BELLINGHAM – Once upon a time, there was a corner of Bellingham called Old Town.
And on one block in Old Town, a few little shops lined up in a row sold just about anything: costume jewelry, old records and turn-of-the-century baby carriages. The shops had pastel facades and funny names such as Pink Flamingo and Eartha Kitty’s.
It was a gritty neighborhood – down the street from one bar, and up the street from another. For decades, the shop owners sold antiques, funk, junk and treasures to the people who strolled in. Some became their friends; others tried to hawk their stolen goods and were chased out.
On the block, the storeowners looked out for each other. They fed the alley cats and the gulls, sold their found gems. For a long time, things continued in much the same way.
The shops sat atop a bluff, overlooking a plant that made toilet tissue, and Bellingham Bay. Sometimes, little tufts of tissue would waft down onto their sidewalk.
It kept the rent cheap.
Finally, the downtown that had been sleeping for so many years began to wake up.
Glossy buildings rose from the ground. By now, no more toilet paper rained down on the sidewalks of W. Holly Street. But the view of the bay was still there.
And things on this block were changing.
In March, Bellingham-based Trillium Corp. bought the Pace property, which houses Wise Buys Shop, Eartha Kitty’s, Pink Flamingo and the former Pace’s New and Used on W. Holly Street, for $825,000.
While Trillium says no decision has been made on the eventual fate of the building, tenants say they expect to be leaving within the next year, or are looking for new leases. Pace’s New and Used closed in March.
Some think the area will change from quirky to corporate.
“It’s not modern. It’s not fancy. But it’s a unique neighborhood,” says Arla Fowler, who works at Wise Buys Shop. “Bellingham will be a less interesting place (without it).”
“The more character goes away, the more everything is the same,” says Walter Robinson, the owner of Aladdin’s Antiques, which is housed next to the Pace Building and has not been sold. “Gentrification,” said Fowler.
Others see it as a natural evolution. Frances Erickson, who has owned Eartha Kitty’s for 20 years, says that there’s no bitterness on her part.
“I was sad about it when I first found out,” she said.
“But I always knew the day would come. There’s no animosity. I always knew.”
The Old Town antiquing area has been a long established part of Bellingham’s downtown.
In the 1960s, Fowler shopped for $5 furniture at the secondhand and antique stores along W. Holly Street in Old Town.
“I still have some of that stuff in my house today,” she said.
Fowler has worked at the Wise Buys Shop, a thrift store that benefits women’s shelter Lydia Place, for a decade.
In the early 1970s, students flocked to the area for the 99-cent breakfast at the Old Town Cafe and to furnish their apartments with musty tapestries and other glorious junk. The shops have remained a haven for treasure seekers, bargain hunters, low-income folks and curious passers-by.
“It’s been a special place,” said Erickson.
For the shopkeepers of the Pace building, the area has come with its share of characters, and a lot of lore.
“I once had a woman come in and tell me I’d stolen everything in the store from her,” Erickson said.
Except for her buck knife, which she promptly brandished. Another time, a storeowner sold a knife to a transient who in turn used it to stab a cook.
And a cowboy ghost lives in the apartment above the shops.
Carol Jenkins of Pink Flamingo – and Erickson as well – have cultivated the friendship of a group of resident feral cats. A few even live in the stores. The Wheat Thins and breadcrumbs scattered on the sidewalk around the stores are also Jenkins’ doing. She’s been known to feed birds, too.
The sale of the Pace property doesn’t mean the end of the Old Town antique district.
There are several thriving antique stores across the street, and employees of Old Town Antique Mall and Aladdin’s Antiques, which share a building, say owner Claudette Job apparently has no intention of selling.
Eartha Kitty’s and Pink Flamingo are considering relocating. Wise Buys Shop is looking for a new location. The Pace family, who owned the Pace building, are now focusing on their three Pace’s Salvage stores on Guide Meridian and the Pacific Highway.
But the sale is one story in the larger tale of a rapidly changing downtown Bellingham. New apartment buildings and retail centers are going up, a 23-story tower has been proposed, and old eyesores such as the long-vacant Flame Tavern are no longer around.
Changes also are on the way with Trillium’s $1.4 million purchase last year of the property that houses Boss Tweed restaurant, which is located across from the shops, though Trillium hasn’t decided what shape the property will take.
“Nothing has been ruled out, but nothing has been ruled in either,” said Wayne Schwandt, Trillium’s vice president of real estate and special projects.
“Probably within the next year we’ll be focusing on that area.”
But residential units are a strong possibility, Schwandt said.
“We are great believers in downtown residences.”
Lanny Little, who has made a career out of documenting the spirit and history of Bellingham through his paintings and murals, immortalized the pastel-hued facades of Eartha Kitty’s and Pink Flamingo in a recent painting. Alongside the shops sits a bicycle, a row of potted geraniums and the stairway up to an apartment.
“It’s so much Old Town. I wanted to paint it before it’s gone,” he said. “I kind of hate to see it go. But I guess that times will change.”
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