Gold Beach Books

          29707 Ellensburg Ave., Gold Beach, OR 97444

   In in this community at the mouth of the  Rogue River there is a building that brilliantly defines what a “book store” should be. Ted Watkins the founder was a collector of rare books, buying at estate sales and amassing semi-truck trailers full of books over the course of 40 + years. His passion to share led him to build Gold Beach Books in 2003, calling the 12,000 square foot two story structure “The Biscuit Building” after the enormous 500,000 acre fire in 2002 inland from the town.

  Ted was a very successful “Philadelphia lawyer”, developing a computer program that enabled large financial institutions to administer national cases in various federal jurisdictions. The program became the foundation of his growing law firm, Becket & Watkins, from a handful of lawyers to hundreds, allowing him to “retire” at 38 to pursue his dream of opening a bookstore on the Oregon coast in the town he vacationed in so often when he lived in Portland, his home town.

    His spirit is there still in the first editions by John Steinbeck, Ray Bradbury, and Robert Lewis Stevenson and autographed volumes by many of the same. There are book signings, lectures by writers, art exhibits, and concerts that draw crowds from towns far, far away. On any given day the book inventory hovers around 60,000 volumes and for the first 13 years it is said that the store just broke even because Ted kept buying more and more books. Today however, under the dedicated supervision of manager Carolyn Trigueiro, modest profits are being realized and the sisters continue to visit and sift through Ted’s personal things in the upstairs rooms.

                                                            Ted Watkins 1957 – 2016

   So if you wonder about taking a vacation on the Oregon Coast you might give Gold Beach a close look. There are many fine motels and VRBO accommodations there and endless day trips, by car or foot, you can make. Not to mention the famous mail boat adventures up the wild and scenic Rogue River. The visitors center is well worth the time too, and if you go in the right season, they seed the dunes with replicas of glass Japanese net floats which you can redeem for coupons at local businesses.

   And of course, visit Gold Beach Books at all costs. It is open 7 days a week and staffed by people dedicated to Ted’s undertaking. Out of necessity it is for sale and should you know a book collector who would like to retire to the ocean . . .

 

We just came home from a couple days at a really sweet 3 bedroom VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) home  just a few miles north of Gold Beach, Oregon and it was so good we want to share it. The home is on 5 private acres on a dead-end road near the hamlet of Ophir, OR.  The location is on a cleared outcrop that juts out over the forest below to offer a 180 degree panoramic view of the ocean.

Sally and I have visited Gold Beach for years, it is a favorite of ours between Brookings, Port Orford, and Bandon each of which we’ve visited numerous times too. But Gold Beach has some special attractions,  foremost being the jet mail boats that run up the Rogue River. Even more notable in my opinion though is Gold Beach Books, an incredible two-story emporium that may find its match somewhere else on the West Coast but I’m doubtful. Why in Gold Beach of all places? That’s another story, but for now if you read a lot or treasure rare books you absolutely must visit this phenomenon.

And if you are looking for a tranquil getaway in the meantime, here is the link to the owners’ VRBO listing: https://www.vrbo.com/652033, just copy and paste it into your browser.

Bruce

   May 18, 2018

   The United Way’s ALICE project (Asset Limited, Incom Constrained, Employed) has just reported  that 43% of American households do not earn enough to cover basic expenses such as food and housing and, in the same breath, that the unemployment rate has fallen below 4% for the first time since 2000.

   Our own state of California (and only two others in the country) has the largest share of struggling families at 49%. With a national average of 66% of all jobs paying less than $20 an hour, perhaps this all is no surprise but it’s clearly putting a smack on the housing market and why so many are renting instead of buying a home.

 

   You may have seen me wandering about our yard with a grab stick patiently, endlessly, picking up pine cones. You would not be the first to wonder why an otherwise normal appearing man would spend time trying to undo one of nature’s efforts to make more pine trees. Nobody has come right out and called me loony yet but I get a lot of curious looks from people driving by.

   Dry cones are a good way to start a wood fire in the stove of course. And getting outdoors beats sitting at a computer or watching TV any day. There is yet another reason and that is when you step on a pine cone your ankle wants to go sideways which is not a good thing.

   But the title of this post is that there is a dark and sinister REASON THEY KEEP FALLING AND FILLING UP MY YARD ! This took a great deal of thought and I’m pretty sure the logic holds. What happens you see is that the tree feels the cone hitting the ground. It actually senses the 4 or 5 ounces of weight resting there nearby and takes some measure of comfort from that sensation.

   You’ve read that plants might have feelings, right? So maybe it’s true and when some yo-yo comes around and starts collecting these pine cones the tree thinks to itself, why I better get busy and replace them!

   This, gentle reader, is why your yard and mine will never lack a rich carpet of pine cones to twist your ankles when we wander amongst them.

April 27, 2018

The three of us, Sally, Hillary, and myself, just got home from three hour class on real estate ethics in Redding. Here are a few take-home thoughts that seemed worth sharing:

• many professions have ethics codes but real estate is the only one that has the mechanisms to enforce their own, ranging from letters of discipline to revocation of license.
• the core idea is that the highest and best use of land is in the nation and public’s best interest and Realtors participate as guardians of that land.
• in many ways real estate practitioners were the first environmental movement for this reason.
• real estate is more of a pillar to the US economy than any other industry.
• the term “Realtor” is trademarked by the National Association of Realtors and unauthorized use (eg. by an agent who does not belong to the NAR and therefore does not subscribe to the Code) can be prosecuted.
• the Code over 104 years old, it was first adopted in 1913 and has been amended, expanded, and clarified hundreds of times to keep up with changes in the real estate industry.

As with any industry, there are abuses but in our business, knowing that we can be reprimanded, fined, or even lose our license for failing to abide high standards of service to you, our client makes us proud and keeps us sharp.

Bruce