After my NPS Centennial Roadtrip, I had to move my poster business out of a private home and into a real warehouse.  I bought this sight-unseen.  It was originally a machine shop in the 1970s with 400 amps of power at 480 VAC!  Perfect, except for the ugly mural on the door.  It turns out to be a Henry mural who is getting quite a reputation with about 150 murals around Seattle–and I’m in the art preservation business so I move this around to the back door–you can still see it there (24 Dravus St.).

The first thing I do after closing is to fill it with cars, forklifts and trailers–this place is 40′ X 50′ so you can get a lot of stuff in here.

So I move in more stuff in–whew!  These are engine parts for my tugboat which is still in Alaska.  Note the tire guards–the previous owner of the tug bought all new tires, then drilled holes in them to hang them around the tug.  But, I digress.

And more stuff–in this case it’s our card-stock shipped up from Salt Lake City….the real purpose of this warehouse.  RDE sells about half million cards a year.

To enclose an office/poster storage facility, the city, in all their infinite wisdom makes me cut the foundation in half!  Yes, it’s a footing required by law and is no deeper than the slab itself.   This is a stupid law but I do it.  The floor tips about 1 1/2″ out of plumb–not a problem for a boat builder.

But a problem for my builders, so we do this twice.  You cannot have three walls that run wild and try to level the fourth.

BCI’s are up and we pack another 2″ on top for code (stupid code).  This is a “temporary” five year structure.

I decide I want a modern bathroom with shower, washer/dryer and vanity–here’s what goes under the cement.  The cement cutter brought a gas powered cutter instead of a hydraulic one and got CO poisoning.  I hope he recovered; when he left he didn’t look well.  Even the CO alarm in the Airstream went off and it was parked across the warehouse.  Not good–this stuff can kill you.

I put on a new facade, moved a few doors and installed a spiffy awning, did some back yard landscaping and added planters.  It’s done and it’s nice!

Todd, my new warehouseman likes to organize things–this is my tugboat inventory now with the marine stove at the forefront which came out of Rupert Broom’s 100 year old schooner.  I’ve restored it and it’s beautiful.  The big steel ball is now painted and marks my house on the Wrangell Narrows in Alaska.  I’ll hang my new boat on this during the summers.

Angie’s new office–everything now has it’s place.

We call up the local papers and hold a hot-cider open house and invite our neighboring businesses, friendly bankers at Heritage Bank, and the locals.  We have a great time and I keep plugging our WPA products.  I set up camp in the trailer complete with green AstroTurf!

This our “Wall of Color” with all our 45 designs and a photo history of my Centennial Roadtrip.  A light-storage area is above…..I’m still looking for a ladder.  The forklifts are gone.  Some California sold me one that was spray painted into Old Cat Yellow (Caterpillar) when it was a Mitsubishi–and disconnected all the warning lights.  Upon inspection, I sent it back to California and demanded a refund and got it.  In the business, it’s called a Swedish overhaul…..   And I’m Norwegian!

Below, Sally Jewell, former Secretary of the Interior sends her regrets to our open warehouse invitation but SOI #2 shows up and has a great time (last photo below).   We are located at 25 Nickerson Street now (and also 24 Dravus) and will give tours only by appointment.  Locally, our products are sold at Annie’s Art & Frame in Ballard, Frame Up in Fremont and downtown REI.