Tuesday, 1/7

And now, the rest of the story.

As I was explaining yesterday I've been up to my eyeballs in the research of pr*stitutes recently. I've also been searching for what's starting to turn into a bit of a personal white whale for me—a picture of the old narrow building that sat right smack dab in the middle of East Main Street in Marquette, between the Vierling and the Upfront. For many years it was the home of the Marquette Chamber of Commerce, and while the building's been gone for decades now people still remember it.

However, while it was around, no one ever thought to take a picture of it. Nor to mark when it was actually torn down. And I should know—I've been searching for both for a few years now.

Anyway, I was at the History Center last week researching the big story about a certain lady of the evening I'll be telling at “Legends & Lore II—Even More Legendary” in a few weeks. I needed to take a picture of a newspaper picture from the summer of 1960, which I did. And then, for some reason, my eye caught an image on the opposite page of that particular Mining Journal. I was stunned by what I saw... this--

That's right; on the opposite page of the newspaper I was taking a picture of sat the pictures and story of how that mythical building was torn down.

How freaky is that?

My mind, a week later, is still kind of reeling from the serendipity that allowed me to open that particular page of a random newspaper. It's also led several people at the History Center to (jokingly) wonder if my guardian angel is indeed that lady of the night from the 1880s. That I don't know; what I do know, sadly, is that despite the delight in my discovery, it comes just a little too late to include the story of that mysterious building in the show on the 23rd. However, I do have to write a newspaper article and make a promotional video for the epic, so you know what I'll be talking about in both?

You'd better believe it.

(jim@wmqt.com), mind still blown.