I don't have very many photos of Eastgate but I wanted to share them anyway.
I have vague memories of this strip mall being built in the late 60s or early 70s - it was well before Factoria Square. I recall a Cut-n-Curl (I think it was called), a music store where I got a music stand when I played the cello in fourth grade, a Christian bookstore (I remember being given one dollar in Sunday School to spend however I wanted except on candy and purchasing a wood cross necklace and thinking "that's what my Sunday School teacher would want me to buy"), Albertsons, Skaggs, and possibly the Baskin & Robbins. There was also a gas station (Chevron?) off the right side of this photo where I remember getting free Smiley Face lunch bags and glassware with fill-ups. Many of the stores were still there in 1982. I believe the Albertson's and Baskin & Robbins are still there as of 2012!
This is the Bellevue Airfield about 1978
From the 1980 Historic Aerials, you can see the strip mall south of I 90 (Freeway running East-West) and the airfield on the upper right.
From the 1980 Historic Aerials, you can see the strip mall south of I 90 (Freeway running East-West) and the airfield on the upper right.
This is motel in Eastgate undated but I believe it's the 1970s. Artist Kenton Pies designed the look of the Longhouse Motor Inn and shared this photo with me.
16 comments:
What's freaky is that as recently as a few years ago you could still make out the footprint of the bygone airfield in the aerial datasets for Eastgate, even with new office buildings sitting on it. If I can find the links I'll post 'em. Thanks for this post, Jana! What a great thing that you were so active behind the lens back in the late '70s.
Thanks Matt! I'd love to see the links if you can find them! Actually, my Dad took the black-and-whites. I did take the color one sometime during high school (I had a friend who was getting his pilot's license).
Jana, this is AWESOME! Nice work. Thanks for keeping the history alive. Amazing how little has changed on the south side of I-90 Eastgate. :)
Thanks for commenting, Garrick! I wish my Dad had taken a photo of the strip mall west of the airfield. I remember a store called WigWam - I bought my first LP there - "The Partridge Family"! (it might have been gone by 1982, though)
Also, in that strip mall was Fisher Drugs, Barber Shop and the Bank which was National Bank of Commerce, then Rainier Bank, then Security Pacific, then Seattle First, then Seafirst and now it is Tully's!
The strip mall included: Safeway, Fisher Drugs, Wigwam, a Barber Shop and the Bank. The bank started as National Bank of Commerce (NBofC), then Rainier Bank, then Security Pacific, then Seattle 1st, then Seafirst and finally Bank of America, before becoming Tulley's.
Also, in on September 7, 1977 a pilot on his first solo flight ran out of gas, clipped his wing on the reader board and landed upside down right through the West "in" doors at Safeway. Shortly thereafter, the airport closed!
Thanks for the comment, Janet! I remember opening my first savings account as a child at that National Bank of Commerce - with initials NBC, I thought it must be related to "Channel 5" (I didn't know what a TV Network was but I'd seen the colorful rainbow peacock with NBC associated with it!)
I was actually inside the Safeway when the plane crashed into it. It was frightening. But afterwards we were excited because the gumball and toy machines broke and all the little plastic toys were scattered on the floor.
I still like to quiz people on why the light posts on the overpass from eastbound I-90 to 148th are red and white striped (yes they are still striped). No one remembers about the old airport.
Thank you for the comment, Nydia! Since you were okay (despite being in a building that got crashed in to!) I love the visual of scattered toys and gumballs on the floor.
Great to read this stuff. I remember all these stores, restaurants, banks: The Steak-Out, Jerry's Barber Shop, Skaggs, Sun Villa Lanes, Fotomat, etc. Glad Li'l Jon's is still there. My mom loved Wig-Wam and I loved Fisher Drugs (for Mad magazines and Wacky Packages.) By any chance, does anyone know where I could get photos of Fisher's and/or Lake Hills Toys and Gifts? Would love to see them. Great memories! Thanks.
Jonathan: 5red5red@gmail
Thanks for stopping by!I don't have any photos of Fisher's or Lake Hills Toys and I'd love to see some, too.
oh my gosh was telling a co worker about the story of being hit by an airplane at safeway and desided to google it to see if any thing showed online about it. I was the one taken off by ambulance I had been standing at the door when it crashed through
Yikes! That must have been so scary! Thanks for stopping by.
Skaggs!!!!! Hi everyone! I grew up on Cougar Mountain, lived there til about 1985. Still have memories. Does anyone know if the pilot from that crash survived the crash? My mom says she remembers when it happened. She sky dived from that old airport and I remember flying in a glider with my sister there.
Can you view this August 1, 1976 front page article from the Seattle Times? The pilot walked away! Photo of Tammara being taken to the ambulance https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154846647314816&set=gm.984037611679762
Would love to see some photos of Fisher Drugs if they exist
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