Ruby’s B@B
WELCOME TO RUBY’S !!
You are staying in the fabulous 1940’s house of Ruby Reed, burlesque queen of Camano’s roaring south end, Her mother, mary mayers, owned the house just to the south of here you can see across the garden next door and sold ruby and her husband the land this house is built on for ten dollars in 1944.
We bought mary’s house in 1977 and in the course of remodeling it we found a full size theater poster of a rather risque woman behind the walls. RuthLathrop, our neighbor at the time who lived in this house, said it must be ruby. “I told you she was a dancer.”
“A dancer?” we asked. “This is a stripper!” “Well,” Ruth laughed, “she was a burlesque dancer.”
History sometimes comes back to haunt us in unpredictable ways. Ruby lived in both her mom’s house and later this house. We know she danced burlesque in seattle and we know a bevy of dancers partied hearty here on the south end. Later ruby taught ballroom dancing and tap dancing in Stanwood.
What we don’t know for sure is if the theater poster is really ruby. I think it is. My historian wife needs more provenance. You can make up your own minds, of course, but meanwhile enjoy a small mystery of history. If you hear tapping in the night, it’s just ruby working out one of her routines. You’ll get used to it ….
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