Marsh’s Free Museum, 1940s

     During the summer we often have opportunities to see our community through the eyes of visiting friends and relatives.  Yesterday was one of those times.  We spent the day with friends from California, who have been here many times, and with their 14-year-old niece, Sedem, for whom it was a first visit.  We all suggested ‘must sees’ and Sedem’s choice – after perusing the Visitors’ Guide – was to visit Jake-the-Alligator-Man at Marsh’s Free Museum.
     It was great fun to see their reactions as we entered Marsh’s.  I had almost forgotten how amazing and overwhelming a first visit to that iconic establishment can be.  We made our way through the crowded aisles directly to Jake and spent time examining him through the glass walls of his display case.  Each of us had our own ideas about his authenticity, what he was really made of, and why he has attracted a cult-like following in the Northwest.  There was also speculation as to whether any of us had seen Jake years ago at his original home at Whitney’s Museum at San Francisco’s Cliff House.
     Although I worked for a couple of summers at the Cliff House in the 1950s, that was a decade or so after Wellington Marsh, Sr. had acquired Jake – not from Whitney’s Museum, but from an antique store in Florida.  That Jake fellow definitely got around!  What I do clearly remember from that time period is the original Marsh’s Free Museum which was located across the street from the present establishment, just next to the giant frying pan.
     Even from the outside, that first museum/store was a never-to-be-forgotten sight.  Seeing Sedem’s amazement as we wandered through the store yesterday took me right back to the 1940s and the thrill of going clear from Oysterville to Long Beach for a visit to Marsh’s.  My particular pleasure in those days (and even now) was in listening to the old mechanical music boxes.  And, on our way home yesterday, when Sedem reached in her bag to show us her carefully selected purchases, she also found Marsh’s signature seashell-on-a-card as a bonus souvenir of her visit.  Those, too, I remember.  I understand that they now give away more than a million of those seashell cards every year!  Wow!