BURIED

IN THE
PAST

Port Angeles has a wealth of history above and below its

downtown streets. Port Angeles Underground Heritage Tours
takes visitors to a time of intensive restructure,
sordid dealings, paranormal experiences and community
developments that give the city its strong heritage.
Story and photos by Laura Lofgren

10 Living on the PeninsuLa FaLL 2018

 Tour attendees listen intently as Erlwein enthusiastically
describes Port Angeles’ beginnings.

locals for almost three years.
But tour guide was not part of his
original career plans.
“I was a teacher and instructor ... but
weapons and tactics don’t necessarily lend
themselves well to tourism,” he laughed.
“I was just lucky to have the energetic
personality to be able to tell the story.”
Erlwein stepped into the field easily
after a trip with his son, Wyatt.
“I was back in town for a couple of
weeks in between jobs and I went on the
tour with my son’s [Boy] Scout troop,” he
said.
On his way back to school on the GI
Bill and looking for work, Erlwein asked
Perry if he needed a part-time guide.
Tour operator Bruce Erlwein explains the initial history Port Angeles Perry was on the verge of retirement, and
at Smuggler’s Landing Restaurant & Lounge. the timing worked out well.
“It’s just been a great opportunity for
in a ‘boring little town’ and I couldn’t
wait to get away. So I was gone for almost
16 years and I came back and I found this
history and I thought it was the coolest
thing.
“That’s kind of what inspired this
move. I wanted to stay here. I wanted to
be local again.”
Today’s tours — some led by Erlwein
and some by Stepp — meet at the Port
Angeles Visitors Center then head up-
stairs to Smuggler’s Landing Restaurant
& Lounge, with the tour guide sharing
old photos of the town from the early
1900s and telling the initial history of
Port Angeles.
On a recent tour with Erlwein, his
enthusiasm for the history of the city
comes through during his thorough and
thoughtful explanations of events (such as

B
uried beneath the city of Port
Angeles is a rich history.
In a short amount of time, the
seat of Clallam County has been filled
with astounding endeavors that have
enriched this community’s strength and
endurance.
These fascinating memories are shared
in an engaging downtown tour thanks to
conversations with generations of local
families, along with extensive research
from history lovers.
Tour operator Bruce Erlwein, along
with Bob Stepp, owner/operator of the
Port Angeles-Victoria Tourist Bureau,
continue the operation of the Port Ange-
les Underground Heritage Tours.
These two Port Angeles natives carry
on the work of Don Perry, a former Port
Angeles deputy mayor and historian who
is credited with saving the Port Angeles
Underground and its history. He passed
away in October 2016.
Perry’s research has been the solid
foundation of the tour, which has been
around for about 20 years.
archives and the Port Angeles city archives, me,” he said. “I thought it was a really the Sluicing the Hogback), and engineer-
plus the occasional discovery of tales kept cool aspect of my community. ing feats (raising downtown buildings
alive by families of those who were in “I was one of those kids who grew up several feet with screw jacks).
Port Angeles in the early 1900s.
“We were so fortunate to have had
Don with the passion that he had for our PORT ANGELES UNDERGROUND HERITAGE TOURS
local history,” Erlwein said. “He got a lot
of first-hand information from people, • Tours start at the Port Angeles Visitors Center, 121 E. Railroad Ave.
and those people are gone now. • May-October tours take place Mondays-Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“It’s really challenging to get our his-
• November-April tours take place Mondays-Saturdays at 2 p.m.
tory at this point in time ... at least to get
the backstory that makes it valuable and • Haunted tours will take place in October (schedule to be announced).
interesting. We’re really lucky to have • Visit portangelesheritagetours.com or email info@portangelesheritage
Don who did so much of that research.” tours.com for more information and to book your tour.
Cameras, history books and writing
weren’t around much in the city’s early
days, so it has been left in a lot of ways to
the families of Port Angeles to preserve
their history through family logs, journals
and, hopefully, photos.
“I feel like it’s been really challenging
to build that depth,” Erlwein said.
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His work included forays into the ing in the military before moving back
North Olympic History Center (formerly to Port Angeles, has been giving the in the U.S.A
the Clallam County Historical Society) afternoon tours to groups of tourists and
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Opposite page: Tour attendees view a mural underneath Sound Bikes & Kayaks.
Fall 2018 Living on the Peninsula 11

