Feature package for Jewish in Seattle Magazine
My last big editorial assignment pre-Covid was a feature package for Jewish in Seattle Magazine (including this cover illustration) spotlighting the early Jewish history of the region. I was encouraged to play up the pulpy western style and color palette which seemed for appropriate for many of the outlandish and sordid tales they were paired with.
According to urban legend, the ghost of Alice B. Toklas, famed writer and longtime partner to Gertrude Stein, haunts the rooms of the Sorrento Hotel, close to where she grew up.
Scandals
One of the scandalous tales of Jewish history in the Puget Sound: Maxwell Levy, notoriously known as “Shanghai Max” established a boarding house in Port Townsend that was widely known to press-gang sailors into service against their will by nefarious means, usually on ships bound for China.
Banker Jacob Furth and brothel owner Lou Graham became unofficial, yet wildly successful business partners after Furth helped Graham rebuild her successful empire after the Seattle fire of 1889.
Origins
A series of spot illustrations paired with stories of early Jewish immigrants in Puget Sound
Three pioneering Jewish philanthropists who founded some of the first charities and social services in Seattle: 1) Esther Levy 2) Caroline Kline Galland 3) Babette Gatzert