`Bon Marche 98181?' Ads Have Ring Of TV Show

Everyone's puzzling over those full-page teaser ads that have been running in newspapers for three weeks. The provocative ads have the numbers "98181" superimposed over a piece of classic sculpture.

98181. Reads like a ZIP code, doesn't it? The ZIP isn't listed in the phone book, but the Post Office isn't shy about explaining. The numerals are what the Post Office calls a "unique ZIP code." It belongs to the Bon Marche exclusively. It's been the Bon's ZIP for more years than Harold Husby, commander-in-chief of the Post Office's unique ZIP codes, can remember.

Husby, whose real title is "administrative information officer," explains that many big operations have ZIP codes of their own. Northgate does. Southcenter does. The University of Washington does. The Post Office awards one-of-kind codes to those who receive mail by the carload.

But getting back to the mystery ads. Obviously, the Bon Marche placed the teaser ads. The sculpture, pictured in the ads, is detail from the carvings on the side of the downtown Bon.

Folks at the Bon aren't talking about the ad campaign. It's all hush-hush, even among Bon employees. Is the Bon doing a take-off on the TV show "90210?" Is the Bon planning to call attention to the "zip" in its operation?

Can't say. Execs at the Bon were careful not to reveal anything. They would utter only one word on the subject. The word: "Soon."

FISH TALES: Old-timers gathered this week to celebrate the Edgewater Inn's 30th anniversary and swap stories about the hotel where the Beatles stayed (Room 272) and where Frank Zappa was inspired to write "The Mud Shark."

At one time, guests could fish from waterfront windows. But angling no longer is allowed. It was too successful. The staff had to deal with mildewed carpets and fish everywhere. Once they found a shark in the bathtub.

Celebs often stayed at the hotel. Tommie MacDowell, who operated the gift shop, recalls a visit from the late Jack Benny, who asked for cigars. She said, "Oh, Mr. Benny, I couldn't possibly charge you. You've given our family so many happy hours."

MacDowell said Benny assumed his crossed-arms pose, looked around and said, "Well, in that case, what else would I like to have?"

BELL RINGER: It was close to 9 p.m. and 37th District Rep. Jesse Wineberry, clad in running gear, was still ringing doorbells in Skyway. Thinking no one home, Wineberry left a brochure at one house.

"I was walking away when I heard the door open," Wineberry says. "A man appeared in his underwear and pointed a .44 Magnum at me. He yelled, `Who are you? Take your hat off.' I threw my hat down, put my hands up and told him who I was.

"He said, `Oh, you've been to my church.' Then he introduced himself as a deacon of a local Baptist church. I asked, `Is crime a problem here?' "

THUMBING NUN: Spotted at a West Seattle intersection last week was a nun hitchhiking. The woman, wearing a habit and wimple, hopped off a Metro bus and stuck her thumb out. Seconds later, a silver van pulled up to the curb to offer the nun a ride.

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