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Remember when... (WS reminiscing thread)

Started 4 years ago by manuelw
Latest reply from shed22

manuelw
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Morton\'s Drug had an ice cream counter?
Don\'s Office Supply existed?
Taco Time was on Alki?
Thriftway burned down?
The West Seattle Hobby Shop existed?

Posted 4 years ago #
Bonnie
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I remember all but when Morton\'s Drug had an ice cream counter. I think I remember Don\'s Office Supply though.

I was looking through my old copy of West Side Story the other day from 1987. So fun to look through!

Remember:
LaGrace Fashion
Johnson\'s Apparel
Alaska Junction Restaurant
Tradewell
Meal Makers
Mr. Ed\'s

Posted 4 years ago #
manuelw
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Tradewell! Was that the grocery store where Petco is now? Mr. Ed\'s was a diner in Admiral which is now a bank, right?

Posted 4 years ago #
JanS
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Morton\'s not only had an icecream counter, but you could get a burger there, too...for cheap...and they were good :)

And if you went to their pharmacy and had to wait for your prescription, Mort would give you a \"wooden nickel\" to go get a one scoop cone for free while you waited :)

Posted 4 years ago #
JanS
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Meal Makers..the original Charlestown Cafe...

Tradewell...now Petco...

How about the Lucky Store....now Met Market...

and Prairie Market....now PCC

Yes..Mr. Ed\'s became the Admiral Diner...good breakfasts, now a non-descript BOA...oh, well....

and...does anyone remember what was located on the corner where the 7-11 at Calif. and Charlestown is now?

Posted 4 years ago #
Bonnie
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I remember there being a Prairie Market over by Charleston, which is now some houses and an empty lot.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bonnie
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Oh, my husband used to work for both Mr. Ed\'s and before that Webster\'s Diner (now Charleston Cafe but moved to another location)

Posted 4 years ago #
JanS
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there was a grocery store at 49th and Charlestown, but the name escapes me at the moment. Gina...you out there? where are you when I need you? lol...you know the name of it...

Bonnie...I\'ll try to find out the name...:)

Posted 4 years ago #
Jeffro
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Does anyone know where I could find pictures of the Charlestown at 49th block \"the way it used to be\"? This has intrigued me from the time I first heard about it on this blog. I can\'t imagine that there used to be a corner store there. What a loss.

And what of that empty lot? Are they just keeping some open space around for a rainy day? I know they used it for staging when they were doing road construction up on California, but tt feels a lot like Ercolini Park before they decided to make a proper park out of it. I kind of like the space as it is now, but I do daydream about an Alki Mail and Dispatch-type place right there, or a place to pick up a gallon of milk or bread without having to trudge up the hill. You know, a place where I\'d be the only customer.

Posted 4 years ago #
Gina
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I remember the supermarket at 49th and Charlestown was called \"The Grocery Cart\", and that was it\'s second name. It was originally called something different. It was the deserted store. My mother started shopping there after Admiral Safeway became \'too big\' for her, and she could take as much room as she needed in the parking lot for the 68 Olds Cutless Supreme.

There was a milk and egg type store where the 7-11
on Admiral is, I called it \'the cow that jumped over the moon\' store. It had a sign, outline with neon, that did just that. It may have been called \'Crazy Cow\'.

My grandmother lived in the San Juan apartments, (with its aqua colored bathroom fixtures). Her big joke was announcing that we were going to go down to the A&P. (she would cackle as she elongated the sound of the last letter.) The A&P was where the Petco is now.

There was an electric bus that ran down California from Admiral Junction to Alaska Junction, I think it was a 49. Seattle Transit was 10 cents, cost a nickel extra every time you crossed a zone.

The current Alki Mail and Dispatch was a Mom and Pop grocery store. When I was four, I wasn\'t allowed to go to the California Ave. stores by myself, my mother thought that street was too busy for me to cross alone. And I was having trouble with what light had to be red before I went across. (no walk/don\'t walk lights) She would give me a quarter, and tell me to go to the little store on 47th, buy a Fudgsicle for myself, no candy for me, I was too young to eat candy, and a candy bar that had peanuts in or on it for her, and bring back the change. I was too young to eat peanuts, too. Or so she said.

