B-17 "Oola Boola's Wonderland"

[buffcc]

In Seattle during the mid and late 1970's, there was a small tavern, named Oola Boola's Wonderland, located in the lower Wallingford part of town. There was a mural of several B-17s in an aerial combat scene over Europe covering the entire South facing outside wall, and the main front and center B-17 was Oola Boola's Wonderland. The inner walls of the tavern sported a bunch of big (approx 18 X 24) photographic prints of various air-to-air photos as well as lots of pictures on the ground in England. By 1981, the place had changed hands, the pictures and mural were all gone, and the name was changed. I've looked all over the web and not been able to dig up 1 single article about the plane or the tavern. Does anyone know anything about the B-17 the tavern was named after? Any pictures of the airplane? Any pictures of the mural on the outside wall of the tavern?

[RAMC181]

The only thing I've managed to find so far is a reference to an art exhibition in 1972 at "Ooola Boola's Wonderland Gallery, Seattle, WA".

Will keep an eye out in case anything else turns up.

All the best,
PB

[hercules130]

buffcc,

How about contacting the Underground Tour folks at info@undergroundtour.com when I was on the tour 4 or 5 years ago the older Gentlemen seemed very well versed on Sea-town history and more than willingto pass on their knowledge of the subject.

Gary

[buffcc]

an art exhibition in 1972 at "Ooola Boola's Wonderland Gallery

That's a very interesting piece of information, although I don't understand the correlation. It seems to more than just a mere coincidence.

How about contacting the Underground Tour folks

I figured I'd try here first before going to the newspapers, the underground tour, etc. I've talked with the bartenders at the tavern in question and none of them know anything about it. They seemed to be amazed that something like that ever happened. They might not have even been born yet. The place has changed hands several times and even the folks who live in the neighborhood have been recycled several times. I'll keep checking locally and see if I can find any information. Thanks for the efforts.

[The Inspector]

Contact Paul Dorpat @ the Seattle Times newspaper, he does a 'then and now' weekly in the Sunday Rotogravure and might have some info or point you to someone.

[buffcc]

Well, it certainly took me a long time, and I have to admit it wasn't on the front burner at all times, but I finally tracked down the artist of the mural on the side of the tavern. Oola Boola wasn't a real B-17 at all. The whole thing was made up because the tavern owner and the artist are both fans of warbirds in general. The name was something they heard in an old movie from the 20's or 30's. The artist, Doug Fast, was kind enough to let me borrow a few slides he had made right after finishing the mural in 1977, and I had digital copies made. Doug holds the Copyright on this image.

[spookythecat]

Now that is cool!

[michaelharadon]

"Oola Boola's Wonderland"-wooda been a cool name for a bomber.

[bdk]

Too bad that couldn't have been painted on the wall of a museum somewhere.

[whistlingdeath77]

that is really nice!

[Django]

Wow, that is pretty neat!

How could anyone paint over that?!

[buffcc]

The artist told me it was the only mural he ever painted in which he used a grid to lay out the work. He wanted the picture to be as accurate as possible and the grid allowed him to get the scale correct.




You can just barely see a flight of German fighters coming around to attack in this picture


Top and belly turrets are both firing




Doug wasn't a B-17 pilot and just signed it that way for fun. He says several real B-17 pilots contacted him to see if they knew him.

[whistlingdeath77]

i would def. stop and eat at that place if i saw a b-17 on a wall

[L. Thompson]

Another great B-17 mural on a city business outside wall is in Klamath Falls, OR. This one was 42-5951, a B-17F-35-VE named "O PISSONYA" delivered new to Long Beach on 5/30/43. It was assigned to the 301st BG/419th BS at Oudna on 8/12/43.There is some conflicting information regarding this 419th BS assignment. Some sources say it flew with the 353rd BS of the 301st. It transfered to the 341BS/97BG after 17 missions. She crashed at Plovdiv, Bulgaria on 6/23/44 and Lt. David Kingsley, the Bombardier, was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Go here for that whole story:

http://www.thedempseyarchives.com/kingsleystory.htm

http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/part2 ... gsley.html


I would love to see a photo of that mural which I have only seen once (in 2000 or 2001) and haven't yet found on the internet.

[buffcc]

That's the kind of story I was hoping to unearth when I started looking for information on Oola Boola. I imagined an uncle or a father had supplied informaion which led to the mural and tavern's name.
Several months ago, while trying to track down Oola Boola I was informed of a restaurant in Milwakee, Oregon that displayes a B-17. Here's a little information but I'm unable to find current pictures.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2968
http://www.thebomber.com/