PNWcast

If you need help during these Eagle Creek Fire Evacuations: The Red Cross is operating relief shelters at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, and at Hedgewald Center in Stevenson, Washington. If you are looking for ways to help these people by volunteering or donating locally, call the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office at 541-387-6911

Michael Socolow, " Six Minutes In Berlin - Broadcast Spectacle and Rowing Gold at the Nazi Olympics " https://www.amazon.com/Six-Minutes-Berlin-Broadcast-Spectacle/dp/0252082214 Right now, you’re hearing audio from 1936. Berlin, Germany. Specifically, the opening ceremonies of the 1936 Summer Olympics. In which, 9 guys from the University of Washington would compete against the best athletes in the world for a chance to win the gold medal in Olympic rowing. You probably have heard this story before, mostly because of the best-selling book The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. It became such a popular book that they’re making a movie about it. But long, long before Brown began writing his book, there was another author, and he had been tracking down this story for years. That’s Michael Socolow. Even if you read the Boys on the Boat book or have heard this story before Michael Socolow’s book, Six Minutes In Berlin goes obsessively deep into researching this story revealing some aspects of it that have gone overlooked and ignored. Aspects that have changed really everything. From sports to modern celebrity to even how you’re listening to this podcast right now. What started as an unexpected talented group of young college guys in Washington State turned out to become a global changing of the times. You’re listening to PNWcast. Today on the show, we get to hear exclusive, unreleased, never before heard by the public, first person accounts of the 1936 Olympic games from the men that rowed in them. We’re talking about the early 1900’s. Radio and television were in it’s infancy. And it was about to rocket ahead about 20 years. Just a few years before the Olympic Games in Berlin, Televisions weren’t even really electronic. The screen, the tv screen, had a small motor with a spinning disc and a neon lamp, which worked together to give a blurry reddish-orange picture about half the size of a business card. We call this period the "Mechanical Television Era” and it lasted until right up to 1936. Radio however, was in it’s prime. FM broadcasting is a fairly new progression and networks like NBC and CBS are just a few years old. But Everyone, everyone listens to the radio. And at this time, if you’re listening to the radio for sports, you’re probably listening to rowing races. I think it’s worth mentioning, because I didn’t know this, but rowing was a big deal. Today we have football games, basketball, soccer and so on that popularity wise and attendance wise are much larger than rowing is today. But there was a time, back in the early 1900’s, where that was drastically opposite.

Honolulu, Hawaii. Home to the University of Hawaii. And in the early 1900’s, when today’s story takes place, it was much different than the school it is today. Instead of teaching almost 20,000 young minds in one of the most beautiful places on earth, it was a struggling campus with 21 undergrads in attendance. It’s steady growth especially from 1914 to 1927 was credited to the President of the university, Arthur L Dean. Dean graduated from Harvard in 1912 and went to work for Yale university teaching philosophy until he got a call from the University of Hawaii saying they were interested in bringing him on as president. He took the job and went on to achieve some scientific fame through some of his research which, in turn helped the popularity of the school. The research he became known for was a cure for leprosy. Called The Dean Method after himself. This is an excerpt from the front page of The voice of Hawaii, Hawaii’s daily newspaper at the time when Arthur Dean retired. “Dr. Arthur L Dean is the discoverer of chaulmoogra oil which has been used with very satisfactory results in treating cases of leprosy. The research work in chaulmoogra oil derivatives will continue in the university under the direction of Dr. Arthur L Dean.” He was honored in the university and they put his name on the biology building and renamed it after him It should also be known that Dr Arthur L Dean was accused of plagiarizing in it’s entirety that same leprosy cure research from a young, black female chemist from Seattle not even a year after she died at 24 years old. Today, we hear her story Her name was Alice Ball, and she was incredible. If you try searching for anything more than a small biography on Alice, you won’t find much. Very little is known about her and her short life. But among the few people who researched Alice Ball to dig up more of her story is Dr. Kathryn Takara.

