Welcome to a multi-part photo essay about Astoria Oregon, founded in 1811. I believe photography is the art form that requires the least amount of skill, but then again visual art is just storytelling much like the written word. All now so corrupted and stolen from by AI.
John Jacob Astor (1763-1848) started on his road to riches trading for beaver pelts with native Americans and selling them to wealthy Europeans for their fancy fur coats and hats. He sold his fur company and invested the proceeds in New York real estate right when the city was experiencing explosive growth. Astor bought large tracts of land in Manhattan and then sold 100 year ground leases to builders. Smart to invest in land and then going forward having no expenses other than taxes - pure rent-seeking capitalism at its finest.
Hard to write about American history without mentioning that the Europeans and their ancestors who carved up what is now the United States stole ALL “their” land from the natives.
—Alex
wow. "1911." that was a bad typo. fixed.
I don't feel too bad, though. Typos of the New York Times on Twitter/X (@nyttypos) corrects typos in the Times and there are multiple typos and style guide violations daily.