What are some of your "back in the day" Seattle memories? (Bellevue: hotel, house)

[homesinseattle]

I've been here 26 years this summer. In no particular order, here are some of my best memories.

-Sonics-Gary Payton alley oops to Shawn Kemp (with awesome mascot Squatch watching).
-early grunge shows at The original Crocodile Cafe.
-riding my scooter out past Ballard locks and buying crab from someone's house near Shilshole.
-breakfasts at the Twin Teepees near Green Lake.
-Almost Live local comedy show.
-Ken Griffey, Jr, Randy Johnson, ARod and Edgar Martinez on the same team.
-Kingdome implosion.
-Chubby and Tubby (the store).
-The views around every corner of Mt Rainier.

Here's to the 206. Thanks for the 26 years. It has been a good ride.

[bergun]

For me;

A) Herfy's burgers.... The real Herfy's not the current Korean knock-off version.
B) Pay N Save
C) Peaches Records in the U District
D) Tower Records (Video and Books too) both in the U District and Queen Ann
E) Sears on 1st Ave during Christmas... Miss their popcorn and candy
D) JC Penny's on Pike during Christmas
E) The Bon on Pine during Christmas.... I'm glad that they kept the "Star."
F) Woolworth and Kress
G) Go Guys Drugs on Union.... Loved their Cheeseburgers and shakes
H) Bonanza 88 Cent Store on Union
I) The Many-many theaters in the downtown area
J) The original monorail station
K) American War Eagles Hobby Shop.... In Greenwood, then Ballard, closing in Lake City.
L) Chubby and Tubby's on Rainier Ave... Bought most of my Levi's and Converse tennis shoes there.
M) A&W drive-in restaurant on Empire now MLK
N) Wigwam Store on Empire... Close to Holly Park
O) Brick Castle Burgers on Othello and Empire.... Miss their "Suicide Burger."
P) Music Land/World on Pike
Q) Magnoila Hi-Fi on Roosevelt and near South Center... Not the Best Buy's knock-off
R) All the old Record Shops and Book Shops in the U District... Owned and operated by hippies

Born and raised in Seattle.... Both in the Beacon Hill/Graham area and Mt. Baker/Rainier Valley area. Was a teen in the mid 70s and wasn't afraid to ride the bus all over the city to explore the "north-end." Left for military service in 1980... 35 years later, after retiring from two careers, I'm selling my current house and moving back home within the next 3/4 months. Yes, Seattle is totally different, but if I need a "retro" fix, I just go down to the Pike Place Market, hit Ivar's and then hop on the ferry for a short ride... Finish the day with a Dick's Delux Cheeseburger and shake on Capital Hill.

[homesinseattle]

bergun, good stuff. Thank you for your service and welcome home. Question for you: do I get some "local" props after 26 years ? I guess I feel local because I came here when I was 23 and have never left. Through the good and the bad, I have become a man in Seattle. Some places where I can get "old school" Seattle fixes:

-I concur with you, places in Pike Place Market feel remarkably unchanged.
-a stroll around little alleys in the International District.
-a walk around the Seattle Japanese Garden in the Arboretum
-parts of Fremont and a visit to the Troll.
-getting lost in the woods at Discovery Park or Seward Park.
-drinking a Rainier tall boy in Georgetown.
-bonfire on the beach at Golden Gardens.

[Seacove]

I remember going to boat shows inside the Kingdome.

Years later, we were having one of those big wooden playsets assembled in our backyard and were videotaping it. In the background you can hear the news coverage of the Kingdome being imploded that day.

I remember when Bellevue was pretty much only Bellevue Square and no high rises. It had stores like This End Up - can't remember what they sold.

Almost Live was at least as funny as SNL if not more so.

The WTO protests in downtown Seattle in 1999. Everyone felt hurt by what they were seeing on TV, it was like real physical pain.

The big Seattle snowstorm of 1996. We had gone to visit family for Christmas and coming back, we spent three hours just on 405 trying to get around the abandoned cars.

