Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Tom Heuser, Seattle-based Architectural Historian with Willamette Cultural Resources Associates - or WillametteCRA. Under Mr. Heuser's leadership, WillametteCRA in 2024 began offering a service called "Pacific Northwest House Histories" to give homeowners, real estate agents and others interested in the histories of specific homes access to professional historical research - the kinds of services typically offered to larger and ...
Mar 11, 2026•24 min
On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel speaks Jim Providenza, co-author (with the late Mike McLaughlin) of "Life Along The Tracks: Candid Stories From A Career Railroader." The book was published in March 2026 by the Basalt Books imprint of WSU Press in Pullman, Washington. "Life Along The Tracks: Candid Stories From A Career Railroader" is a collection of first-person anecdotes originally written by Mike McLaughlin about his decades working on railroads in the Northwest, the ...
Mar 10, 2026•25 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Margo Vansynghel, Arts Economy Reporter for The Seattle Times. Margo Vansynghel published two stories last week about layoffs at Seattle area arts & culture non-profit organizations: the 5th Avenue Theatre and Pacific Science Center. CASCADE OF HISTORY spoke with Ms. Vansynghel on Monday, March 9, 2026 to ask if these layoffs - along with job losses last year at Seattle International Film Festival - are a sign of more troubl...
Mar 09, 2026•25 min
Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Marriah Thornock, Executive Director of the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Wenatchee, Washington on the museum’s expansion and renovation plans, and their upcoming major effort to serve the community while the work is underway; and Michael Calhoun of Vernonia, Oregon on efforts in his community to support the Banks/Vernonia State Trail - Oregon’s first rails-to-trails project – which Mr. Calhoun recently...
Mar 09, 2026•1 hr
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Casey Taylor, Park Ranger at the Bureau of Land Management's National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center near Baker City, Oregon. The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is a 500-acre site with a museum and hiking trails, and public programs offered year-round. The site is operated by the Bureau of Land Management, and includes portions of land where wagons carried Oregon Trail travelers from the mid to lat...
Mar 06, 2026•40 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Barbara Mahoney, author of "Dispatches and Dictators: Ralph Barnes for the Herald Tribune" from OSU Press. The book, originally published in 2003, has just been issued in a new paperback edition. Ralph Barnes was born in Oregon and educated in the Beaver State in the early 20th century. He became a journalist and worked as a newspaper reporter in Europe in the 1930s during the run-up to World War II. Stalin punished Barnes for p...
Mar 06, 2026•22 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Douglas D. Peach, PhD, Folklife Specialist for the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is partnering with the non-profit group StoryCorps to collect oral histories of Americans and their experiences related to the COVID 19 pandemic. The StoryCorps team is traveling the country - including a visit in early March 2026 to Seattle, in partnership with the WA Cultures project of Humanities Was...
Mar 05, 2026•26 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Nicole Strachila, Communications Marketing Specialist for the City of Stanwood, Washington. The City Council of Stanwood recently unanimously approved a new ordinance protecting the city's historic brick roadways. It's part of a bigger plan to enhance and restore distinctive elements of the Snohomish County community's history, and to create a vital downtown core with an outdoor space for special events. In this conversation rec...
Mar 04, 2026•14 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Larry Brewer, Supervisor of the Bridge Design Engineering Group for Snohomish County Public Works. The agency is seeking a new home for the historic 1934 bridge that carries the Mountain Loop Highway across the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River just north of the community of Granite Falls. A new and larger bridge is planned for just downstream from the existing bridge, so the 1934 span will no longer be needed. According to ...
Mar 02, 2026•20 min
Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Cliff Sjolund, Jr., retired Air Force B-52 and volunteer leading the effort to search for a B-52 that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico on February 28, 1968; Daniel Poor, who recently got help from local historians to compile a list of the best books for understanding Seattle history; and Barbara Swift, Seattle landscape architect and member of the Gas Works Park Alliance with an update on her group's efforts to ensure ...
