Man Wants A Holiday On Ivar's Birthday

Ivar Haglund, the patron saint of Seattle's waterfront, is gone. He died Jan. 30, 1985. But he's not been forgotten. On the contrary. There's a campaign under way to turn his birthday (March 21) into a local holiday.

Credit the idea to Bill Reid, midday host on KNDD-FM ("The End"). Reid has fond memories of the guitar-toting founder of Ivar's Acres of Clams restaurants.

Reid says, "It was Ivar who underwrote the Monty Python shows on KCTS-TV." The shows may have inspired local comedians to develop the Northwest's offbeat humor.

Ivar also gets credit for footing bills for Fourth of July fireworks, a tradition that continues. If Haglund's birthday becomes a local holiday, we won't have to invent a motto. As Ivar said, "Keep Clam."

BETTER IDEA: Consultant Ellen Wallach recently sent friends a letter, candidly announcing that her 50th birthday is Wednesday. She goes on to say, "I want to spare you the angst of choosing the perfect gift for me - yet another expensive jewel or fur (politically incorrect in Seattle anyway). What I really need is $5,000 . . ."

The letter explains Wallach is planning to take 1,200 inner-city children to a matinee of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, African-American dancers who come to Meany Hall in May. She hopes friends will send checks, but she means to go ahead with her plans.

Wallach says, "I hate sounding mooshy; but, when you reach a certain age, it's time to start giving back. Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone did?"

CHANNELING: Not to complain, but some TCI cable customers are getting a bonus on Channel 42. Queen Anne resident Richard von Riesen says, "It's a map of Seattle that shows all the arterials and the traffic speeds. It's updated every couple of minutes."

Customers in the downtown area who have called TCI have been told the company doesn't know where it's coming from. Weird, isn't it?

But calls to likely suspects reveal that the map is broadcast by the Department of Transportation. DOT official Mark Morse says, "DOT would like to have it available to all TV viewers. But the cable company tells us there are only so many channels."

LOST AND FOUND: Friday's Times carried a Department of Revenue listing of "names of persons appearing to be owners of abandoned property." Among the missing: the Auburn Police Department, Internal Revenue Service, Kent School District, Pierce County Sheriff, Pierce County Treasurer and U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

MARKET NEWS: The Pike Place Market may be safe for yet another generation. Peter Steinbrueck, who led the late 1980s campaign to keep the Market public, and his wife, attorney Marilyn Taylor, welcomed their first child, Mason Taylor Steinbrueck, last Tuesday.

Mason's grandfather, the late Victor Steinbrueck, was the original Market savior. Victor crusaded to preserve the Market from urban removal in the 1970s.

VANITY FARE: A Jaguar, spotted in Ballard with a woman behind the wheel, had a vanity plate that read: KEPT 1.

Jean Godden's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Northwest section of The Times. Her phone is 464-8300.