We shopped at the S&Q, located where Alki Bike and Board is now. The steep slope inside the entrance is the same as it was at that time.
What I remember about the S&Q was the gum machines outside, the glass place on one side, and Houlihan\'s Little Deli on the other. Houlihan\'s had a the good comic books in it. And the little round cakes displayed in the nooks in the window area.

S&Q had it\'s own butcher, my mother wanted to make sure there was no meat tampering, there were rumors about the supermarket meat departments giving poor weight with their scales.

On hot days I would go stand by the drop-in freezer. It was so nice and cool, and so full of ice cream. The shopping carts were about the size of the new mini carts they have now at Metropolitan market. There was a front seat you could fold out to stick a child in. I would go stiff legged so I wouldn\'t have to sit in it. I wanted to stand and watch the butcher slice meat.

Every other day we did our marketing. The store closed at 7, and was closed on Sundays, so you had to plan ahead.

The Darigold milkman, Roy Magnusson, came on Tuesdays and Thursdays with milk, eggs and cheese.

Both the S&Q and Darigold would keep a tab, and bill monthly. My mother felt she was not given a large enough allowance, so she shopped at places that billed, and my father would have to write a check, leaving her with her allowance to spend as she pleased.

There was a little rock house down by the lighthouse, that was rumored to have an elevator in it (and it really did, I found out years later.) It was torn down and replaced with an apartment \"that would capture the spirit of the rock house.\" The rock wall remains, the apartment never seemed to capture the spirit from my point of view.

The lighthouse used to have a horn for foggy nights. It made a kind of bleating noise you could hear all the way up to Admiral. Woe be to you if you were wakeful on a foggy night. That thing would keep you up.

On Wednesdays? Thursdays? at noon, the noon whistle would be blown. It was a Civil Defense siren. You could hear it all over West Seattle.

Posted 4 years ago #
Gina
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And I must share the greatest \"tragedy\" of my childhood. J.P. Patches was going to come to West Seattle, to the McDonalds down by Gatewood. I was promised that I could go. I was sent to the store on that Saturday on an errand, and dawdled on the way home. My punishment? No trip to see J.P. My dawdling? I had made a side trip to Sheppards for a Mother\'s Day card, Mother\'s Day being the next day.

No, there wasn\'t a Kodak moment the next day.

Never saw J.P. in person and live until after I was of voting age.

Posted 4 years ago #
Kayleigh
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We had a Vitamilk milk man. If I managed to catch him delivering to the little white box on the doorstep, I would has him for chocolate milk and he would slip some into the box. Mom didn\'t fuss at me because she was a chocoholic too.

I remember when the antique store at the Junction was a J.C. Penney\'s, and I remember La Grace and New Luck Toy. My memories get clearer going further south, when Westwood had a Lucky grocery, a Lamonts, a Thom McCann shoe store, a barbershop, some odd small shops (someone help me remember more...a candy store, maybe?)

Safeway on 26th was a Fred Meyer/Larry\'s Market/Fish Store/Hair Hut. The Fish Store was cool and somehow creepy at the same time, with all the tanks bubbling and the green, murky smell of fish food.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bonnie
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My husband remembers seeing JP Patches, but I don\'t remember where it was. He said Gertrude gave him a big kiss!

Posted 4 years ago #
Lisa
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Remember the Granda Theater with its magnificent pipe organ? (West Side of California, somewhere between Rite Aid & 7-11).

As a kid in the 60\'s my folks took us there to watch a movie (probably a silent movie with an organist) and I remember at one point (intermission?) we got to go down and talk to the organist and play a few keys. The pipe organ held some signigicance at the time. Something like the largest on the West Coast, or oldest, or last remaining, or something special - anybody remember? I just remember my mom and dad making a big fuss about how special it was. It was sad when the theater was closed and torn down.

