"If these walls could talk" tour will feature home where REI was founded
"If these walls could talk" tour will feature home where REI was founded
Bobby Whittaker balancing an early ice axe from his father Jim Whittaker’s collection.
Photo courtesy SWSHS
Tue, 07/24/2018
information from Southwest Seattle Historical Society
Southwest Seattle Historical Society presents “If These Walls Could Talk,” their annual home tour, which is scheduled for Sunday, August 5, 2018 from 2 to 4 pm. This year the organization invites tour guests to visit the house where REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) was founded on Gatewood Hill in West Seattle in 1938.
The REI house tour is open to the public from 2 pm to 4 pm, and public tour tickets are $10 for Southwest Seattle Historical Society members and $15 for non-members (also available online). Attendees are encouraged to join the historical society both to support the organization’s efforts and to receive the discount for this and other society events throughout the year. The tour allows you to come through the original REI house where there will be several interpretive stops both inside and outside the house, as well as image clips about the early days of REI on monitors along the tour.
The historical society is also hosting a “VIP Talk & Reception” from 12 noon to 2 pm on the same day as a fundraiser. Tickets are $100 and can be purchased here with a limit of only 30 tickets available online at the organization’s website (loghousemuseum.org) for the benefit of Southwest Seattle Historical Society. The reception includes food and drink refreshments, a social hour split between the beginning and end of the event, and an hour of programming in-between.
The guest speaker for the “VIP Talk & Reception” is Bobby Whittaker, son of Jim Whittaker. Bobby will be talking about growing up in a climbing family, and his early memories of hanging out at Capitol Hill store location at the time when his father Jim was involved in the operations of REI. Bobby will also be showing clips of his recent documentary film, “Return to Mt. Kennedy”, which opened recently at the Seattle International Film Festival to sold-out audiences and enthusiastically-positive reviews.
Born into rain and moss-covered grunge, Bobby Whittaker was brought up in the freight elevator of Seattle sporting goods startup Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI). His first gig was turning pockets for his father Jim’s fledgling manufacturing company, Because Its There.
Then came more than 30 years in the music business, beginning with Sub Pop Records, another locally grown company that sculpted the cultural landscape. Those long nights and days evolved into coordinating worldwide marketing campaigns, promotional events, and live music tours with American icons such as Mudhoney, R.E.M and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. From Istanbul to Johannesburg and back, Bobby has kept his roots firmly planted in the great outdoors by championing pedestrian and bicycle initiatives at State and Federal levels. His advocacy continues to this day through work with a non-profit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to promote and develop recreational trails locally.
About the REI home being toured this year
The home tour this year will be held at the original REI house which, in 2002 underwent a significant renovation that involved changing much of the interior layout, added two ‘reverse shed dormers’ and a cupola in what was the attic floor. Still the original exterior of the house, the iconic arched window, and small porch overhang remain consistent to the time that Mary and Lloyd Anderson lived there.
The house sits on property overlooking Lincoln Park, and from the upstairs you can see nearly 180° views. Anderson Gardens is named after Mary and Lloyd Anderson, and features a central garden space that is shared between the REI house and three low set farm-style-inspired northwest modern homes.
It is remarkable to think that REI started in our own backyard. Perched upon Gatewood Hill was a small, relatively humble house — not unlike the appearance of a schoolhouse — that Lloyd Anderson himself constructed in 1932 from lumber he purchased from another house on California Ave SW that was going to be torn down. Please come join us for this historic tour at the heart of mountaineering and outdoor equipment history in Seattle!
It all started with a $15 ice axe — In 1935 Mountaineer’s Club member Lloyd Anderson purchased an ice axe from an importer in the United States. The axe was at the same time very expensive for that time-period, and also was poorly made. When the axe broke it set Lloyd on a mission that would lead to the formation of a co-op for the Mountaineers that would eventually become REI.
Lloyd and Mary had gotten their hands on a catalog from a European distributor. Since Mary was of German descent she was able to translate from the German catalog descriptions and they were able to communicate directly with the distributors in Europe to place an order for a high quality ice axe directly from overseas. Priced at just $3.50 for the axe — which included the delivery cost to the U.S. — they assumed that the pricing was a mistake that would be corrected later. It wasn’t.
This discovery lead to the Andersons being flooded with money from their fellow Mountaineer’s Club members as the news spread like wildfire. They began ordering in bulk, and the inventory grew far beyond ice axes to include a whole variety of climbing equipment and outdoor gear, and thus the original co-op was born.
For additional information about the August 5, 2018 “VIP Talk & Reception” from noon – 2 pm or the Public Tour from 2 – 4 pm please contact Jeff McCord at director@loghousemuseum.org or call him at 206-234-4357. The address of the home will be shared upon ticket purchase to control the number of potential visitors.
