Vintage Postcard – The Empire Motel – Seattle, Washington

The Empire Motel
Seattle, Wash.
6940 Empire Way South — Phone Parkway 3-7633
Spacious New south end motel  *  1, 2, and 3-room suites  * carpeted  *  TV  * GE kitchenettes  *  tile showers or combination  * guest-controlled heat  *  Near restaurants and shops  *  Minutes to downtown  * Near Lake Washington  *
Your Owner Hosts: Ivar and Genevieve Anderson

Walt Scarff  * Photography & Publication
Seattle  *  San Francisco  * Hollywood
55519

This lovely vintage postcard was sent to me by my fabulous sister. It is postally unsent, and features the AAA logo. This is the second hotel card noting ownership by Ivar and Genevieve (see La Hacienda Motel).

Empire Way has been MLK Way since the 1980s. This motel seems to be long gone.

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Capri Lodge

America West

Seattle World’s Fair

Capri Lodge Yakima, Wash.
818 North 1st Street GL 3-0391
Jet Hwy. 410 & 97 — 6 blocks north of bus. center
54 Modern units equipped with T.V., Air Conditioning, Telephone and Tub Shower combination, also for your convenience heated pool and restaurant adjacent.

Natural Color by Mike Roberts Berkeley 2, Calif.
Pub by Cliff Johansen Free Lance Photographer
P.O. Box 1093, Portland, Oregon
SC8959 — Photography by Johansen

This lovely vintage postcard features the Best Western logo on the back. It is postally unused. I sure dig those fantastic chairs in the pool close-up image. And the sign!

The Capri Lodge still stands (thanks, Google Street View) as a Knight’s Inn, though it is looking mighty shabby:

The place has changed names a few times, and was previously the Yakima Valley Inn and a Ramada Inn.

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La Hacienda

Seattle World’s Fair

North Vue Motel

America West
6th Avenue Motor Hotel
2000 – 6th Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98121
Telephone 206-682-8300
175 Modern Units – TV’s, Radios, Drive-In Lobby and ample covered parking. Automatic Elevators, 24 hour desk service, automatic dial phones, heated swimming pool , Restaurant and Lounge. 2 blocks from Downtown shopping center and Monorail Terminal. Seattle’s most conveniently located downtown Motor Hotel.

Published by Glenn Knutson Photos, 16405 Sylvester Rd. S.W., Seattle, Wash. 98166
Johnson Printing Inc, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
J3225 Glenn Knutson photo

This lovely vintage postcard is unused.

Unfortunately, the Sixth Avenue Inn as it was later called has been closed and demolished. Here’s a video of it falling:

It had been open 54 years.

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Seattle World’s Fair

La Hacienda

Vintage Postcard – La Hacienda Motel

La Hacienda Motel
Seattle, Wash.
(5400 Block First Avenue South)
Just off U.S. 99 South Freeway  * Phone Parkway 3-1479  *  New south end motel — Minutes to downtown  *  Spacious units  *  Guest-controlled heat  *  Tile showers  *  TV  * Radios  *  GE kitchenettes  *  Wall-to-wall carpeting  *  Near restaurants  *
Your Owner Hosts: Ivar and Genevieve Anderson

Walt Scarff  * Photography & Publication
Seattle  * San Francisco  * Hollywood
58975

This lovely vintage postcard, sent to me by my fabulous sister, is postally unused. I did double-check the card for the spelling of the Owner Hosts, and it is Ivar and not Ivan. This card features the AAA logo. It is a very nice sign, but the rest of the place looks rather bleak. Brightly painted doors or a potted plant might help soften the image.

OMG, not only does it still exist, but I think it is even better looking than before:

But wait, Google Street View. What is that I see?

Keep it classy, ‘Murica!

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Seattle World Fair 1962

North Vue Motel

Vintage Postcard – Seattle World’s Fair 1962

Seattle World’s Fair
Show Street
Rue de spectacle
Calle de espectaculos
Color photo by Max R. Jensen
Century 21 Exposition

Seattle, Washington
April 21 – October 21, 1962

Published by C.P. Johnston Co., Seattle, Washington
Natural Color by Mike Roberts
Berkeley 2, Calif.

This lovely vintage postcard is unused.

Here are some highlights of the 1962 fair, from Wikipedia:

• Nearly 10 million people attended the fair which, unlike some other World’s Fairs of its era, it made a profit.
• The Space Needle was constructed for the 1962 event.
• The motto for the fair was Living in the Space Age.
• The site of the fair is now called Seattle Center.
• More than half the structures built for the fair were torn down after it ended.

Gracie Hansen’s Paradise International was a Vegas-style floor show.

The location is now the studios for KCTS-TV.

The US has not hosted a World’s Fair or Expo since New Orleans in 1984 and our country is not a part of the Bureau of International Expositions. Our membership was withdrawn in June 2001 due to the non allocation of funds by our Congress for two years (Congress has not provided a specific reason for failing to pay membership). If that fact p’s you off (lord knows it does me, and I have contacted Debbie Stabenow in the past), participation in the BIE is controlled by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and you can contact them here. Something so positive, that we can share with the world, and we refuse to participate? Nice.

The next World’s Fair is in 2015 in Milan. Read more about it here.

Vintage Postcard – North Vue Motel

North Vue Motel
1/4 Mile from State Ferry Dock
Anacortes, Washington      CY 3-3652
Relax, enjoy the view. Modern Single & Family accommodations. Radio, T.V., Kitchens, Tub & Shower Combinations.
Call for Reservations
Paul & Frances Schofield

Photography & Published by George Mood, Camano Island, Wn
S-49739-1

This lovely vintage postcard is unused. My fabulous sister Kirsten got it for me and brought it on her last trip out to visit this summer. I’ve found this card online postmarked in the mid-1960s. I’ve also found another view in a later postcard (late 1970s, I’d guess) with Marvin and Jeanette Portis listed as owners/operators. Marvin (age 77) and Jeanette (age 74) still live in Anacortes.

The address for the motel is not specific enough to pull it directly, but there are no listings for the North Vue currently.

Anacortes is on Fidalgo Island and had 15,778 residents at the 2010 census. The city is known for the Washington State Ferries Dock (according to Wikipedia, it is the largest passenger and automobile ferry fleet in the United States and the third largest in the world by fleet size).