Northwest Passage (newspaper)
Encyclopedia
The Northwest Passage was a bi-weekly underground newspaper
in Bellingham, Washington
, which was published from March 17, 1969 to June 1986. The paper was co-founded by three men: Frank Kathman, who took the role of Publisher; Laurence Kee, as Managing Editor; and Michael Carlson (now Harman), as Art Director. While the three devoted their full-time energies to the daily running and initial growth of the paper, several members of the Bellingham community made major contributions to the content and character of the publication. From its inception, the Northwest Passage stood out from other 'underground' tabloids at the time because of its graphic content, which was spearheaded by Carlson, and embellished by the talents of artists Cindy Green, Gary Hallgren, and others. (Hallgren went on to a noted career as a New York-based graphics artist, illustrator, and cartoonist.)
Frank Kathman had originally been influenced by a college class that he took with Bernard Weiner at Western Washington State College (now University), where the underground press was studied. Later, Kathman and Carlson wrote and designed a recruitment poster that was printed, calling for the founding of the paper. They recruited Kee, who was a reporter for the Bellingham Herald, and the only one of the three with a steady paycheck, so it came down to him to write a check to the Lyndon Tribune on March 17, 1969, in order to get the first issue printed. Kee was later fired from the conservative Herald for his involvement with the Passage.
The paper was sustained from that point on by personal donations from the community; by sales in a few news boxes and through personal hawking campaigns in Bellingham and Seattle; through subscriptions sold to individuals and university and community libraries all over the country; and through the sale of display advertising -- most notably through a deal with Warner Bros. Records
. The Tribune later refused to print the Passage, bending to conservative political pressures in the county, and the Passage was moved to the Skagit Valley Herald for further printing. Published in tabloid newspaper format and selling for 25 cents, it was a member of the Underground Press Syndicate
and the Liberation News Service
, and reported circulation of 6000 copies in 1972. Crews of volunteers set type and did layout.
The Northwest Passage was originally housed in Kee's home on Maplewood Ave., where the bedrooms were converted to graphics layout rooms. Later, when Kee and the paper were evicted from the rented house, the Passage moved to a house in the outlying area, on Yew Street Rd. The next home of the paper was in a taxidermy building on W. Holly St., near the downtown area. Later, the paper moved to offices in the Morgan Block Building in the Fairhaven
District of Bellingham, known as "Happy Valley", or the "Southside". "Happy Valley" had been a common name for the area since before the founding of Fairhaven. The Block building also housed Good Earth Pottery, Fairhaven Music, and the Community Food Co-op, and was a hive of the counterculture from 1969 through the end of the Vietnam War. At the time, Fairhaven was a hippie enclave--a temporary autonomous zone
of cooperative enterprise that spawned the community garden program, a cooperative primary school, and a co-op flour mill, all of which are still thriving forty years later.
Though initially a kind of hippie
paper focusing on the counterculture
and ending the war in Vietnam
, under the leadership of Kathman and Kee, and later Chris Condon and others, it quickly became an important source of investigative journalism on political and environmental issues in Bellingham and the Pacific Northwest in general. Its environmental journalism earned it such a solid reputation -- sometimes influencing policy decisions -- that politicians and oversight agencies and polluting corporations made sure to subscribe or obtain copies to read. During the People's Park riots in Berkeley, California
during the summer of 1969, the Passage was chosen as the pool print representative for the national media, and was allowed inside the Park to be "embedded" with the armed National Guard
unit that was holding the Park against the siege conducted by thousands of demonstrators who were trying to get the park restored to its former use as a public area. The resulting article by Kee was representative of other reporting by the Passage which was often quoted by other publications and even reprinted by some on occasion. Although the editorial and reporting reach of the Passage extended out into the nation and the world, the paper nevertheless retained its local community feeling in Bellingham, throughout its existence.
Other early editors included Mary Kay Becker
, later a state legislator and a judge on the Washington State Court of Appeals; Bob Hicks, who had a long newspaper career as an editor with the Portland Oregonian and later as an online reviewer; Roxanne Park, who became a leader with the Prison Sentencing Commission for the State of Washington; Bernard Weiner, who became a critic/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle
for nearly two decades and co-founded the political-analysis website The Crisis Papers; Buck Meloy, who became a leader in the fishing community in Alaska and along the Pacific Coast; Cindy Green (Davis), co-creator of the popular Molasses Jug centerfold (along with Shiela Gilda), went on to a successful career as a graphic artist; David Wolf, who moved on to various leadership roles with the City of Bellingham and Whatcom County; John Servais, who founded and edits the website NorthwestCitizen; Melissa Queen, who became a noted yoga teacher/board member at the Mount Madonna Center in California; Joel Connelly, who became the politics writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
newspaper; Marga Rose (Hancock), who became executive director of the American Institute of Architects–Seattle. Original editor Laurence Kee left the paper to found the Seattle rock band Child, and in Los Angeles played with the Eric Burdon
Band and others, before coming back to Bellingham to teach at W.W.U.'s Fairhaven College in their "Artist-In-Residence" program.
From 1969 to 1977 Northwest Passage was based in Bellingham, relocating in 1977 to Seattle. After 1981 it was published monthly.
Underground press
The underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....
in Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...
, which was published from March 17, 1969 to June 1986. The paper was co-founded by three men: Frank Kathman, who took the role of Publisher; Laurence Kee, as Managing Editor; and Michael Carlson (now Harman), as Art Director. While the three devoted their full-time energies to the daily running and initial growth of the paper, several members of the Bellingham community made major contributions to the content and character of the publication. From its inception, the Northwest Passage stood out from other 'underground' tabloids at the time because of its graphic content, which was spearheaded by Carlson, and embellished by the talents of artists Cindy Green, Gary Hallgren, and others. (Hallgren went on to a noted career as a New York-based graphics artist, illustrator, and cartoonist.)
