Peter Blecha
- Author /Writer/ Essayist / Multi-Media & Exhibit Content Producer / Public Speaker, Freelance
- Staff Historian & Contributing Editor, Historylink.org
Seattle
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Articles by Peter Blecha
Twist Party Held on April 20, 1962 for the Century 21 World’s Fair Opening
On Friday April 20 and Saturday April 21, 1962, the grand opening of the Century 21 World’s Fair is celebrated with two days’ worth of World’s Fair Opening Twist Party concerts at the Orpheum Theatre (506 Stewart).
Thomas Custom Guitars
The Thomas Custom Guitars’ Century bass and Maltese Falcon. The Thomas Custom Guitar photos courtesy of EMP Museum. But Thomas’ notoriously wacky sense of humor also inspired such units as toilet-seat guitars, paisley-shaped guitars, swastika guitars, a Battle Axe guitar, and a truly wicked-looking Guillotine Blade guitar.
Elvis Shakes Up Seattle on September 1, 1957
On September 1, 1957, rock star Elvis Presley performs at Sicks' Seattle Stadium, drawing an estimated 16,200 people (90 percent of them teenage girls) - the biggest crowd for a single performer in Seattle up to this point. He Shook, He Shivered...
Paradise Inn on Mount Rainier Opens on July 1, 1917
Too Much Snow: The snowpack was so deep that year that opening-day visitors had to park their automobiles at Longmire Springs and travel the rest of the distance by sleigh On July 1, 1917, a rustic and romantic park hotel, the Paradise Inn, located in Mount Rainier's beautiful Paradise Valley, holds its grand opening and the event's many attendees have the opportunity to examine what is the one of the Pacific Northwest's first high-elevation mountain resorts - which is also among America's...
Seattle Bandstand debuts on Seattle's KING-TV on March 16, 1958
...by Peter Blecha | HistoryLink.org Essay 8430 On March 16, 1958, Seattle Bandstand makes its broadcast debut on KING-TV. Hosted by Ray Briem (b. 1930), Seattle Bandstand is a televised teen-dance show and is modeled after Dick Clark's national program, American Bandstand. The Northwest version is an instant favorite of Northwest youths and eventually helps launch the hit-making careers of several area teen-bands.
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Shelf Life: What's new on the shelves at Jacksonville Public Library Original
Angela Bauer, Lifestyles editor March 25, 2023 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate What's new at Jacksonville Public Library: Adult Fiction "After the Shadows" by Amanda Cabot: Emily Leland sheds no tears when her abusive husband is killed in a bar fight, but what awaits her back home in Sweetwater Crossing is far from the welcome and comfort she expected. First she discovers her father has died under mysterious circumstances.
How Quincy Jones, Ray Charles and other musicians defined the Northwest Sound
Editor’s note: This is an edited excerpt from Peter Blecha’s new book, “Stomp and Shout: R&B and the Origins of Northwest Rock and Roll,” published by the University of Washington Press. IN 1947, A SIGNIFICANT new teen band formed in Seattle when tenor saxophonist Charlie Taylor — a son of pianist Evelyn Bundy, who’d formed the pioneering Garfield Ramblers jazz combo here in the 1920s — met a fast-learning, young trumpeter named Quincy “Quick” Jones in the band room at Garfield High School.
Author adds the voices of Seattle musicians to story of ‘Northwest Sound’
Editor’s note: This is an edited excerpt of the introduction from Peter Blecha’s book “Stomp and Shout: R&B and the Origins of Northwest Rock and Roll,” published by the University of Washington Press. ONCE UPON A TIME — decades before grunge rock was even a gleam in Sub Pop’s eye — the Pacific Northwest was the birthing ground to a rocking R&B scene that created its own unique strain of rock ’n’ roll.
Lost in time: Roadhouses: 'Beacon of local debauchery' was centered on Highway 99 and 220th
Lost in time: Roadhouses: 'Beacon of local debauchery' was centered on Highway 99 and 220th Last updated 8/12/2022 at 11:27am Museum of History & Industry This roadhouse opened in 1927 as Doc Hamilton's Barbecue Ranch at 220th Street SW and Highway 99, now the site of Lynnwood Honda. A couple of years later, it fell to a different owner and became known simply as The Ranch.
