Now & Then

Paul Dorpat digs into our rich local history, sharing images and stories from Seattle’s past.

Pacific NW magazine

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THEN CAPTION; The Metropolitan Theatre was among the many structures designed by Howells and Stokes, the New York architectural firm for the Metropolitan Tract.

November 15, 2018 at 7:00 am

The Metropolitan Theatre set the stage for an Olympic expansion

Built on the site of the University of Washington’s first school building, the Met closed after a Dec. 4, 1954, performance, and was torn down...

Then Caption: An instance in the 1924 construction of the Olympia Hotel recorded from the roof of the Cobb Building. Included, upper-left, among the First Hill landmarks are, on the horizon at Madison St. and Terry Ave., the Sorrento Hotel, and, far left, the brilliant terra-cotta clad Fourth Christian Science Church, now Town Hall, at 8th and Seneca.

November 8, 2018 at 7:00 am

Few could conceive of a more glorious hotel than Seattle’s grand Olympic

Begun in 1923, the Olympic (now the Fairmont Olympic) was described as ‘the hotel of Seattle’s dreams.’

THEN CAPTION The prolific Seattle pioneer photographer Frank LaRoche recorded this panorama of Lake Union from near the summit of Denny Hill in the early 1890s. LaRoche looks north across Fourth Avenue mid-block between Stewart and Virginia Streets.

November 1, 2018 at 7:00 am

Tracking clues to locate the photographer behind this 1890s Lake Union image

The view from a much-lower Denny Hill looks very different today.

Harlan Thomas, architect for the Rhodes Building, is remembered with his surviving local landmarks including the Sorrento Hotel, with its own grand entrance, the Chelsea Hotel, the Corner Market Building, Harborview Hospital and the Chamber of Commerce building. Thomas we also head of the U.W.’s Department of Architecture from 1926 to 1940.

October 25, 2018 at 7:30 am

The fate of the Rhodes Stores turned on a dime

The Rhodes brothers moved here from the Midwest around 1890. Their Ten Cent Store in downtown Seattle was ironically sumptuous — and short-lived. Among those...

Then: Looking east across Front Street (renamed First Avenue) at its northeast corner with Cherry Street, most likely in the early 1880s.

October 11, 2018 at 7:00 am

Does this make him an oral historian?

A North Seattle dentist with a taste for local history and storytelling extracts an important clue from an 1880s photo of a hardware store.

1975 Soap Box Derby, looking down the race course from the starting line into the lower levels of the Pike Place Market. Actual caption to come from Paul Dorpat.

October 4, 2018 at 7:00 am

A very spirited race through the Market

Billy King, Pike Place Market’s honorary mayor, worked with tavern owners to launch soapbox derbies in the 1970s.

Wallingford Home. Caption to come from Paul Dorpat.

September 27, 2018 at 7:00 am

Learn all about Wallingford — or at least its historic homes | Now & Then

The Historic Wallingford group hosts the Wallingford Historic Homes Fair on Oct. 6.

Labor parade through downtown Seattle at 2nd and Seneca. Dorpat will supply real caption with his story.

September 20, 2018 at 7:00 am

A march of men through downtown Seattle | Now & Then

Not sure whom was parading, or exactly when, but the signs provide some clues.

THEN CAPTION: In 1937 the Silver Inn stood alone on the dirt left by the Denny Hill regrade.

September 12, 2018 at 7:00 am

The Silver Inn was a popular spot for burgers in the 1930s — then for dance classes | Now & Then

The Silver Inn, long gone, was a restaurant for less than a decade. Now it’s the site of the Denny Building’s parking garage.

Then: In 1936 the brickwork on 15th Ave. NW still looked intact from curb to curb, both to the side of its two trolley tracks and between them.

September 6, 2018 at 7:00 am

There were crashes in 1936, but not involving this luxurious Lincoln | Now & Then

Decades later, this Ballard intersection would be declared the city’s ‘most dangerous.’

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