Power of Place - Stories of the Pacific Northwest

Not everything can be found. Some things were made to disappear. In 1885, Tacoma forcibly expelled its Chinese community in what became known as the Tacoma Method. Families were marched from their homes, put on trains and told never to return. Businesses were left behind, looted and burned. Little Canton disappeared. Many of those who were expelled rebuilt their lives elsewhere, but Tacoma’s Chine...

Join us and be the first to find mysteries hidden in plain sight. Bryan Roth, co-founder and President of Groundspeak, shares how a simple act of curiosity in the Oregon woods sparked a global movement. Bryan traces the early days of Geocaching.com when he and a small group of friends worked late in Seattle basements and borrowed offices to build what would become a worldwide community centered on...

There is no road to Salmon Beach. Follow high school filmmaker Rowan Hinds and anthropologist Andrew Gardner down the bluff, beneath leaning madronas and into a waterfront community pressed between cliff and tide. Reachable only by boat or more than 200 wooden steps, this narrow stretch of the Tacoma Narrows holds 81 cabins on stilts whose residents call themselves “Beachers.” Life here moves with...

Step into a journey that spans basalt canyons, coastal waters and city streets—where listening becomes not just a practice but a way of belonging. In this episode of Power of Place, we walk alongside Father Pat Twohy, a Jesuit priest and poet whose five decades of ministry with Native communities across the Pacific Northwest have shaped a unique place-rooted path of service. We travel with him fro...

𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦. Retired homicide detective Cloyd Steiger opens the blue binder he built over a 36-year law enforcement career—22 of those years with the Seattle Police Department’s Homicide Unit, followed by cold case work for the Washington State Attorney Gen...

Drift through alleyways, inlets and ancestral memory with Deena Taylor—Navy veteran, podcast host and lifelong Bremerton resident—as she unveils the hidden stories shaping this salt-stained corner of the Pacific Northwest. Deena, creator of Bremelore, peels back the layers of a maritime town sculpted by shipyards, superstition and the deep pull of Puget Sound. With wit and reverence, she conjures...

What if a house could shape a life—and transform a community? In this week's Power of Place, we meet Scott Dolfay, a faithful craftsman whose quiet stewardship of a Mission Revival mansion in Seattle’s Windermere neighborhood reveals a century of memory, myth and meaning. From the Aleutians to the Skagit Valley to a historic estate called Loch Kelden, Scott’s story unfolds through sacred craft, un...

Join us on Power of Place for a conversation with Safa Jneidi and Iyad Alati. Their stories transport us to the ancient souks of Aleppo, Syria, where Iyad’s family once traded fabric along the storied Silk Road—a place they never imagined leaving. Now, they’ve built a new life on a quiet, forested island in the Pacific Northwest, bridging cultures through resilience, community, and the flavors of...

In the second of a two-part series, Larry Reid returns to explore the Pacific Northwest’s meteoric rise as a global cultural force. Reflecting on his leadership of the Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) in the mid-1980s, Larry recounts how the region’s unique identity was forged in a crucible of creativity, rebellion, and unorthodox collaborations. His stories uncover the underground movements, bol...

In this first of a two-part series, Larry Reid, a pivotal figure in the Pacific Northwest’s cultural renaissance, takes us back to the transformative 1970s and ’80s to explore the roots of the region’s rise to prominence. Larry’s stories reveal how the Pacific Northwest's creative explosion in the 1990s—through movements like grunge and Riot Grrrl—was deeply rooted in earlier artistic and social c...

Swing open the garden gate as we explore the vibrant, ever-evolving world of Dick and Jane's Spot. Our guest, artist Jane Orleman, will guide us through this remarkable haven, joined by her studio assistant, Karl Schwiesow. Since 1978, Jane and her late husband, Dick Elliott, worked together to transform their colorful homestead in Ellensburg, Kittitas County—a region defined by brilliant sunlight...

In this episode of Power of Place, you’ll hear the stories of Glen Pinkham, a citizen of the Yakama Nation, respected elder, and cultural mentor. Glen delves into the connections between heritage, healing, and the land, sharing wisdom for anyone seeking growth and connection. Through Glen’s captivating storytelling, we journey to the Yakima Valley, the ancestral homelands of the Yakama Nation, whe...

