Power of Place - Stories of the Pacific Northwest

Join us in this episode (the first of a two-part series) for stories of the B & I Circus Store, founded by Earl Irwin in 1945 in Lakewood, WA. Our guest today is Earl Irwin’s son, Ron Irwin, who ran the store for decades following his father’s passing. Ron is joined by Earl Borgert, the founder’s grandson, family archivist and President of The I.V.A.N. Foundation. What began as a military surplus...

Join us in this episode for a radiant musical memoir by pianist Dick Coolen. Long before the city’s reputation as an international tech hub, Seattle achieved a globally relevant jazz culture. Here, bands that gathered in the basements of churches, schools and modest homes produced the likes of Ray Charles, Ernestine Anderson and Quincy Jones. Reared in this milieu, our guest’s stories celebrate a...

Join us in this episode for the field trip of a century. Our guest, geologist-historian David B. Williams, illuminates the Pacific Northwest’s characteristic highlands and waterways as landscapes of perpetual transformation. With a wry wink, this raconteur’s stories fuse the sensitivity of a naturalist with the diligence of a research geek. Amble through Seattle with David as he reveals his city’s...

Join us in this episode and step inside the Ray Gibson Caballeros Club with Tim Person (President & CEO) and Ms. Ellen Smith (Manager). In the 1950’s, two trailblazing African American men grew weary of exclusion from downtown Tacoma’s restaurants, concert halls and bars. They envisioned a member-owned, private club for the city’s Black community. A founders group next acquired real estate for thi...

Join us in this episode as we explore the rural culture of Orcas Island with Craig Gibson, fourth-generation owner of North Beach Inn (NBI), located on the outskirts of the remote village of Eastsound. Craig’s forebears acquired the 100-acre waterfront fruit farm in 1911. In 1932 they constructed a handful of the 16-rustic cottages now dotting NBI’s 8-mile stretch of sandy beach, where panoramic s...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with a wise friend about the deepest matters of the heart. Our guest is theologian, novelist, and mystic Mary Lane Potter. Mary’s quest for a closer relationship with the divine stretches from her childhood in an immigrant community steeped in the traditions of Christian Reform evangelism; to her Ph. D. at the University of Chicago Divinity School, then a...

In this episode, we catch up with Anthony & Marlie Love, travel vloggers and creators of the YouTube show Traveling While Black in Seattle and TWBSeattle on TikTok. A local married couple, they travel together to various Pacific Northwest destinations and share their comfort level as Black people visiting there for the first time. After three years, Anthony & Marlie have garnered 5,000 YouTube sub...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with Stephanie Lile, director of Gig Harbor’s Harbor History Museum, together with the Museum’s shipwright Riley Hall. They chronicle their community’s historic working waterfront for more than a century by sharing stories embedded in the museum’s collection of over 20,000 objects, images & ephemera. These objects include the Shenandoah, a 65-foot-long pu...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with Lisa Fruichantie, citizen of Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and Executive Director of ALMA, an expansive campus carved out of an old union hall anchored within Tacoma’s historic Hilltop neighborhood. This multifaceted business and venue are devoted to creating community by incubating and presenting a diverse range art, food, culture and music. ALMA incl...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with Eric Reynolds, Vice-President of Seattle-based publisher Fantagraphics. Headquartered in Seattle’s Maple Leaf community—with their Bookstore & Gallery in the industrial Georgetown neighborhood—Fantagraphics has quietly produced a stunning body of work over the last 40+ years. Their genres span alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, mang...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with Instagram phenom Susanna Ryan, author of the Seattle Walk Report Series; Seattle Walk Report an Illustrated Walking Tour Through 23 Seattle Neighborhoods (2019) and Secret Seattle, An Illustrated Guide to the City’s Offbeat and Overlooked History (2021).  Susanna's distinctive comic style and eagle eye illustrate the charming and quirky people, place...

Pull up a bar stool and join us in this episode for a conversation with Timothy Dooley—regular, bartender and now owner of the historic Seattle tavern, the "Blue Moon." Founded in 1934 just after Prohibition to serve mostly college students, the Blue Moon has since been serving up a heady mix of politics, poetry, visual art, and live music, while building community spanning generations. Come learn...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with Michael Hoover. Michael was recently granted clemency­—from a life prison sentence without chance of parole—by the Governor of the State of Washington.   Michael's is a cautionary tale...on remaining anchored to place; and to people. An upbringing of affluence in Woodway, Washington failed to protect Michael from childhood abuse; devolving into addic...

