Jean Sherrard | The Seattle Times

One of the Seattle area’s biggest ballrooms of the days before and after World War II was the Trianon at Third Avenue and Wall Street. circa-1927

February 6, 2020 at 7:00 am

Now & Then: Tripping the light fantastic at Seattle’s Trianon Ballroom, ‘Cupid’s headquarters’

ADVERTISING THAT PATRONS would “trip the light fantastic,” the legendary Trianon Ballroom, designed by architect Warren H. Milner, opened its doors on May 20, 1927,...

THEN: Between Maple Valley and Renton, the Seattle Water Department’s Lake Youngs Supply Lines No. 4 and No. 5, gleam on May 27, 1930. The parallel, wooden stave pipes carrying Cedar River water reach their intersection with steel-riveted bypasses and connectors. A system-control works had just been built next to the 500-acre lake to screen debris and chlorinate water before delivery. The lake is directly behind the photographer, who points his camera east toward Robertson’s Pond which, for a time, was connected to the lake. Since drained, it has been returned to its original wetland status.

January 23, 2020 at 7:00 am

Connecting thirsty Seattleites with the ‘life blood’ of water

BEGIN WITH A taste test. Fill a glass with water straight from the tap. Take a sip. Before swallowing, swish it between your teeth and...

THEN: In 2009, this 50-foot tall sea stack stood just south of Hole-in-the-Wall at the northern end of Rialto Beach – originally, and accurately, called “Cold Water” by the Quileute people. The aptly named Cake Rock crests the waves at far right.

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January 9, 2020 at 7:00 am

Just as Seattle’s viaduct tumbled, so has a seemingly sturdier Pacific Coast sea stack

IN OUR RAPIDLY changing cityscape — where viaducts may crumble, buildings may tumble and residents surely grumble — we depend on increasingly fewer fixed points...

NOW: The three-story former Bedford Hotel shines in afternoon sun that never made its way to the building in viaduct days.

December 20, 2019 at 7:00 am

Remember the viaduct?

Now & Then's Jean Sherrard revisits the long, loud demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and the reunion of Seattle's waterfront and downtown after 66...

THEN2: A studio portrait of an elderly Chief Seattle, taken in 1864 by pioneer photographer E.L. Sammis. Thirty years earlier, William Fraser Tolmie, a young Hudsonâ€™s Bay Company doctor, wrote in his journals that Seattle was â€œa brawny Soquamish with a roman countenance & black curley hair, the handsomest Indian I have seen.â€

December 12, 2019 at 7:00 am

From 12,000 years ago comes the nudge of Native history

This week's 'Now' photo features 2 direct descendants of Chief Seattle.

THEN: More than 100 workers pose for an Oct. 2, 1929, company portrait on the tracks south of King Street Station. Casey McNerthey’s great-grandfather, Matt McAlerney, is just left of center, arms folded, directly above the “S” of “ST.” Emil Martin’s dad, Petar Martincevic, with mustache and suspenders, stands above the “2” in “Oct. 2.” Women posing in the observation cars were cleaners, says Emil; their “most disagreeable” job was emptying the oft-overflowing spittoons. (E. Miller / Courtesy Casey McNerthey and Emil Martin)

November 21, 2019 at 7:00 am

What are the odds? Descendants of 2 Seattle immigrants find family members in the same 1929 photo.

This rare ‘Then’ photo was taken 22 days before the stock-market crash that launched the Great Depression.

THEN: The Seattle World’s Fair’s Flight to Mars, in a photo taken from the Skyride terminal ramp in 1962. After its deconstruction in 1996, versions of the ride could be found at the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, in the early 2000s and, most recently, in Dallas, Texas, in 2009.

October 24, 2019 at 7:00 am

At Fun Forest, we rode the chill-filled Flight to Mars

The ride was a staple at Seattle Center; today, the Museum of Pop Culture has landed in its spot.

October 3, 2019 at 7:00 am

For 103 years, a monument to Masonry and the movies

Built in 1916 as a Masonic Temple, this brick-and-terra-cotta building at the corner of Harvard and Pine has evolved into the SIFF Cinema Egyptian theater.

THEN2 (Online only): Shot on the same day as our primary “then,” this east-facing prospect looks up the tramway toward the mines of Newcastle.

September 19, 2019 at 7:00 am

A suburban Eastside gully emerges as the elusive 1874 coal tramway

Clues finally emerged after a unique pair of 145-year-old photos arrived out of the blue.

THEN: The spiny, orange gazebo-like terminus of the Union 76 Sky Ride can be found at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, where it was moved in 1980. Today’s Sky Ride trip runs $5, only 10 times the 1962 fare. By comparison, a ride to the top of the Space Needle, $1 in 1962, today starts at $32.50, more than 30 times the original price. The Monorail offers the best deal of all, a mere $2.50 per ride, only five times the 1962 rate.

August 22, 2019 at 7:00 am

At Seattle Center, a willing suspension — from a sky-high ride to high drama

The Seattle Playhouse — built for the 1962 Seattle’s World Fair in only 34 days — was visible from the Union 76 Skyride.