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♪♪

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♪♪

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-One of

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my favorite sections

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of the Sunday

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Seattle Times is the Pacific
Northwest magazine

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because it includes
intimate stories

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about local people
and local places.

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Case in point
is the January 26th edition,

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which featured a terrific
article on Bea Haverfield,

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the designer behind many of
Seattle's iconic neon signs.

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And here to talk about Bea
and her signs is the writer,

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author, historian
and collector Brad Holden.

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Hi, Brad. 
-Hi.

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-Welcome to the show.

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-Thank you for having me.

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-All right.

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So so Bea Haverfield, called
“Seattle's Queen of Neon,”

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in your article

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is responsible
for really some of the best

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signage in the city.

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And yet I had 
never heard of her.

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So let's start there.

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Who is Bea Haverfield and
how did you find this story?

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-Sure.

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Well,
let me start out by talking

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about how I discovered her,

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cause that basically leads
into who she is.

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So as a hobby,
I'm a picker like the show

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“American Pickers.”

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I like to go out
and find old antique things.

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Specifically, I like to

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find objects and artifacts
from local history.

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Anything historically
significant

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or that has a good story
behind it.

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And then what I typically do
is I find this stuff,

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bring it home, research it.

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And then I post it on
my Instagram

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page, Seattle Artifacts.

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So about four
or five months ago,

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I found an old menu
for an old burger joint,

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I think was from the ‘50s.

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So I brought it home

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and I researched it as I do,
and as I was researching

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and I found some obscure
reference

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to this lady named Bea

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Haverfield,
who back in the ‘40s

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and ‘50s here in Seattle,
designed

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some of the city's
most iconic signs. 

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And so
I was instantly intrigued

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because I'd never
heard of her before.

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Like you were saying,
I never heard of her before,

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and I'm pretty up
on my local history.

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-Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
If you hadn't heard of her.

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-Yeah. Yeah. So

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at that moment, 
my focus shifted.

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I wanted to find out
more about her.

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So I started research
and I figured

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surely there 
must be a magazine

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or newspaper
article written about her

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if she designed
all these signs.

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But there was nothing.
There was nothing out there

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about her.
-Wow

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-The best thing I could find
is there was a blog about

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kind of the local art scene,

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and it was talking about a
local artist named Eli Wolff.

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And in this piece about him,

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it mentioned
that his grandmother was

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this Bea Haverfield lady
who designed all these signs.

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So I reached out to him
on social media on Instagram.

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He got back to me and said,

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I'd love to talk to you,

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but if you really want
some good information,

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you should probably talk
to my mother Kathleen.

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-So Bea’s daughter...?
-Bea’s daughter.

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Yeah, exactly.

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So I emailed her

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and she was thrilled
that somebody was finally

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taking an interest
in the story of her mom.

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So she was very receptive.

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And in fact,
she invited me up to her

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house. She said,
“We should probably

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just meet in person
and I can go over it.

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And in fact, I have a lot
of her original sketches.

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If you're interested
in seeing it.”

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And I was like...
-“Of course, of course I am!”

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-Yeah, sign me up.
This is the stuff I live for.

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So I went up there on a

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on a weekend,
I think it was a Saturday,

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and I spent the

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entire afternoon at her house
and she pulled out these

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big cardboard binders full
of these sketches of Bea’s.

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And we just spent the
afternoon going through ‘em.

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And I think it was

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kind of an emotional,
cathartic moment for her

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because these were

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basically time capsules
that had just

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been stored away for decades.

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And so all these memories

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were starting

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to kind of flood back

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as she was
going through these sketches,

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which were just amazing.
My mind was just blown.

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I mean, they were
just not only historically

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significant,
but artistically, too.

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They were just true
works of art, in my opinion.

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And I'm also hearing stories
about her mom

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as she's
going through these sketches.

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And I'm just thinking

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to myself, you know,
this is amazing.

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This is the story really
needs to get out there.

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People need to know who
this lady was.

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So that night I went home
and I had taken a bunch

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of photos of her sketches.

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And so I posted them
on my Instagram account

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and it just blew up. 
-Wow.

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-I've been doing it for years,

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and this was the most
like most commented on post.

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It got everybody going.

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And that's when I knew, like,
okay, it's not just me

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that thinks this story's
cool. Other people do too.

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-We got to get this.
-We got to get this out.

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And that's
what led me to write

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the story for Pacific
Northwest magazine.

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-Right. Well, so how did Bea get her
start in in sign design?

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I mean, did she have
a background in design?

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-No formal training.

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So basically, she

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she was just
one of those people

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that was just born
very artistically gifted.

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In high school,

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she met a boy
by the name of Elden Fisler,

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and he was also an artsy
kind of guy.

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And they started dating
after high school

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they married and they kind of
combined their artistic

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talents together
and started a sign business.

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-Right, right.

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-And I think that's
where she got her training.

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She just kind of learned
from the ground up

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how to, you know,
design elements

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and how to put together
a good sign...

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-She designed and he would fabricate them?
Is that how it worked?

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-I think early on
they were both designing.

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And then at some point
he was the one

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who was making the signs
and she was the designer.

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And then World War II hit.
-Right.

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-And he went off in the Navy
to go fight the war.

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And she got a job at Boeing.

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-She became a Rosie
the Riveter.

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-She became a Rosie
the Riveter.

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Yeah.

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She was working making
airplane parts for the war.

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-So the sign business
went aside.

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-They went aside. Yep.

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-And then in 1945, the
the war ends.

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And that is really when Bea’s,

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career, or really prolific

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all of her great signs that
we know really happened.

