The Mace Sisters, An Introduction

Let me introduce myself.  I am Andrea Mace and I first moved to Cannon Beach, Oregon back in 1993 when I came to town to work for the summer at the age of 21.  By the end of that first summer, I had fallen in love with the stunning natural beauty of the area and was intrigued by the slower pace of life and the people; so I stayed for the winter, and then the spring... and so on until 30 years went by!

Like many families from Oregon and Washington, I grew up coming to the Oregon Coast with my mother and sister for family road trips that involved a lot of camping broken up by some luxurious hotel stays (and by luxurious, I mean not camping and nothing fancy).  My mother was a trooper, a single mom, who figured out how to get us to the coast every summer no matter what else was going on in her life.  We did all the things, eating at the first ever Mo's in downtown Newport, going to the Sea Lion Caves, visiting every possible museum along the way, watching the fireworks in Seaside (or was that dodging the fireworks?) and swimming in the ocean sans wetsuits.

So, our family had a life long love of Oregon's wide open beaches and charming coastal towns.  Eventually, when I was in college, my mother made a huge move in her life and moved herself and my younger sister, Norma Mace, to Cannon Beach full time.  My mother, Katherine Mace, took over a small graphic arts business (remember graphic arts?) which published the Cannon Beach Magazine and other tourist publications up and down the coast.  It was a pretty big feat for her that required both bravery and a leap of faith.  

As a family, we originated from the Puget Sound region, so we were used to living by the water.  But the Oregon Coast is different, dramatically different, especially in the winter when powerful storms march across the Pacific Ocean and make landfall.  Now they have dramatic names for them, like "Atmospheric Bombs", but when I moved here, none of the locals seemed too phased by gale force windstorms knocking the power out on a regular basis .  

In addition to a different climate, the Oregon Coast was still geographically cut off from the urban centers of Seattle and Portland where most of the professional jobs and steady economies were and it could be tough to make it through the winters financially when the stream of tourists slowed to a trickle.  It wasn't unusual for people to have 2 or 3 part time jobs to get through the slow season.

Anyway, when my mom and sister moved to the beach, I couldn't wait to come check it out as well.  That first summer,  I moved into the tall cottage my mom rented on the North End and took a job.  I had a short stint as a breakfast waitress at Dooger's (that location closed years ago and is now the Pelican Brewery).  Then, in the Fall, I decided to stay and got a retail job (my one and only, not a good fit for this girl).  Time ebbed and flowed and I found my own funky cottage to rent in the presidential streets (torn down many years ago) and figured out how to carve out a living in this town that was so unlike where I came from in inexplicable ways.  

I worked as a gardener at Haystack Gardens, sold books at Jupiters Rare and Used Books, bartended at the old Bills Tavern (before it became a brew pub and was mostly staffed by surfers who travelled whenever they had enough money), and then finally got into fine dining in both Cannon Beach and Manzanita. 

In the meantime, my sister Norma moved away to study dance at college after graduating from Seaside High School.  Norma had been dancing since she was a toddler and quickly became part of a dance company, traveling nationally and internationally to perform.  After college, she settled in Portland where she taught dance at the Lake Oswego Academy of Dance.

In the decades that ebbed and flowed like the tides between 1993 and the present; I moved from Cannon Beach to Arch Cape, and then eventually, to Manzanita.  Like most people, I found love, had a baby; moved again to Wheeler and eventually came full circle back to Cannon Beach where I have been raising my son for the last 10 years or so (it is easy to loose track of time).

One of my favorite things about living at the beach are the people; artists, musicians, renegades from all walks of life.  I have met and known so many creative souls, many of whom have passed but who left me with great gifts in the form of art and memories.  I pursued fine art photography and writing, including a stint at the Seaside Signal as a beat reporter and a contributor to the Hipfish and Coast Weekend. 

By the time my son was born, I had  become the Executive Director at the Cannon Beach Arts Association where we hosted monthly shows at the Cannon Beach Gallery.  It was a great fit for me and I truly enjoyed my time there as a steward of the arts.  People often ask it was hard to work with artists, but that was truly my favorite part, that and hanging the shows.

Eventually though, it was time for a career change and I gravitated toward real estate.  

It felt like a huge stretch to become a licensed Realtor, one that would have been hard to pull off without my partners financial support as there is a lot of money going out and not a lot coming in as a new real estate agent.  Once I got into the rhythm of building up my real estate practice I had to wonder why it had taken me so long to become an entrepreneur?  It turns out I enjoyed the challenges and the rewards, greatly.  It was also important to me that I still got to help people realize their dreams, only in a different way.

Once my sister Norma moved back to the coast, settling in Manzanita to have her first born son, she began looking at her own career options beyond dance.  She had taken a position at Encore Dance Studio where she continues to teach and choreograph award winning productions.  Eventually, seeing my own success and the rewards it brought, Norma pursued her own real estate license.  We have been working together ever since as realtors with Realty One Group Prestige.

So, here we are, thirty years later, raising our boys and enjoying the good life while also sharing our passion for all things coastal with our clients!  We would like to express our gratitude to our mother, Katherine Mace, for taking that leap of faith back in 1992 and moving to Cannon Beach.  Thanks mom!

Also, thank you to our partners, who are both entrepreneurs as well; my partner, Jonathan Tate owns and operates Sea Clean, (a home services business that can take care of your roof, windows, gutters, etc.) and Norma's partner, chef extraordinaire, Jordan Wilson, who owns and operates the wildly successful food venture, Surf to Soul, in downtown Astoria.

Reach out any time  for more insight into what it is like to live on the Oregon Coast and build a life here.  We are here to be an amazing local resource on so many levels, including in the purchase or sale of your home at the beach.