Seattle's ultimate "Golden Era" establishment?

[tonyb]

I was just now recalling the old Ben Paris, which was addressed at 1609 Westlake (with another entrance on Fourth Avenue, directly across from the Bon Marche, which is now Macy's), and which was, to my way of seeing, the coolest thing Seattle had to offer. The building was torn down, along with a bunch of other cool stuff, to make way for the Westlake Center.

When I first came to Seattle, in 1968, my brother and I would cut classes and go hang out downtown, so of course Ben Paris was on our list of places we just had to haunt. It was first and foremost a guy's place -- a combination coffee shop (with a horseshoe-shaped counter)/proper sit-down restaurant/bar/sporting goods store/shoeshine stand/barbershop/pool hall/smoke shop/newsstand. The joint even had a pond, in which live trout were kept.

A cursory web search turns up a brief biography of Ben Paris himself, and one photo -- an exterior shot of the Fourth Avenue entrance. There's a page that tells what sort of material on Mr. Paris and his business establishments might be found at the Museum of History and Industry (the photo library there is a fabulous resource, by the way; I found there some great shots of old Seattle ballparks -- Sick's Stadium, Dugdale Park etc.-- and had prints made).

Any of you other Seattle-area folks recall the place? Got any tales to tell?

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Sounds nifty! I've only been here 15 years, so sounds like it was before my time. And I don't remember it on "Things That Aren't Here Anymore" - or at least a name similar to that - KCTS put it out about 8-10 years ago. I love the Seattle: Then and Now books and go to the Sea Times periodically to catch up with the weekly magazine column.

Friends still rave about the diving theater on Greenlake. Lots of friends still bemoan the closing of Frederick & Nelson. I still bemoan the Bon becoming Macy's. Yep, I know they'd been bought out years ago, but at least they let it run autonomously and with a lot of quality stuff. Now it's all crap.

I was just thinking the other day it was about time for one of my "get dressed up and go downtown for an afternoon" days. Hit Seattle Pen (now WorldLux) and the Bon (as I say to friends who tell me "It's Macy's now" - I say until they rip the mahogany off the walls and take the big brass BON MARCHE signage of the bank of elevators, I'm calling it the Bon!) and Byrnie Utz and down to the Market for a jar of capers (like a pint for $5 a DeLaurentis instead of the similarly priced thimbleful you get at the supermarkets) and some tea & things from Market Spice.

 

[tonyb]

It ain't the same place it was, for sure, especially downtown. I had to laugh when I heard some out-of-towner comment on how Seattle was a place that revered its architectural heritage. Man, we don't even pay for stadiums before we tear 'em down.

Sure, there are the "landmark districts" (Pioneer Square, the Market, Ballard Avenue, Columbia City, International District, North Capitol Hill, I think that's all of them) where a person can get a sense of what the city was once like, but elsewhere? It sure ain't San Francisco. (But then, what is?)

Downtown was an absolute gas for a teenage kid back then. This was when the "last person leaving Seattle" was asked to turn out the lights, so yeah, a lot of that stuff was getting kinda down at the heel. But those buildings dated mostly from early in the century, when the town went through a big growth spurt, and their ground floors were occupied by restaurants and bars and retail outlets with decor that reflected the changing styles of the pre- and early post-war periods. All the places you now see modern glass-and-steel towers (it's a forest of them now) were mostly three-to-10-story stone- and/or brick-faced structures. Lotsa flea-bag hotels and sailor bars and juke joints. Garish neon signs. It felt a touch on the seedy side in places (OK, more than a touch), but it also felt safer than it does today, mostly on account of there being so much more pedestrian traffic. Bad guys were on the street then, as they are now, but they were vastly outnumbered by the good guys.

 

[tonyb]

By the way, Mike, I see you're in Renton. I'm sure you've heard tell of "cruising the loop" in the Renton commercial district. The district is mostly intact, but it's not the scene it once was, back when Renton had two active movie theaters (directly across the street from each other) and lots of places to grab a burger. And I believe there's now an ordinance prohibiting what drew youngsters from a several-mile radius on Friday nights -- cruising the loop. Closest thing to "American Graffiti" I ever saw.

 

[Atomic]

I've heard of quite a few buildings that once were, but they are not there anymore. There are still a few buildings that are cool, but I don't think its anything like it was. I'm with Mike, I've been in the Seattle area for about 15 years and don't know what it was like long ago. I sure wish they would leave buildings with history and style along.

At least we still have the Seattle tower...

 

[tonyb]

At least we still have the Seattle tower...

Once known as the Northern Life Tower, if memory serves. And the Smith Tower (which still has real human elevator operators) and the Alaska Building and the Rainier Club and ...

There's always that rub, you know, between preservation and "progress." It's easy for a sentimental person such as myself to bemoan the loss of those old structures, but it's not my money that's not doing what it could with those properties. What, leave the old structure there and earn X number of dollars per year, or replace it with a glass tower and make 10 times that amount? Or just sell it to someone else who'll tear it down, and in the process save oneself the trouble of ever having to worry about leaky roofs and pipes and all of that ever again?

It's great that so much of the Public Market district still stands (we almost lost it, back in the '70s), but really, it's not what it was at all, back when respectable people wouldn't go near the place (I was there all the time). Shortly after its rehab, I sarcastically suggested they just put a translucent top over the whole thing and call it Southcenter II. It irritates me to this day that the buildings that once housed the Pine Tree and Fo'c'sle taverns were demolished to make way for the g@dd@#%ed Inn at the Market. But then I calm down and recognize that these things have to pay for themselves one way or another, and if all that authentic atmosphere ain't paying the bills, well ...

 

[BinkieBaumont]

Reminds me of Trump Parc , on Central Park South

 

[exquisitebones]

You want to see amazing golden era, take a trip down I5 til you hit longview, WA. its insanity.. the main drag, is nothing but 20s-50s buildings. Its like a reallyhappy time warp. Probably my favorite area in the whole state <3

 

[tonyb]

You want to see amazing golden era, take a trip down I5 til you hit longview, WA. its insanity.. the main drag, is nothing but 20s-50s buildings. Its like a reallyhappy time warp. Probably my favorite area in the whole state <3

I'll make a point of it, next time I take a drive down to Portland, which I find occasion for a few times a year, what with friends from up this way living down there now.

But if we're expanding our view to encompass the entire state o' Wah ...

Do check out downtown Ellensburg (but not during Labor Day weekend, unless you happen to be there for the rodeo anyway, along with those thousands of other out-of-towners). It's a remarkably "intact" late 19th/early 20th century commercial district.

In all these years out here, during which time I've visited most every nook and cranny, I have yet to set foot in the old part of Walla Walla, which I hear from several reliable sources is just splendid.

 

[tonyb]

Went to the Blue Mouse movie theater in Tacoma this afternoon to catch the matinee. I can't say it's so marvelous as to warrant going far out of one's way, but it has been there since 1923 and hasn't changed much since then.

The dewy-eyed bride and I make a point of visiting every now and then, not so much to see the movies (they play mostly second runs), which we could catch at any number of multiplexes far nearer our home, but for the old-timey movie-going experience and to put our money where our pro-preservation mouths are.

The Blue Mouse is in the Proctor District of north Tacoma. Lots of well-maintained old houses around there, and early-century school buildings and a firehouse, tree-lined streets, etc. Very pleasant.