ABOVE: Old City Hall is the home of the Whatcom Museum. This iconic building can be seen from all over town. Photo by Morgan Annable // AS Review
By Erasmus Baxter
Whatcom Museum and Lightcatcher Building
With its red tower and Kremlin-esque design, the old Bellingham City Hall is a local landmark. The interior features great wood paneling, cool oil paintings of Bellingham’s past and labels that tell you what each of the rooms used to be. The first two floors are currently open, but the third floor will open this spring.
However, architecture isn’t the only point of interest about this building. It houses the Whatcom Museum and its collection of local historical photos and artifacts. For only eight dollars, students can get admission to both the museum’s collection at the old City Hall and at the nearby Lightcatcher building.
The museum first opened in 1941. Currently they are showing a number of historical local photos. The introductory room has cool historical artifacts from the old police department and early city as well a video following the history of Bellingham through the ages.
Other exhibits show photos of Bellingham’s parks, from the early 1900’s to the 1960’s, and color photos of downtown Bellingham and Fairhaven, shot by local photographers. It is interesting to see how Bellingham has changed and grown through the years. One can really get a feel for what downtown Bellingham used to be like.
The upper floor has an exhibit on the Maritime history of Bellingham featuring model boats and photos. There are also historical tours of the building available.
The Lightcatcher building is only a block away and included in the price of admission to the museum. The lower galleries were closed when I was there due to clean up from an art auction, but the upper floor featured an amazing exhibit of photos from New Orleans 10 years after Hurricane Katrina. The stark black and white photos of decay and neglect were heart wrenching and yet beautiful. The exhibit will be open through May 14. On February 4, an exhibit of Chicanx art will open.
The rest of the Lightcatcher and courtyard are very nice architecturally, and you can go on the roof deck for a view of the old City Hall. Not a bad way to spend a rainy afternoon. As an added bonus, both buildings are kept nice and warm.
ABOVE: The Lightcatcher Building is a great extension of the museum. Photo by Morgan Annable // AS Review
The Downtown Bellingham Library
Another underappreciated resource, only a block from the museum, is the downtown Bellingham Public Library. On a recent Sunday afternoon, it had a decent number of people taking advantage of its resources, but was not crowded.
I was able to register for a library card, which is free to anyone who lives, works or goes to school in Bellingham, in less than 5 minutes. In addition to books, they also have a good collection of movies and CD’s. I found the new Gucci album among others in the CD section. The downstairs also has free books for the taking.
You can take advantage of their computers, quiet places to work and collection of local resources without a library card, but if you get one you can reserve books to pick up and return at the library on campus. They also have a lot of cool research resources that are accessible online with a library card.
The library also hosts a wide array of events, including various kinds of club meetings, author readings and poetry nights.
Overall, the Central Branch of the Bellingham Public Library is worth a visit.