Well, 2009 was a year wasn’t it? And now that it’s over, it’s time for us to find another way to reflect on it – this time courtesy Photographer Michael Brunk, who put together a special SoundSlideshow of what he considers the best B-Town Blog photos of the year, as shot by himself, Scott Schaefer, Francis Zera, Maureen Hoffmann, Janet Grella and Gregory Rehmke:
Click to Play Michael Brunk’s SoundSlideshow
Story & Photos by Scott Schaefer
Welcome to Dia de las Muertes de Burien – The B-Town Blog’s “Day of the Dead” tribute to Burien’s earliest, and sadly, mostly forgotten settlers, who are buried in a place most residents don’t even know exists.
This is the story of the area’s oldest graveyard, a private, historic and rundown place on South 200th called Hillgrove Cemetery.
You won’t find Hillgrove on many maps, because, like its 360 residents, it’s no longer living. It’s private, it’s fenced off, yet once you look at the chain link barrier and barbed wire, it’s obvious that people find ways to get in to do whatever living people do in graveyards full of dead strangers.
We too found our way into Hillgrove recently (how could we not this time of year?), and despite forgetting to wear boots (our Chuck Taylors got soaked but oddly, we didn’t care) yet managing to be very careful and respectful, we took numerous photographs, which we built into a “Sound Slideshow” to a public domain song from 1910, the era when this site was in its heyday.
But before we present our photographic and audio tribute, we’d like to share our personal observations of Hillgrove:
It was a sad place, and not just because it was full of dead bodies – it’s in disrepair, with missing, crooked and broken tombstones, years of neglect and evidence of vandalism.
The oldest grave we found was from 1890.
Historic, old graves with unique stone markers ranging from the earliest burial (at least that we saw) in 1890 to the most recent in 2005. Some tombstones have been restored, while many are clearly without any markings (several we discovered only by stepping into indentations in the grass).
Here’s some info on it courtesy Highline Historical Society Executive Director Cyndi Upthegrove:
Hillgrove Cemetery is owned by the Hillgrove Cemetery Association, comprised of the remaining families that own the property. I don’t believe anyone famous is buried there, but a large number of local pioneer families are. It is in disrepair because the people that remain of those families are quite elderly and cannot physically maintain it themselves, and the city of SeaTac and the Port won’t maintain it because it isn’t theirs. SeaTac has occasionally mowed for them and helped to build a retaining wall at the left entrance when the bank slumped one time and remains started spilling out.
From what I understand, there are about 360 souls there. They consist of veterans from both the North and the South from the Civil War, the Spanish American War, both WWI and WWII, Korea and the first Iraq War. Their extended families are also buried there.
About 12 years ago a teacher at Highline HS teaching at-risk students taught a local history class and they really responded to it. These were very bright students “at risk” of dropping out. So she took them over to the cemetery to show it to them and they told her, “We know about this place. We come over here to drink.” Together with her, the Society acquired a grant to pay for her project. So she got them to clean it up as a class project. They dug up buried headstones, mowed, learned about the people buried there, mapped it and tended it for a couple of years. After they had invested so much time and care into it, they wouldn’t let anyone else go in there and mess with it.
The most recent, from 2005.
Then they graduated and moved on, and she quit teaching that class and things kind of reverted to how they were. We have retained some of the records and the Association has the rest.
Recently a paranormal investigation group contacted me to see if they could go in and look for ghosts. I referred them to the Association and I think they did some kind of investigation there, but we weren’t given their results. Occasionally a Boy Scout will work there building benches, or mowing and grooming the place as an Eagle Scout project.
We did several bus tours of “The historic sites of Highline” a few years ago and Hillgrove was a stop on the tour. People found it very interesting. I have always wished that we could engage the various cities and veterans groups to hold their Memorial and Veteran’s Day commemorations there rather than in schools and community centers, but other heads prevail.
I have always wished I had the funding for the Society to take care of the place for the community, but I don’t.