Nirvana plays for Sub Pop Records founders at the Central Tavern in S
On June 5, 1988, Nirvana, an obscure grunge band from Aberdeen, plays a set at the Central Tavern in Seattle's Pioneer Square. Among the handful of people in attendance are Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt of Sub Pop Records. The men will be impressed enough to formalize a relationship with Nirvana, and on November 1, 1988, Sup Pop will release the band's debut single, kick-starting Nirvana on its path to rock and roll immortality.
Beloved Bellevue teen-dance mecca the Lake Hills Roller Rink is badly damaged by fire on July 30, 1968.
In the early-morning hours of Saturday, July 30, 1968, the six-year-old Lake Hills Roller Rink in Bellevue's Crossroads neighborhood is almost totally destroyed by fire. A popular facility for roller skating, the venue has also been a significant part of the growing teen-dance circuit that supported the rise of the Pacific Northwest's vibrant rock 'n' roll scene.
William Dubilier unveils an astonishing new "wireless telephone" to fairgoers at Seattle
William Dubilier unveils an astonishing new "wireless telephone" to fairgoers at Seattle's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on June 21, 1909.
Seattle Symphony debuts opera with Verdi
On June 7, 1962, Seattle Symphony makes its opera debut with the first of three performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida. Conductor Milton Katims (1909-2006) states that Verdi’s classic was selected because Aida is the “grandest of grand operas” and notes that it was the piece that had been featured at the Grand Opening of more opera houses around the world than any other.
KJR Radio (Seattle) History
Pat O’Day (Photo courtesy of Pat O’Day) This essay made possible by: Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, Pullman By Peter Blecha HistoryLink.org April 14, 2022 KJR-AM was the pioneering radio station in the Pacific Northwest, and its history mirrors the rise of the radio industry in general. Its origins trace to a tiny “dot-and-dash” Morse Code transmitter, before founder Vincent I. Kraft (1893-1971) received a formal broadcast license in 1922.
Pioneering Seattle radio station KJR jumps from 500 to 1,000 watts of
On the Wednesday evening of January 21, 1925, a freshly upgraded KJR radio station makes its broadcasting debut from new headquarters in the prestigious Terminal Sales Building in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood. With the new headquarters, the station takes a huge technological leap forward as an impressive 1,000-watt transmitter doubles its previous power. With that new power KJR's broadcasts can reach Alaska, and that first evening features a program aimed at Alaskan listeners.
Pizza in Seattle: A Slice of History
Pizza in Seattle: A Slice of History By Peter Blecha Posted 5/17/2018 HistoryLink.org Essay 20557 Seattle has long been home to a vibrant Italian American community. The city's Rainier Valley neighborhood, where many Italian American homes and businesses coalesced, was fondly (or, conversely, with mild disparagement) referred to as "Garlic Gulch." By at least the 1890s, Italian immigrants were establishing corner grocery stores, bakeries, and cafes around Seattle.
AFM Seattle Local 493 (1918-1958), "Negro Musicians
AFM Seattle Local 493 (1918-1958), "Negro Musicians' Union" By Peter Blecha Posted 2/19/2013 HistoryLink.org Essay 10329 Today's labor union for Seattle's professional musicians is the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 76-493, and that numerically cumbersome name reflects perfectly the organization's tangled and sometimes contentious backstory. Seattle's first musicians' union, AFM Local 76, dated back to the 1890s.
Jimi Hendrix performs a homecoming concert at Seattle Center Arena on
On February 12, 1968, Seattle native Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) -- who has not played guitar publicly in his hometown since leaving to join the military in 1961 -- brings his London-based band the Jimi Hendrix Experience to play a concert at the Seattle Center Arena. The show will be remembered for an "avalanche of sound" generated by Hendrix and his band, and "a driving, incredibly expressive guitar style augmented from time to time with vocal interludes" ("Jim Hendrix Belts Out ...").
Jimi Hendrix Experience plays the Seattle Center Coliseum on September 6, 1968.
