Opening Day

Opening Day for boating and the weather is supposed to be amazing!  This is a beautiful area to enjoy water craft sports.

Vintage boating and yachting Seattle-area postcards


"University of Washington and Seattle Yacht Club, Seattle, Washington. Showing Mt. Baker in Distance" 9225 "The University of Washington was founded in 1861, just ten years after Seattle was settled. It has a 583 acre campus and now boasts an enrollment of more than 10,000 students. Lake Washington, shown to the left, is one of the three large fresh water lakes located within the city limits." Published by Adams News Co., Seattle, Wash. C Asahel Curtis


"Seattle - Great Boating Center. Boats gather in Portage Bay for opening day regatta on Lake Washington - a yearly event. Seattle Yacht Club at right, University of Washington campus in background." Ektachrome by Josef Scaylea


"Portage Bay and Seattle Yacht Club, Seattle, Wash. University of Washington campus in the distance with new medical center and stadium showing prominently." C-98 60195 Ektachrome by Josef Scaylea.


"Seattle Boat Parade" "Seattle, Washington; Boating Capital of the World. With numberless fine inland waterways and beautiful Puget Sound, boating is the most popular recreation of Seattle residents. Boat Season Opening Day is a huge civic event." Color photo by Max R. Jensen
Anybody know when that wing of the UW Hospital was being built to help me date this? There is no Evergreen Point Floating bridge under construction so it's before 1961.


"Portage Bay and University of Washington Campus, Seattle, Washington. At left center is the University medical and hospital center. At right center is the Athletic Pavilion and Stadium. At lower right is the beautiful Seattle Yacht Club." C-425 Aerial color by Clifford B. Ellis. mailed July 1962


"3002 - Seattle Yacht Harbor. Where thousands of pleasure craft are moored on beautiful Lake Washington." Photo by James W. Power.


"Yachting on Puget Sound, Wash." "3014 Lowman & Hanford Co., Seattle, Wash. (Germany)


"Fishing at Seattle's Front Door. Elliott Bay offers real sport for the lovers of salmon fishing. annual derbys are held and salmon up to 50 pounds are often caught within sight of Seattle's main business section" C-99 Ektachrome by Josef Scaylea.

Seattle Parks

The Seattle area is blessed with natural beauty. The Board of Park Commissioners was established in 1887 to oversee development of the Seattle park system. according to the Seattle.Gov page on park history. There is an AMAZING resource on Seattle park history compiled by Donald N. Sherwood known as the Sherwood Park History Files.

Seattle Park Postcards show some of this beauty.

Leschi Park

"4. Listening to the Band, Leschi Park, Seattle."


"A corner of Leschi Park, showing the Tennis Courts and Winding Boulevard, Lake Washington in the background. Seattle U. S. A." "A typical winter day in Seattle where the average winter temperature is 40 F. This photograph was taken March 3, 1914"

Japanese Tea Garden

"Japanese Tea Garden - University of Washington Arboretum" "The Japanese Tea Garden located in the University of Washington arboretum Seattle, Washington, encompassing 4 acres is the largest of its kind outside Japan. This authentic garden includes hand carved granite lanterns, moon viewing stand and a traditional stone face washing basin."

"University of Washington Seattle, Washington. One of the most colorful tourist attractions in Seattle is the Japanese Tea Garden located in the beautiful Arboretum - a moment for reflection."

Kinnear Park

"In Kinnear Park, Seattle, Washington"

"Rustic Pavilion in Kinnear Park Seattle, Washington"

Madrona Park

"26. Madrona Park, Seattle"

Mt. Baker Park

"Japanese Pagoda Lantern in Mt. Baker Park, Seattle, Washington - A Gift from Kojiro Matsukatu of Kobe, Japan"

Seward Park

"Seward Park, Seattle. Blossom time in Seward Park, Seattle, Washington where Japanese cherry trees bloom in gorgeous profusion about a picturesque shrine."

"Seward Park - Seattle, Wash. One of the fine city parks. This shows round flower bed and the Japanese Flowering Peach in bloom."

Volunteer Park

"1744 - Volunteer Park, Seattle, Washington"

"Volunteer Park Gardens and Seattle Art Museum." Ektachrome by J. Boyd Ellis.

"Conservatory - Volunteer Park. Seattle, Wash. The outdoor formal gardens together with the tropical flowers found in the beauty spot afford a wide range of floral display throughout the year" C-33 Ektachrome by F. W. Huhn

"Volunteer Park. One of Seattle's many beauty spots. The Seattle Art Museum may be seen just beyond the water storage reservoir. Lake Washington in the distance."