Walking around a decaying graveyard isn’t really creepy, or new to us – in college we used to visit one that was near our house, and this Reporter has always been fascinated with the dead and how the living treat them. Especially Hispanic culture and their “Day of the Dead” festivities, which involve spending the night in graveyards, setting up elaborate altars, offering food, wearing bizarre (and to me, really cool) costumes, and believing that, for one night on Nov. 2nd, their dearly departed dead relatives and loved ones come back and visit with them.
With those sentiments in mind, here’s our “SoundSlideshow” tribute to Hillgrove Cemetery and the historic people who are buried there, may they Rest In Peace:
Click to Play Scott Schaefer’s SoundSlideshow
As a public service, and because we’re givers (give give give we say…but hopefully not H1N1), we here at The B-Town Blog have decided to open up our Flickr digital archives from this weekend’s first-ever Burien Brat Trot, and allow everyone full, FREE access to all the photos we shot.
To start, we’ve uploaded 578 photos of race day (Pub Crawl pics are coming soon…), including dozens of runners crossing the finish line. That’s right – there may be a photo of you crossing the line, or in at least one case, about to hurl chunks as you cross it. And hey, if you’re not in there, we apologize…um, just as you crossed the line we ran out of film…yeah, that’s right…
All you have to do to access the pics is join our new “Burien Brat Trot” Flickr group here, then browse photos, click on them, view ‘em, upload your own, and if you see something you like, you can order prints right there (Flickr charges a fee), or download the photo for no charge, then print it yourself or make it your new desktop/screensaver.
HELPFUL HINTS:
- Join the “Burien Brat Trot” Flickr Group here
- Browse photos at will
- Click on a photo to view it
- If it’s something you like, click on “All Sizes” directly above the pic (it has a magnifying glass icon)
- You can then download “Large Size” or “Original Size” from the next screen for FREE right to your desktop
- If you find something you dig, be sure to send your positive vibrations to both Michael Brunk and Scott Schaefer, our race-day Photogs
| Sep ’09 |
| 1 |
| 5:00 pm |
Sometimes one can’t help but be self-indulgent, so please indulge us as we announce a new contest that may seem, well…very self-indulgent.
You see, recently Highline Community College contacted BTB Publisher/Editor Scott Schaefer. No, he didn’t owe money on overdue library books (talk to his little sister about that one…), they found out that he once attended the college and wrote and took photos for The Thunderword, the student newspaper.
Well, HCC launched a new ad campaign on Metro buses this August, and now, apparently Scott’s face is plastered all over them with photos taken by our own Michael Brunk (we send out our sincerest apologies to all passengers – not for the excellent photo, but for the subject of said photo…).
The problem is, Scott hasn’t yet seen any buses with his, um, interesting face on them (not that he’s skeptical, but…), which looks like this:
Here are the details of the contest:
WHAT: Take photos of the HCC/BTB Ads on a Metro bus (please get a shot of both of them – one is on the exterior and the other inside)
WHERE: Metro bus(es) with the ads on them – this is where you have to do some work.
WHEN: Deadline for the contest is 5pm on Tuesday, Sept. 1st.
PRIZE: One $50 gift certificate to The Mark Restaurant & Bar, located at 918 SW 152nd Street in Olde Burien
INFO: Please email a higher-res version of the photos to us at editor@b-townblog.com by 5pm on 9/1/09! Winner will be selected by Scott, based on the quality of the photo(s) as well as creativity (meaning, perhaps you could submit a “mash-up” gag photo along with a decent one? Hmmm…we may regret that suggestion…)
“I Am Highline,” a new film/DVD, has received a 4Culture Special Project grant to fund the development, filming and production of a promotional film about the Highline area.
The new high-definition film will be Directed by B-Town Blog Publisher Scott Schaefer, a three-time National Emmy Award winner for work on “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” an acclaimed kids’ educational show that aired on PBS. His other credits include “Penn & Teller: BS!,” “The Arsenio Hall Show,” “Almost Live!” and many others over a 23+ year career in media ranging from Seattle’s KING-TV to six years in Hollywood and much more.
