Many Seattleites remember the Kalakala--either as a glorious shimmering streamlined beauty, or as a rusting hulk. Many do not know that the Kalakala began its life as a San Francisco-Oakland ferry, until it burned in the late 1920s. The charred hulk was brought to Kirkland, Washington, where it was rebuilt into the Kalakala. After the Space Needle, it was the most popular attraction in Seattle. It was decommissioned in 1967, became a cannery, brought back to Seattle, and moved several times before being moored in Tacoma. It is a national landmark. Like the Kalakala, my Royal Companion came from Oakland (there was a girl's name on the case, Joyce ________________ , who according to the 1940 Census, was born in 1938 in Oakland. She was 17 when this typewriter was made. It was most likely purchased for her in Oakland to use in school. Somewhere in the last 58 years, Joyce and the typewriter made their way to Seattle, where I bought it in an exchange at an antique shop. It could also have been purchased in Seattle.
| The Kalakala, circa 1946. |
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As a tribute to this typewriter's travels, I have drawn a sketch of the photo above on its carrying case. The Kalakala made the same journey as this typewriter, but twenty years prior to the manufacturing date of the Royal Senior Companion. |