Remember when… (WS reminiscing thread)

[manuelw]

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.

Share This

[JanS]

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…

Share This

[ToddinWestwood]

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.

Share This

[Gina]

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.

Share This

[herongrrrl]

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.)

Share This

[Lisa]

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!

Share This

[Julie]

Not that long ago, but I miss Games Plus in the Junction.

Share This

[Lisa]

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!

Share This

[Gina]

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.

Share This

[Lisa]

Yes, Betty Pryor, she was my instructor too. After the Y classes I had private lessons too! Small world!

Share This

[miws]

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!)

Share This

[PSPS]

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.

Share This

[JanS]

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.

Share This

[Jerald]

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.

Share This

[Anonymous]

Jerald, how can you ever live with yourself:)

Share This

[manuelw]

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.

Share This

[Gina]

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.

Share This

[add]

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).

Share This

[Bonnie]

I remember trying on wedding dresses at some shop in the junction. Where Curious Kidstuff is now? Maybe there.

Share This

[Jerald]

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.

Share This

[Jerald]

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.

Share This

[JanS]

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…

Share This

[JanS]

and Gina…I knew you’d be a wealth of information on here :)

Share This

[jissy]

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.

Share This

[Bonnie]

Loved going to Jaks in the Admiral District.

Share This

[Author]

Posts