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July 1941. "Building in town. Walla Walla, Washington. Walla Walla is county seat of rich wheat producing county." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Such a cool old building in beautiful downtown Walla Walla. Speaking of cool, is that an early window air conditioner I see in one of the upstairs windows?
On entering Walla Walla in my brand new 1963 VW Beetle, the sign read "A TOWN SO NICE THEY NAMED IT TWICE."
Well, in the film biz, "walla" is a recording of a few people saying "wall walla," which becomes general crowd chatter when mixed in the background. Try it sometime!
The old stop light suspended by cables in the middle of the intersection displayed just two colors: green and red.
Russell Lee's photo does not show any parking meters. The later photo in J W Wright's post shows two parking meters on a single post, presumably two of many. The recent Google view above shows the parking meters are gone, replaced by a two hour parking zone.
Parallel parking was the scheme in the old days. Today it is diagonal or straight-in parking.
And, what happened to all the people? I guess they just don't walk around downtown anymore.
... for a ball game! The fans are out to get a ticket or two, from Walla Walla Washington to Kalamazoo ...
Not to forget:
Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!
The large building housing “Reeds Millinery” is gone, but the smaller “Max Baumeister” (1889) building still stands.
Soper's Leather Goods and Saddles was next door, at 27 West Main Street, a building that still exists.
Read more at the excellent Bygone Walla Walla project!
Famous for wheat? Sure. Also for sweet onions, fine wines and an infamous state prison.
But mainly in Loony Tunes cartoons for the Wishy Washy Washing Machine Company, The Ace Novelty Company and Little Giant Vacuum Cleaner company, all proudly hailing in animation from the oh-so-fun-to-say out loud Walla Walla, Washington.
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