Comments on: Pike Place Pondering 1974

By: POC Photo

POC Photo — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:29:01 +0000

I’m confused. I know that where that Mobil Gas used to be is the location of Victor Steinbrueck Park. The elevated road behind it appears to be the Viaduct-but wouldn’t it have to be lower? The park looks down on the viaduct

By: elisa

elisa — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:28:10 +0000

The brick paving was designed to slow traffic through the market street. An experiment was done in the early 1970s to entirely close the street to vehicular traffic. At the end of the experiment, vendors were interviewed and overwhelmingly agreed that, surprisingly, closing the street to traffic had made the market feel pretty dead. At that point, the brick paving was introduced - because the bricks are ridged, cars are obligated to slow down while passing through.

By: Walla Walla K

Walla Walla K — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:28:49 +0000

Speaking of the Municipal Archives and asking about the repaving the roadway, here’s the URL (don’t know if image links are enabled) of a photo of an elephant performing at the dedication of the street in March, 1978:
http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~archives/photos/37/400/37941.gif

At the Archives:
http://tinyurl.com/quqylf

By: D T Nelson

D T Nelson — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:20:00 +0000

I don’t remember the Mobil station on the west side of the intersection of Western, Virginia, and Pike, nor the Texaco on the east side, but there are lots of pictures of them in the Seattle Municipal Archives: http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?s1=1628-02&S2=&S3=&l=20&Sect7=THUMBON&Sect6=HITOFF&Sect5=PHOT1&Sect4=AND&Sect3=PLURON&d=PHO3&p=1&u=%2F~public%2Fphot1.htm&r=0&f=S

By: TomKat

TomKat — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:18:32 +0000

Very interesting pics, in many ways that is how I remember the area. However, on the first pic I see a Mobil Gas sign. Was there a gas station at the end? That I do not remember. Curious to know if anyone remembers.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:15:33 +0000

These pictures are amazing. I think it is a real testament to what it takes to really depress an economy. People talk about how bad things are today but imagine what it would be like today if the Market looked like this. This is why websites like VintageSeattle.org are so important….they remind us that even though things may not be rosy perfect today, there were times when things were much worse.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:18:00 +0000

As RPH has noted, I believe the brick is not very old, just from the 1970s. According to Wikipedia, “George Rolfe, the first director of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority (PDA), played a key role in the economic revitalization of the Market after it was saved by the 1971 referendum. It was under his management that the direction of automobile traffic on Pike Place was reversed and the pedestrian-friendly brick paving was introduced.”

As for the surrounding streets, a 2005 P-I article states, ” [A]ccording to city records, Blanchard Street between Western and First avenues was built with a cobblestone-driving surface in 1910-11. Several stone or brick streets in the area of the Pike Place Market were replaced with asphalt in the 1970s as part of the market’s redevelopment. Blanchard Street lies just beyond the market redevelopment area and was not included in those redevelopment projects. The city used to resurface older cobblestone or brick streets with asphalt when the city operated its own asphalt plant. But for the past 30 years, the city has rarely resurfaced brick and cobblestone streets.”

(Sorry, I’d post the links but whenever I do, my comments are moderated and never show up!)

By: RPH

RPH — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:10:59 +0000

I remember seeing Pike Place being brick paved some time around ‘77-’78.