Discover Walla Walla
Secrets and Surprises from Our Corner of the World
Posted by: Susan Monahan in History on
Jan 23, 2012
 When I say Walla Walla Sweets, I am not referring to baseball or onions. I am talking candy. Residents and visitors certainly appreciate Bright's on Main Street and many remember fondly the many years Russell's Candy was in business. But there is a "ghost sign" on an elegant brick building at 108 South Third that marks Walla Walla Candy Co., an important business in our town's candy history. The sign is faint, but one can make out "Manufacturers and Jobbers." The candy made in this factory was sold wholesale -- all over town and beyond. This company existed for years with various owners and different names, but maintained the tradition of supplying the sweet stuff to young and old.
An 1889 ad says that the Walla Walla Candy Company (then on Main Street) are "Manufacturers of the Finest French and American Candies and Confectionery. Tropical and domestic Fruits and Nuts. Arctic Soda, Ice Cream and Oysters in their Season." Oysters? Yes, oyster sales often went hand in hand with candy, and many places that you could buy candy sold tobacco too. The vocation of candy maker could be a prestigious one. The Walla Walla Candy Company brought Earl Remington Davenport and his family all the way from Seattle in 1927 to be "head confectioner" and manage their company. By this time the company was owned by two gentlemen whose names Bybee and Burton merged into Burbee, and the Burbee Candy Company became famous not only for their chocolates, but also, for their Bingo Bar. (I'd love to know what a Bingo Bar consisted of).
Posted by: Susan Monahan in History on
Dec 29, 2011
 There is a fond place in the hearts of many Walla Walla folks for the Bee Hive Building on the corner of First and Main. Built of dark red brick and featuring tall, gracefully curved upstairs windows, it now houses several businesses. It's really the Sayer building, named for the man who built it in 1890, but everybody calls it "The Bee Hive" because they remember the department store that was there for so many years. "You could buy anything you wanted at The Bee Hive," June told me. June's 88, but younger people, too, have vivid memories of what they bought there as late as the 70's. "Blue Bell Jeans," says Ron. Tina (too young to have any Bee Hive experiences herself) says her grandma went there every Christmas to buy still another Mr. Potato Head for Tina's father. "Oh, yes, the toys," says Diane, "all displayed upstairs at Christmas time on huge tables, and downstairs, way at the back, you sat on little metal tools to try on shoes."
That's what people told me about the Bee Hive Department Store, but when I shared my findings that the building was for many years also a lodging house, most were surprised. The 1892 city directory tells me that at first several separate businesses operated from the Sayer Building: Mr. Lynch, Steamfitter, Mrs. Howells of the Elite Dressmaking Parlor, and Regal Shoes with Mr. Schumaker (I am not making that up) in charge. Kind of an early mini-mall. The directory also says that Mrs. Howells and Mr. Schumaker had their "res" in the building as well as their businesses. I had trouble imagining Mrs. Howells setting up a cot amongst her dressmaker forms and sewing machines. And how could one have as many as seven men and women living in one building without "facilities" and privacy and some kind of communal space for Alonzo Robbins, "horsebreaker," and John Clary, "marker" at the Walla Walla Laundry, to have a friendly chat at the end of the day?
Posted by: Jim Willis in Scenery on
Dec 22, 2011
 The image in this blog entry was captured in Walla Walla's Pioneer Park. The snow laden trees lie on the east shore of the park's south pond. Pioneer Park is one of my favorite sites because of the great variety of landscapes, structures and sculptures within the park. It is a great spot for artistic shots and people shots. A good number of senior portraits and wedding announcement pictures are taken there. In general snow scenes, white sand dunes and birch trees against a dark forest can result in just amazing images. I wish I could pass along a hard fast rule for capturing such images. However, I can only pass along some suggestions because each scene can be so different to your camera's eye - light meter and internal software. In situations such as these the camera's light meter is typically overwhelmed. As a result the camera sets the exposure to bring all that bright white to a nice neutral grey. The camera shuts down the f-stop to limit the light reaching the image capture plane. Thus, often the highlights become grey and what our eye sees as grey becomes black. So what we do in these situations is to open up the f-stop to allow in more light so that the detail is not lost. However, because a bright sunny day and a snow sky day require different corrections there is no hard and fast rule as to how far to open up the f-stop.
