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Garden of Allah Club - 2/10 Wurlitzer
Seattle, Washington
1st Ave.
Organ installation timeframe: 1939 - 1953
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Performers at the Garden, c.1948 |
The Garden began as a prohibition speakeasy in the basement of the old Arlington Hotel.
A 2/10 Wurlitzer was installed in 1939 by Balcom & Vaughan and was originally Opus #379, a Style 210 from Eugene Oregon's Rex Theatre.
In 1953, the instrument was purchased by Alden Bice of Seattle. Eugene Nye's detailed records indicate that the instrument was lost in a fire, but this cannot be confirmed. |
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These photos, possibly taken during the removal, show the Chrysoglott and another percussion (left photo) and the well-used console.
The following rememberance is from William Hansen via the PIPORG-L Internet
mailing list:
"The WWII years in Seattle were good for business along the Third Street
row of bars. One of them, the "Garden of Allah" had Balcom and Vaughan
install a two manual theater organ. If the organ in the Tokyo bar had
seen a lot of drunken businessmen, it was probably outdone by the
drunken sailors in Seattle.
When we (Bill Bunch, Alden Bice and several others) removed that organ
in the early fifties, it no longer played (as far as I can remember),
but was quite intact despite the very worn surroundings of the room.
Quite a bonus on that job. Under the beer-soaked pedalboard were quite a
few silver dollar-tips that missed their mark. (What organist would be
up to playing for the drunken sailors, much rather being struck by heavy
silver dollars (which were not an uncommon currency in the West of the
1940s)."
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