Janine's "Little Hollywood"

Welcome to the first edition of Janine's "Little Hollywood." During the Great Depression, "Little Hollywood" was the name of the shantytown that lined the shores of the area now known as Capitol Lake in Olympia, Washington.

Having lived in Olympia for 25 years now, it's fun to walk down the street or attend an event or meeting and see so many friends. It's an easy town to make new friends. In many ways to me, Olympia does seem like a "Little Hollywood." With this blog, I hope to shine the light on a lot of our stars.

As a writer and photographer, and involved community member, I attend many local events. There is no shortage of local news and activities, but The Olympian, our McClatchy-owned paper, recently laid off about 20 staff members, and has greatly reduced its local coverage to one or two pages. My goal is to help fill the gaps and create a home for local journalism and photojournalism.

I also have a website (please see http://www.janinegatesphotography.com/), however, I thought I would start this blog to write about local news and events and promote the community building efforts of our local citizens.

Today I attended Olympia's birthday celebration at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. How appropriate that I might play a part in documenting Olympia's next few years. Enjoy and let me know what you think!