2nd and Bell looking south, 1920. University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Divison.
By 1920, 2nd Avenue had a lot of landmarks that are still familiar today. The wood frame two-story buildings on the corner now house A'jhang Market and Bedlam Coffee House and were built in 1907 and 1900, respectively. In the righthand distance are the Rivoli and El Rey (1910) and the 1909 Commodore (then Nelson) hotel, which was demolished in 2007. In the near left is the building that now houses Tula's, only one year old in this photo. Beyond that are the Castle Apartments (1918), the Palladian (1910), the Moore (1907) and the Josephinum (New Washington Hotel, 1908). The streetscape was different in that there were numerous big fancy streetlamps, but no trees. Oh, and there were streetcar tracks.
On Wednesday mornings I usually find Corinne Porch at 2nd and Blanchard, waiting for the new edition of Real Change from the office in the Rivoli. I used to see her at the Market every day, but both of our daily paths have changed since then. Corinne and I grew up in the same part of the world. Among other things, we talk about cornbread and what goes best with it - buttermilk? Turnip greens (her favorite) or mustards (mine)? Corinne had a brief appearance in a Kurt Cobain documentary, for which she was paid the grand sum of twenty-five dollars.Tula's recently began serving lunch. The lunch I had there was incredibly tasty, satisfying, and inexpensive. There's not much of a lunch crowd, yet, but people were calling in their dinner reservations. The building has been altered and is not considered historically significant. Inside the age and ambience are in plentiful evidence.
2nd and Bell looking north, 1920. University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division.
Oddly enough, there appears to be a fenced-off hole in the ground at 2nd and Bell in 1920, where the new Noel House construction is taking place today. More likely it was a horse pasture. The backs of the Barnes and Austin A. Bell buildings are visible. The gothic roof of the old Bell Hotel shows up behind them. The Austin A. Bell has since been rebuilt with new construction behind the restored historic facade.
During all the recent Bridging the Gap repaving on 2nd Avenue, the Merlino people dug up half of the old streetcar crossties that were under the pavement. These were laid shortly after the 1903 regrade. They were untreated, presumably heart of cedar because they were very well preserved. The streetcars helped to shape the urban form of Belltown and the other urban village neighborhoods. The first electric streetcar started service in 1889. The last of the historic streetcar runs was in 1941. A new streetcar line was proposed to run on 1st Avenue as part of the mitigation for the Alaskan Way viaduct replacement, which raised the ire of some Belltown business owners. That line has not been funded in the budget for the city's share of viaduct replacement costs. It is "optional", which I suppose means that it will be built if someone volunteers to pay for it.
Cross-posted to Inside Belltown