West Seattle history: Walk-All-Ways in The Junction, 1956

Answering e-mail from someone seeking old photos of West Seattle, we wandered over to the Seattle Municipal Archives, which puts some of its historic photos on Flickr too – and found that one, added to Flickr just last week. It’s the Walk-All-Ways intersection at California/Alaska, circa 1956. (Click the photo, or here, to see it full size. “Block’s” is in the spot where KeyBank is now.) We dug back into the Municipal Archives themselves to try to get context for the photo; seems a City Light building in the 4500 block of California SW was being appraised – that’s north of Alaska, midblock, west side of the street:

The same address currently checks to Next-to-Nature. And yes, that grand facade was hiding a substation in the back (see it here).

JanS January 4, 2010 (9:29 pm)

cool pics…thanx :)

Mookie January 4, 2010 (9:53 pm)

Looks like a little Van de Kamp’s windmill atop a sign in the first photo—and I love the cars in the second photo!

E January 4, 2010 (10:02 pm)

It’s nice to know that our weird little “walk all ways” crosswalk is a long-standing tradition. People who aren’t from WS always seem to think it’s so strange!

dsa January 4, 2010 (10:49 pm)

These pictures are great. Click back a couple and you will see what used to be on the opposite side of the street, the side where Antique Mall is now. In fact Antique Mall was J C Penny and I think it’s just barely visible on the left edge of the picture. Next is the shoe store. You can see a big boot. I think it was the Buster Brown shoe store. Next store south was Seattle Sporting Goods. During salmon season they always had someone’s fish on display in a chest out on the sidewalk. And the easiest to see is Kress’s Five and Dime store. As I recall in those days this side of the block is where the action was.

celeste17 January 4, 2010 (11:27 pm)

It was a golden goose store. I use to get shoe’s there and we always got a golden egg with the purchase.

Leslie January 4, 2010 (11:54 pm)

Definately recall the golden goose/egg treasures and “Uncle Barney” would always check your toes in your shoes for sizing and make them “squeak” For years I thought he was a ventriloquist and magic.

Jim January 5, 2010 (12:05 am)

I always liked the huge curved plate glass windows at the Kress store. If you look under the canopy today you can still see the Kress name in the facade.

Westside J. January 5, 2010 (1:17 am)

I love old westside (and Seattle in general) pics!
The cars are rad too, I always try to spot my ’56 as it’s been in ws its whole life.. I look for my parents too. :)

Tricia January 5, 2010 (5:12 am)

Really great. Thanks for the pictures. They bring back my teenage memories of the Junction.

Rick January 5, 2010 (6:42 am)

Where the heck did all those years go?

miws January 5, 2010 (6:52 am)

Sounds like you’re kinda old there, Rick! ;)

Mookie, yes! That is the Van de Kamps windmill! I had forgotten about them being there!

Mike

coffee January 5, 2010 (10:12 am)

these are wonderful, and its painful to think that the buildings will be replaced with basic ugly boxes that have “much needed housing”, ya right, if its so needed why are so many of the new buildings not full yet..

k January 5, 2010 (10:21 am)

i see a Tony’s farm sign. is it the same Tony’s we still have?

Harpie January 5, 2010 (11:04 am)

No; very different Tony. About 10 years ago, the Southwest Seattle Historical Society put out a small memory book about the old businesses of West Seattle. Doubt you could find it now, but it had a lot of fascinating information from old-timers about many of the places — including Tony’s — that you can see in those old photos.

Diane January 5, 2010 (11:36 am)

Harpie, you can read that book about old WS businesses at Admiral library; I’ve looked through it many times and fun to learn more about history of our community; it’s on shelf with many other history books and videos about WS, right across from librarian desk

k January 5, 2010 (1:41 pm)

thanks harpie, wondered if it was his family.

pam January 5, 2010 (5:30 pm)

Remember when we all got our first bra’s at JC Penney’s and it was SO embarrassing because they were right at the front window!!!

Question – was the butcher shop where Puerto Vallarta is now? I can visualize it but can’t remember it’s exact location.

Grandpa Ad January 5, 2010 (10:19 pm)

My Grandpa, Ad Layman, was the manager at the old JC Penney’s. After the unfortunate event of his store getting robbed he brought his gun to work with him. He chased away two different potential robbers and then was both thanked by JC Penney himself and then asked to not carry his gun on him when he was on the clock! The nerve!!

Oh and my friend Lizzie once told me that her pregnant grandma (pregnant with Lizzie’s Mom) was who they used to determine how long the walk sign should be for the “walk all ways” intersection.

miws January 5, 2010 (10:50 pm)

pam, Bob’s Meats, and the Fish Market were in the space now long occupied by Tacqueria Guyamas.

In between that time, for maybe around three years, it was a roasted chicken restaurant calle Pojo, named, as the owner stated at the time, by their young child’s pronounciation of Pollo, the Spanish word for Chicken.

Mike

pam January 6, 2010 (6:23 am)

thanks Mike. I miss that place – though it’s been what….. 30 years or so?????

miws January 6, 2010 (11:06 am)

Not quite 30, pam. But probably around 20 years or so.

I just remembered, the full name was Bob’s Quality Meats. When they lost their lease in that spot, they moved down to Columbia City. Although, while searching through my memory banks as I type this, I have a vague recollection of them being, for a short time, in the spot now occupied by the OK Corral BBQ on Fauntleroy, around the corner from Tervo’s.

IIRC, Bob had retired by the time the Shop moved out of W.S., and his son took over.

Mike

Penny January 13, 2010 (12:31 pm)

Wow, talk about memory lane seeing the pics and reading your comments. Does anyone remember Shepard’s Drug Store or Ing’s Cafe? I lived in West Seattle until 1963, then moved to California. Never forgot the little junction, still the same in my minds eye…..

Sorry, comment time is over.