Posted 4 years ago #
AdmiralJaneway
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I remember:
West Seattle Hospital near Sealth HS.
A bank across the street from the Admiral Theatre (I think it was a People\'s Bank)
The Blockbuster on California was an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Pailin was a seafood restaurant.
The Jack In The Box on Admiral was a Herfy\'s.

Posted 4 years ago #
Lisa
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Kayleigh - I remember the old Westwood Village, too! Let see....
Ernest Hardward, Winchells doughnuts, jewerly store (got my ears pierced there at age 13), Merle Norman cosmetics, a Fabric store, Yes - the Candy store! Lucky Grocery - no meat sales on Sundays, Pay N Save, a Hallmark store, The Red Baron restaurant, oh the old days of Westwood.

I remember the stored were closed on Sundays and my dad taking me to the parking lot to ride bikes, and later a little driving time. Now that my Daughter is approaching driving age, it is hard to find a quiet parking lot like the old days. The stores are always open.

Posted 4 years ago #
Lisa
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Kayleigh - I remember the old Westwood Village, too! Let see....
Ernest Hardward, Winchells doughnuts, jewerly store (got my ears pierced there at age 13), Merle Norman cosmetics, a Fabric store, Yes - the Candy store! Lucky Grocery - no meat sales on Sundays, Pay N Save, a Hallmark store, The Red Baron restaurant, oh the old days of Westwood.

I remember the stored were closed on Sundays and my dad taking me to the parking lot to ride bikes, and later a little driving time. Now that my Daughter is approaching driving age, it is hard to find a quiet parking lot like the old days. The stores are always open.

Posted 4 years ago #
Kayleigh
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Lisa, wow! The Red Baron!

My brother got his first haircut at that barbershop. And getting donuts at Winchell\'s was a treat. They would put a little plastic toy decoration thing that corresponded to the holiday, like a pumpkin on Halloween, on the frosted cake ones...(okay, there\'s a kid\'s rememberance of detail for you.)

We used to go to the Sea Galley there all the time, before it bcame a Keg and got crappy, LOL!

Posted 4 years ago #
Kayleigh
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Oh, and the Westwood t-shirt shop, where you could get a 70s white jersey with colored sleeves and choose the glittery decal you wanted on the front or back! Boy, was I cool with my red and white jersey t-shirt with the little brown dog on the front....

Posted 4 years ago #
Jo
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Ritchie\'s Drugstore (where Alki Bakery is now) on the beach with the soda fountain. Greatest ice cream cones in the world! Mr. Ritchie always remembered your name. Mrs. Ritchie still lives above Alki Bakery.
On Alki, two mom-and-pop grocery stores, a shoe shop, video rental, Spud\'s drew people from all over the region, the old IGA grocery store. Homestead Restaurant was the place to go on Prom Night.

Posted 4 years ago #
jissy
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LOVE these threads!!! Although it makes me feel old and I\'m only in my 30\'s! Admiral Janeway, the buffet was the Royal Fork, we used to call The Royal Barf!

My favorite place growing up was the \"Dime Store\" which was where Zatz is now -- loved those old ladies/sisters who owned it and they had the COOLEST stuff.... got my first pair of plastic high heels there!

Our local mini mart/grocery was I think called R&D\'s on the corner of Walker and Calif, now a yoga place -- my brother and I got to go there by ourselves for penny candy.

And the JCPenney\'s was where I did my Christmas shopping -- always felt so grown up b/c my mom would let me and my best friend take the bus down when we were about 7 or 8 and buy my dad a tie.

Winchell\'s (the current Admiral Starbuck\'s) was our Saturday morning treat, got to walk up with my dad while mom made a big Saturday breakfast and she\'d heat them up just ever so slightly to make them a little crisp.

And LOVED LOVED LOVED Shakey\'s Pizza (current Taco Time @ 35th/Fauntleroy) -- we\'d always go there after soccer games with the team and for Honor Roll lunches in private school for the \"bunch a lunch\" -- best jojo\'s, Chicken, salad bar and pizza!!!! There was also a pizza place at the current Redline where you could make your own Sunday\'s, again, great soccer team hangout, can\'t remember the name of it though.