On September 6, 1968, six months after his homecoming concert at the Seattle Center Arena, Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) returns to Seattle, but this time to play the larger Seattle Center Coliseum. The Arena show had engendered local pride but garnered mixed reviews because of the loud volume and poor audio mix. The Coliseum show would cast Hendrix in a better light, though he still failed to wow the critics.
Jimi Hendrix Experience plays the Seattle Center Coliseum on May 23,
On May 23, 1969, Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) makes his third concert appearance in Seattle since becoming a rock star during 1967's "Summer of Love." His first two albums, Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love, have been popular and critical successes, his performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967 had blown minds, and tours with his band the Jimi Hendrix Experience have established Hendrix as a blazing star.
Jimi Hendrix plays Sicks' Stadium, his final Seattle show, on July 26
On the afternoon of July 26, 1970, Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) headlines a concert at Seattle's venerable outdoor ballpark, Sicks' Stadium. The all-day festival is billed as a "Concert on the Ground," but the ground itself is muddy because of rain, a Seattle hazard even in late July. Writes The Seattle Times the next day, "The outfield grass was a soggy mat and the infield dirt a giant mud pie.
O
Pat O'Day: Founding father of Northwest rock 'n' roll or the "Godfather" of the 1960s teendance scene? A vampire or the catalyst? Or all of the above? There are many Northwesterners who would debate these points for days on end, but what is perfectly clear is that when it came to the business of rock music in the Northwest, Pat O'Day was the Chairman of the Board, the Grand Poobah, the Top Dog, the Big Kahuna.
Hanburt Electric Guitars
The mystery arose a few years ago, when Wheelwright acquired a Hanburt lap steel from Portland, and it bore striking similarities to 1930s Audiovox guitars, which were made in Seattle. Knowing that I have devoted a lot of effort to tracking down and documenting the story behind that overlooked line of pioneering electric guitars, he suggested I keep my eyes peeled for clues that might prove a connection between the two long-gone companies.
Seattle
Seattle's Duwamish Tribe celebrates new Longhouse and Cultural Center on January 3, 2009. By Peter Blecha Posted 1/14/2009 HistoryLink.org Essay 8894 On January 3, 2009, members and descendants of Seattle's First People, the Duwamish Tribe, held a Grand Opening ceremony at their beautiful new Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center (4705 West Marginal Way SW), which is situated at a traditional riverside village site.
The City of Seattle’s Festival
The City of Seattle’s Festival '71 music and arts fair (later Bumbershoot) debuts on August 13, 1971. By Peter Blecha Posted 8/31/2019 HistoryLink.org Essay 20849 At noon on the morning of August 13, 1971, the Mayor's Arts Festival '71 -- to be redubbed Bumbershoot: The Seattle Arts Festival in 1973 -- commences with opening ceremonies at the Plaza of the States on the Seattle Center campus.
Paradise Inn on Mount Rainier opens on July 1, 1917.
Paradise Inn on Mount Rainier opens on July 1, 1917. By Peter Blecha Posted 11/30/2009 HistoryLink.org Essay 9223 On July 1, 1917, a rustic and romantic park hotel, the Paradise Inn, located in Mount Rainier's beautiful Paradise Valley, holds its grand opening and the event's many attendees have the opportunity to examine what is the one of the Pacific Northwest's first high-elevation mountain resorts -- which is also among America's very first ski resorts.
Patten, Robert W. (1832-1913)
Patten, Robert W. (1832-1913) By Peter Blecha Posted 10/23/2018 HistoryLink.org Essay 3149 Robert W. Patten, an eccentric New Yorker who'd traveled widely, arrived in Seattle in the 1890s with enough tall tales -- and perhaps even a few true ones -- to entertain his new townsfolk for years. He regaled listeners with exciting Civil War stories and anecdotes about scouting the Wild West, casually dropping the names of old friends including Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), Ulysses S.
The Audiovox 736 Electric Bass and 936 Amp
Rarest of the rare; the 736 bass and 936 amp designed to accompany it. Eight decades ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer revealed the story of Paul H. Tutmarc debuting his latest invention – a solidbody electric bass. The 1935 article includes a photograph showing the suave gentleman demonstrating the instrument (to a young woman), roughly the size of a cello, and includes Tutmarc’s story of carving it from white pine. The 936 and 736 in the Audiovox catalog.
