Visiting Vintage

Seattle Snow

2012-01-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

Still snowing in the Seattle area! HistoryLink.org has an interesting article on past Seattle snow storms .

I found a newspaper clipping from page 3 of the February 6, 1916 Seattle Sunday Times that my grandmother-in-law, Maren saved in her scrapbook from the 1916 storm. (click on the photo for a clearer view)

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

The photo caption reads
"Seattle Snow scene 1916: "Snow aids live-wire Seattle business men to advertise goods and humorous abilities - Snow Mound and Advertising placards. Enormous piles of snow in Seattle streets have given up-to-date advertisers and jokesmiths opportunity to call attention to their wares and also comment on abnormal weather conditions. In the picture a snowpile in front of the Pioneer Printing Company's plant, Fourth Ave. and Marion St., is shown with some chatty advertising signs adorning its top, and at the right under the sign "Old Snow" is B. L. Swezea of the printing concern.
Similarly decorated piles are to be found throughout the downtown district advertising everything from “Spareribs, 13c Per Pound,” to some wag’s impression of snow in Washington, which read “This Is the Evergreen State – What?
An enterprising cosetiere on Second Avenue had several boxes bearing illustrations of her goods stuck in the top of a snowpile near the entrance to her store, and nearly every business house accepted the opportunity to have some advertising matter so displayed that passersby might realize that store was still in business."

Something to warm you

2012-01-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

There's snow in the Pacific Northwest lowlands! And we're even expecting more. No more settling for vintage ads with snow and ice .

Soup and cocoa to warm you on a wintry day

From Vintage Goodness

(January 24, 1959 - Saturday Evening Post)

From Vintage Goodness

(February 1959 American Home Magazine)

From Vintage Goodness

(February 1961 American Home Magazine)

From Vintage Goodness

(December 1967 American Home Magazine)

Have fun in the snow!

Fifth Birthday Party

2012-01-09T08:05:00.000-08:00

I'm celebrating a milestone birthday today. I suppose it makes me even more nostalgic than other times when I decide to visit vintage.

My fifth birthday party. Classic games like London Bridge

From Jana's 5th birthday

and pin the tail on the tiger (?)

From Jana's 5th birthday

Bubble pipes for party favors. The cake stand was a music box, you turned the plate to make it play. I believe my crown says "Happy New Year"

From Jana's 5th birthday

Some of my gifts:
Jumpin' Mrs. Potato Head!

From Jana's 5th birthday

and I remember the rubbery brown "wig" on top of the piano here

From Jana's 5th birthday

And I still have a book I received that birthday - Dr. Seuss' Happy Birthday to You! I read it several years to my kids on their birthdays.

From Visiting Vintage

You can peek inside some of the pages on Amazon.

Too many birthdays to remember them all but old photos sure help.

Snow in January 1959 ads

2012-01-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

In the beautiful Pacific Northwest lowlands we aren't guaranteed snow every winter. So far this year none. But I'm enjoying some snow and ice based images from the January 24, 1959 Saturday Evening Post

From Vintage Goodness

(not sure what skiing and smoking have to do with each other but I kinda liked the vintage gloves)

From Vintage Goodness

Old is new

2011-12-30T14:20:00.000-08:00

I can't decide if this post should be "old is new" or "new is old".

From the family White Elephant game this Christmas, my daughter and I scored big. At first when I opened mine, I wasn't sure what it was. But as I pulled it out, I loved the shimmery beauty and sparkly, tinkly tone of these vintage silver spoon wind chimes

From Visiting Vintage

They're so lovely! And I'm delighted that these were repurposed this way.

And then my husband who had the last pick stole this epic Think Geek Star Trek Enterprise Pizza cutter from his twin sister for our Trekkie teenage daughter. Who'd a thought a 1960s clunky toy space ship could be such a thing of beauty?!

From Visiting Vintage

It is so reflective, I couldn't help but try to capture Christmas lights in them.

From Visiting Vintage

I'm pretty pleased my daughter loves a retro TV classic so much. And I love that "old can be new" or "new can be old".

More Vintage Christmas Cards

2011-12-23T09:16:00.000-08:00

I posted several Danish vintage Christmas cards a few weeks ago. Here are some more beauties - some with English greetings as well.

From Vintage Danish Cards

"Christmas Eve"

From Vintage Danish Cards

Seattle December 1978

2011-12-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

My favorite elective in high school was photography. In December 1978 we took a field trip to downtown Seattle and wandered around shooting anything we wanted. I feel a bit awkward now doing street photography and taking photographs of strangers - but being a teenager and being on assignment I guess I felt entitled to do so. We shot black-and-white so we could process the film and develop the prints ourselves. I took over sixty photos but most of them I had only seen in contact print size since I only enlarged a handful of them. A few years ago I came across the negatives and took them in to be put on a CD and it was pretty exciting for me to see them big. If these look familiar to some of you I shared them at the time with Vintage Seattle and you may have seen them there.

Music stores

From Downtown Seattle 1978

Salvation Army ringers

From Downtown Seattle 1978

Bon Marche front window display

From Downtown Seattle 1978

Pike Place Market

From Downtown Seattle 1978

Shopping

From Downtown Seattle 1978

Street Scenes

From Downtown Seattle 1978

Big Mac $1.10 and 50 cent gift certificates

From Downtown Seattle 1978

The rest of the album is here.

Holiday Party Prep 1966-1967

2011-12-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for party time!
Before you get all dolled up with a beautiful 'do

From Vintage Goodness

You'll probably want to decorate

From Vintage Goodness

And make sure you have extra table and seating space

From Vintage Goodness

(I still have two from this vintage - we certainly got fourteen dollars worth out of them)

Have lots of great music for the Hi Fi

From Vintage Goodness

Prepare fun party food and beverages

From Vintage Goodness

(I never thought to "try it hot")

From Vintage Goodness

(And this has a bonus to enhance your decor)

From Vintage Goodness

Enjoy your family and friends this holiday and party season - this is something that should never change!
(American Home Magazine ads from Decembers 1966 and 1967)

Christmas Music through the years

2011-12-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

I know I'm not alone feeling deeply connected with Christmas music from the past. Classic versions of many holiday favorites just make it feel more like Christmas. A personal favorite of mine is Julie Andrew's Joy To The World. I still have the vinyl! I also still have my vinyl of Gene Autry's Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer

From Visiting Vintage

Another LP I have includes Simon and Garfunkel's 7:00 O'Clock News/Silent Night - have a listen if you haven't heard it.

From Visiting Vintage

I took guitar lessons in Junior High - I was pretty proud of myself when I learned how to play Silver Bells - I still have the ditto! (Note to self - describe to teen age daughter how school assignments used to look and smell)

From Visiting Vintage

The family piano plays a big role for me at Christmas time and the rest of the year. Below is family sing-along at the piano in 1974 - my Dad had an ear for music and would take requests.

From Visiting Vintage

The piano here is from the 1920s - according to family lore when my Dad's parents got married in January 1929, they rented a furnished apartment in Bremerton, WA. The previous owner was a Deputy Sheriff (possible surname Allen) and for reasons unknown to me, skipped town in the middle of the night leaving through a back window with his family. Later the family was washed away in a flash flood somewhere in California. Some day I'm going to see if I can find anything to authenticate this story but in the meantime, the story of the piano is that it originally belonged to him and was left in my Grandparent's first apartment. My parents later inherited it and "antiqued" it as shown above (GAH!). Sometime in the 80's or the 90's they had the ivories replaced and thankfully refinished the body and this is how it looks today.

From Visiting Vintage

The sheet music on the right in both photos is the same. Here is some old Christmas sheet music in the family collection

From Visiting Vintage

Irving Berlin's White Christmas copyright 1942, I Believe In Santa Claus dated in my grandmother's handwriting December 1945 and Carol of the Drum that I tried to play on piano in the mid 70s.

