FELIKS BANEL -- NORTHWEST HISTORIAN HEARD ON SEATTLE'S MORNING NEWS

MyNorthwest History

Photo: A Seattle Post-Intelligencer photo from the collection of the Museum of History & Industry (...
Feliks Banel

Celebrating Juneteenth 2024 and reflecting on local Black history

KIRO Newsradio caught up with Stephanie Johnson-Toliver, president of the Black Heritage Society of Washington, to talk about Juneteenth.
1 day ago
Sinatra-McCaw...
Feliks Banel

Frank Sinatra still sings in Seattle

On a late spring day nearly 60 years ago, one of the biggest names in show business came to Seattle and played a concert on a Sunday evening. It turned out to be a show that’s been echoing in some parts of the music world ever since.
8 days ago
Image: The Chief Sealth monument dates back to 1890....
Feliks Banel

Paying tribute to city namesake Chief Sealth’s grave in Suquamish

KIRO Newsradio visited the grave of Chief Sealth at Suquamish Memorial Cemetery and spoke with Suquamish Tribal Chair Leonard Forsman.
12 days ago
earthrise...
KIRO Newsradio staff

‘Earthrise’ photographer who called Northwest home on his famous picture

Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders took a photograph of a distant earth in 1968. The image has since been come to be known as "Earthrise."
12 days ago
fires 1889...
Feliks Banel

Fires devastated Seattle, Ellensburg, Spokane in 1889

When Washington became a state in November 1889, that wasn’t the only big news story that year, thanks to devastating fires across the state.
14 days ago
Photo: Everett Clark Park gazebo....
Feliks Banel

Everett’s Clark Park gazebo now gone to the dogs

The Everett Clark Park gazebo will be dismantled as the city council voted for funding to build an off-leash dog area.
14 days ago
Bob Hope...
Feliks Banel

On D-Day, West Coast radio listeners ‘sat up all night by the radio’

Next week will mark the 75th anniversary of the Allied landings at Normandy. Americans experienced that day quite differently, depending on which time zone you lived in.
15 days ago
The Ryan House in Sumner was built in the 1870s and 1880s before Washington became a state, and is ...
Feliks Banel

Sumner City Council unanimously rejects Ryan House resolution

The Sumner City Council will meet Monday night and will likely vote on a Ryan House private fundraising resolution.
17 days ago
Image: The 1910 railroad bridge and brick-paved road are the only remaining landmarks which have no...
Feliks Banel

Endangered brick street and railroad bridge were witness to the Everett Massacre

The area where a stretch of brick road is crossed by a railroad bridge is the only portion unchanged from the Everett Massacre.
20 days ago
Image: The current Seattle branch of the National Archives will be replaced by a new facility at a ...
Feliks Banel

Exclusive: New Seattle National Archives to be a ‘very large project’

KIRO Newsradio spoke to two officials involved for a preview of what's to come in developing the new Seattle National Archives facility.
22 days ago
Image: Bill Wixey was, is and always will be a Rose Hill Royal. And look at that hair! (Photo: 1981...
Feliks Banel

All Over The Map: KIRO Newsradio’s junior high/middle school fight song challenge

We're on a mission to collect recordings of as many Puget Sound area junior high school fight songs as possible to celebrate our alma maters.
28 days ago
Image: Young Fresh Fellows' co-founder Scott McCaughey (left) and drummer John Perrin stand in the ...
Feliks Banel

Young Fresh Fellows celebrate 40 years since ‘Fabulous’ vinyl debut

The Young Fresh Fellows are marking the 40th anniversary, and new remix reissue, of their album "Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest."
29 days ago
Tech City Bowl...
Feliks Banel

Final frame was Saturday night for Kirkland’s Tech City Bowl – aka Totem Bowl

After more than six decades in business on the Eastside, Tech City Bowl on Rose Hill will shut down permanently later this year.
1 month ago
Image: On May 17, 1980, Carolyn Driedger examines a piece of measuring equipment at Coldwater2, the...
Feliks Banel

‘We got a real gut punch from it:’ Scientist recalls deadly Mount St. Helens eruption

This weekend is the 44th anniversary of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, a major event for those who remember it or know the history.
1 month ago
Image:Matt McCauley, vice president of Kirkland Heritage Society, will lead the annual history tour...
Feliks Banel

Kirkland’s rich history comes to life in the annual cemetery tour

The Eastside city's origin story will come up a lot during this year's annual history tour of Kirkland Cemetery.
1 month ago
Photo: Parkland residents gathered on the steps of the 1908 Parkland School Friday morning to celeb...
Feliks Banel

Exclusive: Grassroots preservation campaign saves Parkland School

Members of the Parkland Community Association announced Friday that the group has officially assumed ownership of historic Parkland School.
1 month ago
Image: Captain George Vancouver is buried in a churchyard in Petersham Village, west of London....
Feliks Banel

Visiting Captain Vancouver’s grave in a tiny village near London

Captain George Vancouver will be commemorated as he is every year at the churchyard near London where he was buried more than 225 years ago.
1 month ago
Photo: The "little red barn" - aka "the mystery cottage" at Fisk Family Park in Kirkland....
Feliks Banel

History only deepens community love for Kirkland’s ‘mystery cottage’

A former neighbor shared some additional history and backstory of the "mystery cottage" in Kirkland's newest public park.
2 months ago
tacoma holy rosary church...
Feliks Banel

Vatican decides in favor of Tacoma’s Holy Rosary Church

The Vatican has reportedly found in favor of a community group working to save the Tacoma Holy Rosary Catholic Church from the wrecking ball.
2 months ago
The Seattle Hotel was damaged by the April 13, 1949 earthquake; the steeply tilted parking garage w...
Feliks Banel

Darth Vader, Ban Roll-On, Sinking Ship and other Seattle building nicknames

They rarely make it onto maps or on the fancy signage out front, but Seattle has its fair share of buildings with well-known nicknames.
2 months ago
Lakes of Washington is a nearly forgotten two-volume set of books first published by the State of W...
Feliks Banel

Going deep on forgotten ‘Lakes of Washington’ books

With trout season opening on Washington’s lowland lakes this Saturday, April 27, the timing was perfect to go fishing around on the history bookshelf to share a prized catch – a forgotten encyclopedia of Washington lakes first published more than 60 years ago. “Lakes of Washington” is a two-volume set of books published by the […]
2 months ago
eastside rail sound transit...
Feliks Banel

Echoes of Eastside rail history with Sound Transit preparing to get underway

As Sound Transit inaugurates commuter trains between Bellevue and Redmond, when was the last time passenger rail service was offered on the Eastside?
2 months ago
"Street Trees of Seattle" author Taha Ebrahimi (RIGHT) bumped into Alec Duxbury, her high school En...
Feliks Banel

Layers of history revealed by ‘Street Trees of Seattle’

This new book is “Street Trees of Seattle: An Illustrated Walking Guide” by writer and artist Taha Ebrahimi.
2 months ago
Image: This is a vintage magazine ad for the type of Cold War air raid siren which stood in a Seatt...
Feliks Banel

Update: Cold War air raid siren remains in private hands

A vintage magazine ad for the type of Cold War air-raid siren which stood in a Seattle park for more than 70 years, and which now belongs to Binford Metals in Kent. (Public domain)
2 months ago