CORBETT, Ore (KATU). — Vista House is set to reopen to visitors
in the Columbia River Gorge this coming weekend.

While the viewpoint and parking lot have remained open, Vista
House and its gift shop and café will be back open to the public.

The historic Columbia River Gorge attraction has been closed for
most of 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Vista House opened in 1918 (above) as a glamorous rest stop and observatory for those traveling the new highway. This “comfort
station” was a rest stop like no other, featuring marble floors,
stained glass windows — and, of course, a stunning view. In the
words of The Oregonian, it was “the finishing achievement for the greatest highway in America.”

Architect Edgar M. Lazarus designed the building to be functional, beautiful and commemorative: the rest stop served as a memorial
to the settlers who had traveled the final stretch of the Oregon Trail
along the Columbia River. Inside, stone panels are carved with the
names of settler families. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, the building fulfills Lazarus’s vision as a “temple to
the natural beauty of the Gorge.

Edgar Marks Lazarus
(June 6, 1868 – October 2, 1939)

SANDY KOZEL

George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum)
(January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996)

George Burns has three stars on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame: a motion pictures star at 1639 Vine
Street, a television star at 6510 Hollywood Boulevard,
and a live performance star. Burns is also a member
of the Television Hall of Fame, where he and Gracie
Allen were both inducted in 1988.

The Famous comedy duo of George Burns and Gracie Allen.

George Burns & Gracie Allen were not only
married in real life, their work from the
mid-1930s through the mid-1950s made them
one of the biggest comedy duos in Hollywood.

On March 9, 1959, the first Barbie doll went  on display at the
American Toy Fair in New York City.

Eleven inches tall, with a waterfall of blond hair, Barbie was the
first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult
features. The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler, who co-
founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945. After seeing her
young daughter ignore her baby dolls to play make-believe with
paper dolls of adult women, Handler realized there was an
important niche in the market for a toy that allowed little girls
to imagine the future.

First Barbie TV commercial in 1959.

The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler,who co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945.

In Russia, the February Revolution (known as such because of
Russia’s use of the Julian calendar) began on March 8, 1917
when riots and strikes over the scarcity of food erupt in
Petrograd. One week later, centuries of czarist rule in Russia
ended with the abdication of Nicholas II, and Russia took a
dramatic step closer toward communist revolution.

By 1917, most Russians had lost faith in the leadership ability
of the czarist regime. Government corruption was rampant, the
Russian economy remained backward, and Nicholas repeatedly dissolved the Duma, the Russian parliament established after
the Revolution of 1905, when it opposed his will. However, the
immediate cause of the February Revolution—the first phase of
the Russian Revolution of 1917—was Russia’s disastrous
involvement in World War I.