Mar 02, 2026•1 hr
Feliks Banel's guests on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY are Rita Welch, director of the Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, Oregon and museum curator Christian Gurling. The Tillamook Air Museum is located in a World War II blimp hangar, the roof of which was badly damaged in a windstorm in December 2025. The museum - which is located on the Oregon Coast roughly 90 minutes by car from Portland, Oregon - remains closed. The hangar, which was built by the U.S. Navy in 1942, belongs to the ...
Feb 27, 2026•33 min
Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include meteorologist Scott Sistek of the Emerald City Weather Blog on the historically strange weather this winter; Walter Neary of The Cascadian on last week's Honor Walk for Chief Leschi by the Nisqually Tribe; Malin Bergstrom, board president of the Pasco Aviation Museum on the upcoming Air Mail Centennial Celebration which kicks off on April 6, 2026; and vintage audio from KUOW 94.9 FM from the February 28, 2001 Nisqually Ea...
Feb 23, 2026•1 hr
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Ken Johnsen, founder of the non-profit Yakima Valley Trolleys in Yakima, Washington. Earlier this week, the Yakima City Council voted to withdraw financial support for the trolley portion of a project key to Yakima's future, and key to the future of Yakima Valley Trolleys. Now, the City of Yakima says that Yakima Valley Trolleys has about 18 months to come up with $7 million to support the trolley-related elements of the reconst...
Feb 21, 2026•12 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Susan Johnson, Historic Preservation Coordinator for the City of Tacoma. The Tacoma Landmarks Preservation Commission is seeking nominations for their 2026 Historic Preservation Awards, which will be presented on Thursday, May 21, 2026 as part of Historic Preservation Month. Categories include Broadening Perspectives (Awareness of under-documented or under-represented historical narratives); Career Achievement; Community Engagem...
Feb 20, 2026•17 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Moira Nadal, Preservation Programs Director for the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. The Washington Trust is launching a new grant program called CPARC, which stands for "Coastal Preservation & Adaptation for Rural Communities." According to the Washington Trust website, CPARC "supports historic buildings and districts in rural communities looking to conduct renovations to combat coastal flooding." The application...
Feb 18, 2026•16 min
Feliks Banel's guests on this special LIVE REMOTE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY from the Kalakala Room at Ivar's Acres of Clams on the Seattle waterfront include folksinger Al Hirsch; Ruri Yampolsky, Waterfront Program Arts Manager for the City of Seattle's Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects; Emily K. Cantrell, President and CEO of Seafair; Lissa Kramer, Park Curator & Resources Management Lead for Klondike Gold Rush National Park in Seattle; Ken Workman, Chief Seattle descendant;...
Feb 16, 2026•1 hr 2 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Cecily Marcus, Director of Collections for the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota. For the past few months, Minneapolis and St. Paul have been the target of the Trump Administration’s Department of Homeland Security and what the federal government calls “Operation Metro Surge.” Two American citizens - Renee Good and Alex Pretti - were shot to death by federal agents in Minneapolis in January 2026. Demonstrations...
Feb 15, 2026•42 min
On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, we dig into the archives for an interview with the late Jim Robson, legendary Canadian sportscaster who was a beloved figure in British Columbia for decades. News broke today - February 10, 2026 - that Mr. Robson has passed away at age 91. Robson was the “Voice of the Canucks” on radio and TV from their inaugural NHL season in Vancouver in 1970 until 1999. Years before that, Jim Robson began his radio career as a 17-year-old, calling basketball games ...
Feb 11, 2026•43 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Lloyd Lytle, a leader of the grassroots group working to prevent demolition of the historic Masonic Home of Washington in Des Moines, Washington. Lytle’s group is called Citizens for the Protection of Des Moines Historic Resources. They formed a coalition with Des Moines Historical Society and the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and filed an appeal of the demolition permit issued in August 2025 by the City of Des Moin...
Feb 07, 2026•20 min
Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Barbara Swift, landscape architect and advocate for Seattle’s Gas Works Park on recent developments with the City of Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board and the City of Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation; Matt Smith of the grassroots group Save the Dr. Annie Russell House and Eugenia Woo of Historic Seattle on an imminent threat facing the historic Dr. Annie Russell House in Seattle and how you can voice your o...
