San Juan Island Goes Hollywood

Friday Harbor is going Hollywood. The San Juan Island town that once prided itself on its relaxed, slow-paced lifestyle has been picked as the site of a major recording facility.

According to the Journal of the San Juan Islands, Richard Hooper, executive producer for World Disc Music, and Hollywood record producer David Tickle plan to renovate an existing studio by February and begin work by March.

Tickle has been living in Friday Harbor since 1994 and commuting to his studio in Malibu. He has produced albums by Rod Stewart, the Police, U2, Genesis, Jackson Browne and the Clash.

A third member of the production team, Daniel Summer, has worked with such clients as Natalie Cole, Andy Williams, Jackson Browne and Ice-T.

The San Juan Island paper said Hooper and Tickle expect their studio to have the quality of "a major recording studio with the added attraction of the San Juans' beauty."

But not to worry about celebrities spoiling the character of Friday Harbor. Hooper jokingly promised he'd tell his clients, "Enjoy it while you're here, but don't stay."

Play back: Some things just aren't for sale. When Playboy magazine called the English Inn in Port Townsend about using the inn as a backdrop for "playmate of the month" photos, innkeeper Nancy Borino blinked, but she ended up saying "no."

Borino says Playboy had offered to pay $2,000, a mighty tempting offer, particularly for a B&B in its first year of operation. Borino muses: "We gave it a lot of thought. But I don't believe that Playboy's philosophy necessarily matches ours."

How did the magazine happen to pick the English Inn? Borino says, "Evidently the playmate's mother suggested it. She'd been a guest here and liked it. The playmate is from Bremerton, but they wanted a setting that was more Victorian."

Tweetment: Dee Jones, retired public-relations director at Swedish Hospital, last week paid a visit to the Seattle Art Museum's Audubon show. While there, Jones observed "a very pregnant" woman standing next to the earphones that give visitors a chance to hear bird calls.

Jones says, "She was standing there with the earphones pressed to her abdomen." That's one child who isn't going to miss a thing.

Here's Johnnie: The event isn't until Jan. 13, but already it's being penciled into 1996 calendars. The Puget Sound Education Chapter of Blacks in Government will hold a semiformal banquet at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, saluting the Central Area Motivation Program. Keynote speaker is Johnnie Cochran Jr.

Togetherness: Linden Rhoads, president of Virtual i-O, last week found herself sharing an elevator shaft in the Microsoft haunted house with editors of four leading PC magazines. Rhoads' one-liner: "Even my paid press staff couldn't get all you guys to join me in such a small room."

Crossing sign: One clear, cool evening last week, superchef Kathy Casey and her husband, culinary instructor John Casey, were traveling Aurora Avenue North.

As they drove past Green Lake, they noticed traffic slowing on both sides of the highway.

What was the tieup? Kathy says, "Only in Seattle would they brake for possums."

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