If you’re in Portland right now or are familiar with the area, you most likely haven't seen an enormous sign made of bright lights advertising sugar before. But I would bet that you know the sign I’m talking about. Right now it’s an outline of Oregon with a deer jumping over the words, “Portland, Oregon. Old Town.” And before that, from 1997-2010, it had the same deer, but said, “Made in Oregon” under it. And before that, after 17 years of advertising sugar, in 1957 An outdoor and ski clothing company moved their operation into the old town building and changed the sign by adding the outline of a leaping deer with the company’s name, White Stag Sportswear. Harold graduated Dartmouth and headed to Oxford in England to get his graduate work in anthropology completed. But then in 1929, the great depression hit, and to help his family, he went back west. Back to Portland. His Dad owned a Tent and Awning company called the Hirsch-Weis Manufacturing Company and Harold went to go work for his Dad to help out. But skiing never left Harold’s mind. With no lifts, tows, lodges or really access to skiing anywhere, he put his powder-focused mind on something else. He started making ski jackets and ski pants for the extremely small group of people in Portland and Seattle that painstakingly herringboned themselves up small hills just to get a small rush of riding down for a minute or two. He didn’t make any money…mostly took losses on his creations, but he made damn good clothes for skiing. And just in time too. Business only got better after the economy started rising again and Harold’s new ski clothing company that he called “White Stag Sportswear” was the largest ski clothing company in the world. He even bought himself an enormous bright lit up sign with the outline of Oregon and a deer on it and put his company name on it. For more than 40 years, White Stag were the leaders in ski and outdoor apparel design – that distinctive rust-red waterproof parka for the National Ski Patrol? That was Harold. He helped found the National Ski Equipment and Apparel Association (now SnowSports Industries of America) and, in 1963, established the Hirsch Award, given annually to the United States’ best snow-sports journalist, photographer and broadcaster. Harold also was a pioneer in racially integrating his company during World War II. “There is an element in me, because I am Jewish,” he told an interviewer, “that gave me a sympathy for people who have to bear prejudice.” In 1949, Harold met a lovely, local socialite named Elizabeth. Who has on her list of childhood friends is this guy (Jimmy Stewart) Harold and Elizabeth were married that year and they both went on to enjoy the success of White Stag and the growth of their community. 8 years later, it happened. Elizabeth loved Christmas. She went all out each year, decorations, songs, parties, gifts everything. Harold, however, was jewish. He wasn’t really into the Santa Claus type Christmas or really into at all. On their way to 67 W Burnside street one December night, Elizabeth mentioned to Harold that the sign should be decorated for Christmas. He said he’s consider it, but mostly dismissed it. But Elizabeth persisted. every time they passed the sign, she’;s make a comment on how it needed something for Christmas. For however much Harold didn’t like Christmas, he loved his wife even more and just wanted her to be happy. So in 1959, as a Christmas surprise for his wife, Harold made a subtle festive change to the sign by adding a bright red light on the top of the deer’s nose to look like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The city of Portland owns the sign now, and as I mentioned before, it’s gone through some changes since then. But the one thing that stays the same is every year in time for Christmas, a bright red light, goes in the exact same place on that White Stag’s nose. For Elizabeth. For Christmas. From Harold Hirsch.

He’s going to go down in history as Seattle’s first superhero. Some will argue Seattle’s best superhero. Now some listeners might be thinking that “Yeh yeh, Superheroes aren’t real…they’re just make believe for kids or in comic books and movies, so get on with it,” but bear with me on this one, because seriously…Seattle’s first superhero. His superpower? The ability to create and manipulate electricity and light. For that reason, people called him Electron-boy. The reason electron boy is going down in history is because of what happened in Seattle, April 29th, 2010. There were these two bad guys they went by the names of Dr. Dark and Blackout boy, their plan, was to create complete darkness first all over the Seattle area, and then all over the world. The only person that could stop them, would be a superhero that could fight the dark with light; electron boy. But at the time, Electron boy was only a 13 years old kid, and he was suffering from life threatening medical conditions, so he would need some help. He got that help from from his family and the Make-a-wish foundation.

Story told by Shane Proster. Cemetery explored with Dana Walters. Happy Halloween.

Craigslist craigslist.com, you know it, I know it. It’s one of the largest sites in the world and I would bet that most of us, have bought or sold items from craigslist or at least know people that have. Internet marketplaces like this are a great resource. Need affordable furniture? Craigslist. Need a magician for a party. Craigslist. Need a job, concert tickets, a car, that rare, 1st pressing vinyl of Brand New’s 1st record? It’s all on craigslist. But with everything good, simple and convenient about craigslist, there’s also that small voice in the back of your head. What if this is a scam? What if this faceless person is selling me something stolen? Because it’s so easy and accessible, so much could go wrong. For example, there’s this guy Robert, lives in Jacksonville, Oregon and he came home from work one day to a line of cars at his house and about 30 people on his property, packing almost everything he owned into their cars. Someone had stolen tools, his swing on the front porch and even his horse. He started confronting people, screaming what are you doing? This is my stuff! This is my house. He was told about this ad, on craigslist that had his address on it saying that robert was being forced to leave and everything had to go. For Free. First come first serve. If you can take it, it’s yours. Robert had never been on craigslist and knew nothing about it, but thousands of dollars in property was taken that day. The legal team at Craigslist was able to trace the ads and a couple was arrested 5 days later. Turns out, this married couple had actually earlier that week stolen horse saddles from Robert’s barn and to cover up their robbery, they posted the ad on craigslist. It was a pretty sinister hoax, but robert ended up getting most of his stuff back by the people that unknowingly stole from him that day. Today on the show, stories like this one, going deep into craigslist to find the scams, hoaxes, criminals and the people that aren’t putting up with it This is PNWcast, you’re listening to Episode 20