The Washington Dinner Train which took you from Renton to Woodinville where you could tour the wineries and then go back.

[Gardyloo]

Skippers Galley in West Seattle. OMG.

Ballard before it got so insufferably self conscious.

When the toll on the Evergreen Point bridge was 15c.

Jafco.

Andy's Underground and Brasserie Pittsbourg.

Place Pigalle in the Pike Place market when it was an exceptionally seedy tavern with candles in wax-covered Chianti bottles on the tables, Colliers Magazine travel posters on the walls, and a jukebox. I remember I was there one frosty night (1969?) on a first (and last, as it turned out) date when some old guy walked up to the jukebox and started dropping in quarters and pushing the same two buttons again and again. Cripes, I thought, here comes Ferlin Husky. Nope, it was Marlene Dietrich singing Lili Marlene.

[fnh]

Our anniversary (Nov 30) fell on the day of the big WTO protests in 1999 and we were headed to the Sorrento Hotel where we had gotten married and where we had dinner reservations at the Hunt Club (gone now, recently reincarnated as the Dunbar Room). Caught unaware and trapped, the Seattle police took pity on us and escorted our car through the screaming mob and the Hunt Club gave us free cocktails to help calm our nerves.

[BATCAT]

I have a lot of fond memories of old venues- the original Crocodile (played and saw many a show there), Sit n' Spin (same), RCKCNDY, The Funhouse.

I remember taking the bus out to Chubby and Tubby to buy Converse too, ha.

[homesinseattle]

Yes, Seacove, the big snowstorm. That was crazy. I had come from the East Coast (university in Vermont), where snow like that is child's play. I was literally the only one of my friends out here who knew how to drive in it. I felt like I was in a post apocalyptic movie, accidents all around me as I chugged through. All of my friends had me shuttle them around town. The world stopped (or at least commerce did) and it was rather fun.

[Ira500]

The OK Hotel Café in Pioneer Square. Famous for performances by soon to be famous grunge musicians, I went in for breakfast when working on the Waterfront Streetcar. The couple who owned it now own the Royal Room in Columbia City.

Matzoh Momma's on Capitol Hill.

The anarchist pizza collective Morningtown, on Roosevelt in the U District.

Waiting for Gaylord Perry's 300th career victory when he pitched for the Mariners. He was terrible, and it took him many starts to get that measly victory.

Italo's Casa Romana on Martin Luther King Way( then Empire). There were still some remnants of the Italian presence in Rainier Valley when I got here 38 years ago, like Casa Romana and the New Italian.

The Sonics championship in 79. The town went completely nuts.

Marijuana smoke in, Volunteer Park, 1978. It took them a little while to achieve their goal of legalization.

In 1979, my landlord asked me if I wanted to buy the house, on 17th Ave E behind Group Health. He said he was putting it on the market for 36 thousand, and I could have first crack at it. I told him he was nuts, the nobody would ever give him 36 thousand for that house. It sold three years ago for 550 thousand.

Hills Brothers BBQ at 21st and Cherry. The building was pink, the food was great, and, for some reason, the place was nicknamed "Dirty Brothers" BBQ. It may not have received high grades from the Health Department, and it was the worst of the worst as far as Seattle neighborhoods at the time. But it would have been worth getting shot for some of those ribs.

[LaylaM]

Been here 36+ years, came for grad school and never left.

*Remember when everyone partied down in Pioneer Square and could walk (safely) to their cars in the wee hours of the morning.

*Frederick and Nelsons was around and thriving.

*I Volunteered at a place called The Open Door Clinic in the U District. It was well-funded and served the 'special' needs of the community. People just didn't live on the streets unattended in those days. That place, forever, changed the way I view the homeless.

*Bellevue was really a sleepy, almost rural burg. One small strip mall, no Bellevue Square 2 small movie theaters and Chace's Pancake Corral which (gratefully) remains unchanged till this day.

*Deluxe Bar and Grill on Cap Hill was a fave watering hole.

*The Ferry was a cheap ride.

*The Sonics....

*You could go to street fairs and find parking.