Now & Then

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

Pacific NW magazine

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THEN: Posing on the new Westin Hotel skybridge in 1984 are the Emerald Street Boys, formed in 1981: (from left) Eddie “Sugar Bear” Wells, James “Captain Crunch” Croone and Robert “Sweet J” Jamerson. The span was built in 1982 at second-floor level above Virginia Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues to connect the circular 1969 hotel with its new parking garage. Credit: Kristine Larsen / Courtesy Daudi Abe

December 3, 2020 at 7:00 am

Seattle’s hip-hop history spans decades, cultures — and a hotel skybridge

The new book "Emerald Street: A History of Hip Hop in Seattle," by Daudi Abe, chronicles the rise of Seattle hip-hop — including a 1984... Updated 9:12 am

THEN: In ACT’s production of “A Christmas Carol” from 1998, the chained ghost of Jacob Marley, played by Jeff Steitzer, confronts Scrooge, played by Kurt Beattie, who says, “It’s a story told with enormous compassion, which everybody needs these days.” Credit: Courtesy ACT Theatre, Chris Bennion

November 26, 2020 at 7:00 am

Amid our COVID crisis, ACT’s ‘Carol’ strikes a compassionate chord VIEW

ACT Theatre's production of "A Christmas Carol" has been a Seattle tradition for 45 years. This year, it will adapt to an online audio show,...

THEN: In late 1963 or early 1964, close to his 23rd birthday, Bruce Lee stands with gung-fu student and future wife Linda Emery as they look north outside Leeâ€™s studio at 4750 University Way N.E. The storefront later housed a ballet studio, a metaphysics school and a plasma center. Today, itâ€™s an art boutique.

November 12, 2020 at 7:00 am

Remembering Bruce Lee, and his time in Seattle, on the 80th anniversary of his birth

Global superstar Bruce Lee, who lived in Seattle from 1959 to 1964, is the subject of a new book, a memoir by one of his...

THEN: From his perch in 1932 above the Yakima River Canyon Road, Asahel Curtis looks wistfully into the Yakima Valley, in the direction of his lost family retreat. Our auto informant Robert Carney identifies the solo car as a 1929 Buick sedan.

November 5, 2020 at 7:00 am

Light — and a legendary photographer — caroms through the canyon

Renowned photographer Asahel Curtis explored every corner of Washington, capturing "slice-of-life" photos, breathtaking vistas and this 1932 image from the south end of the Yakima...

THEN: Dating between 1938 and the mid-1940s, this postcard is a pre-Photoshop consolidation of two photos of Mack’s Totem Curio Shop, elevated above street level at 71 Marion Street Viaduct. In its first few years, Mack’s was a few doors west at 63-1/2. For more photos of Mack’s, see PaulDorpat.com. (COURTESY DAN KERLEE)

October 29, 2020 at 7:00 am

Curio shop postcard turns the corner on a curious puzzle

Among the curiosities in and about Mack's Totem Curio Shop: a postcard that shows the store on a corner ... when it actually stood near...

October 22, 2020 at 7:00 am

This classic masonry building met a lot of peeps along ‘Flesh Avenue’

The fireproof masonry stonework of the Post Edwards (aka the Hotel Vendome), built one year after the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, offered a sense of...

THEN: This tax assessorâ€™s photo, looking west and slightly north from the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Lenora Street east of downtown, was taken Dec. 18, 1957. To see the fanciful â€œultra-chrome dome homeâ€ ad cartoon for Frederick & Nelson that ran this day in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, visit PaulDorpat.com.

October 15, 2020 at 7:00 am

Who could have predicted what these car lots would become?

This week's "Then" photo was taken Dec. 18, 1957, at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Lenora Street in Seattle. This block is a typical...

THEN: Three years before the creation of the Pike Place Market in 1907, an unknown photographer captured savory treats. Just right of the tunnel entrance, a temporary assembly line supplied rivers of concrete to line the tunnel walls. Meanwhile, at upper left, an intrepid gent peers over the precipitous edge of the retaining wall at the laborers below.

October 8, 2020 at 7:00 am

The tunnel that reshaped the waterfront (no, not THAT one)

Before the Highway 99 tunnel replaced the Alaskan Way Viaduct, another Seattle tunnel, completed 115 years ago, attempted to solve a waterfront problem. At the...

THEN: This nighttime view of the eastbound Mount Baker tunnel shows that the original twin tubes had two lanes apiece. The photo was taken at least a few weeks after the tunnelâ€™s July 2, 1940, opening because the 3-foot wide interior sidewalks, with high curbs and pipe guardrail, were not installed until later that month. (UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SPECIAL / )

October 1, 2020 at 7:00 am

In 1940, tunnel vision created a connection to the Eastside

On July 2, 1940, twin tunnels drilled through Mount Baker Ridge opened to connect Seattle to Mercer Island via an innovative bridge that crossed Lake...

THEN: Looking northeast, Harvey Bernard’s cloud-strewn portrait of the incomplete Ship Canal Bridge in October 1960 captures Seattle mid-transformation. The Interstate 5 freeway through Seattle opened in December 1962, and the entire Washington state portion was completed in 1969.
Courtesy Harvey and Leo Bernard

September 24, 2020 at 7:00 am

A soaring salute to post-World War II car culture

This week's "Then" photo captures the Ship Canal Bridge over Lake Union during construction in October 1960. Within a year, the bridge would span the...

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