(click to enlarge photos) As Jean’s “repeat” reveals, the recent prize-winning remodel of the HUB (the University of Washington’s Husky Union Building) is an air-conditioned delight. While its atrium of glass and limestone reaches for the roof it also extends to nearly the length of the building. The HUB was built in 1949 on the … Continue reading Seattle Now & Then: AYP's Forestry Building
(click to enlarge photos) An elaborate celebration of a singular historical event, like our exalted centennial in 2009 for the 1909 Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, once paraded may then barely wiggle. It is something of a rule for centennials. What at the age of 100 becomes an object to venerate, without attention quickly goes ho-hum … Continue reading Seattle Now & Then: The Washington State Building of the AYPE
Here we see – above – what The Seattle Times for Sept. 5, 1909 headlined the “Unique and Attractive ‘Seattle Day’ Decoration of Standard Furniture Company’s Store.” Follows the Times reporter’s often thrilled description of “the most unique and attractive store decoration ever seen in Seattle.” We quote. “The idea typifies the ‘Spirit of Seattle’ … Continue reading Standard Furniture – Seattle Day for AYPE, 1909
The Alaska Yukon and Pacific Exposition’s official photographer, Frank H. Nowell, was not the only commercial camera working the fair grounds and – in this week’s subject – its perimeter. Here with the useful caption “O.A.C. Cadets in camp – A.Y.P. Expo. – Seattle June 5th 9 – 09” the unidentified photographer has named the … Continue reading Seattle Now & Then: Military Discipline at the AYPE
I have patched together – crudely – four snaps taken at yesterday’s Folklife presentation ceremony for historylink’s pretty big book on the ALASKA YUKON PACIFIC EXPOSITION. Co-author Alan Stein is front forward in profile and with a hat, and co-author Paula Becker is behind me sitting with her parents, charming Texans who now live in … Continue reading AYP TIMELINE AVAILABLE – NEARLY
The AYP is upon us – its Centennial. “As time allows” Jean and I will use moments early in its next 100 years to fill its very own “button” on this site with images and stories collected and written over the past 30 years – many of them from Pacific Northwest Magazine, but not all. … Continue reading ALASKA YUKON PACIFIC EXPOSITION (AYP)
(click and click again to enlarge images) A NOW & THEN APRIL FOOL’S SPECIAL Are These Quirky Tales for Real? Certainly plenty of weird things have happened in the Seattle area and beyond — but have all of these? By Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard Through the decades, we’ve all seen them: the wacky people … Continue reading Seattle Now & Then: Are these quirky tales for real? April Fool’s 2024
(Click here to get back to the Quirky Tales intro page.) Quirky tale #5: Facing a nun-too-subtle challenge For amateur photographer Max Loudon, who documented his lively bachelor life in the early years of the 20th century, this snapshot of six Benedictine nuns in their habits during a visit to Seattle’s first world’s fair, the … Continue reading Quirky tale #5: Facing a nun-too-subtle challenge
(please click to enlarge photos) Published in The Seattle Times online on March 30, 2023 and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on April 2, 2023 ‘Meet me at the Pig’: A newcomer’s guide to Seattle’s quirky codes By Jean Sherrard Forty years ago, on our honeymoon, my girlfriend and I — oops, “wife” … Continue reading Seattle Now & Then: For April Fool’s, a newcomer’s guide to Seattle’s quirky codes
(Click and click again to enlarge photos) Published in The Seattle Times online on Feb. 23, 2023 and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on Feb. 26, 2023 Documentary launches up-Hill quest to honor the ‘Empire Builder’ By Clay Eals When I routinely rode with my dad to his downtown office in … Continue reading Seattle Now & Then: James J. Hill, Empire Builder, 1909