My Grandmother played on this piano, my Dad learned to play on this piano, I TRIED to learn to play on this piano and my daughter has learned to play on this piano. This makes me smile.

Many years ago my mom recalled my favorite decoration was a music box wall nativity that played Silent Night when the string was pulled so she gave it to me. This also makes me smile.

From Visiting Vintage

More "modern" is my Best of Christmas in the Northwest CD - this the cover unfolded because I love the lyrics to Another Wet Seattle Christmas. Album presented in 1994 by the now defunct Ernst Home and Nursery.

From Visiting Vintage

VERY meaningful to me is every Christmas Eve service that I've attended since I was very young is concluded with individual candle lighting during the singing of Silent Night. I don't have an old photo of this important tradition for me but this is a couple of years ago at my church.

From Bellevue

Merry Musical Christmas to you!!

Christmas gift ideas from the 60s

2011-11-30T21:34:00.000-08:00

More ads from December 1966 and 1967 - hot Christmas gift ideas

From Vintage Goodness

(the pattern I grew up with is on the left - Frostfire)

From Vintage Goodness

Vintage Christmas Cards

2011-11-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

From the extensive collection of my Grandmother-in-Law Maren's keepsakes, I have dozens of vintage Christmas cards from the 1920s and 1930s. They are beautiful! Some have messages written in Danish on the back. If you can read Danish and can help me translate some of the messages, I would be very appreciative! I scanned a few of the card backs and they are in my album found here.
Below are just a few Danish Christmas cards.
Glædelig jul!!!

From Vintage Danish Cards

according to Google Translate: "Now it's Christmas, oh, thank goodness! I am so glad, therefore, that God his son gave to the world; today he came to earth"

From Vintage Danish Cards

*Updated - more here

Photography and Christmas

2011-11-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

Lots of opportunities for photography during the winter holidays. But what about lighting? I remember the big bowl shaped flash reflector especially from my Dad's dad's camera: bleary-eyed, early-morning gift opening and those flashes were bright like lightning. A new flash bulb was required for every shot - and they were pretty hot to the touch so it wasn't like you could swap them speedily. But maybe Grandpa thought they were pretty spiffy because it sure beat using explosive powder to produce artificial lighting - check out this brief history of photographic flash photography.

But then came the flash cube - you could shoot four consecutive photos! Photography was getting easier and easier.
"When a man decides to shoot visiting relatives he can't afford to miss." (December 1966 ad)

From Vintage Goodness

Kodak had a significant role in amateur photography - according to Kodak's timeline, the Instamatic line was introduced in 1963 and quickly became a huge success. A December 1966 ad makes helpful gift suggestions for those who already have one

From Vintage Goodness

My dad was pretty excited to give my mom her own Kodak Instamatic camera in the early 70's

From Visiting Vintage

He had been in to photography since he was a teenager - he worked after school at a camera store in Bremerton. He was thrilled to get photography equipment for his darkroom at Christmas (I think this is a dryer)

From Visiting Vintage

Dad gave me darkroom equipment for Christmas when I also showed interest in the hobby in high school. I won a small TV in a photography contest about the same time but it wasn't with my "real" camera (I had an Argus C3 and a Minolta 101) it was with my mom's Instamatic above - I put my sunglasses over the lens and shot a sailboat photo into the sun.

And then for several years, my parents were the Santa photographers at Factoria Square Mall.

From Bellevue 1979

You can't see very clearly but he used a Mamiya for the portrait photos - families had to return to the mall to pick up their prints or have their packages mailed to them. He also used a high quality Polaroid so families could take one with them.

My parents occasionally still do photography professionally. We both have Nikons now - his is far fancier than mine! While I enjoy photography year round - it holds particularly fond memories for me at Christmas.

Groovy Christmas

2011-11-25T07:42:00.000-08:00

A month after our 1969 Thanksgiving photo, we returned to my grandparent's home to celebrate Christmas.

Psychedelicious

You may wish to shade your eyes

From Visiting Vintage

Thanksgiving & the Mayflower (Park Hotel)

2011-11-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

I recently mentioned my grandfather, Howard Johnson when I posted about a paint-by-number clown he painted for me.

Howard was born 1912 in British Columbia. He began his hospitality career at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC as a boy (pageboy standing on the left)

From Johnson Family

Somewhere in the family collection of photographs is a picture of an even younger Howard in a velvet suit carrying in the boar's head for a Christmas feast at the grand hotel.

Grandpa worked at other hotels in British Columbia before immigrating to Washington in 1951 with my grandmother and my pre-teen mother. I thought he moved to The States to take a job at the Mayflower Park Hotel in Seattle - which seems charmingly quaint to me - the Mayflower is what brought my mom's family to America! However in a conversation over at Vintage Seattle about the Carousel Room, the Mayflower Park Hotel historian mentions my grandfather was General Manager there from 1955-1959. Perhaps he worked another position at the Mayflower before being promoted to General Manager and I can still think the Mayflower brought my family to America. . . .

Mayflower Park Hotel postcard before my grandfather's era

From Visiting Vintage

Forward another decade after working at the Mayflower and through several other hotels (he went on to work at the Edgewater Inn - he was employed there when the Beatles fished from the window!) and here we are celebrating (quite seriously) Thanksgiving in 1969 with my grandpa and grandma. Another of his paint-by-numbers is hanging on the wall.

From Visiting Vintage

That was my grandfather's last Thanksgiving. He passed away July 1970 at age 58.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of memories of him but two of them include hotels - I remember sharing a bowl of ice cream just me and him at the Edgewater and I remember watching a Seafair parade from a window of the Mayflower (he no longer worked there) . At this Thanksgiving time, among a plethora of my many, MANY blessings, I am grateful that Howard Johnson created a life for his family which in turn contributed hugely to my very fortunate existence.

Very happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Retro Toys

2011-11-20T20:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend my fourteen year old daughter got nostalgic. She came across her "retro toys" (her words). How can something manufactured during the 21st century be considered "retro"?! She found a tutorial to fix a circa 2000 Pokemon game for Nintendo Gameboy Color - this seems even more ancient to her since she inherited the Gameboy a few years ago from her cousin who is now in college. And she bought new batteries for her Tamagotchi Connections that she collected in third grade. I guess your childhood toys from elementary school seem quaint when you're in ninth grade.

From Visiting Vintage

Today I came across some vintage comic books that were nostalgic to me. Here's one -
Little Lulu No. 214 September 1973

From Visiting Vintage

The ads inside made me smile at the memory of reading them with childhood eyes

From Visiting Vintage

In the same stack I found I had saved a comic book that someday my 23 year old may feel nostalgic about - Sonic the Hedgehog No. 1 October 1995

From Visiting Vintage

I guess "retro" is in the eye of the beholder. Nostalgia is a nice place to visit if the memories add a smile to your day.

Historical Research

2011-11-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I went to the 2011 Basics of Historical Research Workshop that I learned about through a post on Facebook. They had me at "Historical Research Workshop" and then to learn it was very local to me and FREE, I could hardly wait! There were genealogists, local history teachers and librarians all gathered in a lecture hall at Bellevue College for a little over three hours with three presentations about history research.

And then we got to tour the Puget Sound Regional Archives Branch of the Washington State Archives.

From Bellevue

Yep, I was giddy. I interrupted the tour to ask permission to photograph because I was so thrilled to be there. Thankfully he even allowed flash photography.

From Bellevue

Most people don't go back in to the climate controlled collections - you call/e-mail/fax/write and request materials that they will locate and let you view in their public area.

From Bellevue

Flak over Esbjerg Denmark

2011-10-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

Part two of "War is Scary".