Posted by: Susan Monahan in History on
Dec 07, 2011
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 Photograph of Henrietta Baker
Courtesy of Ft. Walla Walla Museum
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If you were to be invited into the parlor of Henrietta Baker's house, you might not be able to stand upright--that is if you were older than ten or eleven. When Henrietta's parents, Henry and Clara, built the playhouse for Henrietta in 1905, she was 11 years old and an only child. A Victorian-style home in miniature, Henrietta's house was situated beside the Baker family home at 428 Crescent Street. The playhouse was fashioned with horizontal siding below and scallops under the sharp peaks of the roof. Inside all was gracious and elegant. It was furnished with child-sized furniture, the walls were papered with colorful spidery flowers, filmy curtains were hung at the windows, and small-scale oriental rugs were laid on the floors. And there were dolls. Lots and lots of dolls. The black and white photo featured here (used with permission from Fort Walla Walla Museum) shows Henrietta and many of her doll friends standing on her house's front porch, probably soon after the house was completed.
The Baker name is a familiar one in Walla Walla. Henrietta's grandfather, Dorsey Syng Baker, was a pioneer doctor and railroad builder. He organized the company that built a line from Walla Walla to Wallula and he was a prominent local business man.
Now her lovely little playhouse stands at Fort Walla Walla Museum and is one of many fascinating buildings in their Pioneer Village. I visited the museum when I first moved to town a few years ago and was intrigued by its small-scale design and charming furnishings. Buildings are of course more than structures; they are manifestations of the people who built them or inhabited them. I wondered what the story was with this very cherished and privileged little girl.
Posted by: Administrator in Business on
Nov 08, 2011
 To say that Nimal Amarasinghe, Executive Chef of the South Fork Grill, is far from home is a grand understatement. The likeable head of the kitchen is some 15,000 miles from his native country of Sri Lanka. Yes, the small former British colony in Southeast Asia is where Chef Nimal spent his childhood, swimming with his friends in the ocean and playing cricket with bats constructed of coconut tree remnants.
Studious and ambitious, Nimal became a computer programmer and set his sights on climbing the tech corporate ladder, the idea of being a chef never entering his mind. He earned a scholarship to study Japanese for a year in Tokyo, in preparation for upper management - Japan was the main computer client of Sri Lanka. But that's where the story takes its turn.
To earn money, Nimal worked in a restaurant kitchen on weekends and soon found himself enraptured by the art of cooking. The chef showed Nimal a few basics and when the young student caught on quickly, he began to be a part of the cooking operation. When his year of study was over, Nimal decided to forgo his computer career and become a chef. By this time, he had gained fulltime work in the kitchen which began a six-year culinary stint in Japan.
During that time, Nimal became schooled in French, Korean and Japanese cuisine, becoming a valued member of several restaurant kitchen staffs. Yet, his aspirations were to receive an actual degree in culinary arts and also to someday master the art of baking. Those desires brought him to South Seattle Community College to study at its respected culinary school. While in the Emerald City, Nimal worked under critically acclaimed chef Thierry Rautureau at Rovers. There, he learned the nuances of French cooking. Ascension in the Seattle culinary world followed along with marriage to a pastry class colleague.
Posted by: Jim Willis in Scenery on
Nov 07, 2011
 Walla Walla Valley barns provide a rich source of picturesque scenes. It is difficult to travel down one of our country roads and not encounter enchanting barns. The challenge with taking pictures of barns is to avoid the "mug" shot. The solution is to employ classical composition. Think of your visits to museums and of the landscape painting you viewed. Note that in almost all cases the accent, such as a barn, was off center in the painting. So move the barn off center, say to the lower left third portion of the image. I love this particular barn for its dramatic color and classic design. The red with the white trim just pops. It appears to have been built as a dairy milking barn. On the first level would be the milking stations. The high arched roof provides for loft storage of winter hay and feed. The small birdhouse looking structures at the peak of the roof provide venting by giving the summer heat a path to follow, rise and escape. The condition of the barn is exceptional. Currently the nation is losing about 50,000 historic barns per year. So when you see an enchanting barn shoot away because it may not be there next year and your grandchildren may never have the opportunity to see one like it.
Posted by: Susan Monahan in Misc Stories, History on
Oct 24, 2011
 No one who knew Isabella Kirkman would ever think of her as having potential to "haunt." Isabella and William Kirkman were, as most locals know, the hardworking wealthy citizens who built the Kirkman House on the corner of Colville and Cherry. Their elegant home was finished by 1880 and the Kirkmans lived there until the 1920s when Isabella gave it to Whitman College. It was a dorm for a few years and then an apartment for many more, and was pretty much a disaster when rescued in the 1970s--just before it was about to be demolished--by a group of history-conscious citizens.