Oh and the Dairy Queen that used to be in the current parking lot of Met Market -- yep, got to walk there but not very often, only special occasions........ And the taco place behind it that fronted Admiral, Taco Tuesday, 2 tacos and a coke for a buck and they had a great arcade in back. We\'d get to go play some arcade games then run dinner home to the folks.

WOW, I miss the old neighborhood before The Bridge was built!!!

Posted 4 years ago #
RonM
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I remember when the 7-11 on Charleston and California was a Texaco gas station. There was a Shell station across the street where the Charleston is today, but the property was divided between the Shell which was on the corner and a Dairy Queen just to the south that was the first commercial business at the location. It opened in the late 40\'s with search lights and fanfare and was my first encounter with soft ice-cream. The burned out Shucks was a Safeway when I was a child and subsequently a number of businesses passed through the building.

Bartell\'s was on the NE corner of California and Alaska and it had a soda fountain, as did Morton\'s. Woolworth and Kress\'s nickle and dime stores were just north of Bartell\'s along with a sporting goods store and the Classic Barbershop where I was given my first haircut. The barbershop had been there since 1929. Penny\'s was also on that side of the block and when they moved out I was angry enough never to shop in a Penny\'s again! I also remember when that Penny\'s had a cable system from the main floor to the balcony where change would be made and sent back down to the floor in a little cable car.

My Dad worked for a couple of years as a steam engineer at the Alki Natatorium. It was a beautiful indoor pool facility with four separate pools, one Olympic size, that was built on a pier. A poor design because the pier wasn\'t strong enough to carry the weight of the pool and it was closed and torn down in the late 40\'s. The Spud was a favorite in those days, the best Fish n\' Chips in the country! The founder died and the business seemed to degrade over several managements. We go to the Sunfish today for good fish n\' chips.

Posted 4 years ago #
RonM
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I remember when the 7-11 on Charleston and California was a Texaco gas station. There was a Shell station across the street where the Charleston is today, but the property was divided between the Shell which was on the corner and a Dairy Queen just to the south that was the first commercial business at the location. It opened in the late 40\'s with search lights and fanfare and was my first encounter with soft ice-cream. The burned out Shucks was a Safeway when I was a child and subsequently a number of businesses passed through the building.

Bartell\'s was on the NE corner of California and Alaska and it had a soda fountain, as did Morton\'s. Woolworth and Kress\'s nickle and dime stores were just north of Bartell\'s along with a sporting goods store and the Classic Barbershop where I was given my first haircut. The barbershop had been there since 1929. Penny\'s was also on that side of the block and when they moved out I was angry enough never to shop in a Penny\'s again! I also remember when that Penny\'s had a cable system from the main floor to the balcony where change would be made and sent back down to the floor in a little cable car.

My Dad worked for a couple of years as a steam engineer at the Alki Natatorium. It was a beautiful indoor pool facility with four separate pools, one Olympic size, that was built on a pier. A poor design because the pier wasn\'t strong enough to carry the weight of the pool and it was closed and torn down in the late 40\'s. The Spud was a favorite in those days, the best Fish n\' Chips in the country! The founder died and the business seemed to degrade over several managements. We go to the Sunfish today for good fish n\' chips.

Posted 4 years ago #
Gina
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Skaret\'s Sweet Shop at Westwood Village. They had a row of boudoir dolls, seems like there was a layer of dust on them. I remember going there in 67 with my mother, so she could order the little square mints for my sister\'s wedding, in the correct wedding colors.

There was a Junior Bootery at W.V., it had a big door, and a little door you could enter through. And a very large wooden horse, it didn\'t have rockers, it was more of a swing motion.

There was also a children\'s clothing store.

I remember suffering through long afternoons at Malmos. It seemed to take hours for the choice to be made of what rhodie to get.

I used to take skating lessons out at the Burien Ice Chalet, now torn down for a strip mall. If I had a Saturday lesson, once in a great while I would get a hamburger from McDonalds. Back when the McDonalds was set up like Dick\'s. Fifteen cents for a burger, line up outside. Burien was the only McDonalds I ever went to, the West Seattle one always seemed to have burned down.

