Talk:Downtown
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I don't feel like writing the "Downtown" entry right now, but I do want to write about the Westin Building right now.
[edit] REI Co-op
When I joined in the early sixties, "the store" was an ordinary small office space upstairs on Pike St near 7th Ave. The entrance was near the box office to the Green Parrot or some damn theater. It was a low rent building with old dentist offices down the hall. Their space was maybe 20 x 40 feet. There were cinder block and pine boards lining the walls, 2 shelves high. Most of the stuff was basic climbing items imported from Europe. They had begun to contract out for REI brand items like cramp-ons and ice axes and some clothing. Their down parkas were to die for. Same for the sleeping bags. Nobody could afford down like that unless you were getting ready to go to Mt. McKinley or the Himalayas.
The clerks were two little old ladies who had a small counter. Behind it was a 5 drawer vertical rack where your membership records were kept. All on a single 3x5 card. Each time you purchased something, they recorded it manually with a pencil. There was a definite snob appeal that involved your coop number. You had the right to look down your nose at anyone with a newer and thus higher number than you. Those with the very lowest membership numbers had their cards stored in the very top drawer. Those folks were considered to be like aristocracy and held in highest regard. I think there were 48 members or so who began the coop back in 1938 in order to pool their resources and buy things in bulk from Europe.
When they opened up the place up on 11th Ave. we were dumbfounded. This was an incredibly bold move. I think they had already been there for awhile and used it as a warehouse. They had a material testing lab up there and used to test all their gear before they approved it for catalog use. That was the beginning of the end if you are a hard core purist. They got in bicycles and kayaks and rental skis and boots. But it was cool to see Jim Whitaker walking around the store and he was helpful and always friendly to customers.
We use to save all the cheap black and white catalogs. We hoarded them like old comic books. As I recall the first color cover was the legendary photograph Gombu took of Whitaker standing on the top of the world, holding his ice axe with attached flags above his head. His red down parka was to me like Michael Jackson's red leather jacket from his "Beat It" video. And the image of Whitaker, standing 6'3" tall on the top of Mt. Everest, with the world behind and below him, will forever be more firmly etched in my mind than Armstrong stepping on to the Lunar surface.
Those were the days.
43885 198.145.82.56 07:02, November 4, 2009 (UTC)
