‘Words, Writers & SouthWest Stories,’ a historically-based speaker series of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, is delighted to host local historian
Brad Holden for a live Zoom presentation on Thursday, February 11 at 6:00 PM. Holden will deliver a presentation about his book, “Seattle Prohibition: Bootleggers, Rumrunners and Graft in the Queen City.”
Registration is required. Please register HERE.
Prohibition consumed Seattle, igniting a war that lasted nearly twenty years and played out in the streets, waterways and even town hall. Roy Olmstead, formerly a Seattle police officer, became the King of the Seattle Bootleggers, and Johnny Schnarr, running liquor down from Canada, revolutionized the speedboat industry. Frank Gatt, a south Seattle restaurateur, started the state’s biggest moonshining operation. Skirting around the law, the Coast Guard and the zealous assistant director of the Seattle Prohibition Bureau, William Whitney, was no simple feat, but many r
A friend said she saw a stack of my older books for $3 each at a big-box store between the adult colouring books and men’s underwear. “You’ve made it!” she said. The Royal British Columbia Museum has a superb book section, predominantly non-fiction, and lately, I have been a good customer there. I love used books, though. Truth be known, I have tremendous anxiety in our lovely city bookshops that sell new books, and at times have had to rapidly escape into the fresh air to cool down and lower my heart rate. But in a used bookstore, that musty pungent yellowed paper fragrance, the faded and stained pink velour sofas, the coffee and the date square on mismatched china, or two eccentrics talking philosophy in the corner, well, it’s just less stressful.