A while back. Perhaps even 2 or 3 years ago, I was rummaging through a charity shop menswear section in Newbury in the royal county of West Berkshire, England, as was my want. When what did my wandering eye spy but a red short sleeved sweatshirt with the legendary words "HUNGER HUT PUSSY POSSE" emblazoned across the front. Cryptic I thought...
And with "NORTH ROAD KENAI, ALASKA" on the back how could I not be intrigued and enchanted by such a mysterious piece of secondhand sportswear? So I purchased said item for the princely sum of £2:99 as quick as my little legs would get me to the till.
Weeks passed I wore my mysterious piece of secondhand sportswear every now and again but something about the slogan on the front got a few members of the local community a little hot under the collar. Once I even saw a mother covering her child's eyes as I stalked up Newbury high street as proud as a peacock.
Proud Peacock (example)
Time passed and seasons, fashions, haircuts changed with the shirt folded up and put into "cold storage" in my underbed storage cubes...until now! I'd moved 3 times in the interim and bought and thrown out many many pieces of vintage fashion. It so happened that I had some painting & DIY to do and had no "rough" clothes to hand. Immediately I thought of the mysterious piece of secondhand sportswear. Was it still in its storage cube? IT WAS?!!
Mans work was undertaken; paint was stripped, drills were drilled, hammers hit so many thumbs, loud oaths rent the air. Until all was quiet and I found myself sat at my computer responding to an email a friend had sent me. I was about to log out and shut down the PC when I saw the words "REGNUH TUH YSSUP ESSOP" reflected back at me in the computers shiny monitor screen. So I googled, and I googled but nothing; except what you might expect for googling the words Hunger, Hut, Pussy and Posse...
A typical Alaskan scene.
I was about to give up when I remembered the writing on the back of the shirt..what was it? I spent a few awkward moments trying to read the back of my shirt in the front room mirror with no luck. Then I remembered! I could simply remove the sweatshirt and read it in the traditional manner. So I googled again 'NORTH ROAD KENAI, ALASKA'. Listings for various businesses appeared and a selection of images all looking suitably Alaskan; some of fish cabins moose etc. SO! Long story short. I found this blog www.erichdeland.com and a little more info.
After reading the blog for a bit I now knew HUNGER HUT was a bar and there was such a thing as a PUSSY POSSE but what they did etc I still didn't know so I sent Erich DeLand an email nothing too exciting just
"Hello, I found a Hunger Hut Pussy Posse sweatshirt in my local charity shop any info on who or what a pussy posse are/is would be great. Cheers"
In return I got: (click emails to embiggen)
I did not know the story of the pussy posse so I wrote back promptly
A few days went by and I got a reply, little did I know what I was letting myself in for.
Below is an exact copy of the email sent to me courtesy of Eric Deland
The Story Of The Hunger Hut Pussy Posse
"So here is the short version of the story,
In the mid sixties, it was not unusual for the younger people to get in some type of trouble. There were only dirt roads. There was not a community center, and if you wanted to be like your parents, you would work hard and play equally hard! A group of mothers got together and decided they were going to raise some money to cure the issue of their kids getting into mischief all of the time.
These mothers got together and formed a comedy, music troop that went around to all of the bars on the peninsula, the brothels, and the lodges singing and telling bawdy jokes raising money to cure this issue. They became so popular that the newspapers would announce where the “Big Blue Bitch Bus holding the Pussy Posse would be sighted and where they were going next. They were a complete success!
It was the start of summer and they had raised so much money that they wanted to do something BIG for Nikiski Day. Now to explain what Nikiski Day is, Every person in town would meet up at the Hunger Hut and hold an annual picnic for everyone in the town to enjoy.
The Ladies decided that they would purchase a brand new bicycle for every child under the age of 15 that lived in Nikiski.This went on for about 15 years. If you were a kid in Nikiski, you received a new bike every year to keep you out of trouble. Well people came from other towns and tried to get bikes for their children, disrupting the festivities of Nikiski Day. Due to a law suit, they had to end the program. But the Ladies didn't stop.
The ladies who were more popular than ever kept raising money. so much so that at one point, they had a larger budget than the local town government did. so they decided to do one last big event and spend all of the money in one shot.
These ladies purchased a plot of land and had an ice rink created next to a new covered pool. This was not only a pool; It was actually 3 pools. It was a lap pool for the adults, a child's pool, and a diving pool; all covered with a big glass doom so people could use it year round.
Most of the Pussy Posse have passed into the great beyond. But, their work still remains. The pool and ice rink are still used to this day. There are only a few members of the Pussy Posse left, one is Linda who currently owns and runs the Hunger Hut. The driver of the Big Blue Bus is getting up their in age, but he still come into the "Hut" for a tomato beer every Wednesday.
Most people see the shirt and think it is something dirty. Like the tee shirts for “Skinny Dick’s Half Way Inn” that is located half way between Anchorage and Fairbanks. But there are many people that wear the Hunger Hut – Home of the Pussy Posse tee shirts with pride and a little bit of longing for the past.
Today, most of the main roads are paved, people are still getting into trouble, but the kids are well occupied with plenty to do! Every Nikiski Day, they still take a moment out to reflect on the people we lost and the once great Pussy Posse."
Good innit? the bit with the blue bitch bus, the singing mothers, the brothels, the swimming pool!! I see it as a film starring Katy Bates along with a ragtag bunch of fellow "moms" and man alive do I want a tomato beer whatever that is!?
Kathy Bates (Yesterday)
But is it TOO good to be true? Such a wonderful story. Almost immediately I fired off another email to Erich Deland asking for more info as I could find nothing from googling until I was blue in the fingers.
A REPLY!!
And that my dear reader is where the trail goes cold. That's all I got in reply. I have emailed a few more times asking for any info but nothing is forthcoming. Am I down hearted? do I think it is all a load of rubbish cooked up by some bloke in Alaska? The answer is a resounding NO.
As I said I checked every detail I could to see if this story is true, The Hunger Hut is real enough, the swimming pool & ice rink paid for with the pussy posse is real too, even Kenai is as real as real could be and it's here whilst checking these facts that I found the real reason I believe the story of the hunger hut pussy posse and that reason is this man
Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Mr Gary Superman in the running for local mayor!!
Any place with a would be mayor called GARY SUPERMAN is A-OK in my book his wife Linda runs the Hunger Hut for gods sake and if the story of The Hunger Hut and it's Pussy Posse is a fib so be it. They have Gary Superman to keep them safe. So I will wear my Hunger Hut Pussy Posse sweatshirt with pride.
FIN.
