42nd Street, a Seaview Treasure

A Review from My Porch

One of the nicest treats anyone can give themselves while visiting the Long Beach Peninsula is dinner at the 42nd Street Café in Seaview. Whether it’s Sunday morning breakfast, a leisurely lunch or a special dinner, 42nd Street never fails to deliver a divine repast.

Last night my husband and I celebrated our 18th anniversary. Dave had asked me where I wanted to go to dinner. We considered several new restaurants on the Peninsula, but not wanting to risk a special occasion to chance in the end we decided to stick with a place we would be assured of elegant food and a warm welcome.

42nd Street Café has been in business in Seaview, WA for twenty years and offers the best of Northwest cuisine along with some traditional American offerings such as a half chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy which was right up our daughter’s alley. Dave had jambalaya with shrimp and chicken while I had the sesame encrusted sturgeon with Thai dipping sauce, steamed vegetables and rice. Their chocolate rum truffle cheese cake was the perfect anniversary dessert. In February my girlfriend and I celebrated our birthdays at 42nd Street and our dessert came with a roman candle in it!

42nd Street Café is a little Seaview treasure. During the holiday season they feature dinner with harp music. You can listen to Christmas carols while you dine on food that warms your heart as well as your tummy. Seating is limited so dinner reservations are recommended, especially if you’re visiting during one of the Peninsula’s many festivals. The service is excellent so if you are forced to wait for a table, the wait may not be long. Many are the times that we’ve taken grandma there for breakfast on Sunday and had only a wait of a few minutes before a table could be prepared.

If you plan a trip to the Long Beach Peninsula for the Kite Festival, the Rod Run or just winter storm watching, be sure to set aside at least one meal for the 42nd Street Café. Check out their menus. You won’t be sorry.

Seaview House Tour

I love the Long Beach Peninsula and I love old houses. The Long Beach Peninsula is one of the best places to enjoy gazing at houses of the past. Whenever my daughter-in-law Ana is here she always asks if we can go and look at houses. We are working to make our house beautiful, but have a long way to go. Lorraine mentioned enjoying virtual getaways through the travels of the Blog Squad so I took a morning to take pictures of some of my favorite houses on the Peninsula.

From the mouth of the Columbia River at Ilwaco to Oysterville at the Northern tip, the Long Beach Peninsula is a treasure trove of old Victorian houses and cottages. Perhaps my bias lays in the fact that I grew up spending summers in Seaview and thus am familiar with it, but I believe that more sweet houses are there than elsewhere. Most of these pictures were taken in Seaview. Another time I will drive up to Oysterville which is a snapshot of the past.


I love Doug Firs and Seaview is filled with houses and cottages tucked amongst ancient trees.

This house has a fence similar to what we are putting in. I want three of these arbors. I want a flag pole, too, where I can fly the American flag my father flew at his home.



Given my druthers I would have gone for a natural fence such as this. I like overgrown garden, which a British friend of mine calls a “stuffed garden.” The vinyl fence was my husband’s idea. If I plant enough flowers around it maybe it will fade to the background!


This is where the Republican family on the Long Beach Peninsula lives. I won’t say they are actually the only Republicans on the Peninsula, but while Obama and Gregoire signs abound, they have the only Rossi sign. He spoke there last week. My mother (who thinks she’s a Republican) jokes that Republican caucuses are held in a phone booth. Shows you what she knows. There are no phone booths here anymore.


For most of my life this has been my favorite house in the world. It has been the summer home of a Portland family for as long as I can remember and always been painted in these colors. I’ve never been inside.


This is my mother’s lifelong favorite. Most houses here have names and this one is the Sand Castle. When I was a child it was painted in primary colors and looked as if a giant child had built it and then gone off to play on the beach. It needs paint, but it is a constant fight against the elements and moss on the coast.














I love porches and this house has a dandy one.

This is the Shelburne Inn in Seaview. A very old hotel that was comfortably shabby in the 1970s was purchased by a local lad who spruced it up and added a gourmet restaurant and bar.


There is artwork in unexpected places.


And all in the interpretation.


This sweet cottage has pretty pink climbing roses along the roof line, but it was a gray day, as so many are, and the color of the baby pink roses looks faded. I like the starfish.


This tiny cottage has become my new favorite. Called the Shoe Box, it appears to have sprung from the ground.


I hope you’ve had a good time. Bye!