Car Tours of Washington (and beyond): Browne's Addition, 1979

1979

When I did that last newspaper search for anything regarding the outcome of the Clark Mansion, one of my search terms was "Browne's Addition" and I got so many hits. There were murders, arrests, burgleries, and filming of a movie.

Yes! I know! I was surprised, too. But I will include the articles I found for this below.

5 July 1979

Spokane Picked for Movie

McBride, Spokane Picked for Movie, 1979

Deborah McBride writes that "The Fabricator" will begin filming in August. The Fabricator Production group considered Olympia, Tacoma and Eugene Oregon before deciding on Spokane. Having films shot in this city can be lucrative. "Take a look at what's happening in Wallace (Idaho) now with the filming of 'Heaven's Gate.' A lot of money is being spent in North Idaho."

Four different films are under way in Western Washington.

"The Fabricator" will bring as many as 100 professionals connected with the production -- spending quite a bit of money, renting cars and hotel rooms for minimum of eight weeks.

13 July 1979

Crew Copes with Noises

Williamson, 1979

Jennifer Williamson describes how the everyday noises of Browne's Addition affect the film-making. This film is called "South by Northwest, Second Time Around," a docudrama on black contributions to the settling of the Pacific Northwest, produced by WSUs public television station, KWSU-TV.

Apparently, the series was first produced in 1975 and was distributed nationwide. Supporting talent, most from local residents, came from the drama department at Fort Wright College while the technical work was done primarily by WSU students and faculty and young professionals.

The question this series expected to answer was "how did black folks get to the Pacific Northwest?" In 200 interviews with elderly blacks the researchers heard incredible stories.

13 July 1979

Spokane Street Becomes Locale for Film Scene

Jamison, Spokane Street Becomes Locale for Film Scene, 1979

These are photos that accompany the story above. Filmed on location in Browne's Addition, Spokane Washington. The film series is "South by Northwest, Second Time Around"

16 July 1979

History on Film

Jamison, Browne's Addition, History on Film, 1979

More scenes from the film docudrama "South by Northwest"

Let's see if we can find these films on the web. It has been almost exactly 40 years later, since as I write this it is February 2020.

For the first film, "The Fabricator" I found nothing. Well, I did find a lot of people welding metal into things, fabricating things. The closes thing I found was information on the 1980 film which was shot in Spokane, called "Why Would I Lie?" starring Treat Williams. You can find this info on WikiVisually here.

For the others, well that is a horse of a different colour!

Washington State University took those VHS tapes and digitized them, putting them on their youtube channel. You can access their home youtube site here.

Specifically, I will link each of their eight videos here so you can enjoy them and share them. And tell them Gramma Nettie sent you.