SEATTLE IN THE 1960s
Seattle hosted the Worlds Fair in 1962. The Space Needle opened in 1962. Bill and Joan arrived in Seattle in November1962 — a few days before Thanksgiving. The Worlds Fair closed in October so we barely missed it. We enjoyed the benefits of lunch, dinner, and views at the Space Needle many times during our eight years in Seattle.
Bill took his new job with Boeing as an instrumentation engineer in Boeing’s Engineering Test Laboratories located at the north end of Boeing Field. Boeing Field had a 10,000 foot runway and received the newly manufactured jet airplanes after being manufactured and flown away from the massive manufacturing plant in Renton at the south end of Lake Washington. Renton’s runway was long enough for a commercial airliner to take off, but not long enough to land the same planes. They all came through Boeing Field for flight test, pilot training, airline acceptance and delivery. They left Boeing Field and were delivered to the airline’s home location.
OUR FIRST YEAR IN SEATTLE
It was foggy, raining and cool when we arrived in town. We decided to rent a home on the south side of Seattle since I anticipated working at a Boeing facility at Boeing Field. We found a 3-bedroom house at 7121 46th Avenue South, about 3 miles over Beacon Hill from the north end of Boeing Field. Nobody was out in their yards since it was raining — we had no idea we had lucked into moving into a predominantly Japanese neighborhood. Takeuchis lived on the left,Yoshimizis on the right. Chubby ten year old David Yoshizumi knocked on our door on Thanksgiving Day to deliver a loaf of warm banana bread. How welcome we felt to the neighborhood! The Takeuchi boys came to affectionately call me the “giant” and their father the “Peewee”.
JOAN’S WORK
Joan took a job as a registered nurse at the VA Medical Center on the north end of Beacon Hill overlooking downtown Seattle, about 3 miles from our new home. We lived in South Seattle through 1963. We bought our first home in the Montlake District at 2415 East Roanoke Street in January, 1964 just in time to greet our first child on February 9, 19964.
MONTLAKE
The Montlake District is located across the Montlake Bridge at the Southeast corner of the University of Washington. We could see the corner of Husky Stadium from our dining room window. It was an easy walk to home football games.
The Montlake District is an easy walk across the Montlake Bridge over the Montlake Cut that connects Lake Union to Lake Washington, thus connecting Lake Washington to salt water Puget Sound through the Howard M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard. Here is the water route.
MONTLAKE BRIDGE
Here is a view of the Montlake Bridge from Lake Union. University of Washington’s Husky Stadium is on the left. Our home at 2415 East Roanoke is a few blocks to the right. I walked across that bridge hundreds of times to attend classes during the six years I worked on my MSEE degree at the U of W. Rain or shine, we attended most Washington Husky home football games. Billy sold parking places in our driveway and on the street in front of our house on game days.
Sonny Sixkiller was the UW Huskies’ starting quarterback in 1970.
SEATTLE IN THE SIXTIES
Here is a gallery of photos from the 1960 time period – the way it was when we lived there.
EAST ROANOKE
Here is a gallery of1992 pictures of our home in Montlake at 2415 East Roanoke Street, and neighbors.
SNOW
Believe it or not, Seattle did not receive a lot of snow, mostly light rain and fog during winter months. We did get a heavy snow fall one winter – 1970.
1992 VISIT TO SEATTLE
Mount Rainier and our friends Benita & Larry Sharp and their daughter Jeannie with Joan on our 1992 visit to Seattle.
BOEING FRIENDS IN 1992
We also had a nostalgic visit with my good friends and colleagues Dave Serres and Dick Follis at the Capitol Hill home of Dick and Lorna Follis overlooking Lake Washington.
LUNCH AT RAY’S
We met Dick for lunch at Ray’s Boathouse on the 1992 visit to Seattle.
