“On December 7th, 1941, seventy-four years ago today, the Japanese navy led a surprise attack on the US fleet stationed on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Seattle remembers not only the lives lost in battle, but also one of the worst violations of constitutional rights in American history: the expulsion and internment of 12,892 persons of Japanese ancestry from Washington state.”
Learn more about the history of Japanese Americans in Seattle here.
Tatsuya Arai family on Bainbridge Island, 1915. Photo: UW
“The Fremont Festivus weekend is upon us. An annual celebratory event when locals gather around a bronze, dead dictator adorned with lights, for food, live music and Fremont Festivus games. Wacky activities include “airing of grievances, feats of strength, and the Chicken Dance ‘round the Festivus pole,” reports the Fremocentrist and the Fremont Chamber of Commerce.
This breed of odd mayhem is par for the course in the quirky Fremont, Seattle neighborhood. But then what’s the deal with the Vladimir Lenin statue? What is a symbol of mass oppression and totalitarian violence doing at the center of such a free spirited community?”
Photo: Sydney Parker
Photo: Sydney Parker
“Until the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, More Hall Annex, a massive concrete building on the University of Washington campus was called the Nuclear Reactor Building. As the name indicates, the building housed a nuclear reactor used to provide training opportunities to students in the Department of Nuclear Engineering. The building was utilized until 1988 when fears about toxic nuclear waste prompted a decline in program enrollment. The nuclear reactor hung out, untouched, until the 9/11 terrorist attacks inspired the university to decommission the reactor for good lest it end up in the wrong hands. As an extra measure, they changed the name of the building to More Hall Annex to deter anyone in search of nuclear material.”
“The Daybreak Star is an Indian Cultural Center in Seattle, described by its parent organization, United Indians of All Tribes as “an urban base for Native Americans in the Seattle area.” The Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is located on 20 acres in Seattle’s Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighborhood.
The center owes its existence to Native American activists, including founder Bernie Whitebear. Together with the Indian community, they staged a peaceful militant takeover and occupation of the land in 1970 after most of the Fort Lawton military base was declared surplus by the US Department of Defense.”
Read more about this amazing center here.
“Seattle’s Fremont Troll will soon have a competing attraction. A new park adjacent to the Fremont Troll is set for completion December 2015. The “Troll Knoll” as the park has been affectionately named, will provide a green space for tourists and locals alike.
The new park received a grant from Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund submitted by the Friends of Troll’s Knoll, in an effort to transform under-utilized public land into community park and p-patch garden.”
Check out the renderings in the full article here.
“In December 1894 Seattleites gathered in Pioneer Square to watch a demonstration of Thomas Edison’s latest invention, the kinetoscope. It wasn’t long before the projection technology advanced and Seattle began a love affair with the movies. Single screen movie theaters popped up all over the city and drew huge crowds. Independent films reached a new audience in the 1960s and 1970s when several old Seattle buildings were repurposed into movie theaters. Here’s a look back on the origins of Seattle’s famous movie theaters.”
A scene from “Hush” 1921. Photo: J. Willis Sayre via University of Washington
“Paul Hayden Kirk was one of the most well-known Pacific Northwest architects of his time. When he passed away at the age of 80 in May of 1995, his obituary credited him with shaping the Northwest style — ‘boxy shapes, unadorned designs, big windows to capture nature views and practical interiors,’ wrote The Seattle Times.
Kirk moved to Seattle from Salt Lake City, Utah when he was eight years old. He was stricken with polio as a child, affecting the use of his right arm and forcing him to use crutches throughout his life. After graduating from Roosevelt High School, he studied architecture at University of Washington. In 1939, just two years after graduating, he opened his own architecture firm in Seattle. That same year he married Helen Richardson. His brother served as best man at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral. Classic family man with a gift for architecture. Just look at the guy:”
Check out Kirk’s AMAZING homes. READ the full article here.
Paul Kirk with architectural rendering, Seattle, 1968. Photo: MOHAI
Photo: IMLS Digital Collections and Content/Flickr
“While most local businesses prepare for the Christmas frenzy, Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty and Tiger Oak Publications are getting ready for the Year of the Monkey. The two companies have combined forces to develop Seattle Luxury Living, a real estate magazine targeting affluent, Mandarin-speaking readers. The magazine’s launch date is set to coincide with the February 2016 Chinese New Year celebration in Seattle, a popular time for Chinese tourism in the Pacific Northwest….”
“Although Seattle-based businesses now cater to Chinese immigrants, the City of Seattle did not always offer such a warm reception. In the 1860s, large groups of Chinese men began arriving in Seattle to escape the war, famine and persecution that was killing millions in southern China. They were drawn by the abundant labor market — laying railroad, canning salmon and working in the mines were just a few of the many available opportunities.”
Read the full article here.
“Seattle has hosted houseboats and floating homes on its beautiful lakes for over a century. According to HistoryLink, the first houseboat residents in the early 1900s were unemployed laborers and viewed as “squalid, lawless nests of anarchic outcasts, rowdy riff-raff, and the flotsam of society,” by the upper classes. An amazing contrast to today, when a floating home on Lake Union can list for over $3 million.”
Read the rest of the houseboat story here!
“PEACE” 2401 N. Northlake Way #E-1. Seattle, WA
“Redmond is kind of like the nerdy kid you knew in high school who shows up to the 10 year reunion in a Lamborghini. After decades of being stuffed in lockers and picked last for kickball, Redmond is finally blossoming out of it’s awkward stage into a hot urban center. At least out-of-towners seem to think so.”
Read the article for information on the record setting sales in Redmond, WA. But more importantly, get the details on this glorious Pirate Tree House.
Photo: John Shea
Carnival of Souls 