Let’s cross bridges—both real and metaphorical—in this episode with urbanist David Albright. An author and multimedia journalist, David has roots in Seattle’s Lake City and Capitol Hill neighborhoods and now calls Bremerton, Washington, home. David’s work has been featured in Reuters, The New York Times, The Seattle Channel, and PBS, showcasing his talent for elevating everyday voices across the P...

Our guest, Kerouac scholar Jim Jones, describes Kerouac’s sojourn to Seattle in the summer of 1956. There, he worked as a fire lookout at Desolation Peak atop the North Cascade Mountains. Along the way, Jones recounts personal encounters and friendships with other Beat Generation luminaries, including Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Gregory Corso. Adding a touch of practical insight, fir...

Pack your camper as we tour America’s National Parks—from Acadia to Zion. Our guide is modern-day folk hero Douglas Leen, whose Ranger Doug Enterprises recently published “Ranger of the Lost Art: Rediscovering the WPA Poster Art of Our National Parks.” Doug describes how in 1971, while working as a seasonal park ranger at Grand Teton National Park, he unearthed an old poster tucked atop a barn raf...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with Sarah Eichhorn, daughter of writer Dennis P. Eichhorn, known for his adult-oriented autobiographical comic book series “Real Stuff.” With reminiscences echoing a central premise of her father’s work—that truth is stranger than fiction—Sarah recounts his birth and orphanhood at Montana State Prison. Sarah later talks of her fight to keep her infant ch...

What becomes possible when solutions to modern urban society’s most pressing challenges—housing the unhoused, corporate innovation, designing more beautiful places & objects—originate from the communities who have inhabited this place from time immemorial? Guiding us through this multifaceted exploration is Colleen Echohawk. Currently CEO of the Native lifestyle brand Eighth Generation, Colleen’s...

Join us as we stroll through Seattle’s Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) circa 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our guest, documentary playwright Nikki Yeboah, begins this journey at 11th & Pine, the CHOP’s epicenter—and the title of her current project. Yeboah, an Assistant Professor of Playwriting in the School of Drama at the University of Washington, shares how her team gathere...

Join us for a conversation with landscape and urban designer Andrew tenBrink of NYC-based Field Operations as he reveals Seattle’s new downtown Waterfront Park project, which he has managed since 2010. From the cobblestones of Pioneer Square to Belltown’s crowded skyline, Andrew’s block-by-block tour through the 20-acre park demonstrates how this new landscape reflects community priorities. Along...

Step into the multiverse of Zack Bolotin, owner-operator of Porchlight Coffee & Records on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Not just a cafe, Porchlight is a platform for Zack’s varied talents, including graphic design, photography, art curation, book publishing and online retailing. It’s also a record label. Listen as Zack describes how his endeavors, admittedly wide-ranging, are anchored in his family's h...

Click into your bindings as we launch from the highest peaks of the North Cascades with ski mountaineering historian Lowell Skoog, author of "Written in the Snows: Across Time on Skis in the Pacific Northwest," published by Mountaineers Books and 2022 winner of the National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA) for historical writing. Born to a family of Nordic ski jumpers, Lowell pioneered ski mountaineering...

Swing into the B & I Circus Store circa 1964 with guest Larry Johnston, who at age 13 became brother to a western lowland gorilla named Ivan—-the ape that became as emblematic of the Pacific Northwest as the legendary Sasquatch. Larry narrates the tale of how his parents came to own the B & I pet store, thanks to Orca capturer Ted Griffin. He warmly remembers the store’s ever-changing menagerie, w...

Dive into the second episode of this two-part series as we continue our conversation with graphic designer, Art Chantry, whose stories sparkle as vibrantly as his colorful posters, offering original insights from Seattle’s grunge era. These tales span Art’s diverse interests and influences: The allure of archaeology; Dadaism & Surrealism; old commercial art by overlooked masters, accidental inking...

Join us in this episode (the first of a two-part series) for a conversation with graphic designer Art Chantry, a national treasure, whose posters are collected by The Smithsonian and The Louvre. Opening with childhood memories of Parkland on the fringes of Tacoma, Washington, Art describes a restless educational path that eventually brought him to Bellingham. He shares experiences of his subsequen...

Join us in this episode as we descend into the Graveyard of the Pacific with Matt McCauley, President of The Northwest Shipwreck Alliance and Sarah Haberstroh, Manager of Underwater Operations for Rockfish Inc. Matt’s passion for deep-water marine salvage is intertwined with that of his friend Jeff Hummel. As scuba diving high schoolers on Mercer Island in the early 1980s, the two made headlines r...