In this episode Marissa and Kolby discuss the so-called “Chinese Curse” on the town of Bellingham, and the story behind the urban legend. We’ve included some additional discussion on this one.

This episode is about exotic birds as pets…  particularly Parrots, weird parrot stories we’ve collected from BellingHISTORY.  You’ll meet a few Polly’s and a parrot thankfully named Mildred, hear the stories of beer guzzling bar birds and Whatcom County’s oldest feathered friend. 

In this episode we tell the story of Hill’s Ostrich Farm, operated by William E. Hill in 1911 in Bellingham, on Electric Avenue near Whatcom Falls Park.  We delve into the history of Ostrich Farming and how there came to be such a feather-brained idea in the first place, the fate of the farm and the Ostrich plume craze, as well as some more recent news from the world of ratite farming.  Ostrich burger anyone?  

This episode is a general basic overview of the history of this area, the background that might be useful to know while listening to our podcast and our stories based here in this town and this place on the planet. If you don’t need a quick refresher on US/Washington/PNW and the basics of how the town came to be here, feel free to skip this one!

Get outside with us and explore Bellingham’s past with free guided tours of Downtown and Fairhaven, hosted weekly throughout the summer by the City of Bellingham. The tours are part of the City’s efforts to highlight history and support economic recovery by bringing people into Bellingham’s historic commercial districts. We are excited to be able to help in these efforts and to make local history more accessible this summer with these brand new tours. We’ll take you back in time to explore Bellingham’s historic people, buildings, sites and landscapes…

This year the Good Time Girls’ annual celebration of holiday themed Belling-history and seasonal fun is going virtual!

As autumn brings spider webs and spooky things, here is a seasonal tale from the Good Time Girls’ “Gore and Lore” crypt… That summer things really started “heating up” around Fairhaven as the town was swept by a series of fires, believed to be of “incendiary origin.”  

Late one night in 1902 two graduates from the state prison decide to rob a few of the boys at Butch’s Place Saloon. The clientele and bullets flew like promises at election time. Two men were wounded, one man killed, and two sent up the river for a stretch of 12 to 20 years.” And in all caps, a quote from Bad Bud Cox: “I’M GLAD THE WITNESSES ARE ALL YOUNG SO THAT THEY WILL LIVE UNTIL I GET OUT OF THE PEN AND CAN KILL THEM!”

Ella Rhoads Higginson’s recollection of her arrival on the shores of Bellingham Bay on a dark night in October of 1888 and the “horrors” she encountered, is the perfect seasonal read for BellingHistory nerds. The story was written some 20 years after the fact and originally published in the American Reveille June 14, 1908. It was later reprinted in Edith Beebe Carhart’s 1926 compilation “A History of Bellingham, Washington” and in Lela Jackson Edson’s 1951 “The Fourth Corner.”

This post was inspired by a 1908 news blurb about a new building on Railroad Avenue to be occupied by Curt Pless’ Feed and Seed business, and Pless’ mysterious disappearance soon after. #Onthisday in #Bellinghistory October 3, 1908 the Herald reported on the “New Headquarters for the Pless Hay & Grain Company,” on the corner of Railroad and Magnolia, better known in recent years as the home of Avalon Records and Clark’s Feed and Seed, recently gutted by fire.  “One of the most up-to-date buildings of the year erected for housing a feed and grain business is the above warehouse, built at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Magnolia Street and leased for a long period by Curt Pless & Co.”  

One of our favorite “historic markers” along Harris Avenue in Fairhaven is the one that reads “Cleopatra’s Barge, Lions and Camels Paraded Here 1891”   near the west end of the Padden Creek Lagoon…

While doing some research for the Horseshoe Café, I recently found myself sidetracked into the world of the Barnum and Bailey circus on their visit to Bellingham in 1908.  As a fan-girl of old-timey performers of the vaudeville and circus scenes, it was fairly easy to do….  Since today is the anniversary of the arrival of the Barnum and Bailey Circus in Bellingham #onthisday in 1908, I thought I’d share…

We have been working on amassing as much local LGBTQ related Belling-history as possible over the years. This is an ongoing project to which we are dedicated! We are excited to share what we know thus far with y’all in a free PILOT tour this weekend during Bellingham PRIDE.

We’re excited to announce this opportunity to get outside and get some FREE Belling-history this summer with three guided historical tours in partnership with the Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department.

Good Time Girl guides will lead three different historical walking tours based around Maritime Heritage Park and Whatcom Creek!

Given that much of the subject matter on our tours involves lawbreaking folks, we have always been particularly interested in the jail, and in particular the experiences of women in the legal system. On our Downtown Sin and Gin Tours, we discuss the creation of the women’s ward in the jail, and the hiring of female wardens. In case you can’t get enough jail fun facts, here’s a sampler of some jail history from our notes.

We've been honored to be your punk rock historians for these seven years, but the time has come for us to step aside and allow this wacky business to grow and change under new leadership. We are delighted to share that Good Time Girls is now officially in the hands of longtime guides, Kolby LaBree and Wren Urbigkit. We can't wait to go on their tours with all of you! 

From these articles, it appears that Lorena was harassed while she was with customers, peeped-on through a spy hole, beaten by her accuser, and the case against her relied entirely on eyewitness testimony that itself relied heavily on euphemism and innuendo. The city brought forth witnesses who were almost entirely local business men and whose testimony is dripping with hearsay.