Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Remember when… (WS reminiscing thread)
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April 5, 2008 at 2:21 am #586689
manuelwParticipantMorton’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?
April 5, 2008 at 2:28 am #621441
BonnieParticipantI 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
April 5, 2008 at 4:37 am #621442
manuelwParticipantTradewell! Was that the grocery store where Petco is now? Mr. Ed’s was a diner in Admiral which is now a bank, right?
April 5, 2008 at 4:39 am #621443
JanSParticipantMorton’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 :)
April 5, 2008 at 4:43 am #621444
JanSParticipantMeal 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?
April 5, 2008 at 5:26 am #621445
BonnieParticipantI remember there being a Prairie Market over by Charleston, which is now some houses and an empty lot.
April 5, 2008 at 5:27 am #621446
BonnieParticipantOh, my husband used to work for both Mr. Ed’s and before that Webster’s Diner (now Charleston Cafe but moved to another location)
April 5, 2008 at 6:48 am #621447
JanSParticipantthere 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…:)
April 5, 2008 at 10:21 am #621448
JeffroMemberDoes 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.
April 5, 2008 at 1:56 pm #621449
GinaParticipantI 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.
April 5, 2008 at 2:22 pm #621450
GinaParticipantAnd 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.
April 5, 2008 at 3:22 pm #621451
KayleighMemberWe 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.
April 5, 2008 at 3:24 pm #621452
BonnieParticipantMy husband remembers seeing JP Patches, but I don’t remember where it was. He said Gertrude gave him a big kiss!
April 5, 2008 at 3:30 pm #621453
LisaParticipantRemember 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.
April 5, 2008 at 3:32 pm #621454
AdmiralJanewayParticipantI 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.
April 5, 2008 at 3:39 pm #621455
LisaParticipantKayleigh – 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.
April 5, 2008 at 3:40 pm #621456
LisaParticipantKayleigh – 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.
April 5, 2008 at 4:49 pm #621457
KayleighMemberLisa, 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!
April 5, 2008 at 4:56 pm #621458
KayleighMemberOh, 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….
April 5, 2008 at 5:04 pm #621459
JoMemberRitchie’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.
April 5, 2008 at 5:35 pm #621460
jissyParticipantLOVE 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!!!
April 5, 2008 at 6:08 pm #621461
RonMParticipantI 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.
April 5, 2008 at 6:13 pm #621462
RonMParticipantI 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.
April 5, 2008 at 9:47 pm #621463
GinaParticipantSkaret’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…
April 5, 2008 at 10:33 pm #621464
PSPSParticipantI 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!
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