Around Aberdeen

Recently, I walked around Aberdeen with our dog Fergus, as Nancy shopped. In no particular order:

Aberdeen's historic Electric Building at 100 East Heron Street. While not on the National Historic Register, the Electric Building was first lit up on February 1, 1913. Electricity in rural places was rare in 1913 and the Electric Building was a sight to behold. On the street, the The Grays Harbor Electric Railway and Light Company streetcar would pass by. Sadly, with the decline in the timber industry and the onset of the Great Depression, the Electric Building also fell into decline as did all of Aberdeen. Few remember there used to be an Aberdeen streetcar and fewer still remember the glories of the lit-up Electric Building.

• Gray's Harbor Talk has a good article about the Electric Building; here.
• Recently, the building was purchased by a Vietnamese immigrant with plans for a restaurant; story here.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has been in Aberdeen for many years. The front of the building is at 105 East Heron Street. The back of the building is shown below:

As with the Electric Building, the VFW in Aberdeen have had trials and tribulations in recent years.

• The VFW had major roof problems in 2012 that took until May of 2014 to finish repairs and move back into their building. KBKW had an extensive story about that episode, here.
• After much soul searching, the post decided in 2018 that it needed to sell its downtown building due to continuing decline. That story was reported here.

Closing out the mini-tour, I was heartened to see that at least one building has new life. 105 West Heron was the home of Aberdeen's only shoe store, Harbor Shores until it closed in December 2017 so that the owner could retire. The space was soon the home of a microbrewery; Mount Olympus Brewing, which started up in 2018 and seems to be doing well. Of course, the new outfit doesn't sell shoes, but we can't have everything!

• The story of the start of Mount Olympus Brewing is here.
• The brewery also has a website, here.

Phoning Back to Home

In my last post, I was amazed to find pay phones out in the wilds of the Olympic Penninsula. Well, apparently, those phones were connected straight to Dallas, Texas. Imagine my surprise to find their counterparts in Dallas Union Station. There were not one, not two, but THREE phones - coincidentally the exact same number as I discovered in my previous post.

Three Phones at Dallas Union Station - Three Phones on the Olympic Penninsula. Coincidence or...

It is amazing what one sees when one is not looking for it.

Steve Phone Home - Or NOT

Pay Phones at Kalaloch Lodge

Oops - Out of Order!

Admit it, how long has it been since you saw a real, genuine coin phone? Myself, it has been long enough that I felt compelled to take photos when I saw, not one, but two locations with same last summer while on a driving tour of the Olympic Penninsula.

The first booth (actually two) were adjacent to the Kalaloch Lodge, which is near Oil City (on the way to Forks). There they were, just sitting next to the parking lot. A closer look revealed that the phones were not in their prime.



The next was in the Lake Crescent Lodge. This one appeared to be fully functional, and even had some notes inside with phone numbers on them, though I didn't try to make a call. There did not seem to be a line waiting to use the phone, even though cell signals around Lake Crescent are spotty at best.

Don'cha Just LOVE that Phone Booth?

The Day Lance Came to Town

We've heard of Lance Armstrong. We've heard of Hank Williams. Some think that Lance Lambert, host of "The Vintage Vehicle Show" combines the best of both. I'm not sure about that, and I didn't even see Lance this year (unlike in 2017), but the car show was PRIMO. I'm presuming this was the day Lance Lambert came to town...

FYI, I also include Johnny Cash's tribute to Hank, below:

Elvis is in the Building

Ocean Shores may be a tourist town, but it has its little town foibles as well. One of these are the "off season" shows, events and festivals that occur. For example, the Ocean Shores Food Bank hosted an "Illusion of Elvis" that was performed by "tribute artist" Danny Vernon. The show was actually quite good and the Food Bank raised a fair bit of money.

One might wonder just how seriously an event should be taken that is held on April 1st. No kidding!

North of Here

Not too far north of Ocean Shores is Lake Quinalt and the Lake Quinault Lodge. It's a pretty sweet place, left over from another era.

View of Lake Quinault Lodge from the Road

Weathervane Atop the Lake Quinault Lodge

World's Largest Sitka Spruce, Close by the Lake Quinault Lodge

Rain Gage at Lake Quinault Lodge

View from the Roosevelt Room at the Lake Quinault Lodge

Mostly Locals

The fourth of July is a BIG tourist holiday at Ocean Shores. In “The Ocean ShoresTourist Killer,” the villain wanted to scare the tourists away so he could have a quiet holiday. Still, some events really are not for the tourists, nor do they come for them. One such is the Ocean Shores Yacht Club 4^th of July Parade. In it, local residents decorate their pontoon boats and parade up and down Duck Lake. We watched – and waved.