Last year the West Seattle Branch library celebrated its centennial: 100 years in a building that has always and only served as a library for the Admiral neighborhood. The library has weathered just a few changes in 100 years: earthquakes, a flu epidemic, and card catalogs that morphed into microfilm to computer databases, not to mention the advent of the internet! A wonderful companion piece to the library’s centennial arrived with the publication of West Seattle, an Images of America book edited by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society and the Log House Museum.
The cover photo shows a family camping on Alki beach in 1901 before their permanent home was built. The home under construction is the historic log house “Fir Lodge” that became the much loved Homestead Restaurant. Check out the woman lounging in a wooden beach chair in full winter clothing: it wasn’t a warm beach day! There are many other beach photos that show the wide variety of swimming attire, including spaceman-like scuba diving outfits.
The book is full of interesting pictures that provide glimpses of West Seattle’s past. There are photos of the short-lived Luna Park amusement park, the lagoon that preceded Colman Pool and pictures of actresses Frances Farmer and Dyan Cannon (famous West Seattleites!) There are other intriguing titles in this series that have more wonderful photos including Vanishing Seattle (Dag’s burgers for 19 cents!) You can find them in the catalog under the series title: Images of America.
~Molly H., West Seattle Branch
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