My girl scout troop went on a field trip to Southgate roller rink, back when you lined up in front of the building. There were some kind of staffing problems, so it didn\'t open the day we came. We were overjoyed, we got to go to Astroland, instead! And with our skate money, we ate at Dags? Herfys? What was on 16th back at that time?

I miss Spud Fish and Chips. They are owned by Ivar\'s now, and I never did care for Ivar\'s fish and chips. My mother would stand in the long line at Spuds when we went to the beach, because she loved their vanilla soft serve. It always seems crunchy in my memory, because of the sand blowing...

Posted 4 years ago #
PSPS
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I moved here in \'79 and remember:

A shuttered gas station @ 35th & Fauntleroy where the printer/dentist/tanning/laundry building is now. I think it was an old Rocket station.

Tha Shakey\'s across the street to the south where Taco Time is now.

A Pizza Haven where the Met Market on Admiral has its parking lot now.

That 49th & Charlestown grocery store building -- boarded up at the time. I think the sign said \"Piggly Wiggly.\"

The little grocery on Alki where the surf shop is now.

The Tradewell where Petco is. I got picked up by a girl there once!

A locksmith named \"Kirby\" who lived in an what was an old dilapidated store converted to residential use on 42nd and Dakota (later razed and replaced with a house.) He replaced the lock on my front door after a burglary in the mid 80\'s.

The Roundtable Pizza on 35th south of Avalon (now a bar.)

The garden equipment store next to that Roundtable where I once bought an electric lawn mower.

Groucho\'s burgers where Starbucks is at Avalon & Fauntleroy.

Sunfish when it was next to Tervo\'s.

Von\'s where Maharaja is now.

JC Penney \"catalog store\" in The Junction.

SeaFirst bank at California & Edmunds.

Skipper\'s across the street where \"Velvet Foam\" is now.

Godfather\'s Pizza also at California & Edmunds (NE corner.)

Webster\'s when it was south of Edmunds.

Denney\'s, also south of Edmunds on California.

The pre-fire Thriftway in the Morgan Junction.

I\'ll stop now. I must be so old that I need a nap!

Posted 4 years ago #
manuelw
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Now I remember getting burgers at Morton Drugs too. Got many a wooden nickel there. The spoon was greasy, as they say.

Rite-Aid on Calif. used to be a Pay & Save...
Ernst hardware in Westwood Village...
Herfy\'s on Admiral was sooo good...

There was a Shakey\'s here? Oh man I missed out... BUT my old childhood haunt was Godfather\'s Pizza. I remember many a lunch buffet ordered and many a pinball game played.

Remember West Seattle Seed & Feed, and the awesome old hippies who ran it all those decades? I used to buy bird seed there for our parakeets. Now it\'s the Yoga joint.

Webster\'s restaurant and Groucho\'s burgers... now that brings me back to my *very* earliest childhood memories. I\'m only 27 though... grew up near 45th & Edmunds.

What building was Denny\'s in?

Remember the porno store, where Curves Fitness is now? I used to peek through the mail slot. It was near my old church, West Side Presbyterian.

Posted 4 years ago #
JanS
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Jissy...I remember the Royal Fork Buffet...and we had a different name for it , too....another word beginning with \"F\"...as in the Royal F#*k...always laughed at the place. I remember going in there once...there was a family of...rather large people...who didn\'t use plates...just piled the food on their tray. I think that cured me of going there anymore - lol...

Posted 4 years ago #
ToddinWestwood
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I am only 38 but I remember a Herfy\'s being on California. yes?
I spent lots of hard earned lawn mowing money at the West Seattle Bike Shop.
the Skippers was still in the junction where Uptown Espresso is.
later as a teen, spending money on t-shirts and buttons at Dogmeat\'s Records.
Where Tony\'s fruit stand is, there was a Gull gas station.
I remember the Arbor Heights Safeway and there used to be a Fred Meyer or something over where the new Safeway is on Roxbury.

ahh yes, memories.

Posted 4 years ago #
Gina
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Originally Denny\'s was Sambo\'s, it was replaced by condos, Granada theatre was replaced by Granada condominiums.