Tour guide Bob Stepp explains the fragile structure of
old windows underneath the sidewalk at the corner of
North Laurel and Front streets in Port Angeles.
882195482
12 Living on the Peninsula Fall 2018
The Underground was created in 1914
to solve a significant and smelly problem.
Much of the downtown was on mud flats,
and businesses built on piers and docks had
privies over Port Angeles Harbor.
When the tide was out, all was well.
When it came in ...
Faced with raw sewage on the beaches
and a downtown that flooded with every
rainstorm and high tide (about 50 times
a year), the Port Angeles City Council in
January 1914 voted to raise the down-
town street level by more than 10 feet to
lift it above the tidal flats.
In the endeavor known as the Sluic-
ing of the Hogback, the city used water
cannons to move soil from the hill east of
downtown to concrete forms lining the
streets and raised the streets above the
sea-level mudflats.
The process — completed June 22,
1944 — left some buildings with a new
front door one level above the old one
and created the Port Angeles Under-
ground, a series of tunnels underneath
the oldest part of downtown.
With a group of 12 — tourists mostly
from Victoria, plus Florida and Olympia
— Erlwein then wrangled the history-
seekers back down onto the street to
continue the tour.
On his tours, Erlwein can alter his
stories without losing the facts to meet
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the pace of his group.
“I can modify and adjust stories if
people are determined to move slowly
between points,” he said. “I don’t leave
anything, but there’s less fanfare around
certain things. I have it pretty well set up
that it’s a leisurely pace. Nobody should
be sweating by the end of it ... except me.”
On the tour, visitors can expect four
flights of stairs and to cover about four
blocks of walking.
Among the places guests visit during the
walking tour, the basement of Sound Bikes
& Kayaks has a colorful background.
There are preserved murals of pictur-
esque mountains below the showroom
that surround an area that once was home
to a fun children’s game. There was even
a special area for dad to relax (but you’ll
have to take the tour to find out more!).
Visiting from Tampa Bay, Florida,
Denise and Henry Bissonnette said they
were having a great time on the tour.
“He’s very passionate,” Denise said of
Erlwein. “I had no idea this was all here.”
Back outside, visitors will pass the city’s
original movie theater as well as the first
gas station.
The first Underground experience is
on North Laurel Street. Groups descend
the staircase next to New Day Eatery,
where they are met with a boardwalk that
leads to a former youth athletic club.
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 Along the boardwalk, a street sign has
been erected to remember Perry and his
work with the city’s Underground.
On this original level of the downtown,
visitors can look up through the square
skylights to the sidewalk above and
admire original windows from the early
1900s.
In this corridor, tour guides remind
groups of the laborious hours that were
put into raising the streets — hours that
included laying cement with only five-
gallon buckets.
The final stop on the tour is the Family
Shoe Store, Port Angeles’ oldest building.
With original flooring and relics from the
past, this business provides a look at the
community’s logging industry as well as
some sordid dealings upstairs.
Known as the Essen Rooms, the hotel
upstairs was home to a madame and her
working girls (about nine of them at a
time).
On the tour, Erlwein massages the
story a bit, depending on the age range in
his group.
“I don’t get tremendously graphic,” he
said. “I feel like a lot’s lost when you get
too graphic.”
People have good imaginations, he
said, so he doesn’t have to give away too
much detail.
The tour ends with the group visiting
several bedrooms, the kitchen and one
bathroom and the guide explaining the
sometimes humorous dealings of the Es-
sen Rooms and its clients (the huge alarm
for the madame to sound when the police
showed up is just one highlight).
One of the best parts about the tour,
Erlwein said, is getting to interact with
local businesses.
“Our local businesses have been so
