The Kalekala
 | Team Crackerjack lives at the end of Pier 53, past Seattle's two fireboats, the Alki and the Chief Sealth. Standard Bureau spells prevent the 276-foot ferry from being noticed by lost tourists, and the unsafe planks leading off the edge of the pier does nothing to encourage visitors. |
View the Floorplan for details.
History
The ferry Kalakala was launched from the Lake Washington shipyards, in Kirkland, on July 2, 1935. Between 1935 and 1967, the streamlined ferry plied the waters of Puget Sound, carrying commuting workers between Seattle and the naval shipyard in Bremerton. Auctioned in 1967, the Kalakala spent the next 31 years in Alaska, serving as a fish processing plant. The Kalakala returned to Seattle on November 6, 1998.
Inside, the Kalakala was a luxurious ferry by local standards. Accommodations would do credit to an ocean liner, enthused Pacific Motor Boat in 1935. The Kalakala’s five decks boasted ample room for 2,000 passengers. There were three large observation rooms and a sun deck, as well as the famous double-horseshoe lunch counter. The ladies’ lounge was finished in harmonizing shades of brown and 500 velvet-upholstered easy chairs offered comfortable seating in the public areas.
Below the auto deck, the Kalakala included shower rooms and lockers for the comfort of the Bremerton shipyard workers, as well as the men’s lounge and bar. In 1935, local observers remarked, “This vessel represents twentieth-century progress.”
The Kalakala was auctioned off in 1967 to an Alaska fish packer for $101,551. The ferry’s new owners converted the ship to a floating fish processor; then in 1972, grounded her as a cannery on Kodiak Island. When new fishing regulations limited the production of king salmon, the cannery was closed. The ferry was sent out and scuttled, only to resurface years later as Team Crackerjack's floating base.