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

These photos, too were in Maren's photo albums. They are scary yet eerily beautiful. I can't imagine what it would be like to be close enough to photograph an event like this. Last night I e-mailed The Archives of Danish Occupation History (thankfully they have information posted in English!) to find out if these photos could be dated and already heard back from Henrik Lundtofte Head of Archives. He wrote that this was probably April 20, 1943. I have a lot to learn about World War II and I especially don't know much about the war as it impacted Denmark except that Denmark was occupied by Germany. I did find this information about Halifax II JB930 crash landed near Esbjerg 20/4-1943 which once I have time to read all the pages I will be very helpful to learn about the night.

After the war, the German mines were blown up and she also had a photo of that.

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

Maren and Hans Andersen had been in the United States since the first decade of the 1900's but they still had relatives in Denmark. I can assume that it was a relative of Hans that sent these photos to America. And again, I am so grateful to Maren for keeping them.

Ingemann J. H. Jorgensen

2011-10-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

If you read my last post, I mentioned that I am trying to research a man named Ingeman with no last name. Not easy.

This morning I went to a free workshop titled The Basics of Historical Resarch at Bellevue College Campus in the same building as The Puget Sound Branch of the Washington State Archives.

LOVED IT!!!

For whatever reason, I haven't used the Washington State Archives database much (maybe I tried it and it didn't have much of interest to me as the collection was starting to grow so I forgot about it). I thought I'd poke around when I got home and even though I only have a first name, I decided to search it since it's not too common in the United States.

BINGO!

There's no doubt in my mind that this is the right Ingeman since he's from Mount Vernon and served at Camp Cody. Quite a thrill to have another important piece of the puzzle. I would still love to know if he's somehow related to Hans and Maren Andersen or was just a close friend. But I definitely feel like I'm making progress in Maren's albums and scrapbooks!

Ingeman at Camp Cody

2011-10-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

War is scary. So still with no vintage Halloween photos, I'm posting about Ingeman at Camp Cody. A (gas)mask seems suitable for my Halloween week photos.

From Camp Cody - Ingeman

I don't know who Ingeman is but he sent photos and postcards to my Grandfather-in-law (the one married to Maren who kept up lots of photo albums and several scrapbook treasures). I can't find any details about his last name. He wrote both in Danish and in English. One photo has Maren's handwriting and tells us he's at the Paulsens. I don't know who the Paulsens are, either but I've seen other photos marked Paulsen and Polsen and if I recall correctly in one of the other thick albums I saw mention that they lived in Burlington, Skagit County, WA. Maren and Hans moved around Skagit and lived in Sedro Woolley, Burlington and Mt. Vernon.

For the better part of this year, I had this photo as my blog banner at the top:

From Camp Cody - Ingeman

I couldn't identify it where it was but Maren had pasted it in an album that I've had for over a decade that ranges from about 1910-1927. After looking through a couple of new-to-me-trunks late this summer, I found postcards from World War 1 time frame from someone named Ingeman and sent from Camp Cody. Summer ended and I headed back-to-work and didn't have much time to spend looking in to Camp Cody since quick searches and me being easily sidetracked when I surf didn't turn up much for me. Last weekend I remembered I still wanted to confirm this and I found http://campcodydeming.orbs.com/ - I wrote the webmaster, Michael Kromeke and he confirmed the photo location for me and sent me a plethora of interesting links. So the mystery of the location of "Base Hosp" has been solved but I'd still like to know more about Ingeman - did he get sent overseas during The Great War and how he was important to Hans and Maren Andersen?

More Camp Cody and Ingeman photos here:

Dolls

2011-10-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

STILL no vintage Halloween photos. But dolls from this era (this photo is the mid-1920's) sometimes come across as creepy to me - and the crayon colorization . . . My cheerfully cute mother-in-law is quite pleased with her dollies here, though!

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

Neely Mansion

2011-10-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

Still no vintage Halloween finds of my own but I did remember a photo I took of the Neely Mansion in about 1978.

From Visiting Vintage

You could tell it had been a beautiful house back in the day but had fallen into disrepair.

It has since been wonderfully restored - see their website. It's listed on the National Register for Historic Places, the Washington State Register and is a designated King County landmark.

Paul Dorpat wrote about it - read here.

Back in 1978, it certainly looks perfect for a haunted house.

Northern State Hospital - Sedro Woolley

2011-10-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

I wish I had some vintage Halloween photos. But since I don't, I figured I'd post a little about Northern State Hospital in Sedro Woolley, WA. Abandoned mental hospitals are certainly locations people hope to find ghosts. "Ghost Hunters" even conducted an investigation there in Season Three called "Lost Souls"

I don't have any scary stories to share about Northern State Hospital but it was where my husband's grandfather, Hans Andersen worked as a Poultry Man. My mother-in-law, Viola Andersen Robertson wrote about her father:

In 1924, Dad was the head of the Poultry division at the hospital. I remember Smitty who was mentally deficient but so sweet. He was helper in the chicken house - he would do everything by routine. He grew sweet peas and always gave me bouquets.

According to a Skagit River Journal article about Northern State "The poultry farm was also sizable, supplying 36,798 pounds of dressed hens and fryers. Jones was determined that enough eggs be produced to allow at least one per patient per day. To that end, 139,207 eggs were laid that year." It appears to me, the farms there not only supplied food for the patients but also served as occupational therapy.

I've requested the book "Under the Red Roof" from my library and I hope to learn more about the farming at the hospital.

Some photos kept by Hans' wife Maren Nielsen Andersen whom I have shared addition photos from.

From Skagit Co. photos

Maren is pictured on the right and Vi is in the middle - caption reads "from hospital Reservoir"

From Skagit Co. photos

"The Geese Pond at State Hospital"

From Skagit Co. photos

This one isn't captioned but the roofline looks enough alike to me that I'm pretty sure it's the State Hospital. Hans Andersen on the left, Viola Andersen on the right.

From Skagit Co. photos

I can't quite read the caption but I think she is indicating these are boarder houses at the hospital.

From Skagit Co. photos

"Pheasants at State Hospital"

Patches Pal and Gampa

2011-09-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

Matt's blog and request led to this post. Puget Sound natives of a certain age all remember our beloved TV clown J. P. Patches. And they probably also heard on the news, Facebook or Twitter that J. P. Patches had his final public appearance last Saturday at at the Fishermen's Fall Festival at Seattle's Fishermen's Terminal.

Matt's blog post brought to my mind when I was in fourth grade and entered a poster contest. I was very proud of my crayon drawing of Esmerelda, J. P.'s rag doll. I had my own Raggedy Ann doll that I hadn't given up still in fourth grade so I loved drawing Esmerelda. My poster won "Honorable Mention" - I believe this was the first time I'd ever heard that term. I was thrilled to go up on stage and recieve a Patches Pal iron-on transfer from J. P. Patches himself. I don't have a photo of my poster nor of me on stage but I mentioned to Matt that I thought I still had my sweatshirt that I ironed it on to somewhere. So, Matt, here it is!

From Visiting Vintage

The shirt is stained and the transfer crackled but as you can see I never could part with it.

In a way, J. P. Patches connects me to my Grandpa, too. My Grandfather, Howard Johnson died when I was eight. I don't have a lot of memories of him but he enjoyed paint-by-numbers in his free time. He painted a clown for me. I actually never really understood sad clowns but this is the one painted just for me - he signed it Gampa which is apparently what I called him when I was two. So despite the frown on this clown, it resembles J. P. Patches to me.

From Visiting Vintage

So, J. P. and Gampa - thank you for the smiles and the fond memories from childhood!

Back to School and College 1959

2011-09-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

Our district is starting up again today, the day after Labor Day. I enjoyed this cover of the September 12, 1959 Saturday Evening Post. I love working at an elementary school, so I'm going back-to-school myself. But, wouldn't it be nice to relax on the sofa with a cup of coffee for some alone time?

