Now & Then

Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard dig into our rich local history, sharing images and stories from Seattle’s past.

Pacific NW magazine

Latest Headlines

THEN1: The house at 2653 Walnut Ave. S.W. stands in 1942. Built in 1925, it was the Slate home until 1956, the Rounds home until 1985 and the Bigelow home until this spring. Clay Ealsâ€™ grandfather, Joseph Slate, maintained a vegetable garden in the grassy area at left, across Lander Street from Hiawatha Park. In 1966, the plot was split off, and a smaller house arose there the following year. Credit: Eals Family Collection

May 19, 2022 at 7:00 am

A lovingly preserved house can help us find our way home VIEW

This home a stone’s throw from Seattle’s first indoor-outdoor community center at Hiawatha Park has for nearly a century offered unspoiled neighborhood warmth.

THEN1: The three bay windows of the Wayne Apartments at far left mark the start of Denny Hill’s incline prior to 1903. More than a hundred feet of its slopes were incrementally sluiced away through 1930, leaving behind flatland Belltown. Credit: Paul Dorpat Collection

May 12, 2022 at 7:00 am

A surviving signpost to Belltown’s origins soon will fall

Among few remaining pre-regrade structures, the bay-windowed Wayne Apartments has shone prominently and repeatedly over four decades.

NOW3 (online): Drummers from the School of Taiko kick off the April 2 ceremony.

May 5, 2022 at 7:00 am

Seward Park’s torii was a welcome gateway, especially for a child VIEW

Torii is pronounced “torr-ee” and means “bird perch,” but such structures have become known more broadly as gateways to extraordinary spaces.

THEN1: The Beatles â€” (clockwise from top) Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison â€” cast for fish in Elliott Bay from a window in room 272 of Seattleâ€™s Edgewater Inn on the afternoon of Aug. 21, 1964, before delivering a 30-minute show that night at the Coliseum. Credit: Clay Eals Collection

April 28, 2022 at 7:00 am

In 1964, the Beatles reeled in thousands of adoring fans in Seattle VIEW

The Beatles' first Seattle concert was 1964, at the Coliseum. A crowd of more than 14,000 had trouble hearing the 12 songs over the loud...

THEN: Like a Dutch Masters landscape painting, the Little White Church on the Hill anchors a pastoral scene. The Stillaguamish River curves just below, while the distant bluffs of Camano Island peep above the central horizon. The church’s steeple was added in 1904. Our best guess is that this photo was taken before 1910. Credit: Paul Dorpat Collection

April 21, 2022 at 7:00 am

With a peaceful view, Silvana’s Little White Church endures

Silvana’s Little White Church comprises two structures — a practical 1978 building in downtown Silvana and the original Little White Church on the Hill.

THEN: In the cover image of a new book, “Preserving Ballard,” three young women straddle a railroad track along Ballard’s west flank in the late 1910s or early 1920s. Two are Swedish sisters from the Peterson family: Rhoda, left, and Ethel, center. The third is believed to have been their friend. A younger sibling, Ted Peterson, became a state senator and during his retirement led a successful campaign to restore the Ballard Bell to its original position on Ballard Avenue.
Credit: Peterson Collection / Ballard Historical Society

April 14, 2022 at 7:00 am

A trio from a century ago bids a warm welcome to ‘Preserving Ballard’

A Ballard “passport” will be published this month by the all-volunteer Ballard Historical Society. It has 128 pages and favors visuals over text.

THEN: Signs reading â€œMARINE MUSEUMâ€ and â€œOPENâ€ beckon visitors to the St. Paul, berthed just east of the Ballard (Hiram M. Chittenden) Locks in the mid-1930s. This image appears on an exceedingly rare postcard recently acquired by photo historian Ron Edge. When under sail, the vesselâ€™s fully rigged acre of canvas was supported by nearly 15 miles of cordage.
Credit: Ron Edge Collection

April 7, 2022 at 7:00 am

A 1930s Seattle maritime museum was both floating and fleeting

The Marine Museum and Aquarium opened 1934, welcoming thousands of visitors to its Ballard berth (admission: one dime) for the next two years.

shows the property in 1948, when the Wattons began building on it. Photo is from the collection of the King County Assessor’s Office Property Record Cards.
Credit: Puget Sound Regional Archives

March 31, 2022 at 7:00 am

Archived photos hold ‘DNA’ of many historic buildings and homes — maybe even yours

The Puget Sound Regional Branch of Washington State Archives has wide-ranging governmental records that can touch nearly every King County resident.

THEN1: The Blob, photographed in 1986, squatting on the northeast corner of First Avenue North and Roy Street, literally stopped traffic during its construction. Credit: Cary Tolman, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection

March 24, 2022 at 7:00 am

Distortion, half-truths, outright lies — our 2nd April Fools’ quiz

Presenting our second annual April Fools’ Day quiz. We trust this exercise in historical whimsy will entertain and challenge in equal measure.

THEN: As seen from room 502 of the nearly 2-year-old Olympic Hotel, a Sept. 24, 1926, crowd rivaling Seattleâ€™s Armistice Day outpouring in 1918 greets the opening of the Fifth Avenue Theatre. Credit: Webster & Stevens, Museum of History and Industry

March 16, 2022 at 7:00 am

5th Avenue Theatre endures as the pride of downtown Seattle VIEW

The 5th Avenue Theatre is a testament to Seattle's durability and soul. It opened in 1926, drawing a crowd comparable to a celebration for the...

1
2
3
…
33
Last