The interior of 216 S. Tower Ave. in downtown Centralia looks as if it's been raining sawdust. On several wood stools is a drawing Hank Claycamp has done of his planned multi-cultural dance hall.
The front of the building (where stacks of blue folding seats from the Fox Theatre are being stored) would be a restaurant called Centerville Suds, Pizza and Ale House. Nearby would be a kitchen and bar.
In back would be the dance hall, to be named Hub City Ballroom. Along the sides of the dance area would be mezzanines with tables. The back, which is is only 30 feet from train tracks, would be insulated, and restrooms would be installed.
"My strength is to visualize it and build it," said Claycamp, 52.
Claycamp is good at both. In 1967, at the age of 17, Claycamp was a bonded and licensed painting contractor.
A couple of years later, while others were going to or hearing about the music festival in Woodstock, N.Y., Claycamp went to Europe to fulfill a childhood dream of learning how to blow glass. No one would teach him, so he found a teacher in Seattle. While apprenticing, he renovated apartment buildings in Seattle.
Outwardly, he spent the next several years engaged in painting, plastering, making and selling candles, and what he calls other "artsy-type hippy stuff."
Along the way, he drew a design for the Gospodor monument near Toledo (which was not used), and had a weekend cabin-raising party south of Chehalis, where 150 people gathered to build an A-frame house of 1,800 square feet.
Inwardly, he had a different vision.
"Basically, I was waiting for Mount St. Helens to blow up," said Claycamp. "No, actually I had a dream that Baw Faw Peak was going to blow up. It never did, but Mount St. Helens did."
Claycamp took ash from the eruption and used it to make glass in his new venture, Mount St. Helens Glass Works. He had a reputation as bit of a maverick in the business.
"I would try anything in glass," said Claycamp. "The one thing that won an award was the floor dragon (30 feet long) at Foxwoods Indian casino in Connecticut. They needed gold scales to make it luminescent. I said they had to send a bottle of 18-year-old scotch or I wouldn't even think about it. Two days later, it arrived by air freight. I sat around with the crew trying to figure out how to do it."
He sold the business in 1998, though the outfit continued to lease his space on the south end of Tower Avenue until 2001, when the new owners moved the company to Toledo.
That left him with a 7,500-square-foot empty building. The building had started its existence in 1917 as a feed store, and later became a Ford auto shop, David's TV, and Thorbecke's weightlifting center before Claycamp purchased it in 1994.
About that time, Claycamp started taking swing dance and tango lessons with his wife. Then the idea hit: He'd turn the space into a dance hall.
"Didn't you ever really want to be dressed to the nines and be with a woman in a ball gown?" asked Claycamp. "And to know how to do the dance?"
Claycamp sees it as a family venue that would pull in Irish, swing, Russian and other types of dancing, plus folk music, class reunions, weddings or "anything you can dream of."
Claycamp has already done a good deal of work on the interior. He built a dance floor of old-growth fir with bits of mirror incorporated below the finish. He purchased a number of globe-shaped lights the size of overblown beach balls, except with holes. As the lights shine out, they reflect off the mirror in the floor.
He's built a stage and large speakers for either side. Backstage would be a small office.
Claycamp removed the lowered ceiling, exposing 10 giant wood beams (52 feet long) across the ceiling. He removed the the carpets and arranged to get off-street parking.
He still has a few challenges. One is "jumping the hoops" to get building permits. He's been in touch with the Centralia Community Development Department, which is waiting for site plans before he can apply for permits.
Another is attracting people, though Claycamp points at other examples of local success as indicators that he could do as well.
"People come from Portland and Seattle just to buy beer and play on old pool tables at the Oly Club," said Claycamp. "If three years ago people couldn't spell Napavine, how come they could bring in big-name bands?"
The biggest challenge is financing. Claycamp needs $200,000 to take over the mortgage and pay for construction costs.
"This thing will be worth $500,000 easy when it's done," he said.
Dave Eatwell, downtown economic development coordinator for Centralia, likes the idea.
"The design he envisions is one that will draw people," said Eatwell. "Certainly it falls right in line with the city's vision of providing an evening of entertainment for people downtown. If he ever opens it, I'll probably be there. The tough part is getting from here to there."
Mary Kay Nelson, executive director of the Lewis County Convention and Visitors Bureau, also likes the idea
"Things to do are the things we lack in the county," said Nelson. "Anything that helped provide entertainment and activities helps us get where we want to be in 5 years."
Mark Lawton covers economic and energy issues for The Chronicle. He may be reached at 807-8231, or by e-mail at mlawton@chronline.com.