Welcome to our first podcast episode of 2022. Beginning with this episode, EK on the Go is now Power of Place, Stories of the Pacific Northwest, with a new appearance and soundscape In this episode we will hear from one of the Pacific Northwest’s most acclaimed living novelists, Jim Lynch. Jim's approach to storytelling reflects both meticulous research as well as years living and working in four...

Join us in our final episode of 2021 with guest Richard Hartlage, Founder & CEO of Land Morphology. His firm has designed gardens for the Chihuly Garden and Glass at Seattle Center, the upcoming 20-acre Seattle Waterfront Park, and the private gardens of celebrities and CEO's nationwide. Richard will explain how thoughtful and intelligent garden design has engendered joy and happiness by activatin...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with Tom Heuser, President of the Capitol Hill Historic Society, and artist-photographer Lana Blinderman about the distinctive though oft-overlooked architectural history of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. For decades, the Hill’s midcentury apartments and condominiums provided architectural ambiance and offered relatively affordable housing, becoming...

Join us in this episode to hear from Nick Bratton, Senior Director of Policy for Forterra. Since 1989, Forterra has secured over 275,000 acres of land through over 450 land transactions. From the farmlands and river canyons of Yakima to the estuaries and forests of Washington’s coastline, Forterra safeguards a healthy environment. The organization also fosters community resilience through land acq...

Join us in this episode with Doreen Alhadeff, co-founder of the Seattle Sephardic Network and the first Jewish American to receive Spanish citizenship under a 2015 law permitting descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in the fifteenth century to apply for citizenship. Enjoy Doreen’s reminiscences about her childhood and youth in multiethnic Seward Park. Doreen recounts the rich linguistic tapestr...

Join us in this episode with Mark Holtzen, author of A Ticket to the Pennant, a children’s storybook exploring Seattle’s Rainier Valley, circa 1955, through the eyes of a young baseball fan. This was the era of Sick’s Stadium, home of the Seattle Rainiers, who played in the now-defunct Pacific Coast League. Mark’s ingenious narrative takes us on a journey through the soundscape generated by the st...

Join us in this episode with Marga Rose Hancock and Rosalie Daggett, board members of the Queen Anne Historical Society. Marga and Rosalie walk us through the delights of Queen Anne. One of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods, Queen Anne is a vibrant collage of stately Old Seattle mansions, charming hilltop parks, and urban amenities, including some of the city’s best restaurants. Listen until the end...

Join us in this episode for a chat with Christine Mahler, executive director of the Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition. Our region is nationally and globally known for the dramatic beauty of its landscapes and seascapes. Yet many of these natural environments could not exist without the active and vigilant stewardship of myriad public and private organizations. Christine discusses the crea...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with Christopher Patano, AIA, founder and studio director of Patano Studio. Chris’s diverse architectural/landscape architectural portfolio includes parks, aviation facilities, schools, factories, corporate headquarters, transportation facilities, and private residences. His architectural journey began in his native Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and remains infor...

Have you ever wondered how the names of Seattle’s neighborhoods evolved over time? The University District, for instance, was once called Brooklyn. Join us in this episode with architectural historian Adam Alsobrook, AIA, who expertly reads old buildings, vintage neon signs, industrial history, archaic electrical systems, postcard collecting, masonic architecture, and the history of demolition. Ad...

Join us in this episode for a conversation with leading broker Bob Bennion of Compass Real Estate. Over the course of his 30-year career, Bob has rubbed shoulders with some of the region’s titans of industry, as well as leaders in the arts, science, and medicine. With an infectious and classically casual PNW demeanor and tone, Bob identifies changes and trends in the real estate market over the ye...

Join us in this episode where we will hear from prolific Seattle architect team Ray and Mary Johnston of Johnston Architects (founded 1990). Mary and Ray have designed many civic and residential buildings all over the city and state, including The Maple Valley Library, South Park Library, Casa Latina Headquarters, The Seattle Humane Society Building, and the Seattle Public Utilities Ship Canal Wat...