4th Avenue South, Seattle
I stayed in tourist mode for a little while after we got home from our Thanksgiving trip this afternoon, and snapped some pictures of three of the sights along 4th Avenue South just before the sun went down: the vaccuum shop, the car wash, and the fire station.
I love the feel of 4th Avenue from downtown south to East Marginal Way. There are stretches that haven’t changed significantly in decades (Andy’s Diner, fer chrissakes), and a few new sights too, such as the old Sears building in the distance with that coffee company logo on top now, and the old Rainier brewery with the same damn thing (different coffee company). And these days, once you get downtown on 4th the old sights like the red brick King Street Station clock tower and the white neoclassic Smith Tower (tallest building west of the Mississippi from 19141 to 1931) are now juxtaposed against nearby Safeco Field and Quest Field. the Kingdome used to make a good backdrop too, and I took a picture of it from 4th when it was brand new in 1976, with my brand-new Minolta SRT-101, a high-school graduation present from my parents.
I often took 4th Avenue home from downtown Seattle on my motorcycle in the early 80s, and in the 60s there were a couple of electrical surplus stores along 4th where Dad and I went to get parts that he used to repair things around the house. We also took the train from King Street Station to Jamestown, North Dakota many times in the 60s and 70s to visit Mom’s family. I’ve found myself on 4th Avenue repeatedly my entire life, now that I think about it. The Smith Tower is where we donated Grandpa Mahugh’s artificial leg when he died in 1968, right Mom?
I’ll snap a few more next time I’m near that area early or late in the day.
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2007 at 7:25 pm. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on November 30, 2007 at 12:56 pm molly wrote:
the colors! they’re beautiful. did you use some kind of filter for those?
on November 30, 2007 at 10:59 pm Doug wrote:
No filter, but I tweaked things in Photoshop a bit on the car wash and the vaccuum cleaner shop. But on the firehouse, it was that cool time just before sunset, and the light was spectacular.
on December 1, 2007 at 8:59 am AUNT MARSHA wrote:
Hey, Doug! I can’t find an appropriate forum on your site to post this bit of news, but thought you might find it interesting:
Apparently, SOMEONE is initiating a “Free Michael Vick” campaign! Can you believe it? I was shocked to get a page of photo stamps in the mail yesterday picturing this really ugly, viscious dog snarling on the stamps. I thought, “Huh. What does this mean?” Figured that it must be some hype for everyone to buy these stamps, you know? Promoting if not the on going killer training for same said dog types, then the sooner than later release of the trainer/promoter/villain himself.
Boy, what a world, eh? Go figure.
Yeah, well…I’m off to church to hopefully find a kind man type person with tools to (oh, SO hopefully) re-attach the bumper on Gran’s car. I was leaving Walmart yesterday (gift card balance to date: 0!!!)and heard this quiet, sorta thumping kind of sound…got out, and there lay the bumper on the ground, having gotten caught on …on something. What a day yesterday was, huh?
love,
the aunt
on December 5, 2007 at 9:34 pm Lynn wrote:
That isn’t the same Elephant car wash that Elton worked at is it?
on December 9, 2007 at 11:44 am Doug wrote:
No, this is the one south of downtown, a few miles from that one where Elton worked.