http://www.cysewski.com/seattleweb/

Lots of neighborhood and downtown shots from the 70’s. Reminds me of taking the 210 to 2nd and Pike way, way back in the early 80’s. Can you believe that 2nd and Pike used to be sorty of sleazy?

I’m fondly reminded of Shorey’s Bookstore, where I spent hours perusing the multiple floors. Here’s a bit from the 2007 obituary on it’s owner:

Shorey’s was founded by newspaperman Sam Shorey in 1890 as a small magazine and cigar store at Third and James. John W. Todd Jr. bought the store in 1939 at the age of 25, after looking for a new business opportunity from the desperation of the Dakotas in the Dust Bowl. He quickly built up the store’s stock with more than 1 million volumes.

“He wanted it to be a huge bookstore, or do something else at a young age,” said Jim Todd, who followed in his father’s footsteps at the bookstore and took over as manager in the late 1980s.

Shorey’s maintained its huge inventory even though the store had to move several times during its history. It left its second location at Third and Marion for larger quarters at First and Union in 1975, a move that John W. Todd Jr. likened to “emptying the Pacific Ocean with a spoon.”