<p>Laura Stewart, owner of House of the Potter in Cannon Beach, is closing her doors.</p>

Tucked away in a small, unpretentious square in downtown Cannon Beach, a short stones throw from the beaten Hemlock track, sit a pottery shop, a kite shop and a bicycle shop. Each is a local icon, a steady reassurance to tourists and locals alike that the Cannon Beach we knew when we were younger hangs on yet.

Travel on the breeze

My greatest pleasure is to hear a customer say, as hes buying his kid a kite, I bought my first kite here when I was a boy, says Lisa Fraser. She and her husband, John, own Once Upon a Breeze. Theres hardly a house in town without one of their kites in the closet.

Johns been in the same weathered, quirky, re-purposed Spruce Street cottage with his kites since he began working there for D. K. Smith in the early 1970s. I worked as a beach flyer. D.K. paid me to fly kites on the beach all summer, he says. We used to have big beach shows, huge kites and all these banners. I learned a lot about wind currents.

By 1983 John was able to buy the business, about the time that stunt-kite flying caught on. Powered by his kites, John toyed with sand skiing, with kayaking, with lifting small children such as Meadow Ayres. I wonder if she remembers that, he muses, rubbing his chin.

His building is open and airy, naturally. His contractor friends wont let him remove any more of the interior. Kites cover the walls. In a corner is the workbench where the shop repairs anyones kite for free. Behind the purple curtain and the hollow-core door, the bathroom walls are covered with decades of good-natured graffiti mostly customer comments that surprised the help who then recorded them there. Dude, you repair anyones kite for free? For free? You guys are like Les Schwab.

Its made people who come in here really happy sometimes, says John.

A knowledgeable bike man

Next door, beyond the bamboo and across a scruffy lawn, Mike the Bike Stanley has been selling bicycles for nearly 40 years. Theres hardly a house in town that hasnt had a bike from Mikes in its garage sometime.

His shop is spartan and smells good, like rubber and clean grease and new metal. Mike, too, arrived in Cannon Beach in the 1970s after a year bicycling from Portland to Paris and began selling used bikes from space at Spruce and Second streets. Shortly thereafter, he moved Mikes Bikes to a two-car garage and, by 1983, had secured space in a vacated cabinet shop next door. Using largely scavenged materials, friends who Mike had sold bikes to re-wired the electricity, added picture windows and poured a cement floor. Mike and the remodel have remained there for decades.

In a neighborhood of eccentric shop owners, Mikes curious customer relation skills are part of his charm to those who know him. He wont coddle whiners, but he can sure fix bikes. And he could write a book about the changes in bicycle design and manufacturing since he started selling them. Mountain bikes were just taking off. Theyve evolved now to include full suspension, disc brakes, carbon fiber frames and 29-inch wheels. Mike confesses, though, a new fondness for cruisers. I get a lot of pleasure watching people, often couples my own age, enjoying bicycles again together. Townies have done that, he says.

Closing up house

Across the square, Laura Stewart is closing House of the Potter, Cannon Beachs fond source of, among other things, her late husband Jays fine, distinctive mugs and bowls. Theres hardly a kitchen in town that hasnt a cherished piece or two in the cupboard. Laura, in typical fashion, is bringing 34 years of family business to an orderly, graceful end.

When Jays parents, Katherine and Ed Stewart, retired to Cannon Beach in the 1970s they opened a bookstore, All This and Heaven, Too, which sold Christian titles and Jays pottery. Jay was not only talented and creative, but he understood the market and had a monkish devotion, says Laura, to throwing pots.

Ultimately, the couple acquired the business from Jays parents, renamed it House of the Potter and moved from the corner of Spruce and Second streets to space in the remodeled fire station facing Once Upon a Breeze and its pleasant, informal square.

As Amazon took a hard toll on their book sales, Laura carved a niche. Incredible artists are illustrating for childrens books. And everybody knows a child. That saved books for us.

But with Jays death too early, their reliable source of valuable pottery vanished. Laura and her family have decided to close the store. This is a family business. There is an integrity factor. Like, Oh, man. Im the last one standing. Am I going to run the business into the ground, or can I get out gracefully?

The last of Jays ceramic tiles are being carefully salvaged from the entry; the last beeswax tapers discounted and sold. Youll find Laura, who rues the scarcity of youngsters in town nowadays, working as a classroom assistant, reading lovely books to children every day.

Those who want to visit a bit of Cannon Beach that they knew when they were younger had best not dally.