Burien native Rob Ketcherside has released his first book – called “Lost Seattle” – and as big supporters of local Authors and Artists we thought we’d share his good news.
Like Eliot Baker (and numerous other Writers we’ve profiled before), Rob is a Burien native as well, graduating from Highline High School in 1992. Prior to that he attended Sylvester, Shorewood, Hazel Valley and Sunnydale.
He was also an Eagle Scout from Troop #360 out of Lake Burien Presbyterian Church.
“My mother still lives in Burien and we head down from Seattle to visit and hit the antique stores,” he said. “And my brother David was on the Burien Arts Commission until recently.”
Rob’s book – Lost Seattle – is “about stuff that used to be in Seattle but isn’t anymore,” he said. “I assembled photos and wrote it earlier this year, drawing on my familiarity with local archives and passion for Seattle history. I’m certain that there is something for everyone in this book, even my fellow historians. But it’s mostly a coffee table book with large, high quality peeks into old Seattle. If your feet are Paul Bunyan sized it will make a great stocking stuffer.”
Rob will be holding a book talk and signing this coming Saturday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. at the downtown Seattle library (http://www.spl.lib.wa.us/about-the-library/library-news-releases/rob-ketcherside-1214). The Seattle Channel will be taping the library talk, and that might be up on their site later in the month. There was a great article in The Seattle Times by Paul Dorpat, and Capitol Hill Seattle Blog ran an excerpt recently to coincide with the official publication date.
Aside from Writing, Rob works in the tech industry, at EMC in Pioneer Square, where he makes file storage appliances.
“It’s cool to think that some of the digital archives that I drew from had their images sitting on our hardware,” he said.
What’s next for this creative Burienite?
“I’m pretty sure that my next book will involve Seattle’s street clocks,” he said. “I’m helping a friend research his book on Seattle’s clockmaker Joseph Mayer, but there is enough material for several takes on the subject. I did a tour of Seattle’s clocks for the Seattle Architecture Foundation and MOHAI for a couple of years, and I’m keeping a chronicle of every clock in Seattle. I just need to find the time to pull my thoughts together!”
Another side project Rob does is called “rephotography” – start with an old image and then take the same scene today. Here’s a set in Burien, of the old end of the line of the Burien streetcar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tigerzombie/8400730356/
He also wrote a number of history articles for Capitol Hill Seattle Blog with more sophisticated blended images – check those out here.
To learn more about Rob, visit http://ro-ket.com.
To buy his book, click below:
Ordered! Can’t think of a better gift for Seattle newbies as well as those of us born and raised here.
Very interesting idea for a book. I will have to buy and see if his memories conincide with mine!