Guitar, Bonnie (b. 1923): The Northwest
Musician, songwriter, singer, and major hit-maker -- Seattle's Bonnie "Guitar" Buckingham, is one of the biggest stars to ever emerge from the Pacific Northwest's music scene. And her path to fame was one that saw her become an early "crossover" artist: never satisfied to find a niche and rest on her laurels, Guitar created songs that alternately scored on the pop Best Seller charts and/or on the country music charts all the way from the 1950s up through the 1980s.
On this day: Grand opening of Seattle's Show Box is celebrated in 1939
79 years ago Tuesday the Show Box at 1426 1st Avenue, now known as The Showbox, opened for the first time. The following is a recap of the event in a historylink.org essay written by Peter Blecha. On the night of Monday, July 24, 1939, grand-opening celebrations kick off in the swanky new Show Box at 1426 1st Avenue (known in 2014 as the Showbox Ballroom).
News breaks of Seattle
On June 3, 1928, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that a local kid, Austin G. Cooley (1900-1993), has invented a device -- "attachable to any radio set" and "easily assembled" from a kit -- that can broadcast picture images of "considerable detail and contrast" to a receiver set, which the newspaper suggests will soon become an everyday household item. Cooley -- the son of George W.
Song-Catchers: Documenting the Music of Northwest Indians
Music played a deeply spiritual role in the lives of the Pacific Northwest’s First Peoples for eons prior to the beginning of recorded time. Much of this age-old music has survived by being passed down through oral tradition.
Led Zeppelin founder returns to Green Lake where band played in 1969
Jimmy Page, the guitarist and founder of rock band Led Zeppelin, was spotted at Seattle’s Green Lake this weekend – where Led Zeppelin played nearly 50 years ago. The Guitar Store near Green Lake posted a photo Sunday of Page at the remains of the Aqua Theatre, which was constructed in 1950 as part of Seafair and demolished in 1979. Only part of the grandstand remains, and the site is now home to the Green Lake Small Craft Center.
Paradise Inn on Mount Rainier Opens 101 Years Ago
On July 1, 1917, a rustic and romantic park hotel, the Paradise Inn, located in Mount Rainier’s beautiful Paradise Valley, holds its grand opening and the event’s many attendees have the opportunity to examine what is the one of the Pacific Northwest’s first high-elevation mountain resorts — which is also among America’s very first ski resorts.
Seattle's swanky Olympic Hotel is the improbable site of the local concert debut by pioneering New York punk-rock band the Ramones on March 6, 1977.
On Sunday evening, March 6, 1977, the Ramones make their rockin' Seattle debut in the Olympic Hotel's elegant Georgian Room -- a most unlikely venue for any type of underground youth-culture event. How this epic show came about is a classic tale perfectly embodying the 1970s punk-rock movement's DIY (do-it-yourself) teenage spirit.
Jewel Box theater in Seattle shines at its grand opening on August 29
On the summer evening of Monday, August 29, 1932, Film Row in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood is all abuzz as another private screening room on the strip holds a grand-opening event. Benjamin F. Shearer (ca. 1890-1972) opens the Jewel Box in the middle of the building at 2318 2nd Avenue that also houses his thriving theatrical-supply company.
Hendrix, Jimi (1942-1970)
Jimi Hendrix -- the single most famous musician to ever emerge from the Pacific Northwest’s music scene -- rose from extremely humble beginnings to establish himself as perhaps the most gifted and inventive guitarist of all time, one who would be globally recognized as a major force in twentieth-century music.
Evergreen Ballroom: Olympia's Lost Landmark (1931-2000)
The Kerosene Circuit The geographic area where the Evergreen ballroom would eventually be built was first settled in 1853 by pioneers Isaac and Catherine Wood -- and was thus originally known as Woodland. A century later, in the 1950s, it would be renamed Lacey, but for many decades in between it was considered to be the northern outskirts of the state capital city of Olympia. It was in about 1891 that a sea captain named Michael J.
