James Frederick Dawson and Trouble With the Curve

 

James F. Dawson

The Cultural Landscape Foundation

In 1902 the city contracted with the Olmsted Brothers to have a grand plan drawn up for a system of connected parks and boulevards.  Automobiles had come to Seattle just two years prior but the Olmsted Brothers were sophisticated in their thinking when compared to some others.  Their vision acknowledged that the horse drawn buggy was on its way out and that “pleasure drives” in automobiles were the future for Seattle.  The shoreline of Lake Washington was a great place to build yet-to-be-planned parks and to locate such a grand connecting roadway with its pleasing and complex curves.  In 1904 they sent partner James Frederick Dawson to Seattle to review plans, document progress and ground truth their planned visions for the city. 

1904 - ONHS - Image by J.F. Dawson

Madison Street Trestle Out of View To the Right - Lake Washington Blvd Descending On the Left

In August of 1904 construction began on the first section of roadway before the plans had even been finalized.  That road started at the east end of the Madison Street Trestle and descended north along the hillside that was tightly squeezed between the deep and wooded ravine to the west (today referred to as Washington Park Playfield) and previously platted land between what we refer to today as Washington Park Playfield and Broadmoor. 

During Dawson’s trip he took some photographs of road construction, two of which I find remarkable, as they show the grading of the slope along the east side of the wood-choked ravine that is now Washington Park Playfield.  Both photos show the horse-drawn equipment used for ripping out roots and grading that would be used a few years later in preparing the University of Washington campus for the 1909 Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. 

1904 - ONHS - Image by J.F. Dawson

Looking down into the ravine in Dawson’s photo you wouldn’t know that there was a creek running there that drained springs and runoff as far away as Cherry Street, nearly a mile and a half to the south.  West beyond the ravine the sparsely occupied east side of Capitol Hill rises up in the background.  What I believe to be Aloha Street is clearly visible. 

2007 - A. Knight

In spite of the hurried start, it would take a year for that first section of macadam-armored roadway to be completed between Madison Street and Interlaken Boulevard.  The wooded ravine would be cleared and eventually become a garbage dump, the trestle would be removed and replaced with fill that remains to this day.  

Looking South Into the Creek Bed (Dewey Place E) Which Ran Beneath the 

Madison Street Trestle

The garbage dump would be smoothed, topped, planted with grass and turned into a really fine athletic venue called Washington Park Playfield. 

During my early baseball days, I played for three years for the Flying A's, the team with the worst win/loss record in the Central Little League.  I was part of one of the two teams out of Montlake Playfield and Montlake was a great park. It’s true that the outfield got a little soft due to being built on a Dahlia field that had flourished on a peat bog, but it was a beautiful place to play ball.  But whenever we played Bert’s IGA or Bryant’s Marina at their home field (Washington Park Playfield) I was stunned by what a perfect baseball park it was.  It was nestled in this little valley, ringed with trees that provided the perfect amount of shade with their emerald beauty.  

We always lost in Washington Park.  Heck, Dale and Jim’s Flying A’s lost everywhere we played but the kids who played for Bert’s and Bryant’s always rubbed it in more than other teams.  Let’s face it; Whether I was whiffing at Emil Giese’s highspeed left-arm, side-arm breaking in and down slider or Too-Tall (Tom) Podall’s ridiculous fast ball that came through the strike zone at an impossibly sharp downward angle the only thing I had to enjoy during my at bats in Washington Park was the scenery. 

2017 - SMA - 191203

Somehow it is pleasing at this stage of my age to learn that their home field was a garbage dump. 

We have to take our victories as we find them.  

 

 

 

 

Backing In at Big Southern Butte

Every year at this time I think about that hang gliding trip that I went on to Utah with Roger (Black Weasel), Dan (Dangerous Dan), Robbie (Mr. Natural) and his dog Kona (Frisbee Scumbag). My moniker was Jon Boy. That trip was full of brotherhood, adventure, chills and thrills. September spurs us to get in touch to reminisce and this year we ask ourselves, “Could it really have been 41 years ago today”? 

So many stories and new acquaintances came out of our time together and many of the pilots we met told us of amazing flights that were being had at Big Southern Butte in the Idaho desert. We had read stories about the place and knew that there had been some fatalities there but we always rationalized that pilots who died had done something stupid that we would avoid. Since Big Southern Butte wasn’t too far out of our way we decided to stop there and fly. 

Driving north beyond Pocatello we turned onto a secondary highway. It was dark and after a while we turned off onto a dirt road and followed it, dodging jack rabbits and potholes. I would guess that it took about an hour on that dirt before we came to Frenchman’s Cabin where we would crash for the night. All we could really see in the headlights was a ragged log cabin, and an even raggedier shelter for livestock, a couple of piles of junk and log fence. It had to be the place and we were beat so we grabbed our sleeping bags and started for the door. 

Wanted: Dead or Alive

 Originally published 9/14/2021

Be on the lookout for Notch Ear.

He is wanted for Criminal Trespass, Burglary, Mayhem, Willful Damage and Destruction.

He was last seen leaving my garage with an empty peanut bag which he blatantly discarded in the street.  The contents of the bag have not been recovered.  Additionally, he tore apart a pile of Styrofoam chunks that had been neatly stacked awaiting recycling and scattered them around the garage.  He is well-known in the Ridgecrest Neighborhood for leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. 

If you see Notch Ear or any members of his gang do not attempt to apprehend him.  He is a cheeky little bastard and should be considered armed and dangerous. 

He is a Vandal, a Hun, a Visigoth, a Barbarian at the gate, clamoring for blood and bent on destruction. 

 

Just waste the mother.

Search for the Good Road Lunch Room

Courtesy of Gordon Macdougall

While Interlaken Blvd may “officially” be just outside of the Montlake Historic District you would be hard pressed to convince any Montlake Free Range Kid that Interlaken, Louisa Boren Park or any part of “The Ravine” was not their turf.  With that mindset I began trying a few years back to find the site where a Montlake icon, the Good Road Lunch Room, had stood. 

It’s well known that Interlaken Blvd follows the general route of the Seattle Bicycle Path that was laid out during the 1890’s.  Many have reported on that so I will leave you to sort through those resources.  The Good Road Lunch Room is mentioned in all of those narratives but the exact location has never been located to my satisfaction.  We know that it was somewhere between Roanoke and 24^th, but where? 

REI - When Hang Gliding Was Mainstream

An abridged version of this narrative first appeared in the January 2003 edition of the Oz Report. You probably didn't know that REI was once a Northwest powerhouse in hang gliding sales and instruction.

REI got into the hang gliding business by purchasing Chandelle Northwest from a gentleman named Ken Greenwald ~1974-1975. Ken had returned from a very profitable season of fishing in Alaska and had some money burning a hole in his pocket so he decided that selling hang gliders would be a fun way to get rich. I’ve never been completely clear on whether he came up with the idea himself or if he had help but in the early ‘70’s hang gliding was exploding. It was being touted as the inexpensive sport that any man or woman could safely engage in to experience the freedom of flight.

It sounded foolproof so Ken started the company and opened up an amazing shop in downtown Seattle. He leased a great showroom in the old Commission District near the ferry terminal. The business was located in the northeast corner of the Maritime Building and had plenty of large plate glass windows to display gliders.