Downtown Sequim – Page 22 – Sequim Daily Photo

Sequim’s boy in the boat

There’s a best selling book called “The Boys in The Boat” by Daniel James Brown. Here’s a link to a short YouTube video about it. It’s a wonderful book about an improbable group of young men, a crew team from University of Washington, and their quest for gold at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. One of the team, Joe Rantz, came from Sequim (shown in the video and described as a “small dusty town”). Our local Museum and Arts Center (MAC) currently has an exhibit on “The Boys in the Boat,” including a smaller version of their rowing shell and memorabilia contributed by Joe Rantz’s family. The shell, Working Girl, designed and built by George Yeoman Pocock, is shown above.

Pocock revolutionized rowing shells by fitting together two long, single planks rather than multiple narrow strakes, or planks, creating lighter, more streamlined vessels. Working Girl has four positions; the University of Washington Pocock shell had eight.

In addition to the rowing shell, the exhibit includes copies of some of Rantz’s travel documents and high school keepsakes. My favorite personal item was a postcard Rantz sent his father: “Dear Pa, Here is a view of the finish of the race course where the world championship race takes place next week. By the time you get this I’ll either be chump or champ.”

The MAC is a small museum but it’s got a little bit of everything, including art, an exhibit on the local S’Klallam tribe, information about Sequim’s famous mastodon, and more. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about MAC’s Friday duck celebrity.

Mystery mural

This mural is in downtown Sequim. I’ve passed it countless times and even after photographing it I have to admit I know nothing about it. (Unless, of course, its title is “Fire Lane” by “No Parking.”) What’s interesting is that the “painter” on the right side is a separate piece, attached to the mural itself.

Getting closer

The new Sequim Civic Center is on the home stretch. Part of the street has been blocked off as a sidewalk is being poured. And the building has much more color than our last look at it in February.

This view from the other end of the building shows some of the new sidewalk. The local newspaper says that an open house is planned sometime next month after completion and before staff moves in to work. I plan to be part of the local “lookie loo” crowd.

Sequim icon

Sequim’s historic grain elevator is the tallest structure in town. The base of the structure was built in 1929 as a storage warehouse; the grain elevator was completed in 1945. It operated as the old Clallam Co-Op until 1977. More recently it was home to El Cazador Restaurant which closed a couple of years ago. In 2014 auctions were planned to sell off the foreclosed property and there was talk of the Museum and Arts Center (MAC) acquiring it. Last July there was news of a “pending offer” to purchase it but I’ve seen nothing since.

This view of the elevator on a clear day shows the Cascade Mountains in the distance to the east.

Easy pickings

In a place like Sequim you don’t have to look far to find interesting barns. This one is nestled not far from Costco, which means it’s in walking distance from West Washington, our main street.

Civic Center progress

Here’s Sequim’s new Civic Center as of last Sunday. There is sheathing now where there was blue insulation when I last updated in December and glass has closed in entrance ways.

The building seems huge to me – easily a full city block. But it will house departments, including the Police, that have not been under the same roof.

I recently came across this shot I took of the old Sequim City Hall in April, 2012. Now doesn’t the new one seem huge by comparison?

This photo brought to you by DH

I spied yesterday’s berries adorning a graceful tree near the new Sequim Civic Center. I shot various angles as I became increasingly enamored of the fall of the stems. Satisfied, I stepped away from the tree and turned to walk back to the car. “Aren’t you going to shoot the yarn bomb?” said DH. “What yarn bomb?” said clueless photographer.

Thank you, DH!