The Manufactured 'Venice of America'
A writer discovers his picturesque essay on the Sound country was secretly rewritten into a promotional advertisement for Tacoma.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The July California Magazine has an article on the Sound country by Herbert Haywood. From the opening paragraphs and illustrations, one would expect a picturesque and historic account of Puget Sound, as it was written throughout, Mr. Haywood states. But to his surprise and displeasure, it was changed into a bold write-up on Tacoma. This was done after he turned in his manuscript and illustrations and gone East. Now it appears as a jumbled up advertisement about Tacoma's lumber and hop-picking industries and points of tourist interest. A few words are thrown in as a sop to Seattle and Bellingham Bay towns. A picture of Indian canoes on the waterfront was entitled 'The Venice of America,' and so referred to in the original article, but it has been renamed 'Canoes of Chinook Indians.' Mr. Heywood's greatest regret is that Angeline should be disrespectfully referred to as a pilfering old mummy, a person for whom he has the greatest respect and admiration.
“Now it appears as a jumbled up advertisement about Tacoma's lumber and hop-picking industries.”
The practice of rewriting editorial content into advertorials to boost city branding is a long-standing tradition in the Pacific Northwest. Today, this 'boosterism' has moved from magazines to sponsored digital content, but the tension between objective storytelling and the regional growth machine remains a constant in Seattle's civic conversation.
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