Turning Spokane's history into help for Spokane's future.

AVAILABLE NOW

More Spokane treasures are coming. I'll be adding pieces and their stories throughout the coming weeks. Please check back.

Spokane has given me a home, a community, friendships, and a lifetime of stories.

I was born in Seattle, and in 1985 I moved to Spokane after winning the position of principal horn in the Spokane Symphony. I came for a job. I found a home.

When I first arrived, I was struck by the gleaming concert hall beside the Spokane River, surrounded by the beautiful park created after Expo '74. I missed Seattle's cool, damp mornings beneath evergreen trees, but I came to love the scent of Spokane's ponderosa pines—a fragrance somewhere between warm honey and sun-baked wood. I fell in love with the quiet neighborhoods, the old buildings, the river, the cycling trails, and the sense that history was never very far away. My own house was built in 1907, and a park dating to 1899 sits just two blocks away.

I love Spokane.

On August 1, during the most dangerous fire conditions our city has ever faced, an arsonist ignited a fire that spread with terrifying speed. It crossed the Spokane River, consumed neighborhoods, and joined with other nearby fires to become the Spokane Complex Fire.

Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to ash. More than 67,000 people have been evacuated. Firefighters from across the country continue to battle the flames while organizations throughout our community have stepped forward to care for displaced families, first responders, pets, and livestock. The generosity has been extraordinary.

From my own back window, I watched an ominous wall of smoke spread across the sky while emergency alerts sounded on our phones:

FIRE EXPANDING QUICKLY. WATCH THE EVACUATION MAP. STAY OUT OF ALL FIRE AREAS. STAY OFF THE ROADS UNLESS EVACUATING.

Like everyone here, I've watched with heartbreak.

I've also spent the past week asking myself one question:

How can I help?

I've loved vintage clothing since high school. After moving to Spokane, I spent weekends exploring antique stores, thrift shops, estate sales, and forgotten closets. Eventually those discoveries became my business, denisebrain, which has now been my life's work for more than twenty-five years.

Along the way, I began collecting something else: Spokane's history.

Not only clothing, but the stories stitched into it.

Garments from Spokane department stores. Pieces made by local dress shops. Clothing worn by women whose lives helped shape this city. Objects that quietly survived for generations.

It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps those stories could help Spokane once again.

And so I created Vintage for Spokane.

Over the coming weeks, I'll be offering a carefully curated collection of Spokane-connected vintage clothing and accessories. Some pieces will be available through my Etsy shop, while others will be auctioned on eBay. Every listing will tell the story behind the object and the people who preserved it.

Among the offerings will be silver brocade shoes from the 1920s, garments from Spokane stores such as The Crescent, Bernard's, Rusan's, and Betty Bone, a jacket worn by a KREM-2 news broadcaster, a corduroy campaign dress from Tom Foley's first congressional election, a handmade Material Girl bag, signed copies of my book, and perhaps most remarkable of all, a spectacular beaded silk evening dress worn by the wife of a Colville mayor who later served the region in the Washington State Senate.

Every dollar raised will support two organizations serving our community today.

Project Beauty Share is collecting and distributing essential hygiene products to displaced families, first responders, and tribal communities affected by the fires—items that food assistance programs cannot provide but that restore dignity during crisis.

SpokAnimal is sheltering displaced pets, supporting evacuation centers, and ensuring that families fleeing the fires know their beloved animals are safe.

History has always been worth preserving.

This time, it can help preserve a community.

I hope you'll follow along as these stories unfold.

From Spokane. For Spokane.