On May 6, 1933, the “fireproof and unsinkable” San Francisco Bay ferry Peralta burned in a spectacular fire at the Oakland terminal. Although her hull, designed by Hibbs, McCauley & Smith, remained relatively sound, her entire superstructure was charred beyond recognition.

Her owners were happy to sell her remains to the Northwest’s Black Ball Line, which towed the hulk north, to Puget Sound and then into Houghton’s Lake Washington Shipyards, which stood at the site of today’s Carillon Point development. When she reached local waters, few people would have believed that the seeming pile of scrap would be rebuilt and reborn the Kalakala, the most recognized ferry on the West Coast, perhaps the world – a testament to Kirkland’s cadre of pre-WWII shipyard craftsmen.

Once moored at the Lake Washington Shipyard, workers removed her engines and the wreckage that had been her superstructure. They narrowed her main deck from 70 to 56 feet and Black Ball’s owner, Capt. Alex Peabody, called for an entirely new superstructure arrangement for 1,500 passengers.

It was this “modern” streamlined, art deco steel superstructure that immortalized the Kalakala.

The streamlined design had been subjected to wind velocity and other tests by Boeing engineers, not then a common practice in shipbuilding. It was also an out-of-the-ordinary job for the Lake Washington Shipyard’s general manager Paul Voinot, who had to devise numerous special construction methods. Arc welding, then in its infancy as a revolutionary technology, played a prominent role in her assembly.

Her trial run, on July 2, 1935, drew world-wide media attention and more than 100,000 spectators. She began her regular service schedule shortly after, running between Seattle and Bremerton during the day. On summer evenings, she made excursion trips around the Puget Sound. She boasted her own eight-piece orchestra, “The Flying Birds” and dancing on three decks. Her interior appointments were impressive and many people remember her horseshoe shaped lunch counter.

She was undoubtedly the most photographed vessel in Washington’s history. Post cards, paintings and souvenir materials galore depicted the Kalakala cruising on Elliott Bay against the background of Seattle’s skyline.

The Kalakala – which translates to “flying bird” in Chinook jargon – operated on the Sound until 1967. Her maintenance and fuel costs had become exorbitant and she was forced into retirement. Kirkland resident and retired hardware store owner, Sandy Ekins, who rode her in those days, recalls with a smirk that, “She really rattled.”

The Kalakala was sold for $100,000 to American Freezerships towed to Alaska and sat beached near Kodiak where she was used for decades as a fish processing plant until she was finally too worn out for even that purpose.

But her fate was not to rot on a Kodiak beach and the Kalakala drama further unfolded. The Kalakala Foundation was formed in 1991 to recover and restore the vessel and after remarkable efforts succeeded in returning her to Washington in 1998. Since that time, and amid numerous, well-publicized controversies, she has been moored at Lake Union and Neah Bay and is currently tied up in Tacoma. Her current owner, Kalakala Foundation head Steve Rodrigues, estimates that restoration will cost about $15 million. While her future remains uncertain, the Kalakala Foundation continues to struggle to preserve this iconic piece of Puget Sound and Kirkland’s maritime past.

Matthew McCauley is a third-generation Kirklander and author of “A Look To The Past: Kirkland.” He is also a Kirkland Heritage Society board member.