shores and imagine Great Grandpa Ole Gunderson leaving his home, tucked into the North Shore hillside, to fish in the strong river tides for abundant Chinooks and Silvers. Although motorized gillnets eventually replaced the sailing vessels of the 1800s, the knowledge and skills necessary to fish the river changed very little and were passed on from father to child. Ole's boys followed in the tradition, including Grandpa Bill. Grandpa Bill passed his fishing skills to his only son Bill Jr., father of the Cannery Cafe's proprietor, Dana Gunderson, and Bill Jr. shared his craft with son Bill III and Dana.

In the restaurant, original materials were used as much as possible. The fir floors, for example, were stripped of old linoleum. The windows in the conference room were found in the building. Although a few matching windows were added to the exterior walls, most of the windows are original. The hardware for the conference room's sliding door was found in the cannery, and carried patent dates of 1901, and 1903. Two blue lamps in the kitchen were found in the cannery. So were piles of nautical charts, a testament to the company's far-flung activities around the Pacific Ocean. Some of the charts were used to wallpaper the bathrooms.