Frank Kathman had originally been influenced by a college class that he took with Bernard Weiner at Western Washington State College (now University), where the underground press was studied. Later, Kathman and Carlson wrote and designed a recruitment poster that was printed, calling for the founding of the paper. They recruited Kee, who was a reporter for the Bellingham Herald, and the only one of the three with a steady paycheck, so it came down to him to write a check to the Lyndon Tribune on March 17, 1969, in order to get the first issue printed. Kee was later fired from the conservative Herald for his involvement with the Passage.
The paper was sustained from that point on by personal donations from the community; by sales in a few news boxes and through personal hawking campaigns in Bellingham and Seattle; through subscriptions sold to individuals and university and community libraries all over the country; and through the sale of display advertising -- most notably through a deal with Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
. The Tribune later refused to print the Passage, bending to conservative political pressures in the county, and the Passage was moved to the Skagit Valley Herald for further printing. Published in tabloid newspaper format and selling for 25 cents, it was a member of the Underground Press Syndicate
Underground Press Syndicate
The Underground Press Syndicate, commonly known as UPS, and later known as the Alternative Press Syndicate or APS, was a network of countercultural newspapers and magazines formed in mid-1966 by the publishers of five early underground papers: the East Village Other, the Los Angeles Free Press, the...
and the Liberation News Service
Liberation News Service
Liberation News Service was a New Left, Underground press news service which published news bulletins from 1967 to 1981.-History:The Liberation News Service was co-founded in the summer of 1967 by Ray Mungo and Marshall Bloom after the two of them were separated from the United States Student...
, and reported circulation of 6000 copies in 1972. Crews of volunteers set type and did layout.
The Northwest Passage was originally housed in Kee's home on Maplewood Ave., where the bedrooms were converted to graphics layout rooms. Later, when Kee and the paper were evicted from the rented house, the Passage moved to a house in the outlying area, on Yew Street Rd. The next home of the paper was in a taxidermy building on W. Holly St., near the downtown area. Later, the paper moved to offices in the Morgan Block Building in the Fairhaven
Fairhaven, Washington
Fairhaven, Washington was founded in the late 1880s and is now part of the City of Bellingham, Washington, USA. It is on the south side of Bellingham, and borders Bellingham Bay on the west and Western Washington University on the northeast...
District of Bellingham, known as "Happy Valley", or the "Southside". "Happy Valley" had been a common name for the area since before the founding of Fairhaven. The Block building also housed Good Earth Pottery, Fairhaven Music, and the Community Food Co-op, and was a hive of the counterculture from 1969 through the end of the Vietnam War. At the time, Fairhaven was a hippie enclave--a temporary autonomous zone
Permanent Autonomous Zone
A Permanent autonomous zone is a community that is autonomous from the generally recognized government or authority structure in which it is embedded...
of cooperative enterprise that spawned the community garden program, a cooperative primary school, and a co-op flour mill, all of which are still thriving forty years later.
Though initially a kind of hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
paper focusing on the counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
and ending the war in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, under the leadership of Kathman and Kee, and later Chris Condon and others, it quickly became an important source of investigative journalism on political and environmental issues in Bellingham and the Pacific Northwest in general. Its environmental journalism earned it such a solid reputation -- sometimes influencing policy decisions -- that politicians and oversight agencies and polluting corporations made sure to subscribe or obtain copies to read. During the People's Park riots in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
during the summer of 1969, the Passage was chosen as the pool print representative for the national media, and was allowed inside the Park to be "embedded" with the armed National Guard
National Guard
The term National Guard originally referred to a French citizen militia . The term is now used in many countries. Depending on the country in question, "national guard" may refer to an organized militia, a military force, a paramilitary force, a gendarmerie, or a police force:- Americas :* National...
unit that was holding the Park against the siege conducted by thousands of demonstrators who were trying to get the park restored to its former use as a public area. The resulting article by Kee was representative of other reporting by the Passage which was often quoted by other publications and even reprinted by some on occasion. Although the editorial and reporting reach of the Passage extended out into the nation and the world, the paper nevertheless retained its local community feeling in Bellingham, throughout its existence.
Other early editors included Mary Kay Becker
Mary Kay Becker
Mary Kay Becker is a Washington state judge on the Washington Court of Appeals, a former paralegal, Democratic member of the Washington House of Representatives and newspaper editor.- Background and early career :...
, later a state legislator and a judge on the Washington State Court of Appeals; Bob Hicks, who had a long newspaper career as an editor with the Portland Oregonian and later as an online reviewer; Roxanne Park, who became a leader with the Prison Sentencing Commission for the State of Washington; Bernard Weiner, who became a critic/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
for nearly two decades and co-founded the political-analysis website The Crisis Papers; Buck Meloy, who became a leader in the fishing community in Alaska and along the Pacific Coast; Cindy Green (Davis), co-creator of the popular Molasses Jug centerfold (along with Shiela Gilda), went on to a successful career as a graphic artist; David Wolf, who moved on to various leadership roles with the City of Bellingham and Whatcom County; John Servais, who founded and edits the website NorthwestCitizen; Melissa Queen, who became a noted yoga teacher/board member at the Mount Madonna Center in California; Joel Connelly, who became the politics writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
newspaper; Marga Rose (Hancock), who became executive director of the American Institute of Architects–Seattle. Original editor Laurence Kee left the paper to found the Seattle rock band Child, and in Los Angeles played with the Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
Band and others, before coming back to Bellingham to teach at W.W.U.'s Fairhaven College in their "Artist-In-Residence" program.
From 1969 to 1977 Northwest Passage was based in Bellingham, relocating in 1977 to Seattle. After 1981 it was published monthly.