There was a wonderful old art deco ferry in Washington State, called the Kalakala. It's pronounced: kah-LAK-ah-lah, not Kala Kala. lol She was the world's first streamlined ferry and was launched in 1926. 'Kalakala' means bird in the local Chinook language. She ran between Seattle and Bremerton.
There she is in her hey day. She was the second most popular attraction at the Seattle World's Fair of 1962, after the Space Needle. She was not without problems, however. It had vibration issues and was hard to dock. Retired in 1967, she was purchased by a fish canning company and sent to Alaska as a factory ship, then as a crabbing ship, and finally beached in Kodiak, AK in 1970 to be used for shrimp processing.
Here's a mural of it in Port Angeles.
It was refloated, towed back to Seattle in late 1998 and moored at Lake Union where it continued to be a controversial eyesore. No one wanted to spend the money to refurbish it. It was then towed way out to Neah Bay, the farthest Northwestern point in the state, in 2004. It was almost immediately evicted by the Makah tribe and then towed back to Tacoma.
Poor old thing began to list horribly in Tacoma. The Coast Guard declared it a navigation hazard, and the owners tried to sell it for $1.00. There were no takers.
It's now in such bad shape that restoration may not even be possible. A very sad ending to the grand lady of Puget Sound.
