Hy-iu-hee-hee & superb local histories
The Harbor History Museum (Gig Harbor, WA) runs a fantastic blog where they chased down in lively detail the history of the Hy-iu-hee-hee (Lots of Fun) bar, restaurant, and cheap motel, founded 1935.
The name is locally said to mean “Happiness and Good Times”.
I think it’s a fair bet that this establishment was not named after Laura Belle Downey-Bartlett’s characteristically clunky 1914 Chinook Jargon translation of “My Old Kentucky Home”…popular in the original, but LBDB was rarely quoted:
(I leave the above untranslated as a gift to you.)
Keen-eyed readers of the museum blog will notice that the painting of an Indian maiden in the bar is named Madam To Wagh (Sunshine, let’s say). I couldn’t find an image of her, but this fella may be a relation:
On your trip to patronize the Harbor History Museum in person, you might like to stop off at the once again operating Hy Iu Hee Hee 🙂 Trivia night would bring me in! Look for this sign by the road:
Before you go, here’s a video review of the place on YouTube:
