#89. Humboldt’s Forgotten Women: Lynette Mullen on The Red Light District That Built a City

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, it's, uh, Scott Hammond and 100% Humboldt podcast with my new best friend, Lynette Mullen.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Lynette.

Lynette Mullen: Good afternoon, Scott.

Scott Hammond: How are you?

Lynette Mullen: I'm very well, thank you. How are you?

Scott Hammond: I'm well. It's good to see you. I'm a little tired. I'm jet-lagged. We were in, uh, uh, Amsterdam and then London for two weeks. They made us go.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, I'd try to feel sorry for you about that one-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … but mm.

Scott Hammond: Ah, a little bit.

Lynette Mullen: It'd be a stretch.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's, uh, I'll recover. Another night's sleep is what I need. But we're all good. It's good to see you.

Lynette Mullen: You too.

Scott Hammond: So you're… Tell us the Lynette story if you're, um, who are you? Where are you from? Let's start there. Where were you born?

Lynette Mullen: Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah, we're going back a minute.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: We don't need to talk about exactly how many minutes, but, um, so I was actually born in Long Beach. Uh, early years, early '70s, was spent in LA, uh, but my parents moved up here when I was a kid. They bought a small business in Fortuna.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Lynette Mullen: So we lived for a year in Ferndale while they built a house

Lynette Mullen: in Rio Dell.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Lynette Mullen: So I actually grew up in Rio Dell, which, ee, kind of a dubious reputation, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … gorgeous. Gorgeous location for a town. We were right above the river. Spent my summers, you know, it was kind of childhood, you leave in the morning, get back before dark.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: So it was pretty sweet.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, and the day, I bet it was beautiful down there.

Lynette Mullen: Oh my gosh. Yeah. You g- I think you gain about 10 degrees with every, you know, from Eureka-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Lynette Mullen: … to Fortuna, Fortuna to Rio Dell. It was gorgeous.

Scott Hammond: But it's some big percentage of less fog-

Lynette Mullen: Yes

Scott Hammond: … foggy days. Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: And even when it was foggy, it was this low kind of ground fog that was beautiful.

Scott Hammond: So did you go to school down at Fortuna High?

Lynette Mullen: I did. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: Had to ride the bus, which I-

Scott Hammond: All the way

Lynette Mullen: … was not very fond of, but, um, but I enjoyed being in Fortuna. Actually, I just saw there was just something online about them trying to save the Fortuna Theater.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Lynette Mullen: And I joined that Facebook group and had to say why I was interested, and it's like, "'Cause I spent my childhood there."

Scott Hammond: Right. That was your movie house.

Lynette Mullen: I went to watch movies.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Is that a nice theater? I've never been inside.

Lynette Mullen: It was… I, I don't know how it is now, but it was lovely when I was a kid. I mean, I don't-

Scott Hammond: Probably modern back in the-

Lynette Mullen: … know that I'd be a very j- very good judge, but-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … it was a nice place. It worked.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's where all the first-rate movies went. Remember the, um-

Lynette Mullen: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Remember the theater out at, uh, Indianola?

Lynette Mullen: State.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah, with the, the drive-in even.

Scott Hammond: There's the drive-in, and then there's-

Lynette Mullen: Yes

Scott Hammond: … the multiplex.

Lynette Mullen: Yes. I do remember.

Scott Hammond: Saw Star Wars there.

Lynette Mullen: Yes, yes.

Scott Hammond: Gosh. And that's all, like, mini storage or torn down or something.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, movie, movies. The one in, we just got Mill Creek closed up in McKinleyville. Hmm, that was new when my kids were young, and now it's gone.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Anyway.

Lynette Mullen: We're losing them.

Scott Hammond: So did you go to Humboldt?

Lynette Mullen: I did. I went to College of the Redwoods.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Lynette Mullen: Took a break for a while, had my children, um, and then went back to Humboldt and got a degree in business.

Scott Hammond: In business. Good business school.

Lynette Mullen: Indeed, indeed. Yeah, which I didn't actually know until I was going there. Um-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Lynette Mullen: … yeah, small class sizes. The professors were-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Lynette Mullen: … great, really involved. I actually really enjoyed it, and it's kind of cool as an entrepreneur that I actually in some way am using my business education.

Scott Hammond: Of course you are. Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: It's kind of silly.

Scott Hammond: I think it's the most versatile way to go.

Lynette Mullen: Yes.

Scott Hammond: I love, I love the business program up there. What year did you graduate?

Lynette Mullen: From Humboldt?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: I have… I don't, I'd have to think.

Scott Hammond: What?

Lynette Mullen: I don't think in terms of years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Usually I think about when I'm trying to figure out a time, it's some other significant event or how old my kids were.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: So it, it was a while ago. We'll just go with that.

Scott Hammond: That's how my wife Joni does it. "Well, Mikayla was seven years old when that happened." I go-

Lynette Mullen: Yes

Scott Hammond: … how do you date? Okay, there's carbon dating, and then there's kid dating.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, so well, welcome. Tell me more about, uh, what, what do you do now? Uh, well, what have you done since Humboldt till, till kinda

Scott Hammond: now?

Lynette Mullen: Well, that's a lot of years, so I'm not gonna dive into a lot of detail

Lynette Mullen: there.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Lynette Mullen: Um, I did end up kind of evolving, um, into, uh, working for myself, uh, as an independent project manager. Um, I will say the longest I've ever held a real job is two and a half years-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Lynette Mullen: … in my life-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … which used to make me flaky, but now makes me versatile. You know-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Lynette Mullen: … I know a lot of, a little bit about a lot of things, basically. But, um, but I do like to get things done, and so project management turned into a really good fit for me, and then it ended up being primarily in economic and workforce development.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Though in the last few years, I have done a lot of community outreach and

Lynette Mullen: engagement-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Lynette Mullen: … just, again, because I've been here forever, and because I've only held onto a real job for a short period of time-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … I've done a lot of things and met a lot of people.

Lynette Mullen: So-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Lynette Mullen: … again, it's, it's become an asset when it might not have been initially.

Scott Hammond: I like that. No, that's a great way to look at it. So you know a lot of people.

Lynette Mullen: I do. Yes.

Scott Hammond: You don't know everybody. You know every other body.

Lynette Mullen: Uh, not even that many, but I know enough to, to be b- effective enough in the client stuff. And then I'm also… You wanna hear about the other hat I wear?

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Lynette Mullen: That eventually I wanna wear all day, every day. Um, I am a local historian. So yeah, and early on, I was really focused on, um, the settlement period-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … uh, you know, with, uh, I will say invasion, basically, of the pioneers coming into this area and, and all of that dynamic and what happened there. But, um, since COVID, uh, my focus has changed quite a bit, and I've really, um, been focused on another area for the last five years now.

Scott Hammond: Oh, what, what… Pray tell.

Lynette Mullen: Well, it started with, so I have a history blog, and during COVID, working at home, I had some time on my hands, and I'm not far from Old Town. So I'd walk down to Old Town, and because I'm a historic architecture dork, I would find an old building, go home, research it, and then post something if there was anything interesting-

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool. Okay

Lynette Mullen: … to post. You know, what happened in this building 100 years ago-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … or why was it built or whatever. And so I was in Old Town. I was walking along the waterfront, looking at that big old parking lot that's against the water from C

Lynette Mullen: Street East.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: So the, you know, the market there where everybody parks for Arts Alive.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: That's… And I'm looking at it going, "Well, something must have been here." And, uh, went home, looked it up, found a reference, uh, map that, that indicated the Scandia Hotel was on that lot. So I looked up, and, uh, there's a lot of newspapers that are archived online. Looked it up and found a, a news article about a woman, uh, named Virginia

Lynette Mullen: Jeffrey-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: Who in the early nine- her early 20th century was working as a chambermaid at the Scandia Hotel because her husband had left her-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … and she was raising her six children on her own.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: And so she's working as a maid in the Scandia when the two owners tried to force her into a life of shame.

Scott Hammond: Aha.

Lynette Mullen: And I went-

Scott Hammond: Meaning prostitution?

Lynette Mullen: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And I had, you know, growing up here, it's a, a lot of folks that have been in the area a long time probably have heard references to Eureka's Red Light District-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … kind of permissive attitude and that sort of thing. But I, as a historian, I'd still never really thought about it or looked into it. Um, but after finding that story, I started researching more.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: Again, COVID, time on my hands.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, and ended up uncovering, uncovering a million stories about these-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Lynette Mullen: … women that really played a very, I'm finding the more I look into it, an incredibly significant role in the history of our community. The building, literally the building of our ca- of

Lynette Mullen: Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And yet nobody knows them.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: You know, nobody knows who they were. We see, you know, names on streets and on buildings, right? Like m- a lot of people know the Weaver building.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Weaver's name is on the building. He and his wife ran brothels.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Nobody knows the names of the women who supplied the money-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … that ended up being Weaver's building.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Lynette Mullen: You know? But these women, they were significant, and a lot happened. It's this whole kind of underground-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Lynette Mullen: … world that I have dove into.

Scott Hammond: Wow. And found-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … we, we da- we could name names.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah. No-

Scott Hammond: 'Cause they're there

Lynette Mullen: … absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, they were absolutely there. I mean, and some of these women, you know, some unfortunately grew up here and, and because of family circumstances.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Women had so few opportunities-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … especially in the, the 1800s-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … um, that if they didn't marry like they were supposed to, or if their marriage went badly, which happened a lot, you know, women were deserted or, or men were violent or, uh, they were widowed, you know, especially up here with logging jobs and, and people on the ocean, that a lot of women ended up alone, um, and couldn't necessarily, through legal means, support themselves or children or elderly parents. So a lot of these women ended up in that profession-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … which was, if on paper, illegal-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … in Eureka and in other towns, too. Eureka wasn't alone in this.

Lynette Mullen: But was-

Scott Hammond: Not just here, right?

Lynette Mullen: Was not just here, but basically that that particular

Lynette Mullen: profession was considered by many to be a necessary evil.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And so women were allowed to practice as long as you didn't see them in polite society, as long as they weren't disruptive.

Scott Hammond: Interesting. So-

Lynette Mullen: So it's… Yes.

Scott Hammond: What do they call those, open cities?

Lynette Mullen: Um, uh, they would call, um-

Scott Hammond: They had a name for them

Lynette Mullen: … they used to. Early on they didn't. I mean, I think there has been… And the term's escaping me. I know what you're talking about.

Scott Hammond: There's like five cities until 1950s, early '50s. I th- somebody said on the show once.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, the… Yeah, the-

Scott Hammond: That, that they, we were l- amongst the last cities to be shut down on that.

Lynette Mullen: It's… Well, the military, I mean, that's a whole other thing that I haven't gotten into much, but it was, even though it's been illegal by state law since the 1850s-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … like it's been illegal, and it's been illegal in Eureka, it was allowed in many communities, and it wasn't… I think World War II is the, uh, sorry, World War I was the first time that the government, federal government came in and shut down brothels because there were more soldiers missing comment, co- uh, sorry, conflict, were missing combat-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … due to social illnesses-

Scott Hammond: Interesting

Lynette Mullen: … rather than injuries.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Lynette Mullen: And so the military felt like they had to do something about that.

Scott Hammond: That's, I've never heard that. That's, uh, wow. So the Scandia Hotel, is that where Dick- between Dick Taylor and Jack's Seafood?

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, it's, a- actually, it's just to the west of Dick Taylor, so towards,

Lynette Mullen: towards the-

Scott Hammond: Toward the bay.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So it's set right on the bay.

Lynette Mullen: Uh, yeah. Well, on that side of First Street there.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Lynette Mullen: But that wasn't, I mean, that was, there were scattered places, but we actually, and this was something I wasn't aware of, Eureka kinda had its own Barbary Coast-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … you know, that was dedicated to saloons and brothels and had shootouts and, you know, just all of that sort of stuff. Um-

Scott Hammond: Guns, like open carry?

Lynette Mullen: Like literal… Well, oh yeah.

Lynette Mullen: No-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … all the time. People were being shot all the time.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Lynette Mullen: And, but the actual kind of district, our lower district, was over by, if people are familiar with Eureka, The Shanty. So Third Street between C and D Street, and then pushed up towards the

Lynette Mullen: co-op.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Lynette Mullen: And if people are in Old Town, it's kinda fun.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, if you imagine stepping off the steamer into Eureka, say, at the foot of F Street, right? And you can picture the buildings down there now even. We've got the, the waterfront. You know, it's a beautiful, ornate building. Couple of other, the Jantzen Building. I can't remember the names of all those. But nicer buildings-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: But if you go kind of south and west towards the co-op, things get flatter, things get

Lynette Mullen: squattier.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And the, uh, not many of the old buildings survive-

Scott Hammond: Right

Lynette Mullen: … because they were built cheaply and, and they weren't meant to last forever. So even in the architecture, you can kind of see

Lynette Mullen: where-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … Eureka's district ended up.

Scott Hammond: So you are, you, you, you invented the walking tour in Old Town?

Lynette Mullen: Yes, yes.

Scott Hammond: That's cool. That's been going for a while, right?

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. No, no, no. I've only-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Lynette Mullen: … done a couple, and I, um, uh, just kind of revising the route and splitting it up, quite frankly.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: So what I realized in doing the tour is while, uh, some folks really are interested in these ladies-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … um, and the lives they led and, and the challenges that they had-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … maybe other people not so much, but they're still interested in kind of the underbelly, the history of the underbelly of Eureka. So I'm actually doing two tours. One is called The Wicked Waterfront.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: That's more focused on the rogues.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Like we had, um, just to give an example, and I've just learned this term, um, we had a crimp- A nationally known crimp. And I was like, "What is a crimp?" What's a crimp? What is a crimp? So crimps were, uh, in, in the 1800s, there were people that ran boarding houses specifically for sailors. Hmm. And sailors would go to the boarding house. They'd stay there. They would eat. You know, they'd… They would wait for ships to come in, and then the boarding house master would connect with ship captains as they came in and, and connect the two- Oh, wow … the sailors with the captains looking for crew. Oh, wow. So in theory, it sounds lovely, right? Right. Kind of like a unofficial employment office matchmaking sort of thing. Right. The problem with people like Jack Connor, who b- ended up building this place, and it may be the original building. I'm still working on it, but the 707 Bar. Mm-hmm. So picture First and C Street there. Mm-hmm, around the corner. Jack ended up building that place. He was known as Coffee Jack. Used to be Sam and Dave's or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. It's been Steve and Dave's.

Lynette Mullen: It's been- Steve and Dave. Oh gosh, it was something else before that. I can't remember. Uh, Jack Connor built that, but he was a crimp. So he would, he would have a boarding house specifically catering to sailors- Huh … and was the friendliest guy in the world to them. Wow. You know, "Here's food, here's booze, here's the company of a lady." Wow. "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of it later"- We gotcha … sort of thing. Yeah. And then ship captains would come in and pay the sailor's debt. Hilarious. And whether those sailors wanted to go or not- Now they're indentured … they were going. Exactly right. Wow. And he was infamous for it. He also did this in San Pedro. He had a place in San Pedro as well as Eureka, and he was infamous to the point where in Sailors, when the Sailors unions were forming, they had magazines that would go out and try to educate these poor guys. Mm-hmm. And they literally, the magazines would be like, "Never patronize Coffee Jack's Pl- Don't even shake his hand. Stay away from him." He's bad. Just he's a bad, bad guy. He's a slaver. Stay away. Yeah. He basically was, yeah. Wow. And he was right here in Eureka. So they would go on a boat and go for nine months and pay their debt. Wherever they went. Well, the wages were paid in advance, so yeah. Yeah. It was, like you said- So they're working off that … indentured there. Yeah. Yes. And who's keeping rec- Whether they wanted to or not … And who's keeping records? The captain. Y- Exactly right. Right. Yeah. So that's just one- Wow … you know, with these other tours, a story like that. There's also, uh, moving into the 20th century, there was this story, um, first in the San Francisco paper, and then the local folks picked it up, and they were indignant because the story talked about how Eureka was full of, um, basically gullible people- Huh … and that fakirs, so, um, clairvoyants, mystics, fortune tellers- Huh … like Eureka was a great place for them to go because Eurikans were so gullible. Wow. They'd just hand over the money. Just come on up. They just… And literally, yeah. There's so, so this, so the, the local paper got very upset by this, but then unfortunately for this young girl who was working as a servant up here in Eureka, there was a guy that came up that was supposed to be a fortune teller. Hmm. Um, her name was Ida, and she had a, a Finnish last name that I'm not gonna say well, so I just won't say it. But she worked for a local physician, had been saving her money clearly four years trying to get her elderly father here from Finland. Wow. And she went to this guy who is, um, posing as Russell DeSang, I think was the name he was using up here. Hmm. So she went to him and told him she wanted a husband. Oh, wow. Which you can… She was in her late 20s working her butt off as a servant. Hmm. And so she was really hopeful that this guy with his magic whatever could help. Wow. And so what he did is he told her to get f- She had saved, like, almost $800. So he told her- That's huge money … "Go to the bank." Huge. I mean, years literally, and, and I think, I mean, I was kinda wondering if she was a servant or a quote servant. Uh-huh. But she was working for a local physician, so she may have just actually legally somehow earned it and saved all that money. Mm-hmm. So she goes to this guy, and he takes the $500, and he ends up putting it, she believes, in this bag, sewing up

Lynette Mullen: this bag, and then telling her she's gotta say these words or pray over this bag for the next 10 days, and then she'll have a husband. He was here long enough for her to get upset that it wasn't working and go back. Hmm. So she went back to this guy, and he's like, "Oh, you need to put more money in." Oh, geez. So she put in, like, another $276 or something like that, right? So she's got seven, almost $800 in these bags. Oh, no. Sews them up, so she's, she's holding these bags now, right? And she can feel the money in there, and she's praying over 'em, and, uh, the time comes. Guy is out of town. He's gone by now, right? And so she's, she's opening up the bags, and it's all just paper. Her savings is gone. Gone, and he's gone back to- And he's gone to- On a ship somewhere. Well, he ended up going south. He ended up… This was in 1910, 1911. So he rented a car, took it back down to San Francisco, and in fact, uh, snuck off and left the owner of the car, a guy from Eureka, like without paying him. Wow. So a lot of people wanted to find him. Mm-hmm. Um, the police chief here became committed and ended up finding this guy in Ohio- Oh, wow … and brought him back and convict- He ended up getting convicted and being sent to San Quentin. Wow. And there's more to that story 'cause his wife was also a con woman with kind of a similar thing- Ooh … and she's in San Quentin. But, um, but there's a lot of those kind of stories too that, you know, take some digging, but- Wow … um, but it's all stuff that happened here. Yeah. Um- And you got all the other stories, the Indian Island story, which we'll get to. Uh, Chinatown, right? The- Yes … Chi- Chinese. Was there a massacre or just a- No … they, they ran everybody off. Yeah. There was, there was an expulsion there, and I have to say that I am not as familiar with that history, um, as a lot of other people here, uh, the Chinatown history. But the one thing that I did notice, sorry to bring it back to the ladies, but in 1885,

Lynette Mullen: 1886 I think in a lot of ways Eureka had kinda resigned itself to tolerating, again, this kind of underground economy, but Chinatown. So there were brothels in Chinatown and opium dens in

Lynette Mullen: Chinatown.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And that, that couldn't be accepted. And so when people were complaining about vice, they would very specifically talk about Chinatown, kind of ignoring the rip-roaring, you know, Barbary Coast-

Scott Hammond: The Barbary thing

Lynette Mullen: … that, that we had going on a block, literally a block away. That was fine.

Scott Hammond: That was okay.

Lynette Mullen: But if Chinese people were involved, eesh, no.

Scott Hammond: What, what was the Barbary Coast?

Lynette Mullen: So it, uh, the, the-

Scott Hammond: A thing, right?

Lynette Mullen: It was a thing. San Francisco had one that was blocks and blocks long that was, um, you know, it was where you went if you wanted to gamble or if you wanted to visit a woman, lots of saloons, that sort of thing. Very dangerous.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, especially in San Francisco, where people would be drugged, shanghaied. So that was– I don't have evidence that, that our guy here, our crimp, shanghaied

Lynette Mullen: people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: But that's, that's where people, sailors would go into saloons, have a drink, and-

Scott Hammond: Pass out

Lynette Mullen: … wake up literally on a ship to China.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: And what do you d- You're in the middle of the ocean.

Scott Hammond: Can't jump off.

Lynette Mullen: You can't jump off. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: So, um-

Scott Hammond: Prison ship.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, exactly right. Yeah. So the Barbary Coast was kinda infamous, and that term was used in a bunch of different communities. I'm really not sure. I should look into that 'cause I'm sure other people listening know exactly where the original Barbary Coast was.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: But-

Scott Hammond: Maybe there's a lot of versions of that.

Lynette Mullen: I'm sure there is. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Maybe Anchorage had one up in Alaska.

Scott Hammond: Who knows?

Lynette Mullen: I would think– Oh, yeah. No, there were definitely-

Scott Hammond: Seattle

Lynette Mullen: … districts-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … everywhere.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So what turned the corner for you, Lynette, in terms of, um, if you're just joining us, this is my new best friend, Lynette Mullen, talking about history in Humboldt County, and s- s- really specific history. And, um, so what turned the corner for you after Humboldt to kinda go his- historical?

Lynette Mullen: Oh.

Scott Hammond: What, what was the-

Lynette Mullen: Oh my gosh

Scott Hammond: … what was the, what were the tipping points for you?

Lynette Mullen: Uh, that was kinda interesting. So, so I always did okay in school. Um, but I would, like, for tests and s- I would, I wouldn't actually learn. Like, I was far into adulthood before it occurred to me that school was for learning.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Because for me, it was about memorizing what you needed to memorize until the test, and then you regurgitated it-

Scott Hammond: Sure. Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … and then you moved on to, you know, hanging with your friends or whatever.

Scott Hammond: What a, what an awful system, just for the record.

Lynette Mullen: Isn't it just terrible? I know.

Scott Hammond: It's like, what-

Lynette Mullen: It's just a terrible thing. And I was-

Scott Hammond: Why do we do that?

Lynette Mullen: Oh, when it really sunk in, I was appalled. So history held no romance or allure for me, 'cause again, facts that, that you memorize and regurgitate.

Lynette Mullen: Um, but, uh, I ended up, uh, my ex-husband is Native American.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And we were out at some family property, and his grandfather was talking, and his mother was talking, and, and my mother-in-law had been talking about this story that she'd found, um, in a local kinda collection-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … that seemed to be referring to somebody in their

Lynette Mullen: family.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Lynette Mullen: And, and, uh, Rich is my ex's name. Uh, Rich, uh, Rich's grandpa said, "Well, no, you're talking about Daisy, and she…" And it was a Native American, uh, woman that had s- survived a massacre when unfortunately everybody else had, had

Lynette Mullen: perished.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: And but she had survived and, and grown up in the Orleans area. And, and when my mother-in-law was talking about her, Orville literally pointed at a tree and said, "Well, her Indian name was Willow, and she planted that tree."

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Lynette Mullen: "She was my grandpa's cook for years. She lived here."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: And, and for me, and I'm embarrassed to say it, but it was really the first time that I realized that all that history that we read-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … is actually about real people.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Like, real people. Like, they actually ha- like it happened

Lynette Mullen: versus just being this removed, abstract-

Scott Hammond: Caricatures

Lynette Mullen: … yeah, it was such a strange kind of awakening for me.

Scott Hammond: That connected to you. Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. And so initially, again, my focus was the settlement period. I'd heard stories, family stories to start with, about this history of kidnapping and indenture of Native children-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … um, in California, which is supposed to be a free state always.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: Um, and their, the first laws in California made that absolutely untrue for the indigenous population-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … where they could be indentured, indentured, technically enslaved

Lynette Mullen: for years.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And Humboldt became infamous in the trafficking, especially of women and children, um, and acquired, uh, acquired them for people who were looking for servants.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. So it was, it was this black hole that I just dove into for years. Um, but then I, I was able to write a story about a woman in Arcata that was affected by this in the 1860s, um, was able kinda to do what I thought I could, you know, at, at least at this point with that topic. And then-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … you know. Then I was just kind of interested in local photos. Like, my history blog for people that are interested, if you just Google Lynette's NorCal History, 'cause I've literally got hundreds of photos.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: 'Cause when I couldn't think of anything to put on the blog, I'd just find a photo.

Scott Hammond: Put a photo up.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, and they're so fun. I mean, my favorite I think is a photo of Blue Lake. It's an empty street scene in Blue Lake-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … with a pig in the middle of the street.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Lynette Mullen: Like, it's so random.

Scott Hammond: It's like-

Lynette Mullen: But photos are fun that way. You know, if you, if you enlarge and look deeply, there's always something

Lynette Mullen: interesting.

Scott Hammond: And Blue Lake is fun that way.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, Blue Lake's just, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Shout out to Blue Lake. Hey, Blue Lake people.

Lynette Mullen: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, they're fun out there. Wonder if I could find that pig anywhere out there.

Lynette Mullen: Uh, probably not anymore.

Scott Hammond: So, so when I look, when I looked you up and AI told me this word, that you were, you, you could reframe the history of Humboldt County, and I thought, "That's good, that's a good way to explain that." So it's a reframe-

Lynette Mullen: Interesting

Scott Hammond: … of these actual people that, you know, I don't, I don't know much about prostitution in Old Town. I know that it was there.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I know it, it was really run down until the '60s, and then they did the, all the, they put money back into it, right?

Lynette Mullen: In Old Town.

Scott Hammond: What's that called? Ren- it's not renovation money.

Scott Hammond: It's re…

Lynette Mullen: Uh, revitalizing the, um-

Scott Hammond: Correct. Yeah

Lynette Mullen: Uh, you know-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Lynette Mullen: … and that other word with the re-

Scott Hammond: Re-

Lynette Mullen: … something. Greg Foster would know.

Scott Hammond: What is it? Greg, help us.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Where are you, Greg?

Lynette Mullen: If he's listening, he would know. But yeah. Well, and I've learned a lot. I mean, even recently I really realized that this kind of implicit, not explicit, because it was illegal, but Eureka really benefited. I mean, i- initially it was because, and I think Eureka made a strategic decision in the 1800s when, like, Ferndale was literally driving, literally burnt-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … a woman out of Ferndale in the 1890s. Like, Ferndale had one brothel on the hill, and literally w- like, the women were like, "That's enough. They can come in the b- I don't have to see my husbands, my brothers, my sons going. That's it." But Eureka took a different approach.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And in part, I think it was just because as a madam in Utah realized and, and actually presented to business owners when she was shut down in the

Lynette Mullen: early 1900s, um, she ended up… So she was shut down, officials shut her down, and instead of going to the officials, she went to the owner of the mine-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … in town.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And was like, "You know, the officials have shut me down."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: "But you realize because I'm shut down, when your workers have a day off, they're gonna travel two days to Salt Lake-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Burn out

Lynette Mullen: … instead of staying here."

Scott Hammond: And not come back to work.

Lynette Mullen: And not come back to here, or at least lose time, right? You know, and I think g- that same sort of thing here, where Eureka realized they needed the sailors and the loggers and, and the laborers that were living in Old Town.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: You know, and if, if those men could, could visit saloons and have a drink and enjoy the company of a lady here-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … um, versus going to another town, why not? You know?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: Especially if they could control it and limit and, and kind of protect the, quote, "decent and respectable"-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Lynette Mullen: … people from that. Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … and then I have to say, uh, in the early 1900s, Eureka was broke-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … and made a very conscious decision, um, to, uh, impose a kind of a, an unofficial tax-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … on the women that lasted for years.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Lynette Mullen: And as long as the women paid, the women could stay in business.

Scott Hammond: They could stay around.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I guess Nevada's still that way, right?

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, I believe it's legal in Nevada.

Scott Hammond: I think it's by county, but I don't know it's every county, but-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh. Must be taxed.

Lynette Mullen: I would think so. Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: I mean, anything. And when-

Scott Hammond: Regulated

Lynette Mullen: … yeah. And when Eureka was trying to figure it out, I mean, they were d- to be fair to them, they were just looking at revenue streams. You know, but Eureka also, um, and, and I'm wor- actually working on a story on this, they would issue traders licenses to these women-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … so that they could legally sell, say, cigars and candy bars in the

Lynette Mullen: brothels. Literally. Like, I have the records.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: The city was issuing business licenses to these women-

Scott Hammond: You could still buy things

Lynette Mullen: … so that they could do that. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Legally.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, absolutely bizarre. In a house where everything was illegal, the city was like, "Okay, no, but we want you to comply, you know-

Scott Hammond: Interesting

Lynette Mullen: … when you're selling cigars."

Scott Hammond: Wow, okay.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, it's very weird.

Scott Hammond: So tell me about your published works. You, it says here-

Lynette Mullen: Oh, gosh

Scott Hammond: … you publish things, and you do speaking and community engagement. Tell me about some of the stuff you like to do.

Lynette Mullen: Some of the, I mean, well-

Scott Hammond: Or you've done and that you're doing, and then we wanna get to what you're coming

Scott Hammond: to.

Lynette Mullen: What I'm working on.

Scott Hammond: The new thing.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Whole, whole study on that one, but go ahead.

Lynette Mullen: Okay. So, um, gosh, as far as publicat- well, I've taught, um, at OLLI. I've given presentations-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … here locally. Different local history. I mean, everything from just kind of the evolution of Old Town to, um, to the settlement period, that sort of thing.

Scott Hammond: Hard stop on OLLI. So OLLI, for those of us that don't know what OLLI is, I-

Lynette Mullen: Y-

Scott Hammond: I do. I taught one. Uh, it's, it's Osh- is it Oschner's out-

Lynette Mullen: Osher

Scott Hammond: … Osher. Uh, through Cal Poly Humboldt.

Lynette Mullen: Yes, the Osher Lifelong Ins- Institute.

Scott Hammond: Such a cool thing. I wanna do the Wolf Creek thing.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Have you done-

Lynette Mullen: That's for adults. Yes, yes.

Lynette Mullen: So-

Scott Hammond: Have you done that one?

Lynette Mullen: No. Uh-

Scott Hammond: It's like a week camping with other adults.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. So for people that aren't familiar with it, I believe there's only 13 in

Lynette Mullen: the country.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Lynette Mullen: So we're pretty fortunate to have one here. Yeah. And the focus is primarily, um, serving people 55 and older, kinda lifelong learners, as it says in the name.

Scott Hammond: You're not 55, are you?

Lynette Mullen: I'm 56.

Scott Hammond: Oh, I'm-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I'm f- I'm 27.

Scott Hammond: Inside.

Lynette Mullen: But it's a great program. Um, and I've talked to other instructors that say it's wonderful again for the instructors too, because the folks that sign up for those classes clearly wanna be there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: You know, nobody's a kid, like, getting through a GE class.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: It's, they are all choosing to learn whatever that person's interested in.

Scott Hammond: Acting out in the back.

Lynette Mullen: Exactly. Or falling asleep or whatever.

Lynette Mullen: So-

Scott Hammond: There's Sam, 71-year-old man, acting out.

Lynette Mullen: It's, yeah, so that's not a danger. And I think other, I think younger people can go. Um, I don't know how often younger folks take advantage of that.

Scott Hammond: But the offerings are really cool.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They're diverse stuff.

Lynette Mullen: There's a huge variety.

Scott Hammond: So you, you would t- teach a history class there?

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. I've, I've taught a few. So one of the other, um, and I don't, I don't know that I actually taught this one, but I was prepared to. So about opium, the early opium dens and, and-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … addiction in Humboldt, which is a whole other topic.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, that I did you ask about writing, and I did a story for the North Coast Journal

Lynette Mullen: on that.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, that, uh, kind of, um, uh, highlighted the parallels between early opioid

Lynette Mullen: addiction-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … and what we see today.

Scott Hammond: In terms of-

Lynette Mullen: That was kind of fascinating for me

Scott Hammond: … in terms of meth and things like that, or?

Lynette Mullen: Well, in terms of, um, addiction, you know, the reasons why people become addicted-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Lynette Mullen: … kind of the ravages of addiction and why it is so

Lynette Mullen: hard-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … for people to stop. Um, and physicians even early, uh, you know, 100 years ago, some recognized it was a

Lynette Mullen: disease-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … and that people needed help, and, and that there were emotional components to

Lynette Mullen: it.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Lynette Mullen: I think at times we lose, you know, it's like we recognize stuff like that, and then we lose it, and then we, I don't know, learn it again.

Lynette Mullen: Real-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … it's, it's very odd when you-

Scott Hammond: Again

Lynette Mullen: … look at history that way. Um, which reminds me of another, during COVID I did a series for the Last Coast Outpost on the Spanish flu.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Lynette Mullen: Which started with people kind of understanding it was coming, and then this entire debate r- here locally about whether or not to close businesses.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And then wear masks or not wear masks-

Scott Hammond: Timely

Lynette Mullen: … and what do you do? It was-

Scott Hammond: What year was that?

Lynette Mullen: … the parallels. That was 1918.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: And that's the parallels as we were going through COVID were just remarkable. The schools, whether or not you close the schools. Like, the debates, the debates 100 years later in a similar situation-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Lynette Mullen: … had not changed at all.

Scott Hammond: History did not change. Did it come and ravage Humboldt?

Lynette Mullen: History does not change. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, and, and incredibly lethal.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: I mean, so fortunately for us, even though we lost a, a lot of wonderful community members during that time period, it's not as many as this community lost-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … during the Spanish flu.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Wow. So tell me more about other things you've taught and done.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, gosh. Well, boy. So I have a history blog I think I mentioned, and that's just kind of random. Um, it's more, I mean, I'm trying to move into doing this all day every day, but, um, but it's really just had to be a hobby so

Lynette Mullen: far.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: So I did a North Coast Journal story, um, on the Native American woman who was murdered in Arcata in 1862, and that's where I talk a lot about the history of indenture and the settlement period, and the things that happened there. The opium story that I mentioned. Oh, see, the, none of my stuff's happy. I did, um- It's just not. I-

Scott Hammond: It's just… Yeah, no, it's-

Lynette Mullen: It's, I mean, but it's, I think it's important. I think it's-

Scott Hammond: Super important

Lynette Mullen: … really important. I did one for the North Coast Journal, a story for the Journal on early abortions.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: Um, and what happened here, you know, and what happened with the women here, and the practitioners, and when it was… Because it was, uh, a lot of times even, it would be referred to as simply an illegal operation.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: So, you know, just, just kind of tracing what happened-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Lynette Mullen: … when people had a hard time accessing care for whatever reason.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: So that type of thing. I'm sure I've done more. You know, for clients, I've done a lot of business, I mean, through work, a lot of business profiles over the year, which is always really fun. I mean, I, I, um, didn't end up focused on economic and workforce development by accident.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: I love this place. I, I love, um, the people that are here, and the, the entrepreneurs and their creativity, and the opportunities that come up because of that. And so it's been fun over the years to write profiles for, you know, the SBDC and, uh, now North Edge, used to be AEDC-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … and other clients and that sort of thing.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: So I've done that sort of thing, too, so.

Scott Hammond: Right. That's Susan Seaman and-

Lynette Mullen: Yes

Scott Hammond: … our good friend, gosh, what's the guy's name? The, the head guy for AEDC.

Lynette Mullen: Ross.

Scott Hammond: Ross. Sorry, Ross.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Love your Ross bean in.

Lynette Mullen: Yes.

Scott Hammond: No, what a great, great crew. No, I love that. So, um, speaking of which, so we're gonna take the segue and take you into the Dick Taylor Quiz Zone. What are we playing for today, folks? Brought to you by Dick Taylor Chocolate. Oh, milk chocolate. Mm, that's delicious. This, you, I bet you like dark chocolate.

Lynette Mullen: I do like dark chocolate.

Scott Hammond: Whoo, whoo. Okay, hey, fleur de sel, 73%.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, nice.

Scott Hammond: Um, I, I watched somebody do this on a TikTok. They, w- with their actual bar. They circled handcrafted, they circled bean to bar, uh, cacao, cane sugar, and fleur de sel.

Scott Hammond: So it's very ex- These are very ex- Uh, you've had them.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yes. I'm a big, big fan.

Scott Hammond: Well, you might just get lucky today, so.

Lynette Mullen: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Are you ready?

Lynette Mullen: Let's go.

Scott Hammond: And then I wanna come back to, then I wanna come back to your- … your, your latest passion, tours and stuff.

Lynette Mullen: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So we'll go there. Ready? Okay, question number one. What was the best day of your life?

Lynette Mullen: Oh, see, as a mother of three children, I can't say one day.

Scott Hammond: There you go. Okay.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So babies? Babies being born?

Lynette Mullen: I would have to say my children coming into the world.

Scott Hammond: How old are your kids?

Lynette Mullen: Oh, gosh. Uh, 37. The next one is going to be 34.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: And then my baby's 32.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, they're all grown up.

Scott Hammond: Do you have grandkids?

Lynette Mullen: Yes, I do. I have three. Each of my kids each has a, a child.

Scott Hammond: You must've had grandkids early.

Lynette Mullen: Uh, not, no, I had my kids early.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: I was, um, I was a, yeah, I was a young mom. But no, my kids were all late 20s, early 30s.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I mean, Joni and I were almost 60 before we had grandkids.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: Crazy. I mean, they just waited. Uh, okay, question number two.

Lynette Mullen: Okay.

Scott Hammond: These are my new questions, so I'm just gonna throw these at you. What was the worst day of your life? We're getting the hard ones out of the way

Scott Hammond: first.

Lynette Mullen: Wow. Maybe it's a good sign that nothing just pops into my head.

Scott Hammond: That's probably a great sign.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How about a tough day?

Lynette Mullen: Oh, see, I probably have to get into politics for that, and I'd prefer not to do

Lynette Mullen: that today.

Scott Hammond: Oh, okay. That's fair.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Answer, answer i- implied. Okay, here comes the softballs.

Scott Hammond: Ready?

Lynette Mullen: Okay. All right, I'm ready.

Scott Hammond: Question number three.

Lynette Mullen: Okay.

Scott Hammond: You can eat anywhere tonight out with a date. Where do you go? Any restaurant in the county.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, see, I didn't even picture. I would… Uh, that's so weird. When you asked that question, I immediately pictured myself in the middle of the bay, like surrounded by water, beautiful

Lynette Mullen: sunset.

Scott Hammond: Like on a boat?

Lynette Mullen: That's so… Yeah, I guess so, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Lynette Mullen: How random is that?

Scott Hammond: I bet you could get a boat dinner.

Lynette Mullen: You probably could.

Scott Hammond: There's probably somebody that could do, put that together-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … fresh fish. Okay. Where do you go for coffee? Assuming you might be a coffee person.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, I am a coffee person. Um, I have come up with my own mocha recipe at home, 'cause I used to go get coffee a lot, like just to do it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, which is a bit of an expensive habit.

Scott Hammond: It is. No more.

Lynette Mullen: So I have my own little coffee machine, and I have soy milk, and I use Ovaltine, so I can pretend it's good for me.

Scott Hammond: Ovaltine?

Lynette Mullen: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: You know, from when you're a kid, you know, and it's got vitamins and minerals-

Scott Hammond: For a mocha?

Lynette Mullen: … and all of that for my mocha.

Scott Hammond: It's got chocolate.

Lynette Mullen: Yes, exactly right.

Scott Hammond: Wow, I like that.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We brought some choc- We bought some beans back from, uh, Keen Coffee-

Lynette Mullen: Oh

Scott Hammond: … and Utrecht, uh- Netherlands, and it's called, uh, Geisha.

Lynette Mullen: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And it's, like, this exclusive… So we went to this coffee bar, and we're… And it, it's like sipping, so you get all these tastes of stuff, like rad stuff from around the world. Creamer, there's no creamer anywhere in there.

Lynette Mullen: Oh.

Scott Hammond: So you're just sipping this organic killer deal, and, uh, it actually has notes. There's a really trippy… I mean, really good coffee has this whole thing, but-

Lynette Mullen: I believe it

Scott Hammond: … I, I'm not going there.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hey, actually, I went there. Um, so question number five: what's crushing, what's soul-crushing for you and what's fulfilling? What, what, what really, um, makes it for you, and what really breaks it for

Scott Hammond: you?

Lynette Mullen: So this is a weird, uh… Boy.

Scott Hammond: In Toastmasters, we used to call this the pregnant pause. Remember that?

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. I'm trying to-

Scott Hammond: Dramatic pause.

Lynette Mullen: Well, none of these… This is where I wish I would've had these ahead of time.

Scott Hammond: Ugh.

Lynette Mullen: I could've come up with something brilliant and articulate-

Scott Hammond: Improv two-speed

Lynette Mullen: … and well-thought-out. Um, no, it's funny, I really struggle right now. Um, my biggest struggle, quite frankly, is that I, uh, the stories that I'm uncovering about these women, to me, are so impor- I mean, not only kind of the political implications and that sort of thing-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … but just the individual lives that these women led. I mean, they… Can I cuss? They were badasses. I mean, they went through-

Scott Hammond: You can cuss

Lynette Mullen: … so much-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … and survived and figured out a way, some of them, to thrive. They're just amazing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: And it's, as I uncover these stories, like, I want everybody to know about them.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: But that takes a lot of time.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Lynette Mullen: And I still have to pay my bills and feed my cat.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: And fortuna- I actually have a dog now.

Lynette Mullen: But, um-

Lynette Mullen: … but I also love my work. Like, I adore my cl- I, I do a lot, uh, with the Builders Exchange, you know, local businesses that are-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Lynette Mullen: … doing amazing work in this community, and I feel honored-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … truly, to be able to work with them and support what they do. But yet I've got this pull, you know, so I have to make deals with myself during the day. You know, I'm gonna work for three hours on the client stuff, okay, and then I can work on the ladies. You know? So it's like-

Scott Hammond: First things first

Lynette Mullen: … but that's really the biggest challenge is balancing that right now.

Scott Hammond: That's-

Lynette Mullen: Ironically, which is the best problem to have, but-

Scott Hammond: That's a good problem. I was gonna say

Lynette Mullen: … for me, it's still… Yeah, it's, it's very ironic, but it's still-

Scott Hammond: This passion that's calling you over here all the time.

Lynette Mullen: Exactly right, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, I like that.

Lynette Mullen: It feels bigger. Like, I'm afraid of getting hit by a car before-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … I'm able to share these stories.

Scott Hammond: Well, I, I love the fact that, 'cause it's, you're heroic for doing it, discovering

Scott Hammond: the heroes-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. Mm

Scott Hammond: … and, and telling the hero's story 'cause I think that's… Isn't that the real story, that you s- the, the struggle and, and the journey and that you made it and so and so had, you know, 10 kids, and she was amazing and, and 55 grandkids, and what a suc- kind of a success

Scott Hammond: story-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … despite all the odds.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then we have all these entitled people in our midst who get everything handed to them, and they're not badasses. They're, they're… I don't know what kind of ass they are, but they're, maybe they're just asses.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? And, and there's people like that out there, and I go, "Well, I, that's not an interesting story." But somebody that's overcome hardship, good on you-

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah. Yeah

Scott Hammond: … for, for, uh, discovering and then announcing that.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. Well, and even I t- I don't know that the people given everything are any happier or more satisfied with life than those who struggle.

Scott Hammond: Some, some are.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Some, some, some are doing just fine.

Lynette Mullen: It could be a little easier. Yeah, you're right. Some are doing just-

Scott Hammond: Just fine, thank you

Lynette Mullen: …

Scott Hammond: But yeah, it's, it's, it's sad 'cause I go, go, "Oh, man, you've, you've been given it all, and what are you doing with it?"

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And the answer is, "Well, not much. I don't really care."

Lynette Mullen: Right.

Scott Hammond: Okay, great. That's a g- great choice.

Scott Hammond: Good-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … good on you. So, uh, quest- Oh, last question.

Lynette Mullen: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And the quiz will be over finally.

Lynette Mullen: Phew.

Scott Hammond: I know. You get to go walk on a trail. What trail are you walking on?

Lynette Mullen: Oh, gosh. Oh.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, see, that's so difficult 'cause… Oh, well, okay. Sequoia Park.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Lynette Mullen: We… It is… Uh, it's so fun. I have a, a friend from high school who recently moved back here, and one of our consistent themes when we go walking is how amazingly incredibly lucky we are that we live right here. And, like, we've got so much beauty literally in our backyard.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: You walk the waterfront or Sequoia Park, that just, it's breathtaking.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: You know, or, like, I will have a meeting in Arcata and stop by the Arcata Community Forest on my way home, and it's like, oh, it's just a walk. This is just, like, an afternoon walk for me in the middle of

Lynette Mullen: heaven.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: It's amazing.

Scott Hammond: The therapy.

Lynette Mullen: It's… Yeah, it's incredible, but I would say Sequoia Park, actually. There's just-

Scott Hammond: Interesting

Lynette Mullen: … some spots that are just so incredibly gorgeous.

Scott Hammond: I took my boss there.

Lynette Mullen: And it's so accessible.

Scott Hammond: My boss from Texas, I almost apologized.

Lynette Mullen: Oh.

Scott Hammond: I go, "You know, this is, this is a nice park, but it, it's right in town. But we'll go check it out." And Rich is all, like, tripping on the trees.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: He was like, he loved it, and this guy walked by smoking weed, and this doesn't happen in Texas, and it's like, okay, great. Skateboard-

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … skateboarder almost hit us down on Broadway, and he got, he got all the things.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: He got indoctrinated pretty quick.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah. My sister was up visiting once, and we were sitting in my… I remember we were sitting in my backyard, and she's like, "Do you ever forget that you live right next to the ocean?"

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Lynette Mullen: And I had to tell her yes. Like, I d- it's like 10 minutes from my house, and I hardly ever go to the beach 'cause it just doesn't occur to me.

Scott Hammond: Drive over the bridge.

Lynette Mullen: It's like… Right. Yeah, I know.

Lynette Mullen: It's so far.

Scott Hammond: Are you hearing your-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Lynette Mullen: But it's, uh, just be- I mean, we get to where we can even take these things for granted. How lucky are we that that's-

Scott Hammond: Oh, man

Lynette Mullen: … the case? Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'm five minutes from Clam Beach, and do you know how much-

Lynette Mullen: Oh, there you go

Scott Hammond: … I walk on Clam Beach?

Lynette Mullen: I know.

Scott Hammond: The answer's not enough.

Lynette Mullen: Isn't that something?

Scott Hammond: It's just there. I could w- walk at Clam Beach. You could go all the way up to Moonstone and see maybe 15 people.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like, what am I… What was I thinking not doing that Meditative walk

Lynette Mullen: Yeah

Scott Hammond: Anyway.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So tell us about the new project, or projects.

Lynette Mullen: Oh.

Scott Hammond: So you have t- y- the- you mentioned the two walking tours.

Lynette Mullen: Yes. So that… So it's, it's kind of part of a bigger thing. Um, and again, it's all, you know, building towards this dream of being able to focus and share the ladies' stories all day, every day. But, um, I, for years now, um, I've been s- ever since COVID, kind of sharing stories that I've uncovered, um, about the lower levels.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And Susan Seaman in particular, former mayor of Eureka-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Lynette Mullen: … uh, would tell me, "I gotta do a tour. Do a tour. You should do a tour. That'd be the perfect way to share these stories." And I would hear her, but eh. Um, but then in the space of a week, either at the end of the s- kind of at the end of the spring, I had two other people tell me that same thing.

Scott Hammond: Ah, providence.

Lynette Mullen: And I was finally like, "Okay, I'm gonna do a tour."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And Susan had created what's called Adventure Club, and it's amazing. For those who aren't familiar with it, you can look it up on Facebook. She totally made it up.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: But the, the basic premise is that somebody plans an activity.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: It tells you when and where and what to wear, and if it costs you anything.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Lynette Mullen: And you show up, and then you find out what you're doing. And so there's all the-

Scott Hammond: Could be anything.

Lynette Mullen: It could be any- And it has been, it's been anything from blacksmithing to kayaking to laughing yoga to watching a, um,

Lynette Mullen: glassblower-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Lynette Mullen: … to this year, this summer, my tour.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, so, so we set it up because then I had a deadline, and I put it together, and I was able to get feedback on it.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Lynette Mullen: Um, and I did that tour, and it was great, and it felt really important 'cause I could even show people physically where some of these things had happened, which really, I think makes it real-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Lynette Mullen: … um, in a way that it, it just doesn't happen otherwise. Um, and I went home and I filed my fictitious business name statement-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Lynette Mullen: … and I'm starting a new website, and it's… So ultimately, I'm building a business now-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Lynette Mullen: … um, under the umbrella of preserving histories.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: But the lower levels is what I'm focused on, and it's all about doing tours and presentations-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … and hopefully eventually what I'm calling an armchair tour.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: So, you know, people that maybe aren't very mobile or out of the area can either order a book or do some sort of audio version of

Lynette Mullen: it-

Scott Hammond: Perfect

Lynette Mullen: … you know, that, that shares some of these stories and, and gives people a sense

Lynette Mullen: of-

Scott Hammond: Maybe with some photos online

Lynette Mullen: … of the community and history.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Exactly, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Lynette Mullen: So yeah, so I'm very excited about all of it. All of a sudden it's a lot to do-

Scott Hammond: Right

Lynette Mullen: … and I have to, like, figure out webpages and all that. I don't have an IT department, so it's, so it's-

Scott Hammond: Right

Lynette Mullen: … feeling like a lot, and I have to tell myself to breathe and relax-

Scott Hammond: Gotta find a-

Lynette Mullen: … but it's also very exciting

Scott Hammond: … gotta find a nerd person.