Feb 02, 2026•1 hr
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Dr. Amanda Van Lanen, author of “The Washington Apple: Orchards and the Development of Industrial Agriculture.” The book was published in 2022 by University of Oklahoma Press and details the rise of the apple industry in the Evergreen State beginning in the early 20th century. I spoke with Dr. Amanda Van Lanen by phone on Friday, January 30, 2026. For more information about "The Washington Apple” from University of Oklahoma Pres...
Jan 31, 2026•35 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Frederik Larsen, Deputy Director of the Greenland National Museum & Archives in Nuuk, Greenland. CASCADE OF HISTORY reached out to the museum in Greenland to find out what steps staff there are taking to collect the artifacts and stories of the very recent - and very turbulent past - as the President of the United States has, at times, threatened military annexation of the sovereign Arctic island. Mr. Larsen also shared his ...
Jan 28, 2026•14 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Devlin Donnelly, a Seattle man who modestly calls himself a "history enthusiast." Donnelly recently put two-and-two together and figured out that a demolition and construction project not far from the Seattle waterfront is underway near what may be the location of an old ship buried there in the 19th century. The ship is the bark "Windward," and it was once used as a breakwater at the foot of Madison and Marion Streets. When the...
Jan 28, 2026•17 min
Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Eric Ulis, our resident "D.B Cooper-ologist" who shares his opinion on the latest tranche of FBI documents about the skyjacker, and we listen to some audio from the night of the hijacking from Minneapolis radio station (and CBS affiliate) WCCO recently shared by RadioTapes; plus we speak with Brad Holden, Seattle author and historian with a nose for vice, on his new project researching organized crime in Seattle in the ye...
Jan 26, 2026•1 hr
On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel speaks with Marc Stiles for the latest in our series of "Exit Interviews" with people who've had long careers in media and/or history in the Pacific Northwest. Marc Stiles recently retired after 13 years at the Puget Sound Business Journal. Prior to that, he spent decades at other newspapers in Washington and Oregon as well as in his native Iowa (which might explain his certainty when it comes to how to correctly pronounce "Des Moines"). ...
Jan 22, 2026•57 min
Feliks Banel's guests on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY are Patricia Fels of Friends of Gas Works Park and Barbara Swift of the Gas Works Park Alliance. The City of Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation (SPR) will, this coming Wednesday, January 21, 2026, ask - once again - for permission from the City of Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board (LPB) to make significant changes to the historic towers at Gas Works Park. Gas Works Park is a landmark on the north end of Lake Union, wh...
Jan 17, 2026•35 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Dr. Kate Burrows, founder and lead organizer of a grassroots preservation organization in North Seattle called "Save Crown Hill Cemetery." Dr. Burrows founded the group in December 2025. In this conversation, Dr. Burrows shares some of the history of Crown Hill Cemetery and explains the recent origins of the preservation group. Based on letters sent by the City of Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections in December 20...
Jan 14, 2026•51 min
Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Janet Gallimore, executive director of the Idaho Historical Society on 2026 programs and exhibits; Ken Johnsen of Yakima Valley Trolleys on the ongoing effort to work with the City of Yakima to preserve the trolley tracks; historian and blogger Robin Adams on her search for mystery bridges crossing the Cedar River near Maple Valley, WA; Lloyd Lytle of the group working to save the Masonic Home of Washington in Des Moines,...
Jan 12, 2026•1 hr 9 min
Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Mike Shirts, longtime – and recently retired - Chief Operating Officer of Rosauers Supermarkets, the Spokane-based regional grocery store chain. Shirts worked for the company for more than 50 years, starting out bagging groceries as a teenager in 1974. In this conversation, we go deep on the history of the chain, which traces its roots to a single location in Spokane in the 1930s and now operates stores in four states. We cover ...
Jan 10, 2026•37 min
On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, we present complete audio from Part One of "Bomber Down," a miniseries researched, produced and hosted by Feliks Banel in 2025 for the KSL Podcasts project known as "Unsolved Histories." "Bomber Down" is about a B-52 Stratofortress on a training mission with eight crew members aboard that went missing in the Gulf of Mexico in February 1968. Now, thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers, generous donors, and the non-profit called “Project Recover,” a s...
Jan 09, 2026•36 min
