Comments on: Seattle’s Theatre Cafe

By: Marty Dawg

Marty Dawg — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:51:50 +0000

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)

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:49:12 +0000

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.

By: Max R.

Max R. — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:15:05 +0000

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.

By: Diane

Diane — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:33:15 +0000

Could this be Parker’s, at 170th and Aurora?

By: Colin

Colin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:47:56 +0000

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.

By: TomK

TomK — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:26:16 +0000

Well, OK, Edmonds technically.

By: TomK

TomK — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:21:34 +0000

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.

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:55:32 +0000

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.”

By: S. Ben Melhuish

S. Ben Melhuish — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:31:08 +0000

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.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:43:24 +0000

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?