Gone but not forgotten: Parts of historic ferry Kalakala are now forever ashore at Salty’s on Alki

The art outside and near Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor) includes something new that’s also something old: Pieces of the recently scrapped, once-gleaming art-deco ferry Kalakala. Alki photographer David Hutchinson shared the photos and this link to SeattlePI.com, which reports that Salty’s proprietor Gerry Kingen bought “the wheelhouse, massive rudder and crank, a piston and rod, and a hatch” to display outside his West Seattle restaurant, where the grounds already sport sections of a demolished local bridge.

In addition to that unique view of the city, the new feature also provides a portrait view of Salty’s itself.

SeattlePI.com quotes Kingen as saying this is just the start of the display, which will also include interpretive features.

If you hadn’t been following the saga, the Kalakala, half a century out of service, finally met its end recently at a scrap yard in Tacoma. Meantime, in addition to the Kalakala pieces and bridge sections – explained by Kingen in this video featured at the Southwest Seattle Historical Society brunch gala last year (WSB coverage here). P.S. If you stroll the area, you can also see the Luna Girls on Alki steel sculpture by Lezlie Jane; it’s on city-owned land just west of Salty’s.

clark5080 February 12, 2015 (4:41 pm)

gonna have to go down and take a look that cam shaft is huge

old timer February 12, 2015 (5:04 pm)

I am glad that Mr. Kingen has done this.
It’s nice to have at least a bit of history preserved.
Thanks!

Add February 12, 2015 (5:07 pm)

Aha! Walked past yesterday trying to figure out what they were doing – figured it was an art installation but couldn’t make out the specifics. All the pieces weren’t there yet. Great idea!

shy February 12, 2015 (6:13 pm)

Saw it getting put there.

JayDee February 12, 2015 (6:39 pm)

I thought the more interesting part was his comment that he was going to develop a hotel on the waterfront (where?).

WSB February 12, 2015 (7:45 pm)

That first came up way back in the early days when we were doing this. Here’s our item from seven years ago: https://wsb.blackfin.biz/2008/01/new-look-at-proposed-saltys-hotel/

sc February 12, 2015 (8:24 pm)

Went on a tour of the Kalakala when they were trying to fully restore it. It would have been quite an endeavor to complete.
I’m glad that Mr. Kingen saved some of the cool design features. Even better to have it available to view overlooking the water and the city!

heather February 13, 2015 (7:40 am)

Yay!!

BlairJ February 13, 2015 (10:19 am)

Nice to know those port holes will once again look out toward downtown Seattle.

Enviromaven February 13, 2015 (10:55 am)

Cool idea – glad that GK can create something good from this.

wsn00b February 13, 2015 (12:24 pm)

That looks like a bunch of junk-filled backyards in my neighborhood; with less cool junk though. Junked up Saabs or rotting station wagons are not the same level as this ship.

Just me February 13, 2015 (8:07 pm)

Before private citizens decide to use their shoreline property as a common junk yard, shouldn’t some sort of permitting process be invoked beforehand? What does this say of our adjacent city park? Or, should the Parks and Recreation Department now be allowed to “decorate” our shoreline properties with industrial waste of no significant aesthetic worth? What is aesthetic about this private mess right alongside public property? What is its socially redeeming value? Can all private property owners in Seattle now be allowed to create such private “monuments?” Art? You jest, I’m sure.

I rode the Kalakala back in 1966 when I first came to Seattle as a Coast Guardsman. My impression back then? A floating jerk-water vessel not worthy of public trust or use. It’s too bad these parts and pieces weren’t scraped for what it is: industrial waste. I would suggest that at the very least a twelve foot screening fence be erected between the now junk yard restaurant and the public’s scenic park. It seems to me that such illegal dumping is in violation of city ordinances. I hope the city invokes a cease and desist order followed by a clean-up order.

petert February 13, 2015 (8:43 pm)

Happy to see the spirit of Kalakala here in our neighborhood. That bit of land where Salty’s is, saw Kalakala in her heyday. It’s nice to see some part of her rest in a place where people can see her remains silhouetted against the Seattle skyline.

Huck February 14, 2015 (12:00 am)

@Just me: your violent reaction proves that this IS public art. Art that gets folks talking about what does, and does not, belong in the public sphere. And judging by the comments here, I’d say yours in the minority opinion. But I’m not sure there has EVER been a piece of art that everyone admired.

newnative February 14, 2015 (11:42 am)

Well, Huck, you expressed it better than I could!

Hector February 18, 2015 (6:48 am)

As a member of the SS United States Conservancy and the founder of the Pier 54 Conservancy, I feel that The Kalakala should have been restored and converted into a profitable stationary attraction. The conservancy that owns the 990ft long SS United States in Philadelphia is doing just that.

sweendog1969 February 23, 2015 (9:21 pm)

@Just me: what a cry baby. He pays the taxes on the property so he can do with it what he wants. It doesnt pollute the area,and not everyone like all types of art. I personally think they could have found a better use for the whole ship. They could have made it a floating museum/restaurant or non floating. Cutting it up after all these years seems to me like a big waste of time and effort, it came this far why not some big investor see it through. People have wasted more money on stupider crap than this (bertha).

Sorry, comment time is over.