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| Christmas Tree Lighting on Green Lake, 1941. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives. |
Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category
Merry Christmas From Vintage Seattle
December 24th, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
3 Comments »
Well, it’s that time of the year again. I wish you all vats full of eggnog and the smallest amount possible of unwanted gifts being secretly returned. And, of course, I hope you were able to re-gift a few items that have been floating around. Merry Christmas, everyone! And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, Happy Holiday — whatever it may be. To help you get in the Christmas spirit I’m presenting this beautiful 1941 photograph from the Seattle Municipal Archives showing trees lit on Green Lake. We should definitely bring that tradition back. Enjoy.
Upcoming: Historical Film At NW Film Forum
October 4th, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
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Ryan Davis from the Northwest Film Forum let me know that they have an upcoming screening of the 1963 Canadian indie film The Bitter Ash. As part of their annual Local Sightings Film Festival, they show a “Cinema 20″ Northwest historical film. Last year was Beacon Hill Boys, and this year will be The Bitter Ash, showing a vintage Vancouver. This is taking place Monday, October 8 at 7pm. Sounds very interesting, thanks for the heads up Ryan. Here i s a bit more info on the film and a completely unrelated piece of Vancouver history. Click on the image for a larger view.
The likes of Shadows and Breathless had yet to even play Vancouver in 1963 when Larry Kent, a then-26year-old college student, decided to make a feature with $5,000 and a handful of friends. That feature, The Bitter Ash, tells the story of a cynical working stiff and a struggling, self-deluded playwright whose lives collide. The film combines the best elements of 1950s Canadian B-movies and presents them in a way that is still fresh and believable four decades later. A raucous jazz soundtrack adds to the film’s edgy feel. Seldom shown since its debut, The Bitter Ash makes a pointed rebuttal to anyone who thinks of Canada in the early ’60s as comfy-sweatered and tragically unhip. Print courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
| Panoramic view of the city of Vancouver British Col umbia 1898. Published by the Vancouver World Printing and Publishing Company, Limited. Toronto Lithographing Co. Limited. |
Upcoming: Arts and Crafts In The NW
September 26th, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
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Coming up Thursday this week, Historic Seattle is presenting a talk on The Arts And Crafts Movement In The Pacific Northwest by authors Lawrence Kreisman and Glenn Mason. They will present “the rich legacy of regional architecture, furniture, metalwork, stained glass, ceramics and crafts, printing, photography, and other aspects of the movement in Washington and Oregon.” Sounds like an event not to be missed. It’s taking place 7pm at Town Hall and tickets are a steal at $20. If you go, please take the time to post in the comments your roundup and impressions. Click here for more information on the event. Let’s take a look at one Arts and Crafts inspired home from Seattle. Click on the images for a larger view.
Upcoming: 10th Annual Bungalow Fair
September 11th, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
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Mark the calendar, ye Vintage Seattle readers! The 10th Annual Bungalow Fair is coming up the last weekend of this month (the 29th and 30th). This is your chance to learn more about arts and crafts era architecture as well as other aspects of the movement (like furniture, ceramics, lighting, etc). It’s put on by Historic Seattle and is their most popular yearly event, so be sure to grab a ticket at just 10 bucks. With that said, let’s take a look at an old Craftsman bungalow floorplan from 1910. Click on the image for a larger view. Someday I’ll realize my dream of buying an old Craftsman and fixing it up. Someday.
Hovercraft On Show At Seattle!
September 6th, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
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Remember back in June when I was snooping around that old abandoned house in my neighborhood and musing about Elvis? Well, in that house I also uncovered this rather odd artifact: an old crumpled piece of paper trumpeting a hovercraft demonstration at the British Pavilion at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Now I know this may only interest die-hard hovercraft aficionados such as Shipley and myself, but hovercrafts are really just too awesome to pass up. Here’ s a clipping and the scanned paper. Most farmers I know have not yet hopped onto the hovercraft bandwagon… just yet. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view.
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The carrier which has been pioneered by Folland Aircraft Ltd. in collaboration with the Royal Army Medical Corps may well find uses not only with an army in the field but for civilian use in large farming areas in many parts of the world.
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This stretcher-carrier is just one among a number of spectacular ideas which have been followed up since the birth of the British Hovercraft industry in 1953. The fruit of some of these ideas can be seen in the British Pavilion at the Seattle World’ s Fair from April 21 to October 21.
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The carrier which has been pioneered by Folland Aircraft Ltd. in collaboration with the Royal Army Medical Corps may well find uses not only with an army in the field but for civilian use in large farming areas in many parts of the world.
[...]
This stretcher-carrier is just one among a number of spectacular ideas which have been followed up since the birth of the British Hovercraft industry in 1953. The fruit of some of these ideas can be seen in the British Pavilion at the Seattle World’ s Fair from April 21 to October 21.