Lynette Mullen: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: I know my youngest used to be my IT person, and he left without teaching me everything, so.

Scott Hammond: So int- interesting story. A couple days ago, driving through London, like by the Thames, um, all the way through Lo- we were driving everywhere. We finally got James, the tour bus driver dude, young guy upst- stairs, giving, like, a narrative, narrative where we were going. And it, and the whole thing ca- same tour, different day.

Lynette Mullen: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: The whole thing came alive. And he goes… And I go, "Could you kinda emphasize the rock and roll part of this a little bit?" He goes, "Sure." He goes, "Right over there was the studio where, Triton Studios, where Bo- you know, um, Rod Stewart, you know, The Stones and Pink Floyd all recorded." It's like, now you're talking. "And hey, right over here, you know, a couple of The Stones used to live down the street right here by Hyde Park for a while." And-

Lynette Mullen: Oh, too fun

Scott Hammond: … it was like, it's like, oh, this is cool. And he really kinda made it all, um, happen because he, he knew the stories.

Lynette Mullen: Yes. Yes.

Scott Hammond: And the geography made it

Scott Hammond: concrete.

Lynette Mullen: Yes, exactly right.

Scott Hammond: Literally.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, yeah. Combining those two things, there's something pretty special about it. I mean, and for me, just the experience of walking through Old Town is so different now. It's like, oh, well, that's where Kitty lived. Oh, that's where, you know, Lockhart had his dance hall.

Lynette Mullen: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Lynette Mullen: You know, um-

Scott Hammond: Uh

Lynette Mullen: … you know, that was the view that people– This is where people stepped off the steamer and onto the wharf.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Lynette Mullen: And these, these were the buildings that they saw because, you know, some of the buildings in Old Town have been there since the 1870s.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: And so I can… The Vance Hotel, the first two, uh, stories of the Vance Hotel has been there since the 1870.

Lynette Mullen: I mean, so-

Scott Hammond: Tell us about The Vance real quick. It had the first flushing toilets or

Scott Hammond: electricity?

Lynette Mullen: Steam. Well, they had

Lynette Mullen: s- steam.

Scott Hammond: Heating.

Lynette Mullen: They had heat, yeah. There was something, 'cause he had a mill.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: And he would use… And, and I was trying to figure that out, and the mill was, was at the foot of G, 'cause I did, I found a reference to it. And they, he used the steam from the mill to, to heat. I think it was to heat-

Scott Hammond: I think that sounds right, yeah

Lynette Mullen: … the different rooms in the hotel. Yeah. I don't know a ton about it. I know it was John Vance, and he was a very big deal. Did clearly very, very, very well.

Lynette Mullen: But, um-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Lynette Mullen: … but yeah, there was a lot of, um, quote, "modern," you know-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Lynette Mullen: … amenities here. Which is kinda fun too, when you think about some of the s- You know, like, when did people get electricity? When did they have lights?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: You know, on B Street, the area that I'm focused on, in the 1890, the residents petitioned for a streetlight.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: 'Cause it was dark. Just like today. They were like, "It's too dark at that corner. We need a light."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: You know? So.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How about the Carson Mansion? You ever do much with that? Or-

Lynette Mullen: Um-

Scott Hammond: I'm sure you've been there

Lynette Mullen: … I mean, I've, I have.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Lynette Mullen: I've been fortunate enough to be there. Um, I wish more people in the community… And I understand why. It's a p- a private club, and, and it's very important that they generate that revenue to maintain that structure.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Lynette Mullen: Um, but I still wish. Like, I grew up here and never stepped foot in there until-

Scott Hammond: Right

Lynette Mullen: … I was, you know, in my 30s or 40s.

Lynette Mullen: But-

Scott Hammond: Right

Lynette Mullen: … um, no, so it's, it's beautiful. And on my blog, there's, um, really fun pictures of the mill. So the Carson Mill was right underneath.

Scott Hammond: It was right there, yeah.

Lynette Mullen: It was huge. I mean, so it's, it's really fun to see photos, you know, where right now we've just got these empty fields and that sort of thing. And it's just, yeah, the Carson, I mean, it's, it's a beautiful structure. But we have a ton.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: I mean, I call it In, in my blog, I think I even said this once. It's, it's, to me, it's like building porn.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Lynette Mullen: It's, there's just so many intricate, incredible little details on our buildings, our historic buildings.

Scott Hammond: Building porn.

Lynette Mullen: It is. It's like, yeah, it's like architectural porn to me.

Scott Hammond: There's so much stuff, yeah.

Lynette Mullen: But it is. And if, I mean, and if you think about the work.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: I mean, and there's still some, some lovely structures that get-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … built, but, but when you look at the older stuff-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … and all of that detail, and think the individuals-

Scott Hammond: It's pretty rad

Lynette Mullen: … at first decided it was worth spending the money-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … and the time to cr- create those details, and then the craftsman, you know, had to-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Lynette Mullen: … who knows how long to actually make that stuff happen, and we still see… It's like public art to me. For me, our buildings are, like, just another form of public art.

Scott Hammond: Neighborhoods, yeah.

Lynette Mullen: We're so lucky. Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you're- you're part of the Humboldt Historical Society, right?

Scott Hammond: You-

Lynette Mullen: I'm a member and a, and a-

Scott Hammond: Are you a board member or anything like that?

Lynette Mullen: No. No, no, no. I'm, um, I've been on boards a couple of times.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, but when I get invited, I won't… I'm a terrible board member.

Scott Hammond: You're a bad-

Lynette Mullen: It's kind of like my job history. I last about a year.

Scott Hammond: I'm a bad board member.

Lynette Mullen: And then I, I'm just… I am. Although I am, um, we are starting to ramp up a capital

Lynette Mullen: campaign-

Scott Hammond: Ooh

Lynette Mullen: … to repair, shore up the facade at the Eureka Theatre.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that'd be cool.

Lynette Mullen: I'm excited about that.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Lynette Mullen: Yes. Yes. So we're getting ready to do that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: So yeah, it's short, uh, very definitive kind of end result-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … deliverables we're looking for. So that's the kind of thing I do.

Scott Hammond: So you know Jerry Rodio, obviously.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He's kinda, is he kind of the history general guru?

Lynette Mullen: He's the history god. Um-

Scott Hammond: He's the dude, right?

Lynette Mullen: Oh, he is the dude. I mean, and for him it's-

Scott Hammond: Hey, Jerry.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. Hi, Jerry. Um, uh, uh, the, and for Jerry, he is super fun to listen to because not only does he have kind of the facts and the history-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … he's, he is also very good-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … at tying those stories to the geography.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: You know, where I'm just kind of focused on Old Town or certain areas. Like, he's just got this, this sense of the entire county and what-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … beyond, and how those stories kind of work into the landscape. And I'm still learning that, like realizing-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … you know, the, the, the bigger houses that, that poor working guys didn't live a mile from Old Town because they didn't have cars, and-

Scott Hammond: Right. They had to walk

Lynette Mullen: … they couldn't afford public… They had to walk. So that's why boarding houses. That's why we had all those boarding houses in Old Town, 'cause the mills were right

Lynette Mullen: there.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: You know, so little thing- But for me it's not so much physical, as, as just kind of infrastructure and how I'm s-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … just, and I'm just starting to become aware of that.

Scott Hammond: So you know my friend Mel Schuster, right? That's, you said-

Lynette Mullen: Yes

Scott Hammond: … he, he's writing the book.

Lynette Mullen: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, he's doing the fiction book.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, I, I think I owe him an email.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: 'Cause he's asked some questions about the ladies.

Scott Hammond: Mel? Yes. Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Yes.

Scott Hammond: No, he's really interesting 'cause he's, uh, studied heavily, and he's do- writing fiction around-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … some of the stuff. So I think y- you guys definitely have a

Scott Hammond: connection.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: They live up in Dallas, Oregon. But he's, he's all from here, and his dad worked for Channel 6 for years, and they're good friends. They're c- cool people.

Lynette Mullen: S- so is that his father's sculptures-

Scott Hammond: Mm, don't think s-

Lynette Mullen: … in the building?

Scott Hammond: I don't know that. I think he was a cameraman for Channel 6.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, the Schuster.

Scott Hammond: Schuster.

