History

Flashback Friday: The Seattle Pop Festival

An estimated 50,000 to 70,000 people attended the 1969 music festival.  (📷: Boyd Grafmyre Facebook page) The Seattle Pop Festival was held once and only once on the weekend of July 25th, 1969 in Woodinville at the Gold Creek Park. The event was organized by Boyd Grafmyre, a local promoter known as the “Mahatma of Rock” who brought […]

/ August 8, 2022

🚋 Flashback Friday: Seattle’s Waterfront Streetcar

The Seattle Sonics with the Streetcar. You can even see the Kingdome in the back. (📸: @nikoneo1) On May 29, 1982, the Waterfront Streetcar, aka the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line, took its first trip along the Puget Sound. Benson was a city councilmember who proposed the idea of building a streetcar line in 1974 in the […]

/ July 13, 2022

Locals to Know: Joshua Okrent

Today’s local to know is all about building community and spreading neighborly love. Joshua Okrent is the founder of the Punk Rock Flea Market, a 16-year-old nomadic market that hosts vendors from around the region in various Seattle venues, selling everything from maps and bike parts, to painted rocks and stereos, and pretty much everything else in between. They […]

/ June 14, 2022

Remembering the viaduct’s first hater

Maybe you remember him for his pranks. Or perhaps his generosity. Or maybe you just really like his clam chowder. Whatever the reason, Ivar Haglund has become an almost mythical figure in Emerald City. That’s why we decided to launch our video series about the Seattle Waterfront this week with a look back at the […]

/ August 9, 2019

The Vanishing Seattle Instagram account helps us remember

With the Vanishing Seattle Instagram account, Seattle local Cynthia Brothers tracks changes in the city in light of its history with photographs of businesses, landmarks, and citizen action.

/ June 12, 2019

Take a ride in Seattle’s time-traveling elevator

Want to go for a ride in one of the oldest vehicles in Seattle? You don’t need a license, but you should probably be okay with heights. It’s true that Smith Tower’s elevators were recently modernized and automated, but the cabs are the same brass cages that carried curious locals to the top of the […]

/ June 4, 2019

Seattle’s first boom

Thousands of new workers moving to town. A big influx of money. A small startup that would grow to become a major player in retail. Nope, this isn’t the Amazon boom. We’re talking about Seattle in 1897. We stopped by the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Pioneer Square to learn how a gold […]

/ June 4, 2019

A trip to the farm — in the heart of Bellevue?

THE LOCATION: Kelsey Creek Farm, Bellevue THE PERSON: Annamarie Solomonson, Kelsey Creek Farm Supervisor THE STORY: Bellevue has some pretty neat city parks, but there’s only one where you can watch a sheep being sheared, learn to ride a horse, and meet a 750 pound hog. Kelsey Creek Farm opened to the public in 1972 […]

/ April 15, 2019

Fish, With a Side of Ballard History

Pete Knutson is a 47-year commercial fisherman, a fourth-generation Ballardite, and a college professor. When he’s not up in Alaska catching salmon, you’ll find him down on the dock at Fishermen’s Terminal selling it.

/ March 27, 2019

Meet the guy who runs Ballard’s boat elevator

THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Ballard THE PERSON: Larry Meyer, lockmaster of the Ballard Locks THE STORY: What do you get when you combine a fish ladder, a botanical garden, and a bunch of boats? The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks – also known as the Ballard Locks. And you can find one person at the center of it […]

/ March 19, 2019