Brand Du

I went to Dynamite Jack’s the other night. This was my first visit since the conversion from Harbor Rock. I have to say I was not impressed with the concept. The question that I had once inside was “Why”?

Harbor Rock suited me fine the way it was. I had the usual complaints: Service is usually slow(sometimes surly), and the menu was busy; which suggests that they were trying to please everyone with a lot of dishes done just OK. A lot of what I noticed was Denny working the room. That helped, though becoming friendly with Denny did not seem to ingratiate yourself with the wait staff. The food got there when it got there. Still, it had its purpose and it had its place.

Now, like so much of DuPont and its grand plan, it seems disjointed in its effort to connect itself to the past. It also seems that it is bending over backwards to try to fit in. Fit in to what? DuPont: the company town.

Evidently, Denny and his partners feel that making the place look more like a chain restaurant modeled after Applebee’s or TGIFriday’s provides that link to the town’s past. The new question that is now raised is whether a ‘company town’ is a history worth celebrating. For those reading who do not know that history I will try to summarize it for you in the following, single sentence. DuPont, Washington is named after E.I du Pont de Nemours and Co., where they manufactured dynamite and established a company town. OK, there is more to it than that, and it is somewhat interesting that part of a company town remains on the map, but I do not think it is wise to build a brand out of it.

The thought of embracing a brand is somewhat nauseating, in my opinion. It reeks of making something out of nothing and it is as phony as a three dollar bill. Coincidently, both of the aforementioned would be a more appropriate description of DuPont to an outsider.

Think about it. Since DuPont has been home to Northwest Landing, the city has grown to nearly 8000 residents. Based on percentage, only a few of the original inhabitants remain; and, even fewer still live here who can remember the company town. Furthermore, that part of the town is effectively segregated from the new DuPont. That is how the “‘historic’ village” wants it too. So isn’t it a bit disingenuous to refer to ANYTHING in the NWL section of DuPont as “company town” or “dynamite”? In fact, the REAL company town is Northwest Landing!

The branding of DuPont in general, and branding it to a company town in particular, is just a dumb, phony idea. I am equally shocked and amused that there are people here who actually embrace that concept. I will concede that the faux dynamite sticks on the Home Course tee boxes are a tad more relevant because evidence of that history is apparent above ground in the form of concrete bunkers and rails, but also beneath a sarcophagus of dirt to bury the arsenic and other heavy metals that was part of the superfund clean up (you may want to omit that part of our history from your MLS description).