Past Experience
Costco’s First Warehouse Store Was a Springboard to Global Growth
Seattle | 1983
This article appears in the September 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. The now-ubiquitous retailer Costco Wholesale opened its first discount warehouse on Sept. 15, 1983, at 4401 Fourth Ave. S. in Seattle. Before the year was over, Costco unveiled two more warehouse outlets, one in Spokane and the other in Portland, Oregon….
The Lake Washington Floating Bridge Connects Seattle’s History to the Road Ahead
Seattle 1939
This article appears in the June 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. The original Lake Washington floating bridge was expected to handle an average of 2,800 cars daily when completed in June 1940. It connected Seattle to the east side of the lake via Sunset Highway, which was later replaced by Interstate 90….
Some 130 Years After the Great Seattle Fire, Pioneer Square Is Still a Hot Neighborhood
Seattle | 1890
This article appears in the May 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. Known as Seattles original neighborhood, Pioneer Square dates back to 1852. After surviving the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, it flourished with the Klondike Gold Rush, as an estimated 100,000 prospectors descended on the Klondike region of the Yukon in Northwest…
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Has Deep Roots
The festival has grown from a three-day happening to a monthlong celebration
This article appears in print in the March 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. Thirty-five years ago, the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce formally created what is now the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival after realizing that thousands of people were flocking to the region to visit the tulip fields in bloom each spring….
Past Experience: Jazz Legend Dizzy Gillespie Once Trumpeted His Bebop Beat in Downtown Seattle
Seattle | 1949
This article appears in print in the February 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. On February 19, 1949, 31-year-old trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie performed with his orchestra in the Senator Ballroom of the Eagles Auditorium Building at Seventh Avenue and Union Street now the home of ACT Theatre. With alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, Gillespie…
Past Experience: The Boeing Clipper Has a Special Place in Aviation History
Seattle | 1941
This article appears in print in the January 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. Boeings Model 314 had a limited production run only 12 aircraft were built between 1938 and 1941 but the Boeing Clipper, as it became known, has a special place in aviation history. By the mid-1930s, airplane travel was popular…
How the Great Seattle Fire Transformed a City and Its Business District
The fire started on June 6, 1889 and raged for 18 hours
This article appears in print in the December 2018 issue. Click here for a free subscription. The Great Seattle Fire started at 2:30 p.m. on June 6, 1889, in a cabinet shop at Front Street (now First Avenue) and Madison Street. Townspeople drawn to the spectacle likely never suspected the wind-driven fire would rage for…
Look Back: Seattle During World War I
This photograph is part of WW1 America, a touring exhibit at Seattles Museum of History & Industry.
This article appears in print in the October 2018 issue. Click here for a free subscription. The United States government sold liberty loan bonds to raise great sums of money during World War I. The second of four bond campaigns generated $3 billion nationwide; the government paid 4 percent interest to investors. Seattles share of…
The Game That Saved Baseball in Seattle
On October 8, 1995, the Seattle Mariners played the New York Yankees in the Kingdome
This article appears in print in the September 2018 issue. Click here for a free subscription. It has been called the game that saved baseball in Seattle. On October 8, 1995, in the Kingdome, the Seattle Mariners went to extra innings against the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the American League Division Series….
Seafair Programs Through the Years
From 1951, 1958, 1975 and 1991
This article appears in print in the August 2018 issue. Click here for a free subscription. Seattle had no professional sports teams, no Space Needle, no monorail in 1950. Arts organizations like the Seattle Rep and Seattle Opera were more than a decade away. The Washington State Convention Center didnt open until 1988. To attract…
How Seattle Dealt With the Spanish Flu Outbreak 100 Years Ago
Nearly 5,000 people from Washington died of the Spanish flu in 1918
This story appears in the July 2018 issue. Click here for a free subscription. About 675,000 Americans died after contracting the Spanish flu a century ago. Nearly 5,000 of them lived in the state of Washington, where strict preventive measures may have helped keep the death toll comparatively low. In Seattle, Mayor Ole Hanson and…
Look Back: West Seattle’s Alki Beach Park in 1912
This photo was taken one year after the park officially opened.
This article appears in the June 2018 issue. Click here for a free subscription. Take that, Sports Illustrated! This photograph, credited to the studio of Asahel Curtis, shows bathers and onlookers near the boardwalk at West Seattles Alki Beach in August 1912, a year after Seattle officially opened Alki Beach Park complete with a bathhouse…
During World War II, Washingtons Hanford Engineer Works Produced Plutonium for the Manhattan Project
Hanford plutonium was in the nuclear bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan.
This article appears in print in the April 2018 issue. Click here for a free subscription. During World War II, the Hanford Engineer Works along the Columbia River near Richland, Washington, produced plutonium for the Manhattan Project. In August 1945, Hanford plutonium was in the nuclear bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. Two years earlier, the…