Exterior of the Red Mill Tavern and surrounding business area, 1985. Photographed by Michael Shellenbarger. Photo courtesy University of Oregon Libraries, Architecture of Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
Red Mill Tavern 1985
October 29th, 2010 @ 12:54 am by Cliffe | Sorted Photo Exposure |
Well, this was a fun one to figure out. I didn’t recognize the buildings in the foreground but some background buildings gave it away. This 1985 Red Mill Tavern shot from Michael Shellenbarger seems to show 2nd Ave between Union and University, facing south. Click here for the modern day shot.
Exterior of the Red Mill Tavern and surrounding business area, 1985. Photographed by Michael Shellenbarger. Photo courtesy University of Oregon Libraries, Architecture of Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
Exterior of the Red Mill Tavern and surrounding business area, 1985. Photographed by Michael Shellenbarger. Photo courtesy University of Oregon Libraries, Architecture of Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
Mmm… Red Mill burgers…
Interesting: The Red Mill Tavern doesn’t appear related to the original Red Mill (which closed in 1967 according to the Red Mill Burgers site) or the current Red Mill Burgers (which didn’t open until 1994). I wonder if it’s the same sign traveling from business to business? I seem to recall that the current Red Mill’s sign is an old Van de Camp’s windmill, but I may be wrong on that. Perhaps they all were?
Yippee, there’s the flank of the old Savoy hotel at right! I don’t remember when exactly they knocked this block down but it couoldn’t have been long after this shot was taken. I remember the demolition of the Jackson Bldg., which was on this block but up on Third, just out of frame here behind the left-most buildings. For years afterward the block was just a big grassy field with an entrance to the University Station of the bus tunnel.
In front of the Savoy, down low, you can just barely see the arched windows of the Brooklyn, which is still there as part of the WaMu Tower’s plaza.
As most of you probably know, this block is where Benaroya Hall stands today. Makes me think of all the blocks of old buildings we’ve lost over the years to mega-projects.
I remember the grassy field. It was what was on this spot when I moved here in ’91.
That’s an interesting four story building that the Red Mill is in. There weren’t much like that in Seattle with glazed bricks and all.
I don’t know what it is about these ratty old buildings that — well, yes I do. They were built to human scale and made of materials that recalled our roots on the earth (wood, brick, stone), and even the slap-dash postwar stuff (I think the Red Mill building looks like one of those) had a certain roguish accessibility and frankness to them that those modern buildings lack. I would a hundred times rather sup at a dowdy diner in one of these than a at a gleaming food court in “one of those”. But I know I’m preachin’ to the choir here…
Amen Matt!
more 80′s pics
I have a low-res computer (and brain!) so I can’t tell if it’s the same Red Mill sign… this is the one on the first Red Mill burger place, in the Greenwood/Phinney neighborhood: http://vvoice.vo.llnwd.net/e16/2631091.92.jpg
And yeah, I’d much rather eat at the Tastee Diner in the photo than at another god-forsaken Subway Blandwich store!
Walking around downtown was much more interesting when it was full of assorted, odd little stores. Now it’s mostly mega-boring on the streets.
There’s actually an interesting story behind the Red Mill building I mentioned. According to the Seattle Times archives it was built in 1932 as the first phase of the 1326 Second Avenue Building project, a massive 23-story art-moderne tower designed by Thomas, Grainger & Thomas that was never built (it would have occupied the site of the Estabrook Building on the left). Just imagine!
Colin, makes you wonder how many other grand buildings were planned in the late-20s/early-30s that were thwarted by the Great Depression.
I remember when Captain’s was there for so long. My father worked in the Smith Tower for many years and would stop there to get stuff for decorative knotting he did as a hobby.
Colin has it, the building in the center is the DeWolfe Building, completed at the end of December in 1932 the first and unfortunately only phase of the proposed high rise project designed by Thomas, Grainger & Thomas for the Arcade Building and Realty Company.
Many years ago (mid 70s) you could find the Atlas Steam Baths in this building.
-That’s an interesting four story building that the Red Mill is in. There weren’t much like that in Seattle with glazed bricks and all.-
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