Continuing to shuffle through the trove of historical photos that were dropped on my porch (anyone want to cop to it?), let’s take a look at this sweet then-and-now pair:
I wasn’t able to dig up much about the 45th St Central Market pictured, nor do I have a date for that photo. The care on the left seems like it is a 1930’s model, though, and I did find that the Lady Betty Bakery moved from 1912 N. 45th (where the market above is pictured) to 1806 N. 45th in July 1932, so between those clues, I would guess this is from the mid to late 1930’s.
Brief Google searches for DeSanti Brothers Furit and Vegetables and Gwilyn Grocery and Butter Store also proved fruitless (no pun intended). The Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakery sign on the right doesn’t help either, as that company was founded in 1915 and remained active until 1990.
I was amused to see the “Hosiery Sacrifice Prices … Everything Must Go” signs on what appears to be Janeway Quilts next door, where today you can see Rugs of the World declaring “60% off … Everything Must Go”. Some things never change.
Thanks to whoever parked their white Ford in almost the same spot as that old Studebaker for my photo. It lends it an extra touch of parallelism!
Jordan,
Did you search for any of these places at the Seattle Times Archive, History Link, or Seattle Now and Then blog at https://pauldorpat.com/seattle-now-then-archive/ ? They all have search functions.
That notation on the picture of which plat the property is on suggests it was for the County property records and that it could be a WPA photo from the late ’30s.
I’m so impressed that you were able to identify the car as a Studebaker.