The real estate place, with the big wooden Thai statue in front, did it really have glowing red eyes? Was down by the Presbyterian church.

The Spencer House, now condominiums. The everything was pink inside restaurant, at the foot of Jacobsen Dr.

The Crown House Beauty Salon, now Lee\'s Martial Arts.

Wig-Wam, for all your little plastic junk needs, where Sleepers in Seattle is.

The White Front store, pre Fred Meyer.

Blockbuster, Country Buffet, Royal Fork, Hardware Store, Safeway. All have been in the same building.

Waiting for the bridge to go up or down. Betting on the whether the eastbound bridge or the westbound bridge would close first. Watching the neon piggy bank sign at the gas station rotate while waiting for the train to go by after the bridge went down. Wondering what would happen if the bridge had to go up while you were backed up and on the bridge, while waiting for the train.

Looking to see if the banana boat was docked on the river, and unloading.

Posted 4 years ago #
herongrrrl
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Gina, I took skating lessons at Burien Ice Chalet too! A bunch of girls caught a bus at the Fauntleroy YMCA and rode out there. Were we on same bus?

And jissy, I remember that dime store, it did have the coolest stuff in it.

I was just lamenting Shakey\'s to my daughter the other day...and the Red Baron was the \"fancy\" restaurant where my parents took my brother and I to learn \"fancy restaurant\" manners (I still remember their salad bar, hard to find a good one anymore). I had a broken ankle set by an orthopedist at WS Hospital.

I remember when Me Kwa Mooks Park was an overgrown fruit orchard with rabbits, quail and pheasants living in it...Quesnell\'s Fish and Chips and Esther\'s General Store on Beach Drive...when the Tradewell where Petco is now was an A&P, when PCC was Prairie Market, when Salty\'s was the Beach Broiler. I used to buy pet goldfish at the WS Feed and Seed, and wasn\'t Dennys something else before it was a Dennys? VIPs or Sambos? (And for a brief, horrible time post-Dennys, it was \"Johnny\'s Urban Americana Diner\", which was awful.)

Posted 4 years ago #
Lisa
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Gina & Herongrrrl - My sister and I also took ice skating lessons at \'The Burien Ice Chalet\' via the Fauntleroy YMCA bus....did we skate together? Must have!

Posted 4 years ago #
Julie
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Not that long ago, but I miss Games Plus in the Junction.

Posted 4 years ago #
Lisa
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Gina & Herongrrrl - My sister and I took ice skating lessons at the Burien Ice Chalet, via the Fauntleroy YMCA bus too! Did we skate together? Probably did!

Posted 4 years ago #
Gina
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I had private lessons with Betty Pryor at the Burien Ice Chalet. My mother had asthma, and found she could breathe more easily in the air at the ice rink. And I was being supervised, could go around in circles for an hour, and it was something to do in the endless rainy winter. There were pictures of kids in cheesy poses along the top of the seating area after they put windows in, I was one of those kids, we went upstairs to the dance studio and posed on a roll of white cloth. The boys that played hockey were the ice menaces, took more falls, losing my balance as they would weave quickly in and out.

Did anyone else take a music appreciation class with Mrs. Singletary? She lived on Admiral Way, down by Schmitz Park.

Or the old Y pool, in the old dairy. Wow, the chlorine fumes were strong!

For Seattle Public School grade schoolers of the 60s--remember the testing trailer that would come every year? At the end you got a little prize after you finished pushing the buttons for the test.

Watching Mr. Eddy on the black and white tvs in the classrooms?

At Lafayette each class had a messenger chosen every week. The messenger got to run messages to the front office, or if the bell rang in the classroom, they were dispatched to find out what Mrs Klenman(?) or the other lady might want.

Lunch was served on round blue plates with sections.

Lafayette had a big fair every year, on a Friday night. One year my mother was given the material to make leis. Tissue paper and paper straws, strung on string. We made endless leis. Straw section, four tissue paper petals. Repeat.

Fads at school. Yo-yos, cinnamon toothpicks, Frito Bandito eraser tops, apple gum...