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So tell us about that. 
-Yeah.

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So after the war,

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they resume
their sign business

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and then at some point,

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I don't know
the exact details

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and the family
really doesn't know either.

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But it sounds like there was

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a much larger sign company
known as Campbell Neon.

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There were a few local sign
companies here,

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but they were one of the big
fish.

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And I think what happened
is they bought out

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Bea and Elden’s
sign business and said,

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“Why don't you guys come work
for us?”

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They could probably recognize
they were talented,

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so they brought them on
board.

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And Bea at that point
became Campbell Neon's,

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one of their lead designers.

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There weren't a lot of women

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doing what

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she was doing. -Right.
-Which makes the story

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all that much more remarkable. 
-Right.

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-And obviously

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she did great

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because the signs
we still know about today,

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I'm sure we are talking about.
-They're incredible.

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-Yeah.

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-Are any of her really

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early signs around still like
literally out in the world?

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-Well...
-Early career signs?

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-Yeah. Yeah.

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So she designed Ivar’s
first sign on the waterfront

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and that opened in the 1940s.

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I think that was
one of the first big signs.

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And as far as I know,
that one still exists.

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I don't know
if they've replaced it.

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So if that one is
the original sign or if it's

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been since replaced,

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But she was the original
designer of that sign.

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-Right, right. 
-And in fact, it's in her handwriting.

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-Right. Right.

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-The kind of cursive script.
Same with the Dick’s sign.

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-Right. Right.

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Which I want to talk about
that. Like the details of her

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signs, the beautiful details
like the

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the elephants,
the little elephants.

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-Yeah. 
-In the Elephant Car Wash sign.

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Tell me about those.

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-There's four sheet
metal elephants

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at the base of the sign.

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They're very cartoony looking. 
-Yeah.

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-And they were for her
four children.

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She had two daughters and two sons.
-That’s so great.

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-And, you know,

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at that point in her career,

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I think she had enough
confidence where

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I'm going to add this.
-Yeah, right.

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And it's gonna work.

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-And it's going to work.

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-Absolutely. -And it did.
-Yeah. Yeah.

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You know her, her designs,
they strike me,

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They're effective
signage business wise.

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-Sure.
-Very artistically pleasing.

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So let's talk
about all those elements.

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What do you think
made her signs

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kind of so evocative?

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-You know,

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I think a lot of advertising
during that period had a

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it was really kitschy.

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It had very kitschy factor.

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And I think
she embraced that.

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And you see that.

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And I think it makes her
signs kind of endearing.

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-And then her scripting,
I mean, her like you said

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when with Ivars,
that was her script.

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And her script was also
for the

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for Dick's drive it, correct?
-Yeah.

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-Just a little flourish is a
little it's just the details

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just really stand out.

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-I think that's what
makes the sign so iconic.

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-Right, right.

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Yeah, right.

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Well,

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so for people who grew up
here or have lived here

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a long time, you and I,
both from the area,

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Bea’s signs, they have
an emotional resonance.

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They are Seattle.
I think, you know.

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So is it possible to quantify
kind of the effect

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that that signage has had
or has on our communal

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quality of life?

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-Yeah, definitely.

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You know, I think it's

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a large part of Seattle's
metropolitan identity

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when when they show

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pictures of Seattle,
you know,

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you see pictures of the Space Needle,

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but you also see
a lot of these signs.

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You'll see the Elephant Car
Wash signs,

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you see the Dick’s sign,
and it's just become kind of

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the urban landscape
here, these signs.

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And they've survived over
decades now.

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00:08:40,978 --> 00:08:43,105
-Yeah.
-And they're still very iconic

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-And they make you feel good
-And they make you feel good.

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-Yeah, it makes me very happy
to see those signs. -Me too.

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-Makes me very happy
to go to Dick's Drive-In

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and get a hamburger as well.

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00:08:50,446 --> 00:08:52,490
-Amen, a Dick's deluxe.

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00:08:52,490 --> 00:08:54,700
-Dick’s deluxe, I'm a special.
-Oh, you're a special.

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Okay. 
-And fries and a chocolate shake.

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-You got to have the fries.
-You gotta have the fries.

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00:08:57,828 --> 00:08:58,538
Yeah.

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Well, thank you so much

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for coming in
and talking with us.

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00:09:00,957 --> 00:09:02,833
And I thank you so much
for writing that article,

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because it really it caught
my attention immediately.

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00:09:06,045 --> 00:09:06,712
-Thank you.

274
00:09:06,712 --> 00:09:08,673
-So a link to Brad's
a Seattle Times

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00:09:08,673 --> 00:09:10,758
article on Bea
Haverfield is on our website,

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00:09:10,758 --> 00:09:13,553
and an exhibit of these
original sketches will open

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00:09:13,553 --> 00:09:15,638
next fall at Edmonds
Historical Museum.

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00:09:15,638 --> 00:09:19,016
Also pick up Brad's latest
book, “Seattle Prohibition

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00:09:19,016 --> 00:09:22,019
Bootleggers, Rum Runners
and Graft and the Queen City”

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00:09:22,103 --> 00:09:24,981
in bookstores and online
and follow Brad on Instagram

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00:09:24,981 --> 00:09:27,775
Under the name
seattle_artifacts.

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00:09:27,775 --> 00:09:30,236
Well, thank you and cheers
to the Queen of Neon.

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-Cheers.

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00:09:30,945 --> 00:09:33,489
-Bea Haverfield.
-Bea Haverfield. -Yeah.

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♪♪