From Vintage Goodness

Carefree college coeds circa 1959 enjoying autumn between classes

From Vintage Goodness

Labor Day

2011-09-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

Labor Day usually indicates the end of summer to me. However, I do want to remember the real reason for the holiday weekend. From the facts page found on the United States Department of Labor regarding the holiday:
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

And I can't pass up an opportunity to share ads from the September 12, 1959 edition of the Saturday Evening Post that demonstrate American strength, prosperity and well-being of our country

From Vintage Goodness

(not that I like promoting cigarettes, but I do love the firefighters with their old trucks)

From Vintage Goodness

Happy Labor Day to all but especially to those who sweat; in the words of Mike Rowe the hard-working Americans who make civilized life possible for the rest of us.

Fabulous Fair in Seattle

2011-08-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

The Century 21 "Seattle World's Fair" opened April 21, 1962. I'm enjoying memorabilia being shared especially as we approach the Fair's fiftieth anniversary.

Life Magazine had a spread February 9, 1962. I love the flame shooting needle!

From Seattle Space Needle views

And a beautiful artist's rendering of the fairgrounds at night:

From Seattle Space Needle views

I can't imagine working on the top of Needle!

From Seattle Space Needle views

A wonderful collection of postcards and memorabilia can be found here:

If you have eighteen minutes - check out this "History in Motion" video with promotional and documentary clips - featuring lots of Fair tidbits such as Boeing's innovative Spacearium, the "jazzy aspect of (Seattle's) transportation picture" installation of the zippy monorail, and some time-lapse of the Needle being built!

Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up

Back in the day, Century 21 Exposition brought science, culture and fun all together in one 74 acre plot in Seattle.

Seattle Center's information about remembering the Fair can be found at The Next 50

Walt and the US Navy

2011-07-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

Like many boys his era, my father-in-law Walter S. Robertson joined the military as soon as he graduated high school in Mount Vernon, Washington at age eighteen. It was 1936.

He enlisted in the US Navy. Training camp was in San Diego.

From Walt's Navy Photos

Walt was sent to Panama Canal aboard the USS Bushnell (more here) in 1937, Guantama Bay as a Submarine Tender and Norfolk, Virginia to service subs.

From Walt's Navy Photos

He developed pleurisy which was worse in the tropics and was discharged due to the illness in 1938 from Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Virginia.

Walt then met Vi when on a double date - Walt was with Wilma and Vi was dating Gordon Shea - both couples switched partners. Vi and Walt married August 31, 1941. Walt joined the Naval Reserve in 1943 when World War II was in full swing.

From Walt's Navy Photos

He went through Hospital Corps School at Farragut, Idaho

From Walt's Navy Photos

and was stationed at the United States Naval Hospital in Seattle (Fircrest). He received training as a pharmacist mate - the doctor in charge was Wendell G. Scott who wrote text on Radiology.

From Walt's Navy Photos

After his tour was over in 1945, he returned to Mt. Vernon to his wife and baby daughter, Judy. They moved to Yakima, Washington where Walt worked as an X-Ray technician for St. Elizabeth's Hospital and four more children were born.

From Robertson, Fey, Noakes

His career then took his family to Bellevue, WA where he became the manager of the Xonics Inc. X-Ray Co. in Seattle. He retired from there in 1982.

More Navy photos
If anyone can confirm that the beginning photos of this album are in-fact San Diego, I would appreciate it (they weren't labeled).

Seattle of the Past

2011-07-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

I blogged a bit about my grandmother-in-law a few months back . Yesterday I was delighted to borrow for a season even more of her treasures. One is a scrapbook with newspaper clippings with everything from World War 1, Seattle and Skagit county tidbits, humor pieces and articles about famous people. It's awesome. The funny thing is I KNOW how awesome this is but still find myself wishing she didn't paste crooked or cut dates and publication names off. I am chiding myself for being bothered by this because this book is a gem and who am I to complain when there are so many things to delight over it about?!

Here are three images of Seattle I wanted to share with others who can't get enough of old Seattle. There's no date on this but I think it might be about 1930 and I would love any comments if there's anything about this photo that can help in dating it. "Here is a photograph of modern Seattle's skyline showing some of the principle buildings 1--Terminal Sales 2--Securities 3--Bon Marche. 4--Shopping Tower. 5--Medical-Dental. 6--Vance. 7--Fourth Avenue. 8--Northern Life. 9--Olympic Hotel. 10--Marlborough. 11--Exchange. 12--County-City. 13--Smith" (middle of scrapbook page - click image and look for magnifying glass to enlarge)

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

I'm not really clear if the image above the "Today And Yesterday" clipping was part of the same article. The buildings don't look familiar to me. *Update 1/19/12 - Identified buildings found on Paul Dorpat's site

This was a really tiny photo that appears to be something she purchased:

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

The next beautiful photo is dated 1932: "The Seattle Sunday Times Rotogravure Pictorial Sections June 5, 1932. "The U.S.S. Akron visits the Pacific Northwest: The Big Naval Airship is seen in her flight over Seattle. High above the towers of the business district the huge dirigible sails as, during her loop over the city, she heads Northward for her appearance over Everett, Bellingham, Port Townsend and Port Angeles. She came up the coast from Sunnyvale, Cal. This view was from the roof of the Exchange Building."

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

Sadly, According to Wikipedia, The U.S.S. Akron met with a disaster less than a year after its West Coast tour.

Willie Hawes of Silver City, Idaho

2011-07-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

From Delamar and Silver City, Idaho

William James Hawes was born September 27, 1876 in Silver City, Idaho - the eldest child of Richard "Uncle Dickie" Stevens Hawes (of Lelant, Cornwall) and Phillipa Edwards (of Jacksonville, California). Dickie had a younger brother named William James Hawes who died at age 19 (of consumption) six years before the birth of his first-born.

From Delamar and Silver City, Idaho

William James is also known as Bill, Billie, Billy, Willie, "Ghost Town Guardian" and "Two-Gun Willie". My grandfather's name was William John George Hawes. He and Willie were first cousins - my grandfather was born 1907 in nearby Delamar, ID.

It doesn't appear that Willie had any children. But he is remembered in various writings and I've included some excerpts. I wish I could have met him because I would have loved to hear his stories. He was the last year-round-resident of Silver City which at an elevation of 6,300 feet and only dirt roads to get there is pretty remote. Deep winter snows make the road impassable. If he wanted to visit family or friends at Christmas, he would put on snowshoes and walk 25 miles to Murphy, ID. The electricity was removed after Silver City lost the County Seat position to Murphy in 1934. Residents and officials began to move away and vendors and vandals began to remove much of Silver City's valuables.

From Delamar and Silver City, Idaho

From "Historic Silver City - The Story of the Owyhees" by Mildretta Adams c. 1960 "Only one man kept the faith. Willie Hawes, who had been born in Silver City in 1876, 'lowed as how there was no better place for him to live, and elected to remain there. This self-styled keeper of the keys is, in a large measure, responsible for the town being preserved as well as it is, and for this Owyhee County owes him a debt of gratitude. Silver City was much publicized in the '40's as a Ghost town, and Will Hawes as a year round resident came in for his share of glory. Probably the most photographed man in Idaho, Will Hawes at 85 lends a colorful air to the old town. In the winter time he is content to keep the bean pot boiling and the sour dough crock in order. He keeps 'in touch' with the outside world by telephone and radio. When spring 'breaks', and the roads are open Willie emerges forth with an amazing energy to 'make law and order prevail.'"

