Step into the Past

Why have I never heard of Port Townsend, Washington? Now I HAVE to visit Washington State, and not just to annoy Video Librarian editor Randy Pitman! Port Townsend, a 19th-century boom town on the Olympic Peninsula, was once the major port of entry for the Northwest. Fans of late Victorian architecture will get a kick out of seeing fifty restored structures shown here with their matching historic photos. (In tribute to the renovators, the work has been done with amazing integrity.) Following a depression and the collapse of the local railroad company, business bypassed the town, and five thousand residents moved out, leaving behind a motherlode of wonderful (if slightly crumbly) buildings with fantastic views of Puget Sound. Not surprisingly, most of the mansions have been turned into bed and breakfast establishments in order to help pay for their renovation and upkeep. Which brings us to the down side of this tape. The producers appear to take as gospel truth wholecloth interviews with house-proud (and often slightly uninformed) innkeepers and a soft-voiced (and not absolutely astute) tour guide. We are told, for example, that the cantilevered staircase in one house was such a miracle of engineering that the Smithsonian wanted to dismantle it and study it. Hmm. Cantilevered stairs have been widespread in this country since the Federal era. While this won't make the grade as a history title, it is fine for the travel section, even if alert viewers will occasionally giggle. Recommended, even though the person responsible for including the digitized pictures of historic buildings should be hanged from a bracketed cornice. Aud: P. (R. Reagan)