Good Time Girls - Bellinghistory Tours

18/01/2025

in , January 17, 1910 – The Herald announced: “Mammoth Hall to Be Built for Billy Sunday.. “ the evangelical preacher who was scheduled to arrive in town on April 1st. “Sunday always requires the er****on of a tabernacle. Work on this will be started in the early part of March, under the direction of A.P. Gill, who builds all of the evangelist’s temporary churches. IT is declared there is no building big enough in Bellingham for this purpose. Neither the Beck Theater nor the skating rink would hold half the people. The local ministers declare that an average audience of 5000 persons may be expected…. Certificates of stick in the ‘Sunday meetings’ are to be issued at so much a share…. Attention is called by the local ministers to the fact that Billy Sunday is not coming here for the sole purpose of siding in the local option fight this spring. The saloon question is only one of many that he will take up. Plans were being made for the bringing of the evangelist here long before the local option election was thought of…”

17/01/2025

The Bell(ing-history) Show with the Good Time Girls - Part 1 Friday January 31 (7:30 PM) Early Amusements on Bellingham Bay: Variety Houses and Movie Palaces!
We'll present the history of theatrical amusements on Bellingham Bay from low-brow variety to polite vaudeville and the rise of motion pictures. We'll visit the early theaters of Bellingham Bay and meet some of the troupers who hit the boards. Sip cocktails in a cabaret setting while we share with you our well-researched theatrical tales and historic photographs from the Bellinghistory vaults. At the Walton Room in Bellingham's beautiful and iconic On with the show! 🤩🎩💖

15/01/2025

in January 14, 1905, Williams and Walker and company performed at Beck’s Theater on Dock Street (Cornwall Avenue). Headed by George Walker and Bert Williams, two celebrated performers of minstrel shows and vaudeville. “In Dahomey” was the first full-length musical written and performed by black entertainers at a major Broadway house and was also performed at London’s Buckingham Palace in 1903.
The Bellingham Herald reported: “Williams and Walker… pleased their fair-sized audience at Beck’s theater… A company of colored artists in musical comedy was something new for Bellingham and proved a very good attraction. The production was strong… Williams and Walker are clean, clever and original comedians....
In Dahomey was an instant success with the audience… an extravaganza mounted in as extraordinary and costly a style as has been seen at the local playhouse for many months… every scene is a gem down to the smallest detail of costume… As to the ‘royal comedians,’ they took the house by storm… Williams and Walker could appear in a dramatization of the city directory and make a hit…”
Walker passed away in 1911 due to syphilis, and Williams went on to find success as a solo artist, recording both music and silent films. In 1922, upon the death of Bert Williams, the Bellingham Herald reported: “Bert Williams, world-famous comedian, has taken his final curtain call. To everyone here and abroad the news that Bert Williams is gone will be received with the shock of a man who has lost a friend…”
You can find out more about vaudeville performances in Bellingham at The BellingHistory Show with the Good Time Girls at the Mount Baker Theater on January 31st (link in bio or see bellinghistory.com)

14/01/2025

in , January 13, 1943 this wartime ad appeared for a Gossard corset special at the Mallahan’s-Kemphaus shop in the Mt. Baker Theater building, “V Lacing for Victory… For victory over your many additional tasks… for victory over pounds that you dare not spare the energy to diet away. Gossard’s revolutionary front-lacing combination design supports and controls, for youth and vitality. Designed for average, tall, short and straight hip types.”

13/01/2025

Join us in celebrating 50 years of this important resource!
Western Washington University to present UW Libraries' exhibit "Seattle Gay News Celebrates 50!" at the Viking Union Gallery in Bellingham January 13 - February 20 in Western’s Viking Union (student union) building, 516 High St., Bellingham WA.
“The Seattle Gay News, one of the longest-running LGBTQ newspapers in the world, is officially 50! Explore the history of a newspaper that has served the Seattle gay community since March 1974, reporting on arts, culture, health, politics, civil rights, and more. We celebrate the newspaper by presenting headlines and examples of how it covered the local, national, and international happenings and highlighting how the UW Libraries and the Washington State Library preserve and make it accessible to all.”
This exceptional exhibit will be on display for Western students, faculty and staff as well as for the general public during regular Viking Union Gallery hours Monday-Friday, 11am-5pm. The Viking Union Gallery will also be open on Saturdays from 12-5pm during the run of this exhibit to facilitate weekend access to the exhibit.
There will be an opening reception at the Viking Union Gallery on Tuesday, January 14 from 5-7pm with guest speakers. A closing reception will be held at the Viking Union Gallery on Thursday, February 20 from 5-7pm also with guest speakers.
For questions about the exhibit contact the Viking Union Gallery at [email protected]. For directions, contact the Viking Union information desk at (360) 650-3450.
https://www.sgn.org/story.php?ch=news&sc=regional&id=337209

11/01/2025

in , January 10, 1950 this ad appeared for 7-Up “the fresh-up family drink” as distributed by Walton Beverage. Also pictured - Kolby’s dad, siblings and friend in the back of the Walton Beverage 7-Up Truck driven by grandpa Emilo LaBree, ca late 40s/early 50s. Walton Beverage Company was established in Bellingham in 1931 by Harold Walton and remains a local family business!

