There aren’t a whole lot of aerial photographs of Seaside from the distant past. This soaring view, however, from the skies above the beach offers a rare glimpse of the turnaround in the mid 1920s.
The old Seaside Hotel reclines in the foreground with its classic Edwardian architecture. Do you see the two crow’s nest towers at the highest point of the hotel? These two sentinel stations were head and shoulders above any man-made viewpoint in the area. They were normally accessible only by the Hotel Seaside staff and possibly local law enforcement. One can imagine the perks of being the hotel night auditor or a handyman on the early morning shift.
Do you suppose they ever tiptoed up the narrow spiral staircases and settled themselves in one of these towers? Perhaps with a steaming cup of coffee they reclined in these small citadels and watched the sunrise over the coast range. Maybe in these towers, certain lucky staff members stole a few moments of elevated peaceful reflection before embarking upon the madness of the workday. I’m not sure if this ever happened; but I sure hope it did.
