After enjoying your site for so long, I’m wondering if you can take a look at the attached photo that I think was taken in Seattle, and let me know what you think. If it were good enough to post on your site (solely at your discretion, of course), could some of those photo supersleuths who frequent your site possibly help identify if it’s a Seattle photo, and maybe even figure out where it was taken ? They’re so good they’ re almost scary sometimes!
From the store facade and signs, to the sidewalk styles, to the reflections of the other signs and buildings in the plate glass windows, do you think someone might have a clue what store and street we’re looking at if it’s a Seattle photo?
The lady in the photo is a relative who lived in both Seattle and Santa Cruz, CA during the 1940s, when it looks like th is was taken. I think this is a Seattle photo because Santa Cruz may not have been big enough to have had any stores this large back then. But…?
Sue
Via E-mail
1/5/2010
From the store facade and signs, to the sidewalk styles, to the reflections of the other signs and buildings in the plate glass windows, do you think someone might have a clue what store and street we’re looking at if it’s a Seattle photo?
The lady in the photo is a relative who lived in both Seattle and Santa Cruz, CA during the 1940s, when it looks like th is was taken. I think this is a Seattle photo because Santa Cruz may not have been big enough to have had any stores this large back then. But…?
Sue
Via E-mail
1/5/2010
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| Seattle mystery photo ? Image courtesy Sue. |
I found several references (and some photos) of a Turrell’s shoe store (or “bootery”) in Seattle, but none of the photos look anything like that building from what I can tell…
Turrell’s was in a couple of locations, but I think that this was the one on the west side of 3rd Avenue between Pike and Pine. You can see it off in the distance (note the sign in the upper right) here
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=3757
It was right next door to the Winter Garden Theatre, which gives us the only photo clue that I’ve been able to find online. If you look closely at this picture…
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/seattle&CISOPTR=27&CISOMODE=thumb
,,, you can see a little sliver of the Turrell’s storefront off to the right, and the fillagree seems to match up with the photo in question. Not much to go on, but that’s my best guess.
Interestingly enough, both the Winter Garden building and the one that Turrell’s was in are both still around.
Google Maps Link
Well, it’s not the Turrel Shoe Company store at 2nd and Madison (http://nooksack.lib.washington.edu/u?/seattle,1541), or the Turrell’s basement shoes on Marion (http://content.lib.washington.edu/u?/seattle,738), but there was also one at 3rd and Pine, according to the December 24, 1921 issue of Boot and Shoe Recorder (on Google books). According to the July 1, 1922 issue of Boot and Shoe Recorder, there was also a Turrell Shoe in Everett, so maybe we need to look beyond Seattle.
The one at 3rd and Pine–is that the Fisher Studio Building (1519 Third Ave)? That once housed a Turrell shop, too.
This 1939 photo from the Seattle P-I shows a store called Turrell’s in the background. I can’t tell if it’s the same building, or where exactly it is.
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm-desmo/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=3757&CISOBOX=1&REC=5
Ah, a little more searching reveal’s that Turrell’s was located on 3rd Ave between Pike and Pine, next door to the Northwest Mutual Building.
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm-desmo/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=1616&CISOBOX=1&REC=2
The building Turrell’s was in was originally called the Fischer Studio building.
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm-desmo/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/todd&CISOPTR=111&CISOBOX=1&REC=19
There’s a nail salon and a Radio Shack on the ground floor there now:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.610528,-122.338493&num=1&sll=47.610568,-122.338498&sspn=0.000913,0.001714&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=47.610375,-122.338367&spn=0.000913,0.001714&z=19&layer=c&cbll=47.610286,-122.338287&panoid=AEF_q6RJGsvm3038XCMrEQ&cbp=12,263.14,,0,-18.51
I don’t know for sure this is where the original photo was taken, but there definitely was a shoe store called Turrell’s at this location in the 1940s.
It seems to me that if you look at this photo of the Winter Garden theatre from 1941 that the edge along the right side of the photo matches the front of the store seen in the back of the submitted photo.
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/seattle&CISOPTR=799&CISOBOX=1&REC=20
Man you people are fast. I was about to post how it was likely on Pine near 3rd based on an old advertisement and because the metalwork works well with Macys across the street, but was beaten by at least two posts. Amy’s photo definately looks like it has the same metalwork (though getting a higher res picture would help confirm this).
It really is a beautiful building.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-_Fischer_Studio_Building_pano.jpg
Wow, that was superb detective work! These folks are certainly dapper, but I’m most captivated by the far-right lady in the “shoppers in the rain” photo. Get a load of that hat! Very “His Girl Friday,” don’t you think?
http://z.about.com/d/classicfilm/1/0/-/1/-/-/HisGirlFridayDVD.jpg
My favorite part of this photo is the fact that you can actually see the photographer reflected in the window on the far right. I *think* that’s who that is, anyway, leaning over a big 6×9.