And to jump way forward--The Star Wars van doing the Alki crawl. That was the coolest van in the world! And the crazy crowds, blowing up the garbage cans with m-80s back before there were parking restrictions.

Posted 4 years ago #
Lisa
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Yes, Betty Pryor, she was my instructor too. After the Y classes I had private lessons too! Small world!

Posted 4 years ago #
miws
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I remember most of what has already been mentioned. I think I still have a Morton\'s wooden nickel stashed away somewhere.

Some of the things I also remember, that I don\'t recall being mentioned yet. If anyone wants to know of a specific location, just ask! :)

.

In the Junction, West Seattle Sporting Goods, Ernst Hardware, A-Advanced TV, People\'s Drug Store, Meredith\'s Dime Store, G.O. Guy Drug Store, Angelo\'s Burgers, Ware & Hosey TV and Appliance (later, one of a local chain of Dick & Dales App. Carlisle Furniture, Steve Athan\'a Tailor and Apparel.

.

I\'ll post more as I remember, and will try to post about what I remember in other WS neighborhoods.

.

Now some follow-up on what was posted by others.

The restaurant where Mahrajah is now was actually Vann Brothers, not Von\'s. Before PCC was Prarie, it was a QFC Store. The Safeway etc on Roxbury was a Marketime, owned by Fred Meyer, and sort of a FM \"Lite\". The original Classic Barber Shop was in a portion of Menashe\'s. I helped with it\'s move down the street to it\'s current location in around 1990. That was when I found out that Barber chairs were free standing, and not bolted down to the floor, with a hole in the floor for about a foot of the hydraulic cylinder to drop into when the chair was lowered all the way. (Also found out I wasn\'t the only one to think as such!)

Posted 4 years ago #
PSPS
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That reminds me:

The old WS drawbridge with the tire shop on the west end. They had a sign out that said, \"We fix flats\" or something like that. Wasn\'t there a news story at one time blaming them for sprinkling roofing nails on the roadway to increase business?

Yes, that was a Fred Meyer/Marketime on Roxbury. It was called \"Fred Meyer Lite\" because it had no food section. Fred Meyer started his stores in Portland in 1922, later expanding to Washington using the name \"Marketime.\" Meyer continued to work in his empire until his death in 1978 at age 92. KKR\'s first leveraged buyout was Fred Meyer in 1982, then Kroger purchased it in 1999. (Kroger also owns QFC.)

And though not WS-specific and not so long ago, I still remember my disbelief when watching those \"Liquidation! All items must GO!\" TV ads at the demise of Frederick & Nelson\'s. Many here will remember the army of F&N trucks that would make delveries throughout the city including West Seattle every day.

And I still think putting triggered traffic lights in place of standard timed lights at California & Admiral was a mistake. It was the very day after that the block-long line of cars began and it\'s been that way ever since.

Marty\'s Barber Shop (now Ralph\'s) across the street from the Admiral Theater. Many a snowy Saturday morning at 7:30, Martin would find me waiting for him as he rode to work on his bike.

\"The Shack\" on Alki where California dumps out.

I remember going in to Easy Street looking for concert tickets on the very day they opened for business. They were still assembling the record bins.

Also not that long ago was The Alaska Junction restaurant where Jak\'s is now.

Jefferson School before the Safeway monstrosity.

Posted 4 years ago #
JanS
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wow...I\'m not from here, but remember Jefferson Elementary School. My ex-hubby went there. I remember how we were all chagrined when they tore it down for a Safeway, of all things. Sort of like how we feel about things that are being torn down now that have history and life left in them.

Posted 4 years ago #
Jerald
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Before the RiteAid on California was a Payless, it was a nice little Safeway. Was replaced by Jefferson Square.

The Hancock Fabrics/Schucks building was a grocery store, can\'t remember which chain. It had a coffee shop upstairs in the balcony.

I remember Husky\'s up the street about where Capers is now. They had jars of candied fruit and mysterious things, but best of all a jar of frosted animal cookies.

