PORT ANGELES — You begin by walking into Sound Bikes & Kayaks, 120 E. Front St., and stepping behind the counter where a new staircase is located.
Dressed in his full Port Angeles Heritage Tours regalia, Don Perry leads a small group of curiosity-seekers down wooden stairs into a bygone era of Port Angeles, when the city’s downtown still rested on the tidal flats.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am,” Perry says. “I’ve been working on access to these murals for two years.”
Perry motions to artwork that sweeps across the basement walls. “These murals mean so much to our history,” Perry says.
One mural depicts Port Angeles as seen from Ediz Hook and the other is a forest scene featuring a large fire.
The murals date from probably 1938, Perry said.
Nobody knows what fire is depicted, but the guess is one that occurred in the Elwha forest before the 1930s, he says.
The original murals measured 12 feet high and 90 feet long. But they were painted over during the years and only about 45 feet each of the two remain, Perry says.
“I’ve been hearing about these murals since I moved here,” says sculptor Bob Stokes, a member of the group that was first to tour the murals on Friday.
Perry says he hopes to make these murals the third leg of his Port Angeles Underground tours.
The tours now include trips to the former brothel at the Family Shoe Store, 130 W. Front St., and to the Port Angeles Underground beneath Laurel Street.
The Port Angeles Heritage tours run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.