From The Idaho Sunday Statesman: Sunday July 11, 1948 by Bill A. Wheeler

"World War II forced the closure of gold and silver properties so that everyone had to look for beans elsewhere; everyone, that is except Old W. J. (Billy) Hawes who thought he'd better stick around to look after things and finish building his autymobeel out of wood scraps and a washing machine motor. . . Summer travel over the old wagon road up from the county seat at Murphy is a blistering adventure whether you do it once a day or once in a lifetime. In the winter the road is impassable, and in the summer, taking a literal point of view, it is impossible, although 75 carloads of tourists were counted by "Sheriff" Billy Hawes the Sunday before July Fourth. Billy carefully takes down each license number and totals the passengers, just in case any buildings or their contents are missing. Idahoans, not to mention thrillseekers from Waukegan, Peoria and Azusa, are starved for pages out of the past not yet exploited by neon lights.

photo submitted to "Reasons to Love Idaho" by Marty from Boise

It is partly the road, partly the lack of good historical information and partly due to Billy Hawes' .38 revolver and loud voice that Silver City is not a tourist Mecca. When Hawes was left alone during the war, Writer Ernie Hood did a piece on the desertion of Silver and soon after everyone who could get a gas coupon chugged over here on Sundays to loot and gawk. It was the looting that set Hawes on his ear and he got deputized by the sheriff at Murphy so he could put a stop to that. Someone had taken crucifixes and other valuables from the historic old Catholic mission; others desecrated the second Masonic lodge in Idaho. They walked off with bar glasses, porcelain pitchers and basins, and carved their initials on hallowed ground."

From "Owyhee Trails, The West's Forgotten Corner." by Mike Hanley

"A few old-timers remained after the mines closed down for the last time, partly from loyalty to the past and partly because there seemed no other place to go. It was cheap if not progressive living in this backwash of the West, but at least things weren't crowded, and there wasn't any traffic or smog problem. Last of these old-timer permanent residents was Willie Hawes who died in 1967. Hawes was for years the self-appointed guardian of Silver City, adding to the color of the proud old camp with lively tales of its boom town days."

From Delamar and Silver City, Idaho

"Bill Hawes" featured in July-August 1958 edition of "True West" Magazine pp15, 34, 35 'Ghost Town Guardian' by Norman B. Wiltsey.

From Delamar and Silver City, Idaho

Captions by photos read: Left: "Sheriff" Billy Hawes and beer vat where he fashioned a miniature "tavern." There is a tiny bar with a barkeep and a little table. Below: Silver City in its heyday.

Some men yearn for fame, others want to be millionaires; all Bill Hawes craves is his job as a

'Ghost Town Guardian'

Ever get fed up with punching a time clock every day, struggling to pay the monthly bills, battling this tough modern world? Ever become so weary and frustrated that you wished to Heaven you were the only resident of a ghost town somewhere, anywhere, with only coyotes for neighbors and a pack rat for your best friend? If the answer is a heartfelt yes, consider the ideal set up of Bill Hawes, of Silver City, Idaho.

William J. Hawes, to give him his full legal handle, is pushing eighty but you'd never suspect it to look at him. Bill claims that peace and solitude keep him young and sprightly and it sure looks that way. He is the self appointed mayor, councilman, police chief, fireman, postman, dog catcher and general handyman of Silver City, once a thriving metropolis of the Old West. He holds all these titles because he is the only bonafide year-around resident of Silver City, and he gets a wry kick out of awarding himself these mythical posts at no salary per annum."

Willie, left, in uniform with his siblings John "Shorty" Hawes, Lillie (Mrs. Robert) Leonard, and Dick Hawes:

From Delamar and Silver City, Idaho

John, Lillie and Willie

From Delamar and Silver City, Idaho

More information on William James Hawes and Silver City, ID

Thank you Willie, for doing a big part to preserve Americana history!

East Channel Bridge Removal

2011-06-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

I found some photos I took of the East Channel bridge being removed. I think these were taken about May 1982. I'm not sure when this version was built. History Link has some information here about the first bridge in that location opening in 1923 and refers to a newer bridge being completed by 1940 when they removed the 1923 one. So I think this bridge was built sometime in the 30's.

From Bellevue 1979

Anyone remember how long they had to close down this portion of I-90 between Belleve and Mercer Island?

Here's a great post by Kurt Clark on the Lacey V. Murrow and Homer M. Hadley floating bridges which continues I-90 from the west side of Mercer Island over to Seattle.

Classic Chevy for Father's Day

2011-06-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!

I was trying to resist but succumbed and purchased more old "American Home" magazines on E-bay. They just arrived yesterday and make me smile. For Father's Day, I just had to share some classic Chevy advertisements. Love, love, LOVE them!!! I recall growing up our family had a Corvair and a Chevy at one time or another. (As usual click on the image and then look for the magnifying glass near the top of the page to see them larger)

From Vintage Goodness

1957

From Vintage Goodness

1959

From Vintage Goodness

1962

From Vintage Goodness

1962

Clean and Dry

2011-05-31T09:27:00.000-07:00

It used to frustrate me to try to take scenic photos where I couldn't avoid cars being in the shot. Then I noticed I really appreciated seeing old photos that DID have cars in them so I don't let myself get as bothered by them anymore since perhaps I will feel the same way about cars in my own photos in the future.

In browsing these old "The American Home" magazines issues this past week, I've realized the same thing about all the advertisements. Reading current magazines, I've been annoyed that they are half full of ads. But now that I'm enjoying the vintage ads, I will assume that sometime in the future someone will enjoy the ads that irritate me.

These are probably four of my favorites. I'm not alone - people framed the Swan Soap ads for wall decor. I also notice a coupon to order the print without the ad.

Get clean and dry!

From Vintage Goodness

"Ask the neighbors in for 'burger barbecue'"

2011-05-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

While we are eager to kick summer off this weekend, we should by no means forget what Memorial Day is all about. Please remember to honor those who served and sacrificed for our country.

With an extra day in the weekend many choose to have a party! Check out these vintage World War 2 era food ads (click on the image and find the magnifying glass to enlarge):

Not just for breakfast - appetizer recipes for entertaining:

From Vintage Goodness

"Ask the neighbors in for 'burger barbecue'"

From Vintage Goodness

Salad recipes to brag about:

From Vintage Goodness

And keep this canning calendar handy since it's almost that season:

From Vintage Goodness

And whether for your own entertaining or for the June brides in your life:

From Vintage Goodness

Patriotic Home and Appliance Care

2011-05-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

More WW2 ads in honor of Memorial Day Weekend.

Taking care of your home and your appliances was the patiotic duty of early 1940's Americans. Families learned to live without or make due with what they had so that resources could be used for the War Effort to bring our men home.

Protect your home's exterior! Be sure to use lead based paint!

From Vintage Goodness

Properly maintain your heating system!

From Vintage Goodness

"Uncle Sam says 'Keep homes in good repair'!"

From Vintage Goodness

Use your refrigerator appropriately!

From Vintage Goodness

And you can dream of your future kitchen!

From Vintage Goodness

"Let's Hasten the Day"

2011-05-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day Weekend and always, heartfelt thanks to those who have served and who are serving our country defending our freedom.

Some more vintage World War 2 advertisements from "The American Home" magazine. Sacrifices on the homefront didn't match those overseas but Americans stateside were trying to do their part.

From Vintage Goodness

"One of those 'certain days'"

2011-05-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

Apologies in advance to those with a "Y" chromosome who might not find this post quaint but, rather . . . awkward!

I rarely read women's magazines. But I'm thrilled to have two called The American Home. One is dated August 1942 which sold for 10¢; the other from June 1943 had gone up 50% to 15 ¢. The format is larger than most current women's magazines 12 3/4" (32+cm) X 9 3/4" (~25cm). Of course most ads and articles connect to World War 2.

I will probably post more from these charming magazines but I'm starting with these three ads regarding "trying days of the month". Be sure to click to see them in a readable size.