Filming will be begin in the late summer and early fall and will feature diverse residents of Highline.
Schaefer will work with longtime collaborator, Director of Photography Mike Boydstun, a Grammy-nominated cinematographer on this Highline Historical Society project which will celebrate the ethnic composition of Highline. The film will focus on people representing 30 cultures that have moved here to live, work and raise their families, and will feature conversations in English and their own languages, talking about reasons for coming, and what living here means to them.
One early and important use of the footage will be to document these individuals and their contributions for the society’s collections. The DVD produced will be used for informational and fundraising purposes at area festivals and events. Another use will be to include pieces of these interviews that celebrate our local ethnic groups and their contribution to the region in the permanent exhibits of the new Highline Heritage Museum. And finally, parts of this film footage will be placed on the society’s website for everyone to see, and will provide the basis for expanding these stories into a documentary film that can be shown in the new museum theater as an introduction to Highline.
“The historical significance of this film is to continue documenting the heritage of the people of Highline,” said Cyndi Upthegrove, Executive Director of the Highline Historical Society. “We believe that we are among the first in Highline to provide this broad documentation, and we want to provide a baseline of information for the community to use for many purposes and for an extended period of time.”
The Highline Historical Society is a local non-profit organization undertaking a capital campaign to fund development of the Highline Heritage Museum on its site in Olde Burien. Community participation is welcomed and memberships are available.
For more information, check the Society’s web site at www.highlinehistory.org.
The 2nd funniest man in my life.
To most people, today is “just” another April’s Fool’s Day, so beware the pranks o’April.
But to this fool, April 1st also stands for one other thing that means a lot to me:
IT’S J.P. PATCHES BIRTHDAY!
For you non-Northwest natives, J.P. (“Julius Pierpont”) Patches is a well-known local TV clown who spent many years on KIRO-TV in the 60s and 70s entertaining thousands of us Seattle kids (here’s a link to his website for the unenlightened: www.jppatches.com).
To me, J.P. Patches is the #2 comedic influence in my life. #1 is my Dad, who was the funniest man I ever met. Of course it helped that he was my Dad, that it was impossible for me not to meet him, and well, he was around me more than any other man, but I think you get the point – Dad was funniest, J.P. was #2.
As a young child growing up in West Seattle, I’d watch J.P. on TV in the morning before school during breakfast, then again in the afternoon. He did the show live every day, twice a day for 10-15 years, along with his sidekick “girlfriend” Gertrude (aka Bob Newman), Tikey Turkey, the ’second meanest man in the world” Boris S. Wort (Newman again), Ggoorrsstt the Friendly Frpl, and a myriad of other characters, most, if not all, played by Newman.
Recently, J.P. and Gertrude were honored with a comical statue in Fremont (aka “the old Burien”), along with the infamous “ICU2TV Set” which sadly, remains the only bad taste in my love of this clown. (LINK: http://jppatches.com/page41.htm)
You see, during each episode, J.P. would “look” through the TV set (actually a cardboard frame) and speak to all his Patches Pal kid viewers who were having birthdays that day, and, by name, send them a personal wish along with a message like “Look in the dryer Scotty for a special surprise.”
I was never seen thru the ICU2TV. Sigh.
Much to my dismay (Mom please note: I know you never meant to hurt my feelings, and I’m sure it was a hassle to to call it in, BUT…), good ol’ J.P. never noticed me on my birthday.
Not once.
(insert charmingly boyish sniffling sounds here)
I remember, on the one day per year where it was “my day” I’d sit in front of the TV, my eye glued to my hero, and await for him to “tune in” the ICU2TV Set.
“Oh boy,” I’d think, “I wonder where Mom hid the gift for me – the dryer? Under the stairs by the empty coke bottles? Or maybe in the hamper?”
