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1004 Marine Dr. | Astoria, Oregon | ‪(503)468-7171

Weird Sisters Freak Boutique
Weird Sisters Freak Boutique

1004 Marine Dr. | Astoria, Oregon | ‪(503)468-7171

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Welcome Weirdos of the Press!

We made this page to make it easier for our strange siblings in the press to understand what we're doing and have access to the collected resources that will make it easier for you to help your readers to do the same. You made your way here through the press portal to get there so you've been able to read what has been written and produced. But if you skipped that step somehow, there is a link at the bottom for Press and Artist - which will give you more info on the owner/ artist's background and other artworks. 


However, because we're always building new experiences, this is the best place to get the latest updates, photos, and outlines of the expanding Weird Sisters Universe. 


All photos here are credited and are allowed for press for Weird Sisters Freak Boutique promotions and press with attribution. If no credit is present, they are credited to Sondra Carr. Please contact at the link below for interviews and invitations to upcoming events. 

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In The beginning

Enter Through the Gift Shop

Hidden Underground Experience

Hidden Underground Experience

Weird Sisters started with a gift shop - buy/ sell/ resale to launch our larger idea. Opening day was July 4, 2019 - our Independence Day.  


The vision was that creative artists and businesses could not only get along but needed each other to survive. And the point at which business and art meets is often in the vintage/ resale market. 


So 

Weird Sisters started with a gift shop - buy/ sell/ resale to launch our larger idea. Opening day was July 4, 2019 - our Independence Day.  


The vision was that creative artists and businesses could not only get along but needed each other to survive. And the point at which business and art meets is often in the vintage/ resale market. 


So we started a curated vintage and resale shop - but one that gets weirder the farther in you go. 

Hidden Underground Experience

Hidden Underground Experience

Hidden Underground Experience

Weird Sisters Freak Boutique is located inside the Hidden Underground Experience - a rebranding of the Underground Building created by the late Astoria school librarian, Michael Foster. 


Foster, an artist and art collector, owned the Underground Building and had a dream of creating an indoor hangout space and tiny town representing Astoria

Weird Sisters Freak Boutique is located inside the Hidden Underground Experience - a rebranding of the Underground Building created by the late Astoria school librarian, Michael Foster. 


Foster, an artist and art collector, owned the Underground Building and had a dream of creating an indoor hangout space and tiny town representing Astoria, Oregon from the 1890s, complete with a Shanghai cell. 


Over the years there were various small businesses in the space - Fosters' own antique shop, the Wine Cellar and a popular tea spot but it had set mostly empty for many years until Weird Sisters Freak Boutique and Kit's Apothecary opened in 2019. 

The LAB and Weird Events

Hidden Underground Experience

The LAB and Weird Events

Shortly after opening at the end of the first summer in 2019, Weird Sisters opened the Weird Sisters Underground Laboratory (or LAB for short) to provide a unique incubator space for artists and small businesses to test idea with trunk shows and pop up galleries. 


Before the pandemic hit in February of 2020 these events were hosted in the 

Shortly after opening at the end of the first summer in 2019, Weird Sisters opened the Weird Sisters Underground Laboratory (or LAB for short) to provide a unique incubator space for artists and small businesses to test idea with trunk shows and pop up galleries. 


Before the pandemic hit in February of 2020 these events were hosted in the LAB: 


Socrates Cafe Discussion Groups

Weird Sisters Micro-Grant Awards Ceremony

Nyk Stephens Listening Parties 

Pop up Galleries featuring artists and performers: Brenda West, William Brown, Julia Hesse, Kathleen Barber, Stephen Shellabarger. 


And plans were begun for the upcoming Mural grants sponsored by Golden Paints. 


Of course these were all put on hold for over a year (and counting as of this writing in September of 2021). 



Turning Point

The Grotto and Experience Bar

Wonderland Through the Wardrobe

Wonderland Through the Wardrobe

Weird Sisters Freak Boutique owner, Sondra Carr, is an immersive installation artist, social practice artist and sculptor/ painter. 


Her son, and oftentimes collaborator, Harper Carr, is a voice over artist and singer. 


Harper would often help out at the shop and while running the register would sing to customers, to their delight. 


Sondra t

Weird Sisters Freak Boutique owner, Sondra Carr, is an immersive installation artist, social practice artist and sculptor/ painter. 


Her son, and oftentimes collaborator, Harper Carr, is a voice over artist and singer. 


Harper would often help out at the shop and while running the register would sing to customers, to their delight. 


Sondra thought "how could this be OK?" which became a sort of Weird Sisters refrain. 


They build the Serenade Station in which Harpser would sing from a menu of songs he knew and charge cutomers for the experience. 


Then the roof started leaking. The landlord couldn't find the leak at first and so again Weird Sisters asked "How could this be OK?" and decided that a leak would be OK in a cave and built the Weird Sisters Grotto - a temporary immersive display that makes you feel like you're really in a cave, in the back of a shop. 


They then decided to move the Serenade Station into the Grotto and build a bar to expand the idea into what is now the Experience Bar - a bar, where you buy experiences. 


