West Seattle Blog…

West Seattle breaking news, 1917 style: More floor finds

June 29, 2012 at 11:17 pm | In West Seattle history, West Seattle news | 9 Comments

Laurie in Admiral is still remodeling, and still turning up pages from copies of The West Seattle Press, circa 1917, the year her house was built. This time it’s from a December edition. Above, a crime; below, a crash:

And a hero:

Plus, of course, ads:

The blacksmith’s address compares to the north side of Talarico’s; the shoe-repair shop, right around Admiral Safeway; Ida the real-estate lady, the north side of the Rite-Aid lot. Thanks, Laurie! (We have a few more clippings in reserve for sometime during the holiday week ahead.)

P.S. If you missed previous stories with some of her finds – see them here and here.

9 Comments

1. These are great. Keep ‘me coming. Fun to see!

   Comment by K — 11:52 pm June 29, 2012 #

2. Thanks for sharing these Laurie. When we remodeled our place a few years back, we had the contractors hide complete copies of the Seattle Times and a USA Today inside the walls. Well actually, we’re not sure where exactly they are. The contractors just said they found a good place to stash them. Hopefully someone else in the far distant future will find them and appreciate the news of the day.

   When we do our next round of remodeling in the months ahead, we’re planning to hide a CD and flash memory stick full of various photos of the house and neighborhood through the years (along with a bundle of some actual prints – just in case). Both of those technologies will no doubt be long out-dated when/if they’d ever be discovered. I’m sure someone would find a way to access them however.

   Comment by Ken — 1:46 am June 30, 2012 #

3. That’s a really neat idea, Ken!

   Comment by Maggie — 6:11 am June 30, 2012 #

4. Interesting that numbered streets are spelled out, when it seems it would have been more laborious to do the typesetting in that manner.

   .

   Although, I suppose, they may have had one-piece type already made up for “thirty” and “eighth”, and so on, rather than typesetting the individual letters, to create the words.

   .

   Ken, be sure to leave a digital copy of one of the more contentious political WSB Forum threads, so folks of the future can look at our troubles as so trivial compared to what they might be dealing with in their present time! ;-)

   Mike

   Comment by miws — 8:41 am June 30, 2012 #

5. I hope the newspaper wasn’t used as insulation!

   Comment by yig — 9:35 am June 30, 2012 #

6. LOVE, LOVE, these glimpses into the past! Keep em’ coming for sure!

   Comment by David — 10:04 am June 30, 2012 #

7. Finding things like that is cool! My husband hid small toys all over the house, before we sold it.
   FYI
   Beware, CD or DVD rot that will eat your information. Or as auto manufacturers say, “your mileage may vary.” Update data every so often, with newer and better, or current disks. 5inch floopy anyone.

   And yes, newspaper was used as insulation:)

   Comment by patt — 10:38 am June 30, 2012 #

8. Cool! I like reading things like this.
   Years ago, when I moved out of a big old house, I hid a paper mache’ monster in a not-too-easy to find place.

   Comment by LatteRose — 5:44 pm June 30, 2012 #

9. What I like about these is that it reminds us that the only constant is change. I am sure people were outraged then, as they are now, about businesses closing due to development and major infrastructure projects.

   Comment by Kgdlg — 9:35 am July 1, 2012 #

Sorry, comment time is over.