It's March 18th, 2010, Rockaway Beach, Oregon. Unusually sunny and clear for a spring morning on the Oregon Coast, a couple of loggers high up on a rocky, dirt road off of peterson creek are working in a clearcut. To harvest some timber they head into a heavy forest and walking through the dewy, wet foliage they come across, some metal. Hundreds of pieces of it scattered all over. Over about a 200 yard area in these woods were ripped apart pieces from what looked like an aircraft. A piece of a wing here, cockpit controls over there, a small part of fuselage with an old, white star logo painted on military green and patches from a leather bomber jacket. They didn't find a body though, and this raised alot of questions. Like where did it come from? Why did it crash? What happened to and more importantly who was the pilot? To find the answers, we need to go back about 70 years to World War 2, in the Pacific Northwest. This PNWcast, episode 19.

Seattle 1999. As a part of the anti-globalization movement there were a series of protests surrounding the World Trade Organization or WTO that held a conference at the Washington State Convention. It was supposed to the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations but quickly turned into about 40,000 protestors barricading streets, smashing windows of nearby stores and locking down intersections in downtown Seattle. This led to the King County Sheriff Office and Seattle Police department firing pepper spray, tear gas, stun grenades and arresting over 500 people. The protests resulted in over 150 wrongful arrest by police that led to the an out of court settlement of $250,000 paid to the arrested by the City of Seattle but more importantly the increased exposure of WTO in US media and the creation of the independent media center which is a global, open publishing network offering grassroot, non-corporate coverage. This has gone down in the history books and movies as The Battle of Seattle. But the real Battle of Seattle happened 143 years earlier on January 26th, 1856. In 1856, Seattle was a small settlement located where Pioneer Square is right now; founded by the Denny Party I talked about last Christmas. If you haven’t listened to that story, you should even if it’s not holiday season yet. I’ll put the link in the show notes. The first plats for the village were filed in 1853 and nominal land settlements were established in 1855. This caused a series of small skirmishes between the settlers and the Native Americans they were pushing out. See, the Natives were pissed by these treaties that came from controversial Governor Isaac Stevens. On January 21st, Governor Stevens declared a quote unquote war of extermination upon the natives. 5 days later, hidden in the forests surrounding the small clearing by the Puget, indian tribes waited to ambush the settlers. And they would have been successful too! If it wasn’t for the Decatur. Warship under Sail The USS Decatur in the Pacific West LORRAINE MCCONAGHY http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/MCCWAR.html Episode 12 - The First Pacific Northwest Christmas https://soundcloud.com/pnwcast/episode-12-the-first-pacific-northwest-christmas PNWcast.com/listen

If you open up the Oregon Trail video game and press the number 3, you’ll see the default top scores from the game set up by the developers in 1990, ninth on the list with 2052 points, is Ezra Meeker and today we find out why and try to beat his score. This is PNWcast, you’re listening to episode 17. Ezra Meeker was a pioneer that first made the trip to Portland, Oregon from Eddyville, Iowa in 1852. He did so without losing a single person in his party, and subsequently made other trips back and forth on the same trail, creating historical markers for people to visit, to remember the trail and preserve the stories of all it’s travelers. He is known as quite a few things, first mayor of Puyallup, The Hop King of the world, and the champion of the Oregon trail. Ezra Meeker also documented everything, along with authoring books, he has over 17 boxes worth of written material that someone could sort through and learn everything there was to know about Ezra and his life. Someone did, and is in the process of writing a 4 volume biography about him. This is Dennis Larson. Now, I haven’t played the Oregon trial since elementary school, and I think since I have the guy writing about the champion of the real Oregon trail on the phone, I have a real shot at getting a top score. So I had Dennis play a game with me.