Cannon Beach, Oregon is a culturally sophisticated, low-key beach town that is known for being very gay-friendly. It is located about eighty miles west of Portland and 25 miles south of Astoria. There are many gay-run and friendly restaurants, bars, cafes and bed & breakfasts in this area that welcome thousands of LGBT tourists every year. However, Cannon Beach is not just a nice place to visit. It is also a lovely place to live with its smaller population of 1,695 and three miles of amazing beachfront with stunning rock formations just off the shore. In the summer, it is estimated that Cannon Beach plays hosts to over 750,000 tourists; many of them of a LGBTQ persuasion from nearby Portland.
This is also a well-established art community and the City of Cannon Beach is known for providing funding for projects in the artistic, environmental and recreational spheres. If you are a person who is a community builder or in the arts then this is a place that is very friendly to you.
Cannon Beach is also very near the tiny beach resort town of Manzanita, which is home to about 600 people and that was established in 1812. It is a well-known for being a wealthy community that is very concerned with fundraises such as the “Manzanita Beach Walk & Run.” Both Nehalem and Cannon Beach are supportive of nearby Nehalem Bay State Park which is just north of both communities and that also has an airstrip for small planes.
The area is well known for its natural beauty including the big rock formations, such as Haystack Rock, that towers 235 feet over the beach. There is also a lot of wildlife in Cannon Beach’s famous tide pools. Many natural streams, watersheds and springs also surround the city. Both Cannon Beach and Manzanita boast open spaces in the east that are home to dunes, estuaries and stream corridors.
The average listing price of a house for sale in Cannon Beach Oregon was $771,773 for the week ending August 28, 2013. There are rarely any homes in this area that are in foreclosure. As is true of many California beach cities and towns, property tends to be cheaper the further away it is from the ocean.
Both Cannon Beach and Manzanita are not that well developed and the housing styles often reflect it. Most of the affordable housing is eighties or nineties in style. There are many lots without houses for sale in the area, including beachfront properties especially along Highway 101. Some homes are ranch style or even California Rustic. A distinctive type of home in the area is the log or plank home that is painted in bright colors such as yellow and red.
For more information about either Cannon Beach or Manzanita go to the Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce website at www.cannonbeach.org or the Nehalem Chamber of Commerce at www.nehalembaychamber.com
