Seattle’s Mystery Parade Pt. 1
May 22nd, 2008 @ 12:32 am by Cliffe | Sorted Photo Exposure
During a trip to my local paper shop I recently came across this set of old photographs from a Seattle parade taken some years ago. I really don’t have any information on them — who took them, what year, etc. Perhaps we can piece a few details together. What buildings do you recognize? Any car/motorcycle experts in the house who can give us some intel on the motorbikes? There are seven photos, so hopefully we can agree with more certainty than last week’s bird’s eye. Click on each for a closer look.
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| Seattle parade. Date unknown. |
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| Seattle parade. Date unknown. |
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| Seattle parade. Date unknown. |
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| Seattle parade. Date unknown. |
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| Seattle parade. Date unknown. |
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| Seattle parade. Date unknown. |
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| Seattle parade. Date unknown. |
May 22nd, 2008 @ 9:33 am
The man with the hat in the first picture is standing in the intersection at 4th & Lenora.
May 22nd, 2008 @ 10:31 am
What is it with mystery parades? I have another one I need to post on my blog in addition to a couple I have posted in the past. Everytime I go to the antique shop I always see tons of photos of mystery parades and I always wonder where they come from. I see Seattle is not a stranger to them either.
May 22nd, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
The motorcycles are Harley Davidsons with the Panhead engine (took some contrast adjustment to see it). This engine was produced from 1948 to 1965.
That should narrow it down slightly.
May 22nd, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
In the far left edge of the last photo is a nice Hudson Wasp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Wasp) produced from 1951-1954.
May 22nd, 2008 @ 3:22 pm
In the 6th photo I spy the Times Square Building. Looks to be the back of the building, so this must be 4th and Stewart/Olive.
Google Maps Link
Cliffe
May 22nd, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
The parade is on 4th avenue near Virginia.
The main building in the first photo says “Claremont Hotel”. I searched for that and found the address:
http://www.lostinseattle.com/LIS/building/claremonthotelbldg.html
Then I looked near that address and you can see the build and its shorter neighbor to the north in this birds eye view (compare the windows in the shorter building to those in this birds eye view):
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=ry1y4k4t4g9m&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=3695585&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&ss=cat.1372~pg.1~sst.0&encType=1
The building is currently the Hotel Andra built in 1926 according to its website:
http://www.hotelandra.com/hotelandra.aspx
I’ll keep digging…this is fun detective work
Alex Porter
May 22nd, 2008 @ 6:17 pm
Me again- 2nd photo down there is a sign in the window, “Memorial Day May 30th”. So there you go- Memorial Weekend Parade most likely. Interesting that this is posted so close to Memorial Day now.
May 22nd, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
Completely intentional. Ok, maybe not. Nice eagle eyes.
Cliffe
May 22nd, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
One more thing to add. The sign is in the window of “Chas. E Sullivan”, a flower store that apparently still has a location today in Bellevue.
May 23rd, 2008 @ 1:13 am
Just posted Photo Set #2.
http://www.vintageseattle.org/2008/05/23/seattles-mystery-parade-pt-2/
May 23rd, 2008 @ 1:17 pm
The only year during the 50’s when Memorial Day was on the 30th is 1955.
May 23rd, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
Nice! You were all mentioned on Real Tegan’s blog:
http://realtegan.blogspot.com/2008/05/oh-friday-why-do-you-only-come-once.html
May 26th, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
Sweet…what a coincidence about posting this right before Memorial day. Nice detective work everyone & happy Memorial Day!