Seaside's Rock 'n Roll Riots Subject of Talk on N. Oregon Coast, Oct 24

Published 10/11/24 at 5:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Seaside, Oregon) – History & Hops in Seaside is one of the more dynamic talk series given along the Oregon coast, with each time a different speaker rolling down coastal Memory Lane with an intriguing new take. It's often filled with surprises.

Put together by the Seaside Museum on the last Thursday of each month, September through May, the next installment comes up on October 24, with RJ Marx, local writer and journalist. He'll dive into a wowing story of local history with Seaside's riots – specifically the second one that happened in 1963.

The event at Seaside Brewing Co is free to attend and begins at 6 p.m.

In '63, Seaside was hoping to not repeat what happened the previous year on Labor Day, where a major riot broke out and even high U.S. government officials commented or even turned their attention here. Hundreds overwhelmed firefighters and police personnel.

According to Marx – who has written a book this subject - “The city was calm Labor Day weekend until late Saturday. It was then that a massive gathering on the beach,” he said. “Many hoping to hear the hot new rock band Paul Revere and the Raiders pulled down the lifeguard tower for the second straight year and dragged it over the Prom onto Broadway.”

1961 - Oregon State Archives

Thousands of young people descended on Seaside on August 31. The event even brought guardsmen and Oregon State Police.

Thus begins Marx's “Seaside’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Labor Day Riots.”

In The Oregon Daily Journal's September 3 issue right after the riots, the paper describes a situation where local police threatened a teenage band leader with jail time if he and the band actually went on – after Mayor Maurice Pysher had promised local youth this show. The paper also reports police as being verbally abusive to teenagers and visitors in the north Oregon coast town.

1953

Reportedly, in spite of the destruction of the riot, some visitors of other age ranges felt safer with the rioting teens than with local police. The paper described them as “almost hysterical, club-wielding, gun-toting.” A Journal staff writer said one uniformed policeman even threatened her and other members of the press, saying about her: “I'm liable to rap her on the side of the head with a club.”

At the time, the paper reports nearly 70 arrests.

Hindsight sometimes reframes history. Find out what Marx uncovered.

R.J. Marx is an author, editor and journalist. At the Record-Review newspaper in Bedford, New York, he won numerous awards for his journalism, including the New York Press Association’s awards for the state’s best community newspaper. In 2015, he relocated to the Oregon coast, where he was the editor of the Seaside Signal and South County reporter for the Astorian until 2023. His experience covering Oregon’s North Coast introduced him to the people and historical events of Seaside in the 1960s. He lives in Seaside with his wife Eve and their dogs Lucy and Trixie.

Seaside Brewing Co. is at 851 Broadway, Seaside.

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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