10/01/2025

in , January 9, 1934 this ad for Homer Mark’s Mortuary ran in the Herald, advertising his "ambulance of orchid hue” … yes, this was a purple ambulance that doubled as a hearse. Personally, we’d be worried about the potential conflict of interest there... Historically when it came to getting to a hospital in Bellingham, folks were sorta on their own. Ambulance services were privately run, mostly by undertakers, until the 1970s - yes the 1970s - when the COB and BFD took it up. Thank goodness for trained medics! The Homer Mark Mortuary pictured was at Cornwall and Halleck Streets, courtesy Whatcom Museum Photo Archives. John Westford later took over the establishment. 🎶

09/01/2025

Attention podcast fans! Kolby joins Anna Booker and the boys from Love Your Waterfront live today (Thursday 1/9) on radio KMRE 88.3 FM discussing the former Georgia Pacific site on Bellingham's waterfront. Tune in! 😘
P.S. If you miss the live version, you can also listen here on soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kmrefm/sets/love-your-waterfront

Today at 5:30 on KMRE FM: hosts Dan and Kevin talk with Kolby LaBree of Bellinghistory's Good Time Girls and Anna Booker of Whatcom Community College about the Georgia Pacific plant, once the anchor of the Bellingham Waterfront. It was such a great conversation, we'll air part 2 in our January 23rd episode. Enjoy!

Stream at https://kmre.org/

06/01/2025

We are so excited for The BellingHistory Show with the Good Time Girls - our 2-part series on the history of theaters and vaudeville here in Bellingham! Get your tickets while you still can!

With the Good Time Girls Coming soon to Bellingham’s Beloved Mount Baker Theatre… A two-part edutainment extravaganza featuring Bellingham’s beloved historical tour guides the Good Time Girls.  Sip cocktails in a cabaret setting while these sassy-storytellers present well-researched the

03/01/2025

in , January 3, 1906 – Newly elected mayor Alfred Black declared: “For the next two years there will be no gambling in Bellingham, minors of both sexes will be kept out of saloons, there will be no ‘wine boxes,’ the proprietors of drink dispensaries must keep their front doors locked on Sunday, no rowdyism will be permitted on the Sabbath …such was the platform outlined by Mayor A.L. Black when he was inaugurated at the city hall last night…” (Wine boxes or saloon boxes were like private booths with walls and a ceiling that were reportedly frequented by “saloon box rustlers.”)

01/01/2025

100 years ago in , January 1, 1925 the papers reported on Bellingham's noisy New Years: "Jazz music punctuated by raucous noises and the whiz of bullets that hit one man in the leg and tore through another man’s coat and shirt greeted the new year in Bellingham Wednesday night and this morning. Noise making devices got in their work early, but it was at and near midnight that the racket became infernal in its volume, with the help of hundreds of motor horns. By common consent, Holly Street was made the principal parade grounds and there for a long time, machines passed so thickly up and down the street that it was almost impossible for a pedestrian to get across. Many of the cars dragged boilers, cowbells and tinware, and there were incessant shouts and yells. Pedestrians thronged the walks. As the midnight hour approached the dance halls filled and dancing continued until 1 or 2 o’clock. The largest crowd was at the state armory where the society of Forty and Eight gave a cabaret and dansant… Today quiet broods over the city, with the exception of the waterfront where the lumber mills work as usual."

31/12/2024

Best Swishes for the New Year! 😘💖

31/12/2024

in , December 30, 1919 the Herald reported “Not a single, solitary all-day sucker, chin-chin bar nor chocolate eclair was munched at the candy makers’ banquet at the Hotel Leopold last night, when the officers of the Bellingham Candy Company entertained the salesmen. 'We hear candy and see candy and smell candy until we don’t want any candy stepping out with our food,' they said. But there was plenty of good food and lots of friendly, profitable talk, according to reports this morning." The Bellingham Candy Company operated from the building that today is home to Mallard Ice Cream on Railroad Avenue. 🍬🍭🍫 Mallard Ice Cream Hotel Leo

30/12/2024

in , December 29, 1965 police had recovered a 5-foot Tiki pole that had been stolen from in front of the Forbidden Inn on Holly Street. Several young men were being questioned about its removal. The “Forbidden Inn” followed the popular mid-century-modern mash-up trend of Polynesian-Asian exoticism, serving Chinese food alongside strong cocktails in their “Tiki Lounge.” Later the restaurant became known as the "China Delight" and today the site is occupied by the

29/12/2024

in the town mourned the death of local author Ella Higginson...

28/12/2024

in , December 27, 1911 this ad appeared in the Bellingham Herald for “Holiday Packages” from Chris Semon’s Wine House - Chris had moved his business to Anacortes after two major disasters in 1910 - a fire wiped out his buildings on lower Holly Street and Bellingham voted to be a dry town (!!) Chris Semon had been a pioneer “liquor dealer” on Bellingham bay since 1888, operating the Bodega Saloon and a liquor store in old town. Bottle pictured found inside a wall of a house in the Columbia neighborhood!

25/12/2024

in , December 25, 1903 the Herald reported: “Santa Claus left his reindeer and sleighs on the peaks of the Cascades last night and used a canoe to pay his annual visit to the children residing in the Puget Sound cities.”
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Yuletide or whatever winter holiday floats your canoe! We'll see you in 2025!!! 🎅🛶🎄🕎🔔🐹💖