An Early Advertising Brochure

     The little 3½ x 5½- inch, eight-page booklet, “North Beach, Washington” was published by the North Beach Push Club under the auspices of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company (the OR&N).  That puts its publication date at sometime between 1900 and 1910 – the years that the OR&N owned the peninsula’s narrow gauge railroad.
     The brochure’s colorful front cover shows a young lass in a demure bathing costume (complete with parasol) sitting in front of a picture-perfect beach scene – presumably our beach.  The little dog nearby makes me think that turn-of-the-century photographer John Ford was involved with the illustrations.  His photographs often included a well-behaved dog such as this one.
     Inside, the pages extol the virtues of North Beach which, I feel compelled to point out, continues to be the official name of the peninsula according to the United States Board of Geographic Names  (How we came to be known as the “Long Beach” Peninsula is yet another story…)  I was both amused and amazed to read the copy under a photograph titled “Group of Bathers in Surf at Long Beach.”  I wondered briefly if it could have been true.  Briefly.
     Surf bathing at North Beach is at its best.  The breakers form far out, and as they lessen in force as they near the shore, the bather may choose a place where the incoming and receding water is to the individual liking.  The slope seaward is so gradual that the depth of water half a mile oceanward is not to exceed three or four feet.  The bottom is sandy and free from obstructions of every nature.
     Young and old may enjoy the privilege of a dip in the surf with perfect safety.  There is no undertow and no discomfort or danger where even ordinary prudence is exercised.  During a sojourn the summer season the weather is most enjoyable.  There is warmth of sunshine and a temperature of water that render a sojourn here a season of enjoyment.  The heat is never excessive, for the reason that there is always a refreshing breeze from the Pacific.
     This is scarcely perceptible in the morning hours and it lulls after the sun has set.  The forenoons afford perfect weather for walks or drives, and the evenings are equally enjoyable for the dance, the social gathering or in the home circle.  North Beach is different in many respects from other beaches.  It is greater in extent and grander in environment.  It is without a counterpart on the American continent.
     Those were the days, eh?  I understand there was a bridge for sale in Brooklyn, too.  Cheap.