Re-painting Dorothy's Room

Well, unfortunately the sign peeled from the wall, even though adhesive was used as well as two coats of polyurethane over that. The employees at the Windbag during one of their breaks watched it slowly peel away. Maybe it was the temperature, or the uneven nature of the concrete, but it was agreed that there was no point in trying to reapply it if it peeled even when new.

So instead, four headlines were picked from regional newspapers when Dorothy's closed, and I painted those instead. Only the headlines were used. I sure didn't want to paint every single word in the articles themselves! And the weather was starting now to drop into below freezing temperatures.

One idea had been to paint Dorothy's portrait on the left side. There are photos in the Windbag that some believe to be Dorothy. But after further research at the Montana Historical Society, a letter from 2006 was found, from Dorothy's niece to the Society, which denied those photos were of her aunt. The niece said Dorothy did not like photos of her and did not allow them to be taken. Only the one from her high school yearbook photo in the 1920s and her booking photo are of Dorothy.

So who is that other woman in the photos in the Windbag cases at the back of the room? It may very well be Dorothy's predecessor, Ida, of Ida's Rooms. Ida is the one who sold the business to Dorothy in the late 1950s (ca. 1956-57).