Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city located in Kitsap County, Washington, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 37,259. It is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap. Bremerton is connected to downtown Seattle by a 50-minute ferry ride, which carries both vehicles and walk-on passengers.

Notable Bremertonians

• Bill Gates Sr, father of the Microsoft billionaire, was born in Bremerton and began his law career with the local firm of Merrill Wallace. The elder Gates' father operated a furniture store and ice cream parlor in downtown Bremerton.
• Jazz legend Quincy Jones moved to Bremerton at age 10. As a teenager, he first met up with Ray Charles after traveling to clubs in Seattle.
• Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard attended Union High School and wrote his early works while living in Bremerton during the late 1930s and early 1940s.
• Long-time KJR radio disk jockey and general manager Pat O'Day (nee Paul Berg) is a 1953 graduate of Bremerton High School. He began his concert-promotion empire by holding teen dances at Bremerton's Sheridan Park Recreation Center and the Spanish Castle in Seattle. He would later go on to promote such noted acts as Merilee Rush, Heart, The Wailers and Jimi Hendrix.
• Fifteen-term U.S. Congressman Norm Dicks was born and raised in Bremerton, the son of a Puget Sound Naval Shipyard worker. Dicks serves as a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and also sits on the Select Committee on Homeland Security.
• Seattle Mariners utilityman Willie Bloomquist was born in Bremerton and grew up in nearby Port Orchard.
• Actor Howard Duff, best known as the radio voice of Sam Spade and later as Det. Sgt. Sam Stone in the late-'60s NBC television series Felony Squad, was born in Bremerton.
• The Tonight Show show host Johnny Carson was stationed aboard the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) while it was in Bremerton for repairs following a 1945 torpedo strike.
• The pop-punk band Mxpx hails from Bremerton, which they mention in their song "Move to Bremerton."
• The indie rocker Ben Gibbard, known for his work in The Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie, and All-Time Quarterback, was also born in Bremerton, Washington.
• Marvin Williams, a graduate of Bremerton High School, signed to the NBA team Atlanta Hawks in 2005. As a senior at Bremerton High School, Williams averaged 28.7 points, 15.5 rebounds, five blocks and five assists and earned McDonald?s and Parade All-America honors. He attended the University of North Carolina for one year.