Here it is, August 1st, and I am still looking for “Legendary Locals” for this Arcadia book I’m working on. It’s not that we have a dearth of folks past and present who have contributed to our community or who are memorable for any number of reasons. There are many! It’s just that I need useable (by Arcadia’s standards) photographs of at least 130 of them. Not an easy quest, as it turns out.
It seems a no-brainer to include some of the founders and early pioneers. There is plenty of information but, alas, seldom a photograph. Take, L.A. Loomis of narrow gauge railroad fame, for instance – the transportation mogul of the peninsula. There are no photos of him available – not from his descendants, not from our local historical society, not from the archives of the Heritage Museum. Ditto P.J. McGowan, I.A. Clark and many others.
Or, how about more recent “legends” among us? Shorty Wright or Jack Downer or Howard Gerttula, maybe? At least they were around within memory, when pictures were not just the purview of the photographic studio. Or how about Mrs. Russell who began the Moby Dick Hotel back in the day and kept three raccoons as pets? She named them Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and had them trained to leashes. Surely she should be included among the pages of this book! But, even with friends and relatives diligently on the hunt, many photos remain elusive.
And then there are those I think of as the “now” people – the movers and shakers we see all the time. Without exception, they are cooperative – even to the extent of having the ‘perfect’ photo taken professionally! (Definitely beyond the call and much appreciated!) But these are busy folks, doing all those things that make them legendary and so, of necessity, I find myself becoming the Nag of the North End.
I am beginning to think of this summer as my own, personal hunting season. Sometimes, I wish I could take a page from my hunting friend Dobby Wiegardt’s book – camouflage gear and a duck blind. But that’s a different hunting season entirely.
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