Lynette Mullen: The, all the photos, the amazing… Okay, this is-

Scott Hammond: Correct. I think he had-

Lynette Mullen: … the plug for Cal Poly

Scott Hammond: … I think, yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Yes. So Cal Poly's got these incredible aerial photos from the '40s, maybe into the '50s. But they're all over Humboldt County that were shot by Schuster.

Scott Hammond: Wonder if that's him.

Lynette Mullen: So you can blow them up-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Lynette Mullen: … and look at all these buildings that-

Scott Hammond: Well, see stuff

Lynette Mullen: … aren't here anymore.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: Um, oh, it's fun. It's fun. You can find your house.

Scott Hammond: What about the guy, the carriage guy in Old Town? He's kinda historical.

Lynette Mullen: It's, I don't-

Scott Hammond: He's, he's fun

Lynette Mullen: … know him.

Scott Hammond: He's kind of, I th- Is he British? He's kinda got an accent.

Lynette Mullen: I don't know. I'd love to know how he got here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Like-

Scott Hammond: He's got a little story.

Lynette Mullen: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Talked to him a little bit. He-

Lynette Mullen: All right

Scott Hammond: … he, uh, he does a little t- he does his own little tour. He's got something to say about the buildings.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Joni and I did that tour, the walking tour one year with, I wanna know through the chamber who, who was doing it.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, very cool.

Scott Hammond: It was really fun, so.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I wanna do yours, though.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. I'm, I'm working on it. Well, and you said you had Eric Volmers here. Eric's been doing the haunted, him and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Heard it, heard of him.

Lynette Mullen: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Yes. He's been working-

Scott Hammond: That'd be cool.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So tell me, um, let's talk about your history real quick. How do you wanna be remembered? So I always come to this.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, gosh.

Scott Hammond: This is g- this is where we start to wrap a little bit. But tell me how, how would you like to be remembered when we come to your celebration of life or your, your, your gravestone, or what, how would, how do you wanna, how do you want, how would you hope that we would remember you?

Lynette Mullen: Well, if I don't… See, this is where I get nervous. As long as I don't get hit by a bus-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Lynette Mullen: … um, I wanna be the person that, that shares the stories of all these women. I mean, and I talk about Eureka, but, but I can tell you about women in Sacramento and in San Francisco-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Lynette Mullen: … and, you know, that, that really contributed and shaped the

Lynette Mullen: community-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … but nobody even knows their names.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And, and if I could be the person that, that helps people, uh, be aware of that, and then maybe even today, like, realize how often people aren't seen-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … that are contributing, especially people maybe that are c- are… I hate to use the word margins or… I mean, for me it's lower levels just because it's early on, and, and it's not about them. It's about, you know, kind of the strata of society that people kind of put them in.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: But if I could do anything, uh, before I go, you know, that helps people, uh, reminds them just to be more aware of

Lynette Mullen: the-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Lynette Mullen: … people that impact the community that aren't recognized-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … but are frankly just as valuable and important.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Lynette Mullen: I think that would be an incredible legacy.

Scott Hammond: Like you said, not seen.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Even though they're right here.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you're gonna give us glasses, and we can see them. That'll be good.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, I like that.

Scott Hammond: I like it. No, you-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you have permission. So call out all your stuff, all your websites, all, how do we find… If I wanted a private tour of Old Town for my business-

Lynette Mullen: Yes

Scott Hammond: … and you could drive us around or do something, how would we-

Lynette Mullen: Yes

Scott Hammond: … whatever, how would we get ahold of you?

Lynette Mullen: Just go to thelowerlevels.com.

Scott Hammond: Lowerlevels.com

Lynette Mullen: Yes

Scott Hammond: So you have a website, tell us…

Scott Hammond: It's-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, don't judge me though. I, again, no IT person, so I'm still working on it. But yeah, but my contact info's in there and a little description of the two

Lynette Mullen: tours. Um-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Lynette Mullen: … yeah, so just the lowerlevels.com.

Scott Hammond: What do the tours cost? Is it… Can I ask that?

Lynette Mullen: Um, yeah. So it's, it's gonna be $30 or $150

Lynette Mullen: minimum.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, and so it's a walking tour. Again, it can be either the ladies, if that's what you're interested in-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … or what I'm calling the rogues.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: You know, kind of, um, and we had a bunch of those, too. Boy, Humboldt County d- did and I think still tends to draw those kind of, you know, boundary-pushing kind of people, so.

Scott Hammond: What's the ro- They said the rose?

Lynette Mullen: Rogue.

Scott Hammond: The rogue.

Lynette Mullen: R-O-G-U-E.

Scott Hammond: G-U-E. Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: The rogues. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Like the Rogue Valley in Oregon.

Lynette Mullen: Like that, or like, you know, crimps and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … uh, shysters and, you know, just a bunch of-

Scott Hammond: So I understand the ladies tour. What's the rogue tour? Is that a little bit more around the-

Lynette Mullen: Yeah, so that's more focused, so that would be more focused on, say, Ja- the crimp.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: The, you know, Coffee Jack.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: And, and his kind of tricks with the sailors and that sort of thing, and the mystics, the, the, you know, charlatans that came up and took advantage of the, of, of people in the community.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, some of the brothel keepers that were frankly just assholes. But unfortunately, ladies, you know, had to deal with them and, um, you know, so it's, it's more just kind of the guys that y- that are interesting, but you're not necessarily gonna like 'em very much.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: Um, where the women, I would assume, um, are gonna elicit a much different and more sympathetic response and, and be more kind of educational-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … as far as get you thinking about-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Lynette Mullen: … you know, the dangers and, and limited options and, and choices, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Lynette Mullen: … that people make and why.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Kind of all part of the human condition, right?

Lynette Mullen: Exactly right.

Scott Hammond: Yep. Yep. We all, we all suffer from that journey.

Lynette Mullen: Indeed.

Scott Hammond: That's good. Well, thanks for being here.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I really appreciate it.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.

Scott Hammond: I think it's so cool. I, I wanna just, uh, learn some more. You've made me hungry for that. So, um, I'm, with that I'm gonna say thanks, Lynette. Oh, with that-

Lynette Mullen: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Da da-da-da, da da-da. Can we edit in some music? For you, a very fresh dark chocolate, 73% Belize fleur de sel from Dick Taylor Chocolates.

Lynette Mullen: Thank you.

Scott Hammond: Located in Old Town Eureka with, uh… Oh, they're playing, uh, this weekend at the, um, Freshwater, um, Land Trust benefit.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, The Flint.

Scott Hammond: Yep, The Flint. They're gonna-

Lynette Mullen: They're wonderful.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they're fun.

Lynette Mullen: I caught them, their Christmas show at The Steeple, which is an amazing venue-

Scott Hammond: Pretty fun

Lynette Mullen: … in Ferndale.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Oh my gosh, it's just amazing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: And these guys were incredible. It had been years since I'd heard them. They're amazing.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Lynette Mullen: I think they're actually playing at the Friday night market, the last one, too.

Scott Hammond: They always do. Yeah, that's where they-

Lynette Mullen: So if people really wanna check that one, too

Scott Hammond: … started, yeah.

Lynette Mullen: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I wanna go to that. That'd be fun.

Lynette Mullen: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they're always fun to watch something new and different. Jodi was saying, she read this this morning. She was reading this to me as I woke up. They've, so they've, they're X number of years old. They've had 150 awards plus.

Lynette Mullen: Oh.

Scott Hammond: National, international.

Lynette Mullen: I believe it's-

Scott Hammond: For their chocolate

Lynette Mullen: … so I talked early on about doing profiles.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Lynette Mullen: I wrote up a profile of those guys.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Lynette Mullen: And how they started making chocolate, like, on the kitchen counter with a Crock-Pot sort of thing.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Lynette Mullen: And from that-

Scott Hammond: And then all this lumber and arcade

Lynette Mullen: … to this.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Lynette Mullen: I mean, it's just ama- We've got so many stories like that in Humboldt. It's just amazing.

Scott Hammond: There's such great stories there.

Lynette Mullen: Oh, yeah. Well, thank you very much.

Scott Hammond: Thank you very much. And thank you very much for being here and listening. Uh, if you wanna like us, dig us, write us, make a comment, go for it. Uh, appreciate that. We're on all the podcasts. We're gonna be on, um, of course, uh, Access TV and YouTube. So, uh, thanks for, uh, joining us, and thank you, Lynette.

Lynette Mullen: Thank you.