Hokium, through the years

I thought I had published this last year, but somehow I left it lingering in "drafts".
Hoquiam in the 1910's
1930's
1940's
1950's
and the 1960's
The photos shown today are from The History Link's Hoquiam history page, where I learned the earlier spelling of the name was actually Hokium. I think it's time to bring that back!

Department of Book Reports: There's this, and then there's that.

from here.
It's been a wild week here in our small town, what with the assault while carrying a dead weasel/marten incident going viral. The mayor was not amused, but did mention the bookstore in this interview.

HOQUIAM, Wash. (AP) - Police say a man was carrying a dead weasel when he burst into an apartment and assaulted a man in Washington state.

The victim asked, "Why are you carrying a weasel?" Police said the attacker answered, "It's not a weasel, it's a marten," then punched him in the nose and fled.

The Dave Barry rule applies here: You just can't make this stuff up. Hoquiam Police Chief Jeff Myers was contacted by the Game Department, as martens hadn't been seen on the Harbor for 50 years. After seeing a photo, they replied "Never mind, it's a mink."

Both Seattle Dan & I find ourselves between books to report on this week. We received a call asking if we could take a bunch of books, to help the family clean out grandma's house. They estimated there were a couple hundred books and they needed us to take everything. Well, 42 cartons of books later... the living room floor is bare. We'll be cataloging and listing this truly wonderful cache of titles. Watch for our cookbook list to expand a great deal. I saw many Japanese and Chinese cookery and early teevee chef books from the 60s & 70s. There are also a great many volumes of classic authors, both fiction & nonfiction.

I'll leave you with this video, Carolyn Parkhurst has totally convinced me to read her new book The Nobodies Album and buy lots of swag from her


What are you reading these days? Share your recommends in the comments.

Department of Book Reports: An Ocean Between Us

An Ocean Between Us, by Evelyn Iritani (Morrow, 1994)
We all know that saying about History repeating itself, and this book from 1994 shows several examples. Evelyn Iritani uses 4 stories to explain Washington states' fascination with all things Japan, and it has really had some resonance for me. She starts out with a story from 1834, when three sailors are ship wrecked off Neah Bay. I had never heard this story before! They were on a cargo ship, the Hojun-maru, limited to Japanese waters when a storm damaged their ship and carried them across the Pacific on the Kuroshio current. Taken as slaves by the Makah tribe, they were rescued by Dr. John McLoughlin, only to have his dreams of bartering them to open trade with Japan denied by the Tokugawa shogunate. They are given 30 coins and left to finally find lives outside Japan.

Next, looking at the early Yellow scares, leads us into the WWII internment of West Coast Japanese. It is here the Fear of the Other is closely echoed in today's treatment of the Mexicans in Arizona and elsewhere. Little was known of the actual attempted attacks by the Japan Army, their successful balloon campaign that killed a woman and 3 children in Blye,OR. Across the ocean, the Ohkuno Island Toxic Gas Factory employed school girls to build elaborate paper mache balloons that could drift across the Pacific with bombs as their payload. Following up with these students, Iritani tells us of the 50 year later reunions of these school girls and the families in Oregon.

In 1990, a Chinese tanker collides with a Japanese fishing boat, the Tenyo-maru and seventy thousand gallons of crude oil are spilled off the Olympic Peninsula. The local folks volunteer to rake up tar balls on the beach and send oiled birds to Seattle for re-hab. The fines in this case were leveled against the Chinese government, not the polluting fishing company company, leading the Makah to distrust the Japanese.

In the final story, we look at the take over of Port Angeles paper mill by the Daishowa company, and the conflicts that occur in a small town during the craze of Japanese Management circles and a time when it seemed their powerful economy was allowing them to buy any old American thing they wanted. The contrasting stories of union activist Dave Hoglund who tries to balance the new company's work styles and Yutaka Mochizuki, who tries to balance bringing his family to this strange new land. In this case, the new management was able to put money into long neglected facilities, that ultimately benefitted the workers and the town. Ironically, the mill was powered by cheap electricity from the salmon-decimating dam on the Elwha, now scheduled to be removed.

Throughout this book, I kept seeing much of the hysteria that is too prevalent now. I hope we will move past today's angst, and our better sides will prevail. In today's Washington state, kids adore Japan and all its trappings. I saw kids in Seattle studying Japanese and dutifully practicing their kanji . Our own son went to Tokyo with 2 other students for a field trip. I always found Chinatown & Japantown to be the most vibrant shopping districts, with the best Fruit & Veg stands, anywhere. Far from being a feared, reviled part of the populace, Japan has conquered the kids hearts and minds. And that is a good thing.

UPDATE: I was afraid I may have engaged in a bit of hyperbole in writing this book report. And then I saw this.

Here's something you all may be able to help us with. I'd like to rent this storefront, and have a tiny little bookstore. Thing is, I need some opening moneys. Rent is cheap, and I do think it can be recouped. But what's most exciting is a chance to have a bookstore in our local community. Much as I love the internets, there is nothing that replaces putting a book into someone's hands. I'd really like it if you bought a bunch of books, but if you're able to, and so inclined, a donation to our paypal will get you our undying loyalty.

