A fishing bo at unloading fish at a Seattle dock. Commercial fishing is one of Seattle’s important industries. Ektachrome by Max R. Jensen.
Jensen’s Fishing Boat
January 18th, 2011 @ 12:03 am by Cliffe | Sorted Photo Exposure |
Nothing softens our harsh, mostly concrete waterfront like an old fishing bo at unloading a catch. We’re back, folks, and Max R. Jensen’s work is here to wecome us. Hope you all had a great MLK Jr. Day. This Ektachrome is most likely from the 1950′s and let me just officially beat Matt the Journeyman to it… water tower! Click for higher res.
A fishing bo at unloading fish at a Seattle dock. Commercial fishing is one of Seattle’s important industries. Ektachrome by Max R. Jensen.
A fishing bo at unloading fish at a Seattle dock. Commercial fishing is one of Seattle’s important industries. Ektachrome by Max R. Jensen.
Construction of the Alaska Way Viaduct appears to be underway in the center of the frame. If that is the case, then the photo must date from 1953 or earlier as construction was completed in that year. The photo brings back truly distant memories of the waterfront as a real economic engine rather than just a tourist attraction.
I was all set to toot, too! I wonder what the R on that water tank stands for. It appears to be on that wide, squat building that stood adjacent to (north of) SAM until it was recently razed for the new WAMU building. For some reason I want to call it the Arcade building or something like that.
I love this wharf, it’s so expressive of that mid-century time of tar and rust and hodge-podge add-on construction that I have such an affection for. And the boat, don’t get me started. I love the guy in the apron, humming Jo Stafford’s “You Belong to Me”, which was playing on the little transistor radio inside before he came out here to help with the unloading and light up a Lucky.
A great photo Jess, just what I needed today. Thanks!
I found this water tank in the 1936 dataset on Historic Aerials (this set is also available on the King County IMAP site at http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/gis/Maps/iMAP.aspx). It’s marked with a triangle as Water Tank Rhodes. That explains the R, and I was right about its location. I don’t yet know if Rhodes was the company or the name of that building.
Dang, I’m on a roll here. Do I get any kind of prize for “Most Consecutive Prattling Comments about Something No-one Else has Mentioned”? Turns out Rhodes was a department store that was located in…wait for it!…the Arcade Building on Second Avenue (I KNEW it!). Apparently Rhodes was an original Seattle outfit and, something I hadn’t known, so was the Lamonts company that replaced it in the same location. Okay, I’m going to go buy myself a cookie.
Can I have half of that cookie Matt?
Rhodes was founded in 1907 by Albert Rhodes, a defector of the Rhodes family department store in Tacoma. He set up shop in the second floor of the Arcade Building, the heart of Seattle’s retail district in the 1900s. The company became a quick success and Rhodes constructed his large departments store occupying half a block in 1927 with its landmark water tower and a large Aeolian Pipe Organ inspired by a trip to Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia. After being overextended by an expansion in the mid-1960s, the ailing company was purchased by the Pay’n Save Corporation who were looking for a way into the department store industry. In 1967 Pay’n Save head M. Lamont Bean decided to shutter the under performing downtown Rhodes store to focus on the expanding suburbs. The Rhodes stores in Lake Forest Park, Crossroads (Bellevue) and University Village were rebranded as Lamonts, after the company chairman. Another 1967 acquisition, the singular Bell’s department store in Burien kept its name until 1974.
You can barely make out the Penney’s sign. The building was located at the SW corner of 2nd and Pike. I think it was the former site of the Bon Marche.
I’ve seen a reference to this postcard being from 1951. Not sure if that’s accurate, but it’s something. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Seattle-Dock-1951-Old-Postcard-FISHING-BOAT-unload-FISH-/160492827329
Also, found a funny story from Ivar’s website regarding the Eardley Fish and Fillet Company. Scroll down to “Octopus Wrestling (1946)”. It’s a PDF, but it’s worth it for the story.
http://www.ivarschowder.com/images/content/distributors/talking_points.pdf
@Colin, you’ve earned your half cookie, and no mistake. But I’m a little confused. The way you tell it, it sounds like the Arcade building was somewhere else, an earlier location than this one with the water tower (!), or did I read it wrong?
From what I’ve read and seen, Matt, the 1927 Rhodes building with water tower replaced about 1/2 of the Arcade Building (built c.1902). The rest of the arcade building was demolished sometime later.
Rhodes replace the opposite end of the building shown (note the other water tower!)
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=2451&CISOBOX=1&REC=6
Nice pull, Colin. It appears then that I never knew the original Arcade Bldg. I remember the Rhodes demo/remodel. The note on that linked photo says both halves were demolished in the 1980s, which I think is incorrect. It is probably true that the southern half stood until SAM replaced it in the ’80s, but the remodeled (enlarged Rhodes store) half stood until a few years ago when WAMU built its new skyscraper there. Is that your understanding too?
Yes but I’m pretty sure the Rhodes building completely replaced the northern half of the Arcade Building and whatever was on the north side of the block across the alley. After Rhodes closed in 1968 it became known as the Arcade Plaza Building. SAM purchased the entire Block around 1984 but I’m not sure when the museum was built. I do remember there being a narrow parking lot between the Museum and I think the Rhodes Building, so it always planned to eventually demolish Rhodes.
Here’s another from that same collection, undated.
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/seattle&CISOPTR=3256&CISOBOX=1&REC=14
This is the building I remember, what I guess we’re now calling the Arcade Plaza Building. There’s also an artist’s rendering of it showing more floors and a tower, though I think that vision never came to be. To the left, behind the streetlamp, the southern half of the original Arcade Bldg is visible, where SAM is now. If I ever saw that remnant I don’t recall it (Water tower! (this is yet a different one from the Rhodes one shown above))
I have realized that the more I play the piano, the more intelligent I get. You might want to add it to your post