Also, wasn\'t Shafron\'s the name of the shoe store that was across the street? When kids tried on shoes the man that worked there (the owner?) would pinch their toes and make a squeaking sound.

As a child I would stand in the balcony of J.C.Penney and drop the plastic clips from folded underwear on the heads of people below. No one ever caught me, but as you can see, I\'m still feeling guilty.

Posted 4 years ago #
Anonymous
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Jerald, how can you ever live with yourself:)

Posted 4 years ago #
manuelw
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Shafron\'s the men\'s clothing store! I got my prom tux there in 1998. So Rite-Aid used to be a Safeway before it was Payless. That explains its extremely wide width.

That huge wooden boat hull on the West side of Beach Drive, over near 7-11. Since when has that been there? Kids used to spray paint it, it has since disintegrated.

Posted 4 years ago #
Gina
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I think the fellow that made toes squeak was \"Uncle Barney\" at Red Goose Shoes. After a shoe purchase a child would get a plasic golden egg bank that had some hard candies and small plastic toys in it.

Hancock/Shucks was a Lucky supermarket, may have been something else before then.

Jan, the Americana Diner was sooo awful I completely blocked it out of my mind!

House of Holland at Westwood Village. It started out as a good place to eat, was a moldy, stale bread on your sandwich by the end.

The Menu, was in the Penney\'s block. They had really big milkshakes.

Posted 4 years ago #
add
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I remember when JaK\'s was in the tiny space where Museum Quality Framing is now. There were only about 10 tables in the place - we came over from Issaqauh to have dinner there we loved it so much. Then they closed and moved to Issaquah just when we moved to West Seattle (in 1998). We were very happy when they opened again in the current Junction location (which was a New Orleans-style restaurant I believe).

Posted 4 years ago #
Bonnie
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I remember trying on wedding dresses at some shop in the junction. Where Curious Kidstuff is now? Maybe there.

Posted 4 years ago #
Jerald
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I\'m old enough to remember Zesto\'s hamburger stand, where McDonald\'s is now, across from WSHS. But too young for it to be open when I went to school there. Disappointing.

Wasn\'t the Charlestown Cafe first a Country Kitchen? I remember friends of mine working there, wearing hideous brown gingham uniforms.

Thank you all for reminding me of things I\'d forgotten, like the little money-sending cars at Penney\'s and the IGA. Almost like deja vu.

Posted 4 years ago #
Jerald
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I\'m looking thru old OLD papers and just found a little cardboard menu from Quesnel\'s, the restaurant that used to be on Beach Drive at the foot of Jacobsen Rd.

I don\'t know what year it was, but the phone number\'s listed as WEst 2-6965.

The Seafood Bar offered take-out fish & chips for 40 cents, scallops & chips for 80 cents! A cup of clam chowder was only 20 cents.

The sit-down restaurant upstairs, as someone else mentioned, was entirely done-up in pink, a real \"tablecloth joint.\" This menu lists meals including chowder, salad, baked potato, bread, and coffee. \"Choice Select Salmon Steak\" for $3.50, Small Pacific Oysters\" for $2.75. The priciest item was \"Charcoal Broiled Filet Mignon of Choice Beef\" at $5.25. An appetizer of \"Crab or Shrimp Cocktail Supreme\" went for $1.25.

Posted 4 years ago #
JanS
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and the Seafood Bar at Quesnel\'s had the best prawns and chips. My ex-hubby worked at Quesnel\'s when he was in highschool...the pepto-bismal pink decor was truly...well...nauseating - lol...

Posted 4 years ago #
JanS
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and Gina...I knew you\'d be a wealth of information on here :)

Posted 4 years ago #
jissy
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Gina -- yes, it was Uncle Barney -- I LOVED getting shoes there, that squeak he could do was priceless.

Bonnie -- I think you\'re thinking of Murray\'s, I got my prom dress there.

That\'s right, JaK\'s in Admiral, we\'d walk up there and spent more than one New Year\'s Eve there. Believe it or not, the wait wasn\'t as long as it is these days with about 1/10th the number of tables.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bonnie
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Loved going to Jaks in the Admiral District.

Posted 4 years ago #

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