Experiences range from experiments with your senses, to experiments with perceptions, all the way to rituals that get you psychologically in touch with aspects of your thinking that are often hidden. 

Wonderland Through the Wardrobe

Wonderland Through the Wardrobe

Wonderland Through the Wardrobe

After experimenting with events in the Weird Sisters LAB, Weird Sisters collaborated with the other shops in the Hidden Underground Experience (at that time, Kit's Apothecary and Floral Haze Vintage) to create the Wonderland Through the Wardrobe event.


Over a dozen local actors played the parts of various fairytale characters and the entir

After experimenting with events in the Weird Sisters LAB, Weird Sisters collaborated with the other shops in the Hidden Underground Experience (at that time, Kit's Apothecary and Floral Haze Vintage) to create the Wonderland Through the Wardrobe event.


Over a dozen local actors played the parts of various fairytale characters and the entire Underground Building was decorated as a winter landscape entered through a wardrobe, a lookingglass and a tunnel through a tree. 


Over 300 people attended this event - it was set to become an anual event before the pandemic hit shortly after the holiday season. 

The World's Tiniest Disco

Wonderland Through the Wardrobe

The World's Tiniest Disco

The Pandemic hit and Weird Sisters was closed for four months, reopening in June of 2020 cautiously. At this, the worst time, the space between the Grotto and the LAB became available for rent. The door from Weird Sisters Grotto goes into what used to be the closet of a counselor's office on the other side of the wall. 


That closet is now 

The Pandemic hit and Weird Sisters was closed for four months, reopening in June of 2020 cautiously. At this, the worst time, the space between the Grotto and the LAB became available for rent. The door from Weird Sisters Grotto goes into what used to be the closet of a counselor's office on the other side of the wall. 


That closet is now the World's Tiniest Disco. AKA the "secret passage" to the Portal. 


Again, creating with questions, Carr asked "What is the funniest way to create a secret passage? 


With lights and music and dancing of course. 

Post Pandemic

The Portal

Beyond the Portal

Beyond the Portal

Looking forward to the Post Pandemic landscape, Weird Sisters decided to build a speakeasy on the other side of the World's Tiniest Disco - but not any speakeasy. 


This speakeasy is built by an alien from outerspace, and so it contains unusual things that still give a feeling of a speakeasy but not of this world. 


You go through time AND sp

Looking forward to the Post Pandemic landscape, Weird Sisters decided to build a speakeasy on the other side of the World's Tiniest Disco - but not any speakeasy. 


This speakeasy is built by an alien from outerspace, and so it contains unusual things that still give a feeling of a speakeasy but not of this world. 


You go through time AND space to land in a place where the Experiences you encounter at the Experience Bar are intensified - in fact, some orders from the Experience Bar send you into the Portal (and beyond). 

Beyond the Portal

Beyond the Portal

Beyond the Portal

In the Works when the Portal is complete, is a reworking of the LAB - because the pandemic created fears about large gatherings, Weird Sisters has begun to reimagine the space as a smaller, more intimate space for personal experiences with trusted bubbles. 


Stay tuned for the announcement here of the expansion but it's already being hinted

In the Works when the Portal is complete, is a reworking of the LAB - because the pandemic created fears about large gatherings, Weird Sisters has begun to reimagine the space as a smaller, more intimate space for personal experiences with trusted bubbles. 


Stay tuned for the announcement here of the expansion but it's already being hinted about a trip through a bookcase to an enchaged forest, a witches abode, and more creative shenanigans. 

What's Next?

Beyond the Portal

What's Next?

There are events and expansions planned for after things return to somewhat more normal - though as with all businesses, it's hard to predict too far in the future right now. 


But Weird Sisters will continue to be a place where you actually can buy experiences and delight and a sense of well-being, if only for a moment, to recharge your ps

There are events and expansions planned for after things return to somewhat more normal - though as with all businesses, it's hard to predict too far in the future right now. 


But Weird Sisters will continue to be a place where you actually can buy experiences and delight and a sense of well-being, if only for a moment, to recharge your psyche for the adventure that awaits. 


Kosmic Karen is becoming our mascot of sorts and is the alien behind the Portal - she has her own advice column of Facebook now and will soon be a more prominent part of our universe. 


As Weird Sisters expands, we'll be renting costumes, and as soon as we can, also hosting our own events. Rest assured, nothing will be normal - it's right there in the name. 



Background

Sondra Carr Artists Studio

Sondra Carr Artists Studio

Sondra Carr Artists Studio

Sondra Carr is the  owner of Weird Sisters Freak Boutique and a sculptor/ painter/ social practice/ and immersive installation artist. 


Click HERE or on the image for more info. 

Vignette Coastal Design

Sondra Carr Artists Studio

Sondra Carr Artists Studio

Sondra Carr is also an experiential display artist, creating unusual and interactive displays and promotions, and offering workshops and consulting for small and medium sized retail shops. 


Click HERE or on the image for more info. 

Image by Caitlin Seyfried

Weird Sisters Press

Sondra Carr Artists Studio

Weird Sisters Press

All the other press on Weird Sisters Freak Boutique. 


Click HERE or on the image for more info. 

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