Walla Walla: A little Napa in 'nowhere'

A Washington farm town with a funny name is becoming a destination spot, thanks to its bustling wine industry, upscale new restaurants and historic inns.

By Beverly Beyette, Times Staff Writer
12:00 AM PST, November 28, 2004

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Native Americans named it Walla Walla, "place of many waters," but it's wine that's bringing the visitors to this town of about 30,000, once best known for its funny name and for a tear-free variety of onion.

"We're kind of a destination now," said Jerry "Spud" Cundiff, who has lived in Walla Walla for 75 of his 77 years. Cundiff, who's semi-retired, can be found, key in hand, at 7 every Friday morning winding Main Street's landmark 1906 clock outside Falkenberg's, his family's jewelry store.

A $53-million revitalization of its once-dying downtown core helped Walla Walla to win a 2001 Great American Main Street award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A year later, the trust chose the city as one of America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations, or "pockets of serenity amid the sprawling clutter and homogenization that have overwhelmed so many American vacation spots."

Last December I decided to have a look for myself. I found a bit of Americana with a lively arts scene and three colleges, a community that wears its pride on its sleeve, calling itself "the town so nice they named it twice." And nice it is, with first-rate restaurants and accommodations, art galleries and wineries.

Walla Walla, just north of the Oregon border in southeastern Washington, isn't the easiest place to get to, but locals say that's part of its charm and helps to ensure that it won't become an overtrodden Napa Valley. Horizon Air (a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines) has three daily flights to and from Seattle, a 50-minute hop, or it's 260 miles away by car on U.S. Highway 12.

FOR THE RECORD:

Horizon Air —A Nov. 28 article in the Travel section about Walla Walla, Wash., reported that Horizon Air is a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines. Horizon was a sister airline of Alaska Airlines, and both are owned by the publicly held company Alaska Air Group.

I flew in and stayed overnight at the Marcus Whitman Hotel, a recently restored 1928 landmark. Like many places in these parts, it is named for the ill-fated medical missionary Whitman, who came here with his wife, Narcissa, in 1836 and met a tragic end, killed by Cayuse Indians. (The Cayuse were decimated by measles, but they thought Whitman was poisoning them to make room for more white settlers.)

My first meeting was with Steven Van Ausdale, president of Walla Walla Community College. The school offers an associate's degree in winemaking through its 4-year-old Institute of Enology and Viticulture, which operates its own commercial winery.

Van Ausdale called Walla Walla "a community in transition," a wheat farming area defying the downward economic spiral of small farm towns.

The difference, he said, is "the emerging wine industry and the climate it's created."

A taste of things to come

In 1977, the first of the modern wineries opened. Today, there are 59 wineries in Walla Walla Valley, generating $100 million-plus annually.

Walla Walla also is promoting visitor-friendly events such as the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance's annual Holiday Barrel Tasting Weekend, Dec. 3 to 5 this year, when winemakers will open their festively decorated barrel rooms.

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