Rusty House Owner, Cold Water Surf and Skate • Astoria, OR My wife and I have lived here 11 years; we moved here in 2005 from St. Louis. I was changing jobs. My wife wasn’t terribly interested in the Portland area. She asked, “Hey, can we live on the coast?” I said, “Sure.” We looked from Newport to Astoria, and we liked here best. It’s the combination of a blue-collar town and a place to work and live. We made that choice and never regretted it.