Dear Readers,

We'll be the first to admit our cover's a little sensational. It might even smell desperate. But when we said we were planning a historical issue, we received what you might call scorn. The nerve.

Fortunately, murder, prostitution and war aren't just heavy-handed buzzwords we chose so you would pick up the magazine (although that's true, too)--they fit the bill.

Thirty years ago this January, the notorious Hillside Strangler killed two Western students in a series of murders tracing back to California. Circa the early 1900s, sweet Fairhaven boasted the best brothels in town (the Horseshoe did, too, but we all saw that coming). And if that's sounding a tad seedy, flip to page 18--did you know Fairhaven has the largest antiquarian bookshop in the PNW?

Dusty history-book stigma, be gone!

Sincerely,

Ciara O'Rourke
Editor in Chief