So Long, Astoria is the fourth studio album by American rock band The Ataris, released on March 4, 2003.

The album's title song alludes to the 1985 film The Goonies, which is set in Astoria, Oregon.

In February 2001, The Ataris released their third album End Is Forever through independent label Kung Fu Records.

[2] In June, guitarist Marco Peña left the group due to creative and personal differences.

[3] Roe said Collura "definitely brought us back to [being the] best of friends", as well making them "realize that this band has got a lot of life in it".

[2] Later that month, Giordano was enlisted as the album's producer and that recording would finally occur in August.

[7] With the aid of Angus Cooke and Thom Flowers, demos were recorded live-in-the-studio with minimal overdubs.

Bradley Cooke, Andrew Alekel and Flowers acted as engineers with assistance from Jason Nelson, Dean Cupp and Dave Ashton.

Several other people contributed to the album: James Muhawi (piano on "The Saddest Song"), Angus Cooke (cello), Jonathan Cox (programming), and Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket, Mike Herrera of MxPx and Tim Pagnotta of Sugarcult (backing vocals).

[8] Early in the writing process for the record, Roe found a book that gave him the theme for the album.

[4] The track was reminiscent of Matchbox Twenty;[13] its name is a reference to the town Astoria, Oregon in the film The Goonies (1985).

[19] "Unopened Letter to the World" details the life of American poet Emily Dickinson.

[20] "Summer '79" sees Roe reminiscing on days when spent as a teenager sneaking into drive-in theatres and listening to Queen.

[4] Collura said "The Boys of Summer" was included due to Roe's nostalgia for it, and "it just kind of fit into the rest of the record.

[11] Roe wrote "Looking Back on Today" about his wife, and called it the sole relationship-centric song on the album.

[25] The Japanese version included the bonus tracks "A Beautiful Mistake" and "I Won't Spend Another Night Alone", an acoustic version of "The Saddest Song", and a cover of the Ramones song "Rock 'N' Roll High School".

It featured "A Beautiful Mistake", a demo of "Eight of Nine", a live version of "In This Diary", and "Rock 'N' Roll High School" as B-sides.

[21] Roe revealed Columbia Records had warned the band about including the track on the album in the first place as there would be "a chance that somebody's going to put it out as a single".

[22] In late December and January 2003, the group embarked on the Australian leg of the Kung Fu Records Tour with the Vandals.

[35] The day following the album's release, an in-store performance was held at a record store in Tempe, Arizona.

[36] In mid-March, the band appeared on Total Request Live and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

[44] In October and November 2003, the band embarked on the VW Music Ed Tour with Vendetta Red.

[45] In November, the group went on a US tour with Planes Mistaken for Stars, Vendetta Red, Hopesfall, The Go Reflex and Squirtgun.

[21] They then played a few shows with the National Trust, which consisted of Roe and Matt Hart of Squirtgun, and appeared at Hellfest.

[74] In June 2016, the group performed in Australia, playing songs solely from Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits and So Long, Astoria.