Evergreen Point Floating Bridge

Evergreen Point Floating Bridge on State Route 520 opened to traffic 49 years ago today on August 28, 1963. The toll was 35¢; the fee was removed in 1979. It was renamed "Albert. D. Rosellini Bridge" in 1988 after the governor who pushed for its construction. More from History Link here. This was the second floating bridge built on Lake Washington - the first Lake Washington Floating Bridge called "Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge" opened in 1940.

Seattle Municipal Archives has this "under construction" photo dated the week before the 1962 Seattle World's Fair opened. 



"Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. This view of Seattle's newest floating bridge looks from the west shore of Lake Washington to the ever expanding metropolitan area on the east shore which this new bridge serves. C-291 Ektachrome by Clifford B. Ellis"


"World's Longest Floating Bridge Seattle, Washington. The Evergreen Point Bridge and its approaches are nearly 6 miles long. The height of the roadway above Lake Washington can vary from 8-59 feet. The bridge was constructed by the Washington Toll Bridge Authority and includes 18 floating sections with a total of 62 anchors. Construction was completed in 3 years and cost approximately $34,000,000."


I had a view of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge from my University of Washington dorm room at McCarty Hall 1981-1982:
This was a January 1982 snowy sunrise with vapor swirling from Lake Washington

From College-UWash

Some awesome Historic Archive Photos of the Evergreen Point Floating 520 Bridge can be found here.
Check out Kurt Clark's post with a photo from Bellevue High School's 1972 yearbook: Friday Single Shot #28 – 520 Toll Booths
Also be sure to see Vintage Seattle Past Post: When The 520 Bridge Was New.
Those of you still in the area know the bridge is being upgraded and that the toll was re-introduced last year.  The toll rate depends on the time of day- it can be as high as $5.13 one way.
Click here for Current Work on the SR 520 Floating Bridge project.

Lake Washington Floating Bridge

The Lake Washington Floating Bridge was dedicated 72 years ago today according to a History Link article - there was lots of celebrating the largest floating structure of its time which cut an hour off the commute time to Seattle.  There was even a surf boarding exhibition (??).

My memories of this bridge include "The Bulge" which was the portion of the bridge that opened for boaters.  This bridge had reversible lanes for high volume traffic times and if you chose the reversible lane you had to negotiate a counter-clockwise swerve directly facing barrier-free on-coming traffic.  It was terrifying.  Unfortunately, none of my postcards give a good glimpse of the bulge which was removed in 1981.  These views are from the Seattle side facing east toward Mercer Island. Officially the bridge is now named "Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge."


"Union Oil company's Natural color Scenes of the West. Lake Washington Bridge, Seattle, is a tribute to the ingenuity of American Engineers. Except for the entrances the bridge is full-floating, being supported by pontoons. A section can be moved to accommodate navigation." postcard mailed 1948


"The World's First Cement Floating Bridge"


"The Lake Washington Floating Bridge, the world's longest pontoon bridge, is the start of U. S. Highway 10 to the East. It takes one from downtown Seattle across Lake Washington toward Snoqualmie Pass. Ektachrome by Max R. Jensen"


"Lake Washington Floating Bridge, Seattle, Wash. This world famous structure carries U. S. Highway 10 across the lake and over the Cascade Mountains by way of Snoqualmie Pass. C-494 Ektachrome by Josef Scaylea"


"The Space Needle reigns over the city of Seattle with the business district in the foreground and Queen Anne Hill in the background. Lower view shows Lake Washington floating bridge. C13014. Color by Mike Roberts Berkeley, Calif, 94710"

Opening Day Regatta

A couple of vintage postcards for the Opening Day of boating season here in Seattle

"Mountlake Bridge Opens to allow the passage of hundreds of boats on their way to Lake Washington for the opening of the annual regatta which is a feature of the Seattle's Seafare (sic) Celebration C-416 Ektachrome by Josef Scaylea"


"Seattle - Great Boating Center. Boats gather in Portage Bay for opening day regatta on Lake Washington - a yearly event. Seattle Yacht Club at right, University of Washington campus in background. Ektachrome by Josef Scaylea"

East Channel Bridge Removal

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

From Bellevue 1979

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.

1987 Puget Sound Aerials

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!
Facing northwest. Seattle's Rainier district, Kingdome, Columbia Tower, Puget Sound, Olympic Mountains:


I-90 facing east. Eastgate, Lake Sammamish, Cascade Mountains.


Facing West. I-90, Mercer Island, Lake Washington, Seattle, Puget Sound, Olympics


Seattle Skyline