Comments on: Downtown Seattle 1942 Pt. 2

By: Loretta

Loretta — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:52:20 +0000

OMG, I DIDN’T put that apostrophe in “emails, did I?”

By: Loretta

Loretta — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:50:25 +0000

Amy, sorry I didn’t check back sooner. It’s fine with me if Jess Cliffe e-mail’s you a copy.

Loretta

By: Amy Lewis

Amy Lewis — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:29:22 +0000

I would love copy of 1942 picture of Woolworth’s is it possible?

By: Loretta W.

Loretta W. — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:59:03 +0000

Oh Shannon, I see what you’re talking about. It does kind of look like the house was right up against Latona, but there was they typical sidewalk and parking strip, it just doesn’t show up very well in the picture.

Loretta

By: Loretta W.

Loretta W. — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:06:54 +0000

Hi! First of all, looking again at the 50th and Latona picture, I must have gotten the date wrong on that one, because the car is newer than a ‘56, I think. I have no knowledge of the street migrating, though.

I used the ask-a-librarian service at the Seattle Public Library website to ask about Grayson’s and the librarian told me this:

Grayson’s was indeed a chain of department stores that started in California. According to the Polk’s City Directory for Seattle, Grayson’s Shop began business in Seattle started in 1935 at 202 Pike and expanded to 1512 3rd Avenue in 1942. By 1948 (we do not have the Polk’s for 1945, 46, 47) the shop was only at the 1512-14 3rd Avenue address and begun to call itself just “Grayson’s”. The business began selling children’s and sports apparel in late 50’s and early 60s. They were in business until 1964 until it appears they went bankrupt : http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F2/320/940/38681/

There is a book called Mall Maker by M. Jeffrey Hardwick, Victor Gruen (on Google Books at: http://books.google.com/books?id=vTnMYmwljS8C&pg=PA238&lpg=PA238&dq=grayson’s+women’s+apparel+seattle&source=bl&ots=ZkJz-1ZXLk&sig=gwkJGebwC07sLPvqo5VPrHVB08Q&hl=en&ei=DxkwSry6FqSCtgOj8aXECA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2) that briefly discusses the 3rd Avenue Grayson’s.

Apparently, according to the bankruptcy document, the store changed its name at some point to Grayson-Robinson’s, though it was never identified as such in the Polk City directory. But I did find a beautiful common stock certificate for Grayson-Robinson here: http://www.scripophily.net/grstinca19.html

I checked both the King County Parcel viewer and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods historic database for information about the building but the 1512 3rd Avenue address did not bring up any information.

I hope this information is useful. Thank you again for using our Ask a Librarian service for your reference requests.

Also, here are a couple of links to pictures of Grayson’s stores in other cities:

http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft1199n4gw/?docId=ft1199n4gw&brand=oac&layout=printable

http://dcl.umn.edu/dcl/show_details?page=71&search=per_page%3D12%26q%3Dv_Victor_Gruen%2Bo_fand%2Bf_search_cache_agent%26s%3Df_search_cache_title%2Br_DESC%26page%3D71

I’m glad you guys like the pictures! Wish I had more of them, but film was probably pretty expensive to a young couple just starting out.

By: Cliffe

Cliffe — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:27:42 +0000

Colin: Sadly, you’re exactly right.

By: Colin

Colin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:04:56 +0000

It was plowed into dust like everything that used to be great or unique about this city. (cynical much?)

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:30:43 +0000

Grayson’s is listed in the 1943-44 Polk’s Seattle City Directory:

“Grayson’s Shop Inc Jas W Baker mgr women’s
clo 1512-14 3rd av and 202 Pike”

What a great storefront! Does anybody know what happened to it?

By: Colin

Colin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:32:33 +0000

This is where Grayson’s was, i recognized the building on the left

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

1540 3rd Ave.

By: Louis

Louis — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:03:17 +0000

How nice to see the old Woolworth’s. I often had lunch at the counter..and that was the 80’s!..