The restored home is a now a charming museum furnished with Kirkman belongings and those of their era. William died in 1893 and was so admired that mourners filled the front yard and spilled into the streets. Isabella lived until 1931, a supportive wife, a loving mother and grandmother. The Kirkmans did have their share of family heartaches. Isabella gave birth to 10 children but only four of them lived to grow up. Photos of Isabella show a round-faced rosy looking woman who was content with her lot in life. Like I said, not a scary lady. And yet, there are frequently "occurrences" at Kirkman House--noises, voices, footsteps--and some hold Isabella responsible.
I asked around, questioning Kirkman House Museum staff and board members. I was intrigued by the idea of Kirkman "ghosts." Yes, some folks had heard "things" in the house, but the "voices" one person heard turned out to be just the whine of the paper shredder. Another noted the sensor going off at the front door when no one was around, but it was just the wind leaking in and setting off the motion detector. Those are the spooky happenings that can be explained, but there are occurrences that have no easy explanation.
Posted by: Jim Willis in Art on
Oct 07, 2011
 If you appreciate sculptures, Walla Walla is an ideal destination. Between Downtown Walla Walla, Whitman College, Walla Walla University, Walla Walla Community College and Walla Walla public parks there are over 50 commissioned sculptures in public view. The area also boasts two fine art foundries: Walla Walla Foundry in Walla Walla and the Old School Bronze Fine Art Foundry just south of Walla Walla in Umapine, Oregon. In addition to sculptures and foundries there are the artistic decorations of the historic buildings, classic Victorian homes, picturesque churches and historic schools.
There is a tremendous variety in the public sculptures. Some are of the historic icon variety. Then there are the abstract pieces. However, my favorites are the whimsical. You will have to take them as they come because they are not segregated - examples of the whimsical, historic and abstract may be within sight of one another. If you are into taking a serious sculpture tour, including a fine art foundry or two, plan on spending more than part of a day.
To check out the public sculpture scene:
Posted by: Susan Monahan in History, Downtown on
Sep 26, 2011
 I can't walk by the elegant mauve and gray Baumeister Building without rapping one of its columns with my knuckles. Each rap is answered by a gratifying metallic clunk because this building is a "Mesker" and that means it's faced by a "galvanized storefront system." All its lovely ornamentation that looks carved and handmade is actually pressed sheet metal, a combination of galvanized steel and cast-iron. A small plaque affixed to the column identifies it as such. "Mesker Bros, Front Builders" it says. The manufacture of metal fronts for buildings began in the eastern U. S. in the 1840s and by mid-century there were foundries throughout the United Sates. The builders of the Baumeister Building ordered its sheet metal facade from the Mesker Brothers Ironworks of St Louis. A builder chose a front from a catalog, had it shipped by railroad, and--voila--he had a ready-made, durable and attractive front ready to affix to the structure.
Also fabricated in metal, over the second story windows, is stamped big and bold that Max Baumeister built this structure and he did it in 1889. When it was first built the address in the city directory was listed as "between 2nd and 3rd" but now we find it by going to 27 West Main. Max Baumeister was a real estate and insurance agent in partnership with Harry Reynolds. You might expect that Mr. Baumeister would set up his own office in his handsome new building, but he worked from 8 E. Main and later he occupied space in the impressive Die Brucke building, which he also built.
Posted by: Administrator in Business on
Sep 20, 2011
 How would you like to drink the wine from the barrel you are sitting on? Sound impossible? Not in the eyes of Ian Crawford and Doug Gisi, co-owners of Vinoture, a thriving furniture company whose artistic and tasteful products are solely comprised of used wine barrels. As Crawford puts it, when sitting on a bar stool made by Vinoture, you are experiencing the full cycle of the Walla Walla wine process with all of the wood coming from local wineries. There is even a vintage Leonetti Cellar set - Walla Walla's most prestigious and first winery.
The ebullient Crawford and the soft spoken Gisi complement one another perfectly. Crawford exclaims, "I am the idea man. Doug is the engineer and artist. I also call him the ‘metal god,'" referring to Gisi's ability to transform barrel rings into sturdy furniture supports and artistic ornaments such as the silver orbs -- tasteful as indoor and outdoor decorations.
Sitting in the shop and listening to Crawford and Gisi talk, one senses an undeniable genuineness towards their "life's passion." Both are self-taught. Both took a tremendous chance on this endeavor, and both are obviously infatuated with the prospects of transforming wine barrels into sturdy, long lasting furniture.
Crawford, a native of Flathead Valley, Montana, was in the wedding planning business before launching into barrel furniture. After moving to Walla Walla in an effort to enhance his business, Crawford asked the talented Gisi to join him. Gisi whose day job was carpentry, accepted the offer. "Vinoture was a great business name," says the Walla Walla native. "It was a great concept, a great product, and great wood with wonderful patina - the possibilities are endless."
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