From Vintage Goodness

Maren Nielsen Andersen & the Rev. Dr. Mark Allison Matthews

2011-05-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

I met Maren (née Nielsen) Andersen in the early 1980's - she was born March 20, 1889 in Varde, Næsbjerg, Denmark so she was in her early 90s at the time. She was my fiancée's maternal grandmother. Maren was very sweet to me - I figured at her age she had met countless people and that it must be difficult to keep track of details of newcomers. I was delighted that she joked with me that I belonged in the family since my name begins with J so I fit in with several current family members Judy, Jolene, Jane, Jean.

She took an interest in my Presbyterian upbringing. I learned she immigrated from Denmark at age 18 to Wilbur, Washington aboard the Hellig Olav in 1907

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

and she soon there-after got a job working as a domestic for the Rev. Dr. Mark A. Matthews in Seattle.

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

Maren appears to have had a lot of respect for him. She clipped and saved many newspaper articles about him.

Dr. Matthews was quite active in early 20th century Seattle politics and religion as a Presbyterian minister. According to History Link he "pastored Seattle’s First Presbyterian Church for 38 years, from 1902 to 1940. He built his congregation into the denomination’s largest, with nearly 10,000 members at its height" "He spearheaded social projects and helped create new institutions such as Seattle Day Nursery, which evolved into Childhaven, one of the state’s most successful institutions to treat child abuse. He helped lead the effort to establish Harborview Hospital." The article goes on to describe his controversial efforts as well.

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

The Reverend and his wife gave a lovely carving set to Maren upon her marriage to Hans Andersen in 1910. When I married her grandson in 1983 Maren thought we should have this beautiful gift and I will treasure it always.

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

She died a few years later in 1985 at age 96. Of course I wish I had asked for more stories and found out more about her.

"I stalk dead people and hope to connect with their descendants on Facebook"

2011-04-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

Even when I was very young, I had an interest in life stories. I recall in elementary school my favorite books were by Laura Ingalls Wilder and biographies of Helen Keller. Fast forward to when my son was in fourth grade in 1997 and assigned a cultural heritage project for class. My daughter was less than a year old at the time. I wanted to keep a consistent schedule for her which meant I was stuck at home during her two hour naps. I was a newbie to the Internet and decided to poke around to see what I could learn about my husband’s and my family history to help with my son’s school’s project. I thought it would be fascinating to discover life stories of people I was related to that might be just as interesting as the pioneer life tales I loved in “Little House in the Big Woods”.
Even back in 1997 it wasn’t hard to add new pieces to the family puzzle using Internet searches. Early sites I remember using were GenForum, Cyndi’s List , and US GenWeb . It was even before the Mormon’s came on-line to the public at Family Search. From my local library I checked out and downloaded a CD Rom of an early version of Family Treemaker. (It didn’t take long before I purchased my own software and have purchased several upgrades since). I was giddy when I discovered a descendant of my Wales born great grandmother’s half-brother just living a few hours north of me in Canada. He seemed as excited as me when I called him from out of the blue to explain who I was and we eventually made arrangements to meet. I found mailing address sites and postally mailed dozens of letters to all the Grenfells I could find living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan because I could learn more about my great, great grandmother from them and could barely contain myself when one came back starting with the sentence “BINGO You have hit the JACKPOT.” I corresponded with him for several years and learned more family stories and connected with additional relatives before he sadly died.

I know many of my friends and family think it odd that I can get so caught up in genealogy. Family history tends to be a passion of the retired and I’ve got a while to go before I reach that milestone. In addition to the above mentioned distant Grenfell cousin that died, there have been a few others I was so glad I connected with before they passed away but I still have regrets of all the stories I didn’t get. Genealogy can definitely be an obsession and sometime I don’t really understand my own drive to turn over every stone to see what lies underneath. And it can be challenging to stay focused. I could absolutely relate to Clue Wagon's "the names have been changed to protect the inocent" blog post here. There is so much to discover! And it always leads to other avenues to investigate!

I have had my genealogy addiction under pretty good control the last couple of years. But Facebook has introduced me to another way to find distant cousins. I absolutely love it but feel it impossible to keep up with everyone I would like to. NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are was a show I avoided for awhile while I kept my obsession in-check but several people kept telling me I would love it. They were right. The first one I DVRd, I intended to get some laundry done while I watched it with one eye. Well, the laundry didn’t get done and I’ve watched every episode since. I definitely enjoy seeing others just as fascinated by the people and stories of those who came before them. As a pretty-darn-blessed-American, I am in awe of all that my children’s fore-mothers and fore-fathers endured. Farming on rocks, mining in dangerous conditions, deaths of their children, difficult ocean voyages, harsh winters, destructive fires and rampant illness to name a few hardships. I feel very lucky for those that survived long enough to give birth to my children’s ancestors! And I want to thank them by remembering them. I hope to share some of their stories here in the future.

Kerry Park view of the Space Needle

2011-04-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

The countdown is on to the 50th Anniversary of Century 21 Seattle World's Fair! It goes without saying that the Space Needle is probably one of the most photographed icons in our region. Ground breaking for the Space Needle began April 17th, 1961. A favorite viewpoint of The Needle is Kerry Park on Queen Anne. One of these days maybe I'll see if I can collect enough images from this vantage point and create a time-line slideshow of the Seattle Skyline featuring the Space Needle. Please let me know if someone has already done this (or plans on doing this) because it's something I'd really like to see!

The top photo is my mother's uncle and his family on a trip from Canada to Seattle visiting Kerry Park in 1963.

And the bottom photo is an undated photo I took from Kerry Park - I'm guessing it's about 1978. If you have any ideas to help me date it, please let me know.

"Base Hospital" about 1918?

2011-04-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

Unidentified "Base Hospital" other labels say Barracks, Kitchen, WMCA, Wards, Camp. Any ideas? Pasted in the photo album in about 1918 time frame. **UPDATE** found postcard from relative at Camp Cody, New Mexico! Can anyone confirm if this is or is not Camp Cody? Thanks! (click image and look for magnifying glass to enlarge)

Project To Restore The World War 1 Memorial Monument at Bellevue's Downtown Park

2011-03-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

(e-mail posted with permission of Robert Shay)
A follow-up to http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/bel/news/114384354.html A Bellevue Reporter Story

"Lest We Forget"

An account has been established at Bank of America and has been registered with the Washington Secretary of State and the IRS as a non profit corporation. I work full time and have to complete these tasks between other commitments. I have also been speaking with structural engineers, wood flag pole manufacturers and general contractors to get an idea of the scope and cost of the restoration. I have been working with the Battlefield Monuments Commission and Representative Dave Reichert to locate the graves of the three Eastside men who died in "The World War". To date only the grave of Victor E. Hanson has been located due to some diligent research by my daughter.
Victor E. Hanson, Private, U.S. Army
308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division
Entered the Service from: Washington
Died: October 12, 1918
Buried at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne, France

Thank you for your commitment to make a donation in memory of these three men who made the supreme sacrifice in defense of Freedom.

Please send your donation checks to the address below. I do appreciate your help with this project, so please e-mail when you put your contribution in the mail. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to friends and family that you think might be interested in our project. If they are not in the Pacific Northwest, they may make contributions at any Bank of America branch. If they have any questions they may contact me via e-mail.

Make checks payable to: Project To Restore The WWI Memorial

Please mail to:
Robert Shay
610 123rd Ave. NE
Bellevue, WA 98005-3140

Robert Shay

Project To Restore The World War 1 Memorial Monument
In Bellevue's Downtown Park
A Washington State Chartered Non Profit Corporation
206.478.0505

Current Memorial

A proposal to add a doughboy granite figure

More information here

1985 Fremont

2011-02-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

Our first apartment was at 807 N. 40th in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. We lived across the street from BF Day Elementary (on the Linden Ave. side) and I loved walking in that old building when it was time to vote. I wish I had taken more photos while we were there but I just came across the ones I DID take and wanted to share them.

