Unforgettable.
Lights dance and Nat King Cole’s soft, rich baritone voice croons as the phonograph needle meets vinyl.
You don’t have to put another dime in the jukebox, baby.
All the jukeboxes here are on free play. Just push the button and that flash-crackle-and-pop resonates from the automated record flipping machine.
There’s a jukebox in almost every room at the north Everett home of Dianne and Tom Easley.
“I like that old music. You can understand it,” Tom Easley said.
Cole’s “Unforgettable” is the couple’s favorite.
“That’s our song,” Dianne Easley said.
It’s on the jukebox in the bedroom.
Maybe your song is on one of the eight jukeboxes in this home featured on Monday’s Cooks’ Home Tour by the Assistance League of Everett.
The self-guided tour is a fundraiser for Operation School Bell, which provides clothing for children in need in Snohomish County.
Homes include an updated Cape Cod, a contemporary ground-floor condominium and a 1907 three-story restored to its original floor plan.
Not only do people get to tour six dramatically different homes in the north end, they also get to eat.
A chef will be stationed in each kitchen with specialty samples. At the Easley home, Cindy Hilliard, owner of Briar Laine, a Mill Creek personal chef service, will be serving pickled asparagus with Black Forest ham and goat cheese.
Music and food. Great balls of fire!
The jukeboxes date to 1936, the first year of the coin-operated music machines.
Tom Easley has been restoring jukeboxes for years.
“He came with the jukeboxes. That’s why I chose him,” his wife said. “But he had other qualities.”
They met at Boeing, where he works in human relations. She retired from HR in 2011 and is an Assistance League volunteer.
“We both love old stuff,” she said.
The love gets crazy at times.
“You know, you run out of space and you think, ‘Holy crap, what are we going to do with all this stuff?’” he said.
Well, if you’re Tom and Dianne, what you do is buy another house to store the excess.
“We bought that house at the corner,” he said.
“Some people buy beach cabins,” she said.
Who needs a getaway with all the fun things at home anyway?
These aren’t simply for show. They play with their toys.
There’s a penny gumball machine, a peanut machine, a Coke machine stocked with bottled pop and beer, a wooden phone both from the Savoy Hotel in Seattle, and a wall pay phone that works.
The two antique slot machines also work. The jackpot pays $10. In nickels.
Unforgettable. That’s what this home is.
Andrea Brown; 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com
Cooks’ Tour
The Cooks’ Home Tour by Assistance League of Everett is a self-guided tour from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday. It features six homes with a chef in each kitchen offering samples. There will also be a raffle and a vendor market.
Tickets and maps: $30, available in advance at Assistance League of Everett, 5107 Evergreen Way; Stadium Flowers in Everett and Lynn-wood; and Renee’s Contemporary Clothing, 2820 Colby Ave. Tickets on the day of the tour are available at the Assistance League office.
For more information: www.assistanceleagueofeverett.org or call 425-252-3011, ext. 113.
Proceeds benefit Operation School Bell.
Chefs on the tour
- Luca Nasti, Luca’s Ristorante
- Louis Morales, Anthony’s Kirkland
- Alex Tomes, Lombardi’s
- James Abbot, Buck’s American Cafe
- Cindy Hilliard, Briar Laine
- Wicked Cellars Catering
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