Then J.P. would speak. And I would wait.
“Happy birthday to Danny, go look in the shower. And Sally, be sure to look under your bed. And Betty, look in the hamper…and…that’s it for today’s Patches Pals celebrating birthdays! We’ll be back with some cartoons right after this…”
If I was a modern child with a cell phone back then I think my Twiter message would like something like this:
“OMFG JP dint say my NM! WTF???”
Unfortunately, cell phones hadn’t been invented yet so all I could do was stifle my tears while eating my Froot Loops™.
I am lucky though. I’ve met J.P. Patches three times, the first being around 1968 or so at our neighborhood grocery store (did you know that at one time practically every neighborhood in the area had its own small grocery store? I know, hard to believe…). I believe this store was called Zorich’s, and it was located on Charleston Street near 49th SW in West Seattle.
It was a BIG deal to wait in line to see this man. And I did for what seemed like hours but was probably only 20 minutes (like very boy in line, I’m sure I had to pee). Of course I didn’t mention to my Dad anything about not being mentioned on the ICU2TV set as I was “cool” with it (not really – I just wanted to not look lie a crybaby; plus remember – I had to pee!).
Just about every sidekick was played by one man: Bob Newman.
Finally, my turn came and J.P. asked my name.
“Scott,” I muttered.
“Scott? Well I just happen to have a button here with your name on it!”
At that moment he handed me a big red and white button with my name on it. Literally. I still have it somewhere, stored away in one of those boxes you put your valuable childhood memories in, which end up getting buried by other boxes with your own children’s childhood memories from not that long ago.
The second time I met J.P. was in 1994 when I returned from a six-year stint in LA where I wrote and directed on a few network comedy shows. This meeting took place on the closing night of Murray’s Doghouse, a longtime greasy spoon restaurant that had become a Seattle institution. This was such a big event that KCTS was broadcasting live, directly from the dive. My ex-”Almost Live!” buddy Pat Cashman hosted, along with Nancy Guppy and probably John Keister, and of course with those other Seattle institutions, J.P. and Gertrude. This was during my first week back from Hollywood, and it made for a wonderful return to my hometown. I ended up sitting at the bar with them, just us talking, and I confessed right then and there:
“You two were probably the reason I got into doing comedy TV,” I said, raising a pint of what was probably a Hefeweizen.
We joked around a bit more, sharing behind-the-scenes TV production stories, and I think they liked hearing that.
The next time I saw J.P. was when the Seafair Pirates were landing at Alki. I was there with my 4-year old son, and I introduced him to J.P. He only recognized him as “that clown guy on your shirt” (I have a J.P. t-shirt, get your own here) and I’m not sure his meeting him had as much impact as it did me.
J.P. is now over 80 years old, and last I heard he’s battling a form of blood cancer called acute myeloma.
I sincerely hope he’s well on this day, his true birthday, and I will peer through my own imaginary ICU2TV to acknowledge J.P., raise a toast to all the joy and laughter he not only brought into my life, but inspired me to try to do the same (although nowhere even close…).
So…Happy Birthday J.P. Patches…and thanks!
Here’s a clip from his show that really demonstrates his comedic style:
One more thing – yesterday I updated my Facebook status as “Excied that tomorrow is…you guessed it…J.P. Patches Birthday!” and here are some humorous comments from some “friends,” including Highline Historical Society Director Cyndi Upthegrove and my little sisters’ comment on her not knowing who J.P. was:
Every year, thousands of poor, sad, lonely dogs are abandoned and neglected.
This Father’s Day, why not help a needy dog out and make Dad happy at the same time by adopting a very unique canine named Spike:
http://www.b-townblog.com/wp-content/media/DTSM_Spike-HI2_320x240.flvGo to Dan The Sausageman’s website and order now, and you’ll receive a FREE 9-Ounce Summer Sausage!
CREDITS:
- Written/Directed by Scott Schaefer
- Voiceover by Henry Dardenne