1987 Puget Sound Aerials

2011-02-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

My parents took me along when my dad was hired to take aerial photos of Factoria Square in early 1987. We had a beautiful day!

Factoria

2011-01-08T12:52:00.000-08:00

I was never very fond of the sound of the name but I grew up in Eastgate to the east of it until I was eleven and then lived in Woodridge to the north of it the rest of my childhood.

In the very early 70’s I remember being at Sunset Elementary (now Puesta del Sol) and students in true hippy fashion taping up protest signs and laying in front of excavation equipment at the edge of school property in hopes of stopping the cutting down of trees for development in the Factoria area.

I remember going to the drive-in theater (wasn’t that called Sunset, too?) and playing in the playground waiting for it to get dark so the movie could start. My parents even took us when they went to see M*A*S*H even though it was rated R since my sister and I would probably fall asleep in the back seat (I think I peeked and saw the shower fall down revealing Major Houlihan)

Before Factoria Mall was built I remember an old house standing alone on that property. The land was said to be too soggy to build on. The old house was used as a haunted house at Halloween a couple of times by a radio station. Sadly about 1974 a Newport High School teen accidentally hung himself – he had a rope around his neck and was standing on a box; he lost his footing. The way I remember it told, no one realized it wasn’t part of the scare so he didn’t get help. I've been told his name as Brad Lundgren who was a sophomore at the time :-( .

There was a very small grocery store – looking at the very few old Factoria photos I can find on the internet, I guess it was called Sunset Super Market. But I thought we called it Harry’s (anybody remember this?). My mom wouldn’t let us walk there by ourselves and I don’t think she felt comfortable going in there in the early-mid 70’s either. As kids, we were pretty excited when 7-11 was built sometime in the mid 70’s! We were allowed to walk there and I remember buying long, stale, sticks of green-apple bubble gum. Watermelon was also a popular flavor-du-jour. Safeway opened shortly thereafter but going there for candy with mom certainly wasn’t the same as walking with a group of friends to 7-11.

Here are some of the stores I remember and what they’ve been replaced with if I know – I haven’t been in there recently. Thank you to those who have helped me remember more stores - Please help me remember more.
Safeway (still there)
Pay-N-Save: I won a Black-and-White TV in a contest from their photo department! (now Rite Aid)
Lamonts (now TJ Maxx and DSW Shoes I think)
Ernest Hardware (now Old Navy and others)
Bean Pod (now Red Robin)
DJ Sound City (I think)
Hallmark Cards
Squire Shop
Kinney Shoes
Hot Dog Emporium
Tux Shop
B. Dalton's Books

**UPDATE** Thank you to Laura over at Facebook's "You know you're from Bellevue" for sharing this ad which helped me remember a whole lot more!

From Bellevue 1979

My first real job was at Pizza Haven – it was in a separate building behind Factoria Mall in Phase 2. It opened late summer 1978.

From Bellevue 1979

Phase two was leveled years ago and they built a new wing that is connected to the mall for Nordstrom Rack. In the parking lot behind Phase 2 was a restaurant called Barnaby’s. The Kentucky Fried Chicken in the parking lot is still there I believe. SeaFirst Bank was in the NorthEast corner of the Factoria Mall

From Bellevue 1979

My Dad and Mom took Santa Photos at Factoria in the early to mid 80’s. I was an Elf. I’ve always credited them with setting the standard for having really awesome looking Santas with real beards at Factoria. Factoria still has an awesome Santa and for my Christmas present every year my son takes my daughter for Santa photos with the both of them there.

From Bellevue 1979

Below are some interesting sites with Factoria history. I always assumed with the name they gave it, they wanted it to become an industrial area – but I never knew about the stove factory that never built a single stove nor the successful rabbit meat and fur industry.

Wikipedia Factoria, Bellevue, WA

Sledghammer’s blog Malls of the Seattle Area – A Tour of the Factoria Mall

City of Bellevue “Factoria Subarea Plan” (history on page 2 of document but print page 134)

Factoria “Back in the day”

Also - if you haven't seen this awesome video of old Bellevue, Check it out. Over the Bridge to Gracious LivingPlease share your Factoria stories. And photos if you have any!

Sailors Prayer

2010-12-27T13:40:00.001-08:00

From Visiting Vintage

My parents recently found this postcard sent to my great-grandmother in Bremerton from her daughters living in Ballard (my grandfather's sisters) in 1922. I thought it was sweet. I tried to leave the spelling of the poem "as is"

A Sailors Prayer
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Grant no other sailor take
My shoes and socks before I wake
Lord guard me in my slumber
And keep my hammock on its number
May no clews nor lashings break
And let me down before I wake
Keep me safely in thy sight
And grant no fire drill tonight.
And in the morning let me wake
Breathing scents of sirloin steak
God protect me in my dreams
And make this better than it seems
Grant the time may swiftly fly
When myself shall rest on high
In a snowy feather bed
Where I long to rest my head
Far away from all these scenes
And the smell of half-done beans
Take me back into the land
Where they don't scrub down with sand
Where no demond typhoon blows
Where women wash the clothes
God thou knowest all my woes
Feed me in my dying thoes
Take me back, I'll promise then
Never to leave home again.

THEREE YEARS LATER
Our Father who art in Washington
Pleas dear Father let me stay
Do not drive me now away
Wipe away my scalding tears
And let me stay my thirty years
Please forgive me all my past
And things that happened at the mast
Do not my request refuse
Let me Stay another cruise

Published by P. Wischmeyer 2131-8-AVE. Seattle

Solid Potato Salad - Ross Sisters 1944

2010-04-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

I originally became obsessed with this video featuring the Ross Sisters a few years ago - I watched it several times a day for quite a while and "had" to decipher the lyrics. There's something about this: the goofy song, the stage setting, the vintage costumes - not to mention the amazing contortions that had me enthralled. My sister-in-law gave me the VHS of the movie; it's from Broadway Rhythm (it's not released on DVD - go figure). I was curious to see how this clip fit in to a movie but the video got buried and I forgot about it. Last week a friend posted it on Facebook and again I can't get it out of my head! Now to track down my copy of the movie.
Here's my best attempt at lyrics - can anyone help me fix them?
Root toot tooo yew dut
Root toot tooo yew dut
Da doo day
Root toot tooo yew dut
Roo doo loo dooo loo dut bah doodle bay boys
Solid potato salad That's solid salad, Jack
Hit your _____ with
Solid potato salad, boys
Take my plate, Fill it up, And bring it right back
Solid potato salad
And lets have no Yak Yak
Solid potato salad, boys
Take my plate, fill it up, And bring it right back
The farmer said to the spud (solid solid salad days)
Your skin looks slightly pallid (solid solid salad days)
So I'll dig you later bud (solid solid salad days)
For some solid potato salad hoy hoy
Solid potato salad
It's a groovy, movie salad, Jack
Solid potato salad, boys

Dat do dat do dat do day
Bring it back!
And speaking of "bring it back" What say we re-introduce "solid" into the vernacular? You know . . . as in "that's sooo SOLID".
"Awesome" and "You rock" are totally over-used these days. We need this groovy word back as another way to say "excellent". Who's with me?

Food Allergy Walk - Kyle Dine Event August, 22, 2009

2009-08-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

The second annual Seattle area Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Walk was at Warren G. Magnuson Park August 22, 2009. It raised over $35,000 for FAAN - a non-profit based in Virginia that supports research and education for life-threatening food allergies and anaphylaxis.

Our Seattle area support group, WA-FEAST sponsored musician Kyle Dine to come in from Ontario for the day. I got to "chauffeur" him and this gave me even more time to spend with him and his delightful girlfriend. Immediately following the FAAN Walk, he gave a concert for the younger children. Then later in the afternoon he facilitated a team building event for Tweens and Teens about food allergy management and then early evening several of us kayaked at Lake Washington. It was a memorable day. Kyle Dine empowers children, teens and young adults through his music and his workshops. He is a LOT of fun and I realized during the day that I had really high expectations of what he would be like and he did not disappoint!