Phil Moore, teenage Seattle jazz-piano prodigy, makes his KXA radio d
On Friday, June 7, 1935, Seattle's KXA radio station makes history by featuring a young African American musician performing live from its downtown studios, billing what will be a weekly program as Phil Moore Rhythm. The teenage musician's debut comes at a time when Seattle's black and white music scenes are largely separate -- indeed there are two separate musicians' union locals, segregated by race -- and African Americans are largely invisible in the local mainstream print and broadcast media.
"Jazz Intoxication" bill is introduced in Washington State Legislature on December 22, 1933.
"Jazz Intoxication" bill is introduced in Washington State Legislature on December 22, 1933. By Peter Blecha Posted 3/08/2013 HistoryLink.org Essay 10332 On December 22, 1933, amid growing fears over the perceived threat posed by that relatively new fad, jazz music, Washington State Representative William A.
Seattle
On the cold wintry day of November 16, 1946, the New York-based Dorothy Eustis (1916-2001) returns to her native Pacific Northwest for what was to be her only local concert that year -- at the Lakewood Theatre in the Lakewood Community Center, near Tacoma. But an historically bad weather front will disrupt those plans and disappoint her many ticket-holding fans.
Pioneering blues singer Mamie Smith makes her Seattle debut at the Me
On Sunday evening, May 6, 1923, longtime vaudevillian Mamie Smith (1883-1946) makes her Seattle performance debut at the city's grand Metropolitan Theatre in a big-time touring revue titled "Struttin' Along." Smith's recording of "Crazy Blues" back in 1920 became a huge sales hit and made her a historic figure as the first black vocalist to record a blues-related song.
Seattle
Seattle's swanky Olympic Hotel is the improbable site of the local concert debut by pioneering New York punk-rock band the Ramones on March 6, 1977. By Peter Blecha Posted 10/07/2016 HistoryLink.org Essay 20149 On Sunday evening, March 6, 1977, the Ramones make their rockin' Seattle debut in the Olympic Hotel's elegant Georgian Room -- a most unlikely venue for any type of underground youth-culture event.
The Coulter Company
The 1924 Frank E. Coulter Spanish guitar. Photos by John Vicory. The eye-catching and technologically innovative stringed instruments created by Frank Evans Coulter in the early 20th century are so exceedingly scarce that few guitar enthusiasts have laid eyes on one.
HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
On July 1, 1917, a rustic and romantic park hotel, the Paradise Inn, located in Mount Rainier's beautiful Paradise Valley, holds its grand opening and the event's many attendees have the opportunity to examine what is the one of the Pacific Northwest's first high-elevation mountain resorts -- which is also among America's very first ski resorts.
HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
Kurt Cobain posts a "Drummer Wanted" classified advertisement in Seattle's The Rocket magazine on May 1, 1988. On May 1, 1988, the new issue of Seattle music and pop-culture magazine The Rocket includes, among its many "Musicians Wanted" classified advertisements, a "Drummer Wanted" notice written and purchased by Aberdeen guitarist Kurt Cobain (1967-1994), who is seeking a new tub-thumper for his soon-to-be-famous band, Nirvana.
Billboard magazine highlights Spokane country musician Charlie Ryan a
On Monday, May 30, 1960, the music-biz trade magazine Billboard publishes a small piece (in its "Artists' Biographies for Jockey Programming" section) about Spokane-based guitarist, singer, and bandleader Charlie Ryan (1915-2008), under the headline "Charlie Ryan Hip with 'Hot Rod Lincoln.'" It has been a long road for Ryan and his nearly decade-old country-oriented tune -- which will go on to become one of the best-known tunes in the ever-popular genre of hot-rod or road-race songs about the...
HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
Daughter of Chief William Shelton -- the famed Tulalip storyteller, wood-carver, and cultural leader -- Harriette Shelton Williams Dover followed her father's fine example and invested her entire adult life into efforts to reintroduce various traditional aspects and practices of their native heritage. Among Harriette's many accomplishments was that of helping revive traditional dances, the Lushootseed language, and tribal appreciation for a proud past.
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