Vintage Seattle reader Jana Robertson comes through again, this time with a vintage 1981 shot of University Village.
It was taken from the third floor of McCarty Hall at U.W. She wondered if it was “vintage enough” but I say why not.
Don’t get a lot of 80′s material, so here it is. Thanks Jana. Remember, if you or someone you know has old photos of Seattle, inhabitants, or both — please send them in.
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| University Village, Seattle, Washington. Fall 1981. Taken from the third floor of McCarty Hall, University of Washington. Photo courtesy Jana Robertson. |
Hey I have a snark (well, a boojum) for Cliffe & readers: pix of that ENORMOUS Mt. Rainier mural that was on the bacl wall of University Lanes. I vaguely recall reading about the artist when the building was taken down – he was a local guy that did a fair amount of interior decorative painting of idealized PNW landscapes in the forties and fifties, IIRC.
The smoke-yellowed paintings that graced the interior clerestory at Ernie Steele’s (later Ileen’s) were said to be by the same guy.
The big mountain was supposed to have been rolled up and sent to MOHAI; the Ernie’s paintings were sold and removed before the interior was demoed for remodel into the place it its today.
I lived in McCarty just a few years after this was taken, before U Village became a yuppie shopping center. Thank you for the memory flashback!
Anyone have photos of the rest of University Village, pre-Barnes & Noble era? Lamonts, Ernst, Village Lanes, etc? I remember Sea Galley across 25th St.
Jana, it’s great to see that your gift for photography was in use even in college – what a fun memory for me, as this was the time I first moved to Seattle, lived in Wedgwood, shopped at UVillage, etc. Good for you to share this!
I would love to see more of these. This is the U Village I remember…..
University Lanes, the two-story Lamonts and the massive Azteca with the wierd little bar up the three stairs that were harder to negotiate back down after a few margaritas…ah, memories!
Fall 1981 was my freshman term, too!
Azteca. Nice! Anyone remember Peerless Pies? Flakey Jakes? And the QFC was where Restoration Hardware and Banana Republic are now. University Village was a ghost town back then.
Bartell’s got nothing on Pay-n-Save.
Gosh, remember when the intersection at the bottom of the 45th ramp was really confusing and a little dangerous… oh wait, it still is – LOL
Is the old U Village QFC in this shot?
My sister and I took Santa pictures at the old U Vill in 1988 – I should dig those up… The Santa sleigh was set up in a random interior hallway near where the InSpa is now… There might be painted cinderblocks in the background of the shot.
I think the back of the sign for the old QFC is that gold/orange corner you can see in the middle of the left side of the photo.