The Hopper House

            Peggy Jones, 74, did not grow up in a household where it was acceptable to throw away old things simply because they were in fact that, old. Six years ago when Jones began noticing dumpsters around the York neighborhood being filled up with perfectly good household items, tossed away by college students moving houses, she began dumpster diving. Dumpster diving is the act of rummaging through trash looking for anything usable. She has always abided by the Bellingham custom of leaving out unwanted items on the curb and after she began finding things in dumpsters that had no right to be thrown away, she put out her findings on a table in her front lawn for others to scavenge through.

            The house at 1473 Franklin St. is now commonly known by Yorkers as the free exchange table. Also known as “The Hopper House.” Items are left on the table by anyone wanting to get rid of an item and are on display for anyone to come and pick up. It is a mini neighborhood “Goodwill.”

            Peggy lives with her son Leonard Hopper, 54, at the house and together they monitor the table and repair and clean some of the items. “It’s my hobby and I like doing it. I don’t like to see things go to waste,” Jones said.  Hopper works at a local mill.

            People leave a lot of different things there, ranging from old pickle jars to used bikes. Electronics and sporting gear are commonly left at the table but do not stay for long. Other popular items that are both brought to the table and get quickly snagged away include books, clothing, bicycles, dishes, tools and clothing. In the wintertime many Yorkers bring extra warm clothes to the table. “We once had a homeless man come to our door crying because it was very cold out and he was so grateful for the shoes he found in our yard,” Hopper said. The free exchange table benefits college kids who are constantly uprooting all their belongings and moving houses. “ My house brought boxes of random little things to that house when we were moving,” Harrison Mills said. “We would have probably just thrown that stuff away but I remember seeing things like it at that house, and I would rather it didn’t end up in a landfill.” Goodwill is also a place where Yorkers can get rid of old things, but due to the Hopper House’s convenient location, it is a welcome alternative to most.

Six years ago when Jones first put the table out, it was only for the summer, due to weather. But last year her son Leonard built a sturdy table complete with an electrical outlet, a plexiglass top and three walls so the table can protect its valuables all year round.

The Hopper House is warmly received by neighbors and is of constant use to many. “I check out the table every once in a while. I like it because I can always find something I can use, like jars to keep my paintbrushes in,” neighbor Jess King said.

Since everything is free trade, city officials did not make The Hopper House apply for a permit.

The Hopper House does not accept beds, large pieces of furniture, potentially hazardous material (oil, rubbing alcohol), weapons, sharp objects, trash or food. People leaving unusable garbage on the table is a problem for the Hopper House, so much so that multiple trips a month to the Recycling and Disposal Services Center in Lynden are required.

            Future plans for the table include Hopper giving it a fresh paint job and adding a plexiglass door to the front of the table, protecting it 100 percent from rain.

Local House Turns Public Art House

A house of young women artists in the York neighborhood has opened its doors to the Bellingham art community.

Jess King and her three roommates have turned their house into an art gallery/ studio space for local artists use. King and her roommates spend a lot of time in their living room doing art. “Me and my friends get more inspired when more artists are around,” King said. “We always are doing art, and we thought, let’s do something.”

The last Friday of every month, King’s house throws an art exhibit in their house. The exhibit is a mix between an art gallery showing and a low-key party. Along with their artwork, friends and local artist’s work is on display in their living room and basement. The art is for sale. “I want to help local Bellingham artists grow and connect with other creative people.” King must first see a sample of an artists work for them to potentially have a piece in the exhibit.

Twenty three-year-old King and her roommates are committed artists, each paints at least a couple hours every day. Each has their own area of expertise, but all experiment with different types of art. The young women’s lives are as different as their painting styles, an art student, a nanny, a body piercer and a waitress. Although each leads different lives in the day, the women are strongly connected through art during their free time. They all have decorated their skin with vividly colorful tattoos and each work to support their artistic endeavors. Jax Schwartz and King aspire to be traveling artists one day.

The house is dedicated to helping women around the world. Donation jars are put out at each exhibit with the proceeds going to help women in Africa get small business loans and also to local women’s shelters. They call their house “The Womb.”

            “I want our house to be a comfortable place where people can get away from their normal world and join ours,” Jax Schwartz said. Walk into “The Womb” on an average weekday night and you will find two or three people listening to loud classic rock, painting on the living room carpet. So far, word of mouth and social networking has been the houses sole way of recruiting interested artists. “ I am sort of an artist but (it’s) more like a hobby,” Cailen McDevitt Said. “ I saw Jess painting at the farmers market and she gave me an open invitation to her house to paint or do whatever I wanted.” McDevitt took King up on her offer and paints at the Womb often. The next step for King is to create a website for the house, but she is quick to admit her computer skills are not up to par.

Although King wants the house’s art community to grow, she and her roommates have learned that giving out an address to a house full of women creates unwanted attention. So while King is working on spreading the word of mouth about her house, she does not want just anybody to stop in whenever they feel like it. This means King and her roommates want to have some sort of networking connection to whoever comes to the house.

The Womb joins the ranks of similar public art houses like it in Bellingham. Downtown studios like Jinx Art Space and Bellingham Art Tank are also studios available to local artists for free. Galleries, restaurants and boutiques also feature local artwork every month during the Bellingham Art Walk.  

Among other local jobs, King puts on a gallery show at the downtown club, Glow, every last Tuesday of the month. King was offered the job after a friend of hers who is a D.J. at the club recommended her to the manager.

Future plans for the house includes transforming their basement into a spray paint studio and building a community garden. King and Schwartz also have hopes of travelling to New Orleans to soak up some culture someday soon.