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| Hovercraft On Show At Seattle. British Pavilion. Seattle World’s Fair. Seattle 9, Washington. |
The Seattle Stadium That Wasn’t
July 30th, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
17 Comments »
What if the Kingdome never existed? I was recently routing through some old city archives and found a few rather interesting documents. Being a big Seattle Mariners fan, these seem even more interesting. It’s a 1963 proposal from the Cheney Construction Company (and associates) to the Central Association (who is now the Downtown Seattle Association) regarding a new 70,000 seat stadium to literally be built in Puget Sound. The stadium was to have a forward thinking retractable roof. Remember, this wasn’t realized in Seattle until 1999 with Safeco Field. For those keeping score at home, this was also 13 years before the Kingdome was built. Check out the old propsal documents, schematic, map, and pencil sketch. Click on the images for a larger view:
Upcoming: Good Shepherd Center Centennial
July 12th, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
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Yes, the last post was a bit of a downer so let’s jump into something a little more upbeat, shall we ? Historic Seattle is honoring the 100th anniversary of the opening of the House of the Good Shepherd on Sunday, July 22 1:30 til 3:30 pm. The building is a City of Seattle landmark and is also on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1907 by noted Seattle architects C. Alfred Breitung and Theobald Buchinger (one half of this team was responsible for one of my very favorite Seattle buildings, The Triangle Hotel next to the stadiums). The event will include period music, historical information, costumed guests, ice cream, and Mayor Nickels. That’s right, ice cream and Nickels! Wh at a combination! Honestly though, this sounds like it will be an interesting event.
While we are talking about historic preservation (and when are we not here?), I found this rather funny article from the Stranger about some pretty enterprising residents going up against a developer threatening to tear down one certain house. Good stuff. And let’s end this post with an image of the House of the Good Shepherd. As always, click on the image for a larger view.
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| House of the Good Shepherd, built in 1907 as a home for “orphaned and wayward girls.” Photograph courtesy Special Collections, University Archives, University of Washington, Seattle. |
It Happened At The World’s Fair 1962
June 28th, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
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Now this first item may be a l ittle too hardcore for most, but I actually find it pretty cool. I was recently snooping around an old abandoned house near my neighborhood and discovered a vintage 1962 Century 21 Exposition (also known as the World’s Fair) piece of blank stationary. It’s a little dirty and ripped, but this paper has been waiting to be written on for 45 years. Neat.
And did you know that Elvis Presley filmed his 1963 film It Happened At The World’s Fair in Seattle. The Monorail, Seattle Center, and the Space Needle are backdrops in the movie and a young Kurt Russel even appears (kicking Elvis). I’m a bit of a Presley fanatic and once owned the soundtrack and all this nostalgia is making me want to find a copy again (the record has some of his weakest songs, as do most of his 60′s soundtracks, yet One Broken Heart For Sale isn’t bad at all). Come on though, who doesn’ t love Elvis ? Shipley, back me up here.
History of Seattle Architecture Talk May 12
May 9th, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
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Coming up this Saturday, May 12th is a free (everyone loves free stuff, right?) lecture on the History of Seattle Architecture put on by the Seattle Architecture Foundation. The specific topic will be Architecture and Urbanism from 1935 to the present. It’ll happen beginning at 1pm through 3pm in the Microsoft Auditorium of the Seattle Central Library. This is the 2nd lecture in a series and includes post-World War II suburban development, the impact of the automobile, growing interest in historic preservation, and urban design. So mark your calendars! I know I’ll be there, you’re coming right ? Hey, hey, don’t let the word “lecture” scare you off, I’m sure we’ll learn something worthwhile. Speaking of the impact of automobiles, check out this image of the Battery Street Subway (connecting the Viaduct to Aurora Ave N.) carbon monoxide tests from 1954.
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| Brave souls take part in a carbon monoxide test inside the Battery Street Subway, July 16, 1954. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives. |
Welcome to VintageSeattle.org!
May 3rd, 2007 by Cliffe | Sorted Miscellaneous |
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You’ve somehow stumbled across my new blog, VintageSeattle.org. This is a blog looking at Seattle’s past through high-res images: vintage photographs, old postcards, newspaper clippings, historic buildings, forgotten advertisements, etc. My aim is to post full resolution pieces so that you can scrutinize, appreciate, and learn from this material. It’ s that simple. Now that’s Vintage!
My name is Jess Cliffe, I’m a software designer and artist by day and history nerd by night. There’s more information about the site and myself on the about page. If you are interested in any of this or know someone else who is, please tell others about the site. The only real way of advertising this blog’ s exi stence is via word of mouth. There’s also a faq page if you have any questions. And as always, feel free to e-mail me or submit something. Thanks for coming.
