5th and Blanchard (1929 and 2010)
Used this in a Seattlest Retake. Go check that out to read about Seattle vs. Mother Nature.
Long analogy. I didn't watch Twin Peaks when it was originally on TV. I watched Fire Walk With Me and then watched the episodes on cassette. So during all of the slow parts of the series, all of the angelic small-town scenes, I was freaked out and often screaming "RUN!"
That's how I feel when I see old photos of 1929. In December, the stock market crashed and ushered in the Great Depression and eventually World War Two. But for 11 heady months, the world enjoyed the peak of one of our greatest - and perhaps most fake - economic bubbles.
Our photo is from March 20, 1929. The Seattle Times of that day is a great case in point. On the front page, one story tells of a couple getting divorced in Chicago. The rich, "December" wife claimed that it was the bathing suit parties at her apartment that were the cause. The "May" husband said she just got angry when he made fun of her plans to buy a limousine, have it painted Persian pink, and add solid gold door handles. The debauchery and decadence seem only enhanced by page after page of alcohol-fueled organized crime stories.
In the old shot, Seattle has the hubris to make a third and final attempt to completely level Denny Hill. They succeeded, creating "the regrade" neighborhood.
Ads in the Seattle Times for W. A. Irwin realtors proclaimed "Down comes Denny hill, up go Realty Values!" It went on to say "Seattle is growing Northward, as are all the larger American cities. In twenty short years the retail center has moved from Yesler Way to Times Square... ever Northward."
Behind me is a parking lot at the northwest corner of 5th and Lenora. In August of 1929 it was sold for $180k to Eugene Gillman. Gillman (or Gilman) bought and sold properties furiously during the regrade time, turning them over in six months for 25% profit. But he tellingly dropped out of the news after the start of the Depression. The Times of August 25th said that he planned a "very fine improvement" for the lot. More than 80 years later, it still sits empty and is still owned by an investment company. The value had only quintupled to a million by 1980, and has quintupled again since. How long will they sit on it as an investment?
This area was killed by the city's attempt to make it valuable. First, landowners were taxed to pay for the regrade based on the increase in land value. Second, properties were leveled with attractive landmarks such as Sacred Heart Church (finally replaced in 1960) and the Denny School destroyed. Third, real estate speculators started exchanging property and jacking up land values. This created a black hole that was not filled in until Paul Allen quietly amassed enough property to personally choose to take action.
Sibbella Court, the lonely brick building, was completed in 1923. For three decades after the stock market crash the only news of this intersection was burglaries, car accidents, and boxing at the Western Athletic Club. Finally the monorail and trees planted for Century 21 turned the neighborhood, but development was still slow coming. The only exception was the simple masonry building next to Sibbella. An engineering firm built it in 1950. Now it's home to Seattle's favorite donuts, Top Pot.
5th and Blanchard (1929 and 2010)
Used this in a Seattlest Retake. Go check that out to read about Seattle vs. Mother Nature.
Long analogy. I didn't watch Twin Peaks when it was originally on TV. I watched Fire Walk With Me and then watched the episodes on cassette. So during all of the slow parts of the series, all of the angelic small-town scenes, I was freaked out and often screaming "RUN!"
That's how I feel when I see old photos of 1929. In December, the stock market crashed and ushered in the Great Depression and eventually World War Two. But for 11 heady months, the world enjoyed the peak of one of our greatest - and perhaps most fake - economic bubbles.
Our photo is from March 20, 1929. The Seattle Times of that day is a great case in point. On the front page, one story tells of a couple getting divorced in Chicago. The rich, "December" wife claimed that it was the bathing suit parties at her apartment that were the cause. The "May" husband said she just got angry when he made fun of her plans to buy a limousine, have it painted Persian pink, and add solid gold door handles. The debauchery and decadence seem only enhanced by page after page of alcohol-fueled organized crime stories.
In the old shot, Seattle has the hubris to make a third and final attempt to completely level Denny Hill. They succeeded, creating "the regrade" neighborhood.
Ads in the Seattle Times for W. A. Irwin realtors proclaimed "Down comes Denny hill, up go Realty Values!" It went on to say "Seattle is growing Northward, as are all the larger American cities. In twenty short years the retail center has moved from Yesler Way to Times Square... ever Northward."
Behind me is a parking lot at the northwest corner of 5th and Lenora. In August of 1929 it was sold for $180k to Eugene Gillman. Gillman (or Gilman) bought and sold properties furiously during the regrade time, turning them over in six months for 25% profit. But he tellingly dropped out of the news after the start of the Depression. The Times of August 25th said that he planned a "very fine improvement" for the lot. More than 80 years later, it still sits empty and is still owned by an investment company. The value had only quintupled to a million by 1980, and has quintupled again since. How long will they sit on it as an investment?
This area was killed by the city's attempt to make it valuable. First, landowners were taxed to pay for the regrade based on the increase in land value. Second, properties were leveled with attractive landmarks such as Sacred Heart Church (finally replaced in 1960) and the Denny School destroyed. Third, real estate speculators started exchanging property and jacking up land values. This created a black hole that was not filled in until Paul Allen quietly amassed enough property to personally choose to take action.
Sibbella Court, the lonely brick building, was completed in 1923. For three decades after the stock market crash the only news of this intersection was burglaries, car accidents, and boxing at the Western Athletic Club. Finally the monorail and trees planted for Century 21 turned the neighborhood, but development was still slow coming. The only exception was the simple masonry building next to Sibbella. An engineering firm built it in 1950. Now it's home to Seattle's favorite donuts, Top Pot.