supportive to keep our history in this area
alive. ... We have an incredible team that
comes together,” he said.
These businesses allow entry into the
Underground that is sometimes accessed
where store customers can see.
An old photo shows Port Angeles in July 1926,
about 11 years after the beginning of the city’s
project to elevate the downtown streets.
There’s some give-and-take between
the tours and businesses: Erlwein recom-
mends shopping there, and customers
see the tours come through and become
intrigued.
“I really feel like we’ve struck an in-
credible balance between actual accurate
history while keeping a certain level of
entertainment.”
A HAUNTED PORT ANGELES?
This October, Erlwein will once again
give haunted tours of the downtown area
for a flat rate of $20 per person.
This year’s haunted tours will have the
benefit of an extra helping hand. Erlwein
is bringing on someone who has more of
a “flair for drama” to assist in making the
tour extra creepy.
Two places specifically are visited dur-
ing the haunted tours (Erlwein won’t say
where in order to keep it all a surprise).
At these sites, Erlwein said, there was a
paranormal investigation team that came
through to analyze the spaces and got
some ... results.
In 2010, the team of paranormal inves-
tigators, along with Perry and a few local
residents, set up in the Underground,
using sensitive recording equipment and
magnetic sensors.
One visitor took a photo of Perry in
an underground tunnel, and in the initial
viewing of the photo on the computer
screen, it appeared there were three faces Tour operator Bruce Erlwein explains the mystery and history
peering out of the grimy antique window
of the abandoned storefront behind him.
behind the basement area of Sound Bikes & Kayaks.
At another stop, Erlwein said, all
sorts of weird things started happening. with a laugh. reports of voices and shadowy figures.
Fully charged batteries started dying all “I’m not really a ghost guy [but] some- But don’t let this tale ruin your meal.
together, and some infrared night vision times I get a weird feeling down there.” These things tend to happen late at night
equipment captured some “pretty bizarre Probably the most ghostly experience when the restaurant is closing.
movements.” Erlwein said he has had was when he was
As for any other random, paranormal on a tour with a family. A DYNAMIC HISTORY
activity, Erlwein is stoic. They were in one of the tunnels when Port Angeles’ young history is full of
“Anything weird that happens in those a little girl asked if there were ghosts remarkable accomplishments by those
basements I write it off to anything I can. down there. Erlwein looked at her and who saw it fit to grow and expand her
‘Oh no, it was windy that day ... so that’s humorlessly said, “Yes.” streets.
why that door slammed shut,” he said At that same moment, a nearby door And its history runs parallel with the
slammed shut. other towns all across the North Olympic
“That was probably the most convinc- Peninsula Coast.
ing thing I’ve experienced down there These tours are just a taste of what life
just because of the timing.” was like back in the earliest days of our
communities.
A QUICK GHOST STORY “It’s a very dynamic history,” Erlwein
While Erlwein is not forthcoming in said. “It’s not old history, but the stuff that
telling ghost stories that are narrated has happened here it’s incredible.”
on the tour (keeping things mysterious “I’m honored that as a son of Port An-
is part of his job), he did share a well- geles, I can go away for so long and come
known tale about Michael’s Seafood and back and ... I get to carry this message to
Steakhouse. tourists. I get to help represent our town
Known as the “Black Shadow,” this to people from all over the world.
dark entity has been seen on the stairs of “It’s one of those incredible parts of
the restaurant and other various spaces of our community that needs to be pre-
the main dining area. served. It needs to survive.” 
In the hallway connecting the bar and Laura Lofgren is a special sections editor
main dining room to the secondary din- at Peninsula Daily News. Reach her at
ing room and restrooms, there have been llofgren@peninsuladailynews.com.
Fall 2018 Living on the Peninsula 13