And even his last name is empowering to those with life-threatening food allergies!

He gave me permission to use one of his songs for a slideshow of the day:

Kristi's third birthday

2009-06-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

I'm still scanning and collecting old photos for my parent's Golden Anniversary celebration in August. My mom sent me these and they make me smile so I wanted to share them.

AG Bell Celebrates 40+ years

2009-06-16T20:46:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems my "thing" for old photos can't help but rear its head at my job, too.

Our school's former librarian was subbing a couple of months ago and rediscovered slides from the late 60's and early 70's. Before I could stop myself I heard myself saying, "Oh, I could probably get those scanned". (Thanks, Dad, for loaning me your film and slide scanner).

Then we decided since our school missed its 40th birthday, we should have a birthday celebration assembly for our students in conjunction with our end-of-year family barbecue. When I posted on Facebook that alumni were welcome to come to our lunch time barbecue, I heard from many, "I'd love to come to my old school but can't make it in the middle of the day" I heard myself say to the principal that I could host an open house in the late afternoon. Then when a former parent notified me that she had done a history timeline from 1967-1992 and that she would swing it by for me, it became quite obvious that I needed to recreate the school's history from then until now (I'm still working on it).

But, yeah, I still have students and the real part of my job which is culminating with the normal end-of-year craziness, too. Good times.

Here are some of our vintage slides

And a few "Then and Now" shots. I hope to add to this.

Old Photos of Montana

2009-04-21T07:23:00.001-07:00

I get to be the keeper of old photographs for both Tom's side and my side of the family. I have two small neatly organized photo albums from Tom's side that have higher quality photos than most photos I have and it has me wondering if a professional photographer took them and sold these completed albums. There are no photographer markings anywhere on the albums and only a few on the photos. This is Tom's grandfather Charles A. Robertson working in the mercantile in Gold Butte, Montana

From Toole County, MT

Tom's Great Grandmother was a Fey. They hailed originally from Prussia/Bavaria/Germany (I'm still trying to nail down what it was called and when). They immigrated to New York. Then a few decided to move to Montana since there was so much land. They were pretty successful as ranchers and mercantile owners. These photos appear to be belong to the Fey side - a few are labeled Gold Butte which is in Toole County. Other known towns the Feys lived in are Conrad, Shelby, Sweetgrass Hills, Great Falls and Valier. Be sure to click on the slideshow for larger images - I think these photos are pretty awesome!

I haven't heard of any connection to Tina Fey of SNL to Tom's Feys. But I have heard that they are related to Charles August Fey who invented the slot machine. I still haven't found the connection, though.

Snowflake craft

2008-12-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

I was looking for a simple winter craft for my lunch buddy mentors to do with their little buddies that didn't involve any paint/glue drying time and would end with a finished product that first through sixth graders would be proud of. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for but "designed" a pipe cleaner and pony bead snowflake that seems to be a hit. Here are the directions:
Take three chenille “pipe cleaners”. Wrap each around each other in the center so you have spokes like a wheel.

Put three beads on each spoke. Work over a tray so the beads don’t roll on the floor.

Take a fourth pipe cleaner and wrap one end of it just above the beads on one of the spokes.

Put two beads on the new pipe cleaner and wrap it around the next pipe cleaner above that spokes’ three beads and repeat until you have made a circle around the spokes of your snowflake.

Put five more beads on each spoke and bend the top of the pipe cleaner into a circle and wrap the remaining end above the last bead to keep it in place. Be careful of the wire tip of the pipe cleaner as you are wrapping!

Seattle 1978 and 2008

2008-08-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

I always looked forward to Paul Dorpat's column in the weekend Sunday newspaper magazine "Seattle Now and Then" when we subscribed to the Seattle Times. I have a "thing' for the nostalgic and love to visualize how things used to look. I recall being very pleased that Mr. Dorpat even e-mailed a reply to me once - about getting familiar with Adobe Photoshop to restore old photos.

For my birthday this year my mom gave me his book
Washington Then and Now I love to compare the differences.

I recently found this site Seattle Waterfront 1907-2002 "Handslider 3" is my favorite

My eleven year old had never been to the top of the Space Needle - we decided that we were slacking in our parental duties by never affording her this local treat. Since we took our twenty year old when he was about four he didn't recall it very well. All four of us ascended the icon in late July of this year on a bright and glorious day. Of course I took lots of photos.

Last week I started looking through old photos to scan in preparation for my parents Golden Wedding anniversary next year. I came across photos I took from the top of the Space Needle in 1978 when my cousins from the Midwest were here for our Grandparents Golden Anniversary. I've been trying to match up buildings in the south facing view. I numbered buildings I could match in both photos.

1-Fourth and Battery Building completed 1977
2-Grosvenor House now known as Archstone Belltown completed 1949
3-Smith Tower completed 1914
4-Seattle Westin
5-Security House
6-Castle Apartments completed 1918
7-Monorail Track built for the 1962 World’s Fair as was the Space Needle. Connects the Seattle Center to Westlake Mall.
8-SeaFirst Building
9-Union Bank of California Building completed 1973
10-Rainier Tower completed 1977
11-Times Square Building completed 1916
12- Henry M Jackson Federal Building completed 1974
13-Fourth and Blanchard Building completed 1979
14-Plaza 600 building completed 1969
15-Red Lion Fifth Avenue completed 1973
16-Securities Building completed 1918
*new 17-Seattle Tower/Northern Life Tower completed 1928 (Thank you Mundo!)

Kingdome (Top photo right – by the bend in the visible road) was built in 1976 – two years old in the top photo. It was imploded in 2000 to make way for Qwest Field

UPDATE! Thank you to my brother-in-law, Bryan and his colleagues at Clise Properties, the buildings have been identified! I've since added more numbers . . .
I found these links along the way:
Belltown neighborhood and Commercial Core historic buildings. Emporis building list for Seattle

Peanut-Controlled-Zone at Safeco Field

2008-08-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

From Peanut Controlled Zone - 2008

The first ever peanut-free section at Safeco Field was August 5th. This has been something I would have loved even more a decade and a half ago starting at the Kingdome but I was thrilled the Mariner's became the fifth MLB team to offer this. We have been to games but it's very stressful wading ankle deep in something so prevalent at a ballpark that can cause a severe reaction to your loved one. And then there's the decontamination process before you get in the car so as not to bring it in to your home. At previous games, kind ushers moved us to remote sections of the Kingdome and Safeco so we weren't completely surrounded by flying peanut dust.
But this game we could relax and enjoy! I actually giggled several times after dropping my sweater on the ground and picking it up finding it not infested with peanut skins! (Yes, it was waaay too warm to wear it but the Girl Scout in me wanted to "be prepared" in case it cooled after sun down).

From Peanut Controlled Zone - 2008

The media was there which always makes me wary since they can (and have) turn allergy parents into a very nasty story. But the media and the Mariners all seemed very enthusiastic about this section! Our section ushers were awesome! They acted like bouncers - there had been many threats posted about intentionally bringing massive quantities of peanuts to cause harm to peanut allergic children since this was a ridiculous issue to them.

From Peanut Controlled Zone - 2008

It was also my Dad's birthday - we showed up at four (three hours before game time and an hour before the gates opened) to preview the section with the event organizer since the Mariners really wanted to know if they did everything right. Since we had loads of time before the game, we had a leisurely dinner at Hit It Here Cafe and watched batting practice . It was a BEAUTIFUL night for baseball and the Mariners even won their third straight beating the Twins 8-7!

From Peanut Controlled Zone - 2008

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

Wanted to wish Merry Christmas to those who like Merry Christmases!