I'm trying to figure out a bookstore membership format, that will get you a discount on orders. I'm fully aware that bookselling is a dinosaur in our current society and job force. I'm just crazy enough to love and want to continue doing it.

Please order your books from Jackson Street Books.As always, books ordered here will have a freebie publishers Advance Reading Copy included as a thank you to our blogosphere friends.

It's a Car! It's a Boat! It's the Swimarai!

Coming back from the grocery tonight, we saw the most amazing vehicle out in the river. At first I thought someone drove off the bank, but closer inspection showed this was a seaworthy craft.
He even got a chuckle out of the local fisherman, while he waited to come ashore.

The wheels are outfitted with these paddles for propulsion, although there was a small elvinrude engine on the back end.
Pumping out the bilge after landing. Most of the water was back splash from the front tires, not leakage.
And here's Cap'n Lee, who built the Swimarai in 2007.

Cars that go bump in the night

Spring is in the air and it's time to start gardening. These are before shots of the back border.
Cut to 10:50pm last night, Hoquiam police officer at the door, with our neighbor Allie, who's car had a brake failure and took out some of the fence. I figured it was the corner at the main street, which has taken some dings in the past.Yikes! The brake failed while the car was parked up hill. No one was in it when it went over, thankfully, no one was hurt.I could tell that half the forsythia was broken off, but I was so glad the car missed the lovely Japanese Maple that turns a brilliant red in the fall.
Not so lucky after all. The maple is completely broken off.
So, today will be spent talking to the police and insurance companies and if the sunshine holds for a couple days I see a chipper/shredder session in my future.

Our Little Town

I have lived all my life in big cities. I grew up in LA; I went to grad school and then began my career in Portland, Or.; and up until last year, lived for 33 years in Seattle. So the adjustment to living in a small town has proven interesting, to say the least. Not that I don't love it. The Harbor is a sweet place to live. The pace is low-key. The natives are friendly. In fact, Hoquiam boasts to being the friendliest town in Washington State.But the thing that has really struck me in this election season is that I actually get to vote for County Coroner. I've never lived in a place where the position of coroner is an elected office. And not only is it an elected office, it is a partisan office. Who knew?As it turns out, both candidates here are Democrats. That is good, because I don't want a Republican performing my autopsy. One of the candidates is a nurse. The other is the current coroner who was appointed to the office after the previous coroner moved onto another position. We ended up voting for the current office holder. But you can see both candidates campaign signs all over town and in Aberdeen.
There were a couple of other important ballot issues. One is designed to overturn the Washington State Legislature's "Everything but Marriage" law that granted our gay citizens equality in all things, except for marriage. We voted, of course, to retain the new law, even if means destroying our marriage, which I'm sure is part of teh gay agenda.


The other is an initiative to cap government revenue sources and was promoted by our state wingnut, Tim Eyman. Surely something we need; cripple government during a recession.

Anyway, that's the scoop from our little town for now.

Westport Pirates

We decided to venture out and look for pirates today. We got to see a few, but it was the boats we came to see.This is the Lady Washington, originally built 20 years ago to illustrate the local history of Gray's Harbor.


the Hawaiian Chieftain


You can catch the silliness here. I really wanted to see the Pirates Parade, and I did notice the firetruck and another float two blocks away, but I didn't realize we missed the parade. Note to Organizers: if you have a parade; tell people where it is. Oh, and don't leave your floats parked on the street we're not supposed to be looking at.

I hadn't realized alien abductions were such a problem in Westport.
We did go look at the ocean! We waved at RevPaperboy!

A Short Walkabout

Sunny days shouldn't be wasted. Come take a walk!

Just across the street

I'd lament the demise of this great little building, but since the shipyard was festooned with Dino Rossi posters not so long ago, I content myself with muttering about Republican Infrastucture.

The bridge over the Hoquiam River.


The riverfront walkway flowering plum trees in bloom.

Low Tide: things you don't usually see.



Stay Out! This means you!

The footing of the old bridge now serves as a pedestal for this glass boat.

Even during low tide, I don't see how someone got out there to hang this sign: "Mother Nature is Awesome!"

Barge? Car Ferry?

The best damned burgers in town: Al's Humdinger, since 1974.

4:20 Shorebirds

We had decided to avoid the rush of The Festival of Shorebirds this past weekend and besides, I had to work in Ocean Shores. This morning, when I saw that the show birds' optimum viewing time was 4:20, it was a sign. A cosmic sign. Like I got a memo from da birds.
Nice Town Lady snapped a pic of us!


The boardwalk was built in 1997. It's holding up great.


We so need a better camera! And a spotting scope.


Songs heard along the way. I did see that Song Sparrow, but he flitted away so here is the singing brush. Bird Notes has a much better audio.

When we returned home, we found Ironic Litter had blown into the front rose bed. Now featured on the refridgerator.