B Street: The Notorious Playground of Coulee Dam

by Lawney L. Reyes

Book Overview

B Street tells intimate stories about the street of shops, restaurants, bars, and brothels where the workmen who built the Grand Coulee Dam spent their recreational hours and wages. From the beginning, B Street was the place to play and let off steam for the white workingmen who had faced the hard times of the Depression. It was a raucous playground that denied blacks and most dark-skinned Indians access to the frivolity, good times,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0295988533
• ISBN13: 9780295988535
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A fine book, but not Reyes' best

I would recommend "B Street" to anyone interested in the transition of the Northwest Natives from their traditional way of life to largely forced assimilation into American society. Still, I would more strongly recommend an early book by the same author: "White Grizzly Bear's Legacy". The latter tells a broader, but only slightly less personal story. It also provides a context for family dynamics that are only lightly sketched here.

Personal view of 1930s industrialization

Clear, unsophisticated view of the forced transition of some local native Americans from living off the land to joining an industrial community. A few years (decades?) after being forced off the prime grazing land into a relatively infertile valley, the narrator learns his community with soon be submerged by the Grand Coulee dam. Some respond by moving to the heart of the working class district in Grand Coulee, B Street, to open a restaurant. The dam workers apparently work, drink, eat, and visit prostitutes. Nearly everyone has a good heart, and the tone is upbeat. Eye-opening in its depiction of people at the mercy of larger events and the ensuing social changes. Could be more penetrating in social commentary but a good easy read. Gets quite repetitive towards the end. A must-read for anyone who wants to know about the history of eastern Washington State. Numerous photos lend solidity to the recounted history.

Highly recommended, especially for Native American reading lists

B Street: The Notorious Playground of Coulee Dam captures an up-close, in-focus glimpse of American history in the making during the era of the Great Depression and beyond. During these difficult times, B Street was a place of recreation for white workingmen, particularly those who labored on the Coulee Dam; filled with shops, restaurants, and brothels, B Street was off-limits to blacks and most dark-skinned individuals, including Indians. Opening with the eyes and memories of author Lawney L. Reyes, a young boy who wandered B Street with his little sister Luana and their dog Pickles while their Indian mother and Filipino father survived hand-to-mouth running a Chinese restaurant, B Street continues through preservations of Reyes' mother's diary, enhanced with stories told by his parents and other members of the Sin-Aikst tribe. B Street is ultimately a profound testimony to the history and culture of the Indians whose way of life was overwhelmed with change through the creation of the Grand Coulee Dam. Highly recommended, especially for Native American reading lists.