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Entering Service and Sailing for the Black Ball Line     Making her official debut on 3 July 1935 the Kalakala proved to be every bit as successful as Captain Peabody and the stockholders of the Black Ball Line had hoped.  People marveled at the   double horse shoe shaped  lunch counter located amidship on the upper passenger deck. The stylish    cafe had a full wait staff and cooked meals to order.In the corners of the galley were triangular tables for additional seating.         While the cafe was a gathering place for passengers, it also seemed to be the  focal spot for the the ferry's notorious teeth-chattering vibration.  No one made comment on it that day, but as time went on waitress would only fill coffee cups half full to avoid the spillage.   No one    is exactly sure what caused it. Everything from a possible misalignment of the    engine, the propeller, to the design of the vessel itself was blamed.        Aft of the cafe was the Palm  Room, and open air space filled with cane furniture. Such rooms were common on    North Atlantic "floating palaces"; and the presence of such a room    onboard the Kalakala not only set her apart from the rest of the ferries in    the fleet, but gave her an  touch of elegance.      For Black Ball she was    used primarily on the Seattle-Bremerton run, making Moonlight Cruises to the sounds of the   Flying Birds orchestra led by Joe Bowen.   For a dollar, passengers could dance    to swing music broadcast live from the boat. The cruises were an enormous success,    and made the boat the most popular in the fleet. A few short years later, however,    the war would intervene and the Moonlight Cruises would stop. The Kalakala's    primary duty--hauling passengers to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard became far    more important than diversionary cruises and swing music.      Unfortunately for the Kalakala it was also a period of vandalism during    WWII. Sailors and yard workers having perhaps one beer too many in the Art Deco    tap room below decks, took to throwing furniture, life rings, rope (a precious war-time commodity)  and other    materials overboard. When a fire was set under the seat of a sleeping passenger,    Black Ball had enough. The first major alteration to the boat was made: the    tap room was shut down, never to open again. The heavy wooden chairs, plushly    upholstered in thick velvet in the bow of the ship were removed. Two rows of    curved bench seats were welded in. The cane furniture in the Palm Room was taken    out and seats identical to the ones in the passenger cabin replaced them.      Perhaps the longest lasting effect of the hyjinks of WWII: liquor sales on  Puget Sound ferries were suspended until the State of Washington began beer  again in 1974.      After the War, the Kalakala would return to duty on the Bremerton run, but Black Ball would also run the ferry on excursions to Victoria while maintenance was being done on the Iroquois.  The glamorous new "Night Boat" to Victoria was under construction, however, and the Kalakala, once the darling of the Black Ball Fleet would soon find itself demoted from company flagship.  After 1947, all the new publicity from the Black Ball Line would feature the Chinook, though the Kalakala would still prove to  be a tremendously popular vessel.

At left, the palm room was a touch of North Atlantic ocean liner elegance built into a  ferry.  Mrs. Peabody selected the mint green color for the room.  A Curtis photo, courtesy WSHS/Kalakala Foundation Archives.  Color by Nevermore Images.  At right, a program from opening day. Author's collection.

Elegence on a budget.  The Kalakala's brilliance was using the design of the ship to convey a sense of luxury.  To be sure the heavy chairs were comfortable and richly upholstered, but in actuality the  passenger cabin was fairly bare bones.  There were no expensive mahogany fittings or carved stanchions as on the Chippewa.  The Kalakala's elegance was derived from her Art Deco curves.  A. Curtis photo courtesy of the WSHS and the former Kalakala Foundation Archives. Color by Nevermore Images.  At right, the  galley featured bright red curtains, counter tops and upholstry.  The double horseshoe design of the counter allowed for two rows of passengers  to order food.  WSF later took out the inner ring of bar stools.  Courtesy of the Kalakala Foundation, A. Curtis photo, color by Nevermore Images.

By the time the state took over the Kalakala in 1951, her cabin had undergone a number of changes.  Black Ball had ceased painting her interior in the eggshell color it had been for years in favor of a darker brown.  The chairs had all been replaced with benches, save for in the ladies lounge and the tile had been replaced.  WSF would repaint the vessel white and reupholster the benches in green.  Courtesy of PSMHS/MOHAI, color by Nevermore Images.  At right, the forward lounge as it looked before WWII.

at work for WSF to the CHIPPEWA RETIRED FERRIES HOME

Cruising to Victoria... After working diligently through WWII, the Kalakala returned to some excursion cruises for the Black Ball Line.  Under sunny skies she pulls into Victoria Harbor, contrasting greatly with the three stack CRP steamer already at the dock.  Note that the steamer is still in wartime gray, save for the smokestacks.  Author's collection.