Seattle’s Theatre Cafe
June 26th, 2009 @ 12:06 am by Cliffe | Sorted Past Post |
The only information on this vintage 30′s/40′s postcard is what’s printed on it. The Theatre Cafe had a floor show every week night, dancing until late, and no cover. Sounds fun. Anyone happen to have more information on this place?
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| SEATTLE’S THEATRE CAFE. Located Eight Miles North of Seattle’s City Limits. The Ranch — Presents A Floor Show Every Week Night (Closed on Sundays) at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. Dancing from 9 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. No Cover Charge. Minimum food service $1.50 per person. Seating Capacity 650. |
I don’t know, but I just bought a dinner bell stamped “THE RANCH SEATTLE’S SUBURBAN CAFE” I don’t recognize the place, but I’m hoping my mom might remember it.
Well, I have found exactly one Google hit for this, on this famous “Munchkin” actor’s bio:
http://www.mickeycarrollmunchkin.com/showbiz.php
It’s towards the bottom is one in a list of places he performed at back in the day. So “The Ranch Theatre & Cafe” was it’s proper name, I’m guessing? Nothing else comes up on it. Also, anything 8 miles north of Seattle at that time had to have been on Aurora Ave., don’t you think?
I’m dying to know where this was. I grew up around 8 miles north of the city limits, which would have been 85th st around then…
8 miles north of 85th gets you 2 miles into Snohomish County, so this must have been somewhere in the Edmonds/Lynnwood area, maybe around 220th.
Here’s a MOHAI photo of the place with a little more information.
There is a place called 99 Ranch now on Aurora Ave / Highway 99 in Edmonds now just south of 220th Street. I grew up around this area and at that time (70′s – 90′s) this location was actually a KMart store, but it closed in the 90′s. The building was then converted at some point into an Asian market called 99 Ranch Market. But it may not have any connection to “The Ranch” because there are other “99 Ranch Markets” around the US according to Google. May just be coincidence that it is in the same potential area as the theater place…
Fifth paragraph. Looks like it was part of Seattle’s colorful history!
http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/articles/roy-olmstead-seattles-rum-king
Interesting, Michael! So it was near a beach–another tantalizing hint. Lake Washington or Richmond Beach . . .
Sara, was the city limit at 85th back in those days? It might have been closer to downtown at that time. I have no idea, does anyone else?
The city limit was indeed 85th (http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=2214); up to 145th was annexed in the ’50s.
Google Maps says that from 85th & Aurora to 224th & Hwy. 99 is 7.4 miles, meaning that this place could have been anywhere from there to about a mile further north.
Thinking it might have called itself “Suburban Cafe”, I found this picture, which is great, but the building in that photo doesn’t look anything like the one in this photo.
I have heard the city limit was 85th “back in the day” .. Some areas north of 85th still do not have sidewalks because they were not part of “the city.”
The MOHAI article says it was at Highway 99 and 220th. There is no such intersection in King County north of Seattle. That means it must have been in Lynnwood.
Well, OK, Edmonds technically.
220th and Aurora IS in Edmonds. That’s where the Top Foods is kitty corner to a Schuck’s as well as a Honda dealership. I think the restaurant was on the west side of Aurora on the site of the Honda dealership because the east side of Aurora slopes downhill.
Could this be Parker’s, at 170th and Aurora?
Diane, It could not have been Parkers . Parkers is just a small distance more than
4 miles north of 85th Street, which was the north city limits at that time. 8 miles
mentioned on the card is exactly at 220th , in Snohomish County , which I
think is part of Edmonds in that area. Top Foods is on the northwest corner of
that intersection, possibly the same area where the night-club was located.
Eventually someone will come up with some more accurate information about
this card.
Visiting with my parents tonight and they remember hearing about their parents going to The Ranch in their twenties. Their recollection is that it was a 220th and Highway 99 in what is now Edmonds and that it was where Doug’s Lynnwood Honda is now.
Re: 85th as the city limit, that’s why many streets just north of 85th lack sidewalks, and also why for a number of years there was a number of taverns on the north side of 85th. Actually, the great neon at the Buckaroo Tavern originally came from the Round Up tavern on 85th.
Having grown up in Edmonds, I’m pretty sure the Ranch was where the mid 60′s Safeway was at 220th & Highway 99, just south of what used to be known as “Seattle Heights” (home of Day’s Drive-In #2)