Postcard - Ilwaco, Washington

"Port Basin - Ilwaco, Washington. Located at the mouth of the famous Columbia River. Berths for over 900 small boats, launching facilities. Area noted for silver and chinook salmon fishing. From May thru October."

Love the staccato description there. Probably from the 1960s or 1970s. Ilwaco is also known, at least to us Washington State trivia collectors, as the base for Malcolm Mark Moore, who ran for Governor in 1936 as a member of the Hitler-loving "Christian Party," otherwise known as the Silver Shirts.

Ilwaco is also the burial place of legendary muralist Joe Knowles.

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Part of a mural series by Joe Knowles in the Monticello Hotel, Longview, Washington.

The first portrait portrays that one-eyed genocidal pirate, Robert Gray.

The man with the long white hair is Dr. John McLoughlin, an important figure in Washington State history on many levels. Oregon likes to claim the Doc (they even have a statue of him in Salem), but he really belongs to us Washingtonians.

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I apologize for the extremely bad phone photo but it can still act as a platform to a most amazing story. This is the lobby of the Monticello Hotel in Longview, Washington. This place has murals tucked up on the wall against the ceiling by Joe Knowles, one of the most interesting and eccentric artists in the history of Washington State, which is saying a lot. Check out my profile of Joe on OlyBlog.

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Toast at the Monticello Hotel, Longview, Washington. The lobby has tons of artwork by the legendary Joe Knowles.