BONUS: Click here to hear an additional musical tribute to the Kalakala ferry from about 2015, by the late Mike Pryor with the Heartland Country Choir. (Courtesy Martin Westerman)
THEN: Promenading south along the Seattle waterfront circa late 1950s as it’s about to pass the Smith Tower is MV Kalakala. (Max R. Jensen, courtesy Dan Kerlee)NOW: From the same vantage but farther away along Harbor Avenue in West Seattle, maritime musician Jon Pontrello stands at Salty’s on Alki, where in 2015 restaurateur Gerry Kingen placed the wheelhouse, drive shaft and other salvaged parts of the Kalakala for public display. (The portholed wheelhouse more recently was encased in anchor fencing.) To see Pontrello perform “Roll On, Kalakala,” visit PaulDorpat.com. For info on his 3 p.m. Jan. 19 show with Seattle family folkie Al Hirsch, visit JonPontrello.com. (Clay Eals)
Published in The Seattle Times online on Dec. 21, 2024
and in Pacific NW Magazine of the printed Times on Dec. 22, 2024
The ferry Kalakala’s rise and demise roll on for maritime musician
By Clay Eals
He’s resurfaced. Still tunefully trolling the seas, Jon Pontrello again embraces a lament, this time for a more recent lost future.
THEN: The steamer Clallam was launched April 15, 1903, commissioned July 3, 1903, and sank the night of Jan. 8, 1904. For a thoroughly documented account of its demise, visit HistoryLink.org. (Courtesy Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society)
When “Now & Then” first encountered the acupuncturist and singer-songwriter, we showcased his epic ballad “The Bellwether Sheep of the Mosquito Fleet.” It told a heartbreaking story. In severe weather in 1904, a stubborn sheep refused to board the stately SS Clallam, which left Pier 1 downtown and sank in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, killing 56.
Today, Queen Anne-based Pontrello, 38, is musically resurrecting memories of a better-known nautical tragedy. It wasn’t fatal for any mortal, but it evoked neglect and destruction that broke the hearts of countless fans of arguably the most attention-getting vessel in Seattle history.
THEN: This brochure is just one of countless pieces of evidence of the Kalakala’s enduring appeal. (Courtesy Dan Kerlee)
We speak of MV Kalakala, the streamlined “silver swan” (or “slug”), whose unique Art Deco charm graced our waters from 1935 to 1967. Its Chinook jargon name meaning “flying bird,” the aircraft-inspired ferry was celebrated in spite of design flaws and spooky vibration. Our beloved column founder, Paul Dorpat, once labeled it “the most popular man-made creation on Puget Sound until the raising of the Space Needle in 1962.”
Also oft-recounted has been the Kalakala’s tortuous, extended demise. Pontrello, already having penned a musical obituary for the ship’s would-be savior, Peter Bevis, decided to memorialize the Kalakala itself this January, the 10th anniversary of its 2015 dismantling in Tacoma.
NOW: Jack Broom, author of “Roll On, Kalakala.” When first written in 1998, it could be heard by dialing a toll-free telephone number listed in The Seattle Times. Broom wrote a new final verse in 2015. (Judy Broom)
His research turned up melodic gold. He uncovered 1998 lyrics by 30-year Seattle Times journalist Jack Broom for “Roll On, Kalakala,” set to Woody Guthrie’s “Roll On, Columbia,” whose chorus echoed “Goodnight, Irene” by Huddie Ledbetter (“Leadbelly”).
The lyrics were upbeat because at the time there was great citywide hope for restoring the rotting ferry. What riveted Pontrello, however, and inspired him to record the song was that following the Kalakala’s demolition, Broom rewrote its final verse, injecting brutal poignancy:
Now you’re no longer guided by nautical charts
They’ve busted you up into 10 million parts
You’re gone from our waters, but never our hearts
So long, Kalakala, so long
Traditionally, sorrow and the sea are eternal musical partners. But Pontrello eyes the theme expansively. He says the Kalakala saga reflects universal truths “about accepting fate with grace and the way we carry loss inside us — a transcendent way to keep the dream alive even though it wasn’t realized this time.”
Poster for Jan. 19, 2025, show. (courtesy Jon Pontrello)
The sentiment can be all the more vivid and affecting when experienced in person. Accordingly, Pontrello will perform the Kalakala elegy during a 3 p.m. Jan. 19 matinee show at the Rabbit Box, 94 Pike St. in the Pike Place Market.
Roll on, Jon!
A view of the downtown skyline through the Kalakala wheelhouse windows, displayed in the Salty’s on Alki parking lot Feb. 23, 2015. (Clay Eals)
WEB EXTRAS
Big thanks to Jon Pontrello and Jack Broom for their invaluable help with this installment!
To see Clay Eals‘ 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos, and to hear this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.
Below, you also will find 27 additional photos, plus videos of Pontrello performing “Roll On, Kalakala” (1) at Salty’s on Alki on Harbor Avenue Southwest and (2) his own illustrated recording. Plus, there’s a KIRO-AM radio story on Pontrello, Broom and the song by Feliks Banel.
Also below is a 1999 Seattle Times story by Broom on the Kalakala in the Seattle Times. You can see his original 1998 Kalakala song lyrics here.
To see detailed histories of the Kalakala, click here and here.
NOW: An alternate view of Jon Pontrello at Salty’s on Alki, where he sits upon the Kalakala drive train, with the ferry’s wheelhouse behind him. (Clay Eals)NOW: An alternate view of Jon Pontrello at Salty’s on Alki, where he sits upon the Kalakala drive train. (Clay Eals)This image of a Kalakala cake, made by Mike’s Amazing Cakes, is from would-be Kalakala savior Peter Bevis’ memorial and would-be 70th birthday party on the evening of March 9, 2023, at Fremont Foundry. (Bevis died in 2022 at 69.) Jon Pontrello was commissioned to write “The Ballad of Peter Bevis” and sang it at this gathering. The Fremont Foundry, a hub of arts and Fremont culture, was built by Bevis. It is where the Fremont troll was made. (Dean Wenick, courtesy Jon Pontrello)Pamela Belyea, the legacy and memorial planner for Peter Bevis, lights a candle during would-be Kalakala would-be savior Bevis’ memorial and would-be 70th birthday on March 9, 2023. (Bevis died in 2022 at 69.) Belyea also is in charge of grants from Bevis’ estate to help young sculptors. For more info, click here. (Dean Wenick, courtesy Jon Pontrello)Holding the Kalakala cake at would-be Kalakala savior Peter Bevis’ memorial and would-be 70th birthday on March 9, 2023, are (from left) Phil Munger, Jay Gore, Don Carver, David Anderson, Paul Lukchs and Tom Putnam. (Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages taken in 2000 of the interior and exterior of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many mages of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Richard Maryatt, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of several images of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Bill Whitbeck, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many images of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Bill Whitbeck, courtesy Jon Pontrello)One of many images of the deteriorated Kalakala after it returned to Seattle in 1998. (Bill Whitbeck, courtesy Jon Pontrello)Would-be Kalakala savior Peter Bevis after the deteriorated ferry returned to Seattle in 1998. (Bill Whitbeck, courtesy Jon Pontrello)A Dennis Lockwood painting of the Kalakala, hanging in Port of Seattle officers on the fourth floor of Sea-Tac Airport (courtesy Devlin Donnelly, Port of Seattle)The battered Kalakala is shown at Pier 69 in November 1998. (courtesy Devlin Donnelly, Port of Seattle)A matching aerial view from 2021. (courtesy Devlin Donnelly, Port of Seattle)
