Lake City, Seattle, Washington

Lake City is the northeast corner of Seattle, centered along Lake City Way NE (SR-522), 7-8 miles (11-13 km) northeast of Downtown. A broader definition of the Lake City area includes all the area between 15th Avenue NE and Lake Washington, and between NE 85th and 98th streets to the Seattle city limits at NE 145th Street. [(1) cite web
last =Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas
first =
date =n.d., map .jpg17 June 2002 | year = | month =
url =http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/nmaps/html/NN-1040S.htm
title ="Lake City"
publisher =Office of the Seattle City Clerk
accessdate =2006-04-21
(2) cite web
last =
first =
date =2006-04-30 revised | year = | month =
url =http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/about.htm
title ="About the Seattle City Clerk's On-line Information Services"
work =Information Services
publisher =Seattle City Clerk's Office
accessdate =2006-05-21
See heading, "Note about limitations of these data", and "Sources for this atlas and the neighborhood names used in it include".
(3) Shenk, Pollack, Dornfeld, Frantilla, & Neman.
Sources for this atlas and the neighborhood names used in it include a 1980 neighborhood map produced by the Department of Community Development, Seattle Public Library indexes, a 1984-1986 Neighborhood Profiles feature series in the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer", numerous parks, land use and transportation planning studies, and records in the Seattle Municipal Archives.
[Maps "NN-1120S", "NN-1130S", "NN-1140S".jpg[sic] dated 13 June 2002; "NN-1030S", "NN-1040S".jpg dated 17 June, 2002.] .] Lake City encompasses much of the Thornton Creek watershed, the focus of a long restoration campaign by citizens, [Seattle Public Utilities staff] to enhance the residential environment in Lake City.

History

What is now Lake City has been inhabited since the end of the last glacial period (c. 8,000 B.C.E.—10,000 years ago). The "hah-chu-ahbsh" (Lake People), now of the Duwamish tribe, Lushootseed (Skagit-Nisqually) Coast Salish, [(1) "hah-choo-AHBSH" (1.1) Dailey. Date also per Dailey.
(2) (International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) pronunciation: IPA| ["Xacuabš"] )
(3) Lushootseed (Skagit-Nisqually) is primarily a linguistic designation; Coast Salish generally did not use formal demarcations.] lived in diffuse permanent settlements along the shore of Lake Washington, dispersing in the summer, and in the winter living in large cedar long houses, each home to a couple dozen or more members of extended family groups. The lake people lost their rights in 1854. The Lake City area was clearcut by crude wagon road or by using Lake Washington, from 1850 past the turn of the century, more rapidly with the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad (c. 1886) providing easy access along what is now the Burke-Gilman Trail adjacent to the lake. Wetlands were drained. A Little Germany neighborhood of several immigrant farmers grew up in the 1870s around where Nathan Hale [http://www.seattleschools.org/schools/hale/ High School] now stands.Wilma]

The area was dubbed Lake City by D.H. and R.H. Lee in 1906 after they purchased and platted the land. With the advent of the automobile, the area developed linearly around major roads rather than centrally around trolley stops, as in older Seattle neighborhoods. The road to Bothell and Everett was made all-weather with brick in 1918 and then the new material asphalt in 1928. The automobile relationship with Seattle would shape Lake City development and neighborhood character. Lake City would remain relatively remote and suburban from Seattle until years after WWII.

Transition to a neighborhood community was marked in 1935 with the start of the Lake City Branch Library of today as a few shelves of books in part of a room in Lake City School, shared with the WPA. Sponsorship was by the Pacific Improvement Club community group. Lake City incorporated as a township in 1949 with more than 40,000 residents; rapid growth was a product of a massive influx of young suburban families after World War II. The City of Seattle annexed Lake City and other communities in 1954 when the city limits were expanded from 85th Street to 145th Street. [(1) Wilma, (05 December 2002, Essay 4031)
(2) Phelps, Chapter 15, "Annexation", pp. 216–224, map "to 1975" p. 224, map key table pp.222-3; as well as Wilma (Essay 3449)] Scout Troop 240 and other volunteers moved thousands of books into a new library building in 1955. [Wilma, (05 December 2002, Essay 4031)] o facts eLake City relies heavily on retail commerce, and business in the area has risen and fallen based on highway expansion in the Seattle area. The expansion of Aurora Avenue North to Everett, Washington cut into business in the 1920s, but Lake City revived after NE 130th Street was paved. The opening of Northgate Mall in 1950 reduced retail business in Lake City, and the area took another hit after the construction of Interstate 5 in the 1960s. Renovation of the city core along Lake City Way NE near NE 125th Street helped revive the local economy in the late 1970s.

The Jolly Roger and the Coon Chicken Inn

In 1916, Washington joined Prohibition, and Lake City saw an upswing in commercial activity. Unincorporated areas of King County accessible by auto became popular locations for speakeasies selling illegal liquor and purveying prostitution and gambling, often in clever guises. One remarkable structure among numerous establishments [http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/nmaps/html/NN-1040S.htm half a mile south of Lake City] was the China Castle, later the Jolly Roger, having a unique tower from which a watchman signaled the approach of police, visible from miles away. In the event of a raid, patrons and employees could leave via tunnels such as one under the highway, easily dispersing via the wooded ravine on the other side.

The Jolly Roger continued as a popular dancehall and restaurant. It was designated a Seattle Historic Landmark in 1979. On 19 October 1989, the restaurant, located at 8721 Lake City Way (formerly Bothell Way) burned in an arson fire. The fire was somewhat suspicious, but only relative to its storied past.Stein] Police had neither motive nor suspects. Investigators were not able to determine how the arsonist got inside past a burglar alarm, with no signs of forced entry. At the time, the building had just been purchased the week before from the previous owner, with whom the buyer was entangled in legal and financial red tape. The previous owner was in the building removing his possessions the day before the fire. When firefighters arrived hours after the fire had begun in the basement, a man directed them. He seemed so sure of where the fire began that they assumed he was an employee. After the fire was extinguished, the man could not be found. The owners stated that he was not an employee. [Merritt]

One year after the fire, preservation activists sought to have the structure rebuilt. Before their efforts got off the ground, the building was hastily demolished on 11 January 1991, obviating its appeal. A modern oil company-owned convenience store and gas station now stands on the location.

Within view, slightly south of the former Jolly Roger site, on the south side of Lake City Way, Ying's Drive-In sits on the site of a former Coon Chicken Inn. For nearly three decades, beginning in 1929, the Coon Chicken Inn sold southern-style food in a restaurant whose themes drew heavily on light-hearted, overtly racist stereotypes akin to blackface or the iconic Sambo's on Aurora Avenue N. [(1)Pilgrim & Thorp
(2)The Sambo's chain had 1,117 restaurants in 47 states, but went bankrupt in 1981. Presently, The lake City neighborhood has the largest Black population in the northern part of Seattle with a burgeoning East African population of immigrants from Ethiopia, Somalia & Eritrea. Lake City is home to 2 of the 4 remaining large housing projects in Seattle with other projects such as Seward Park Estates, Holly Park, Rainier Vista & High Point demolished & replaced with newer mixed income facilities.
(2.1) cite web
last =
first =
coauthors =
date =
year =
month =
url =http://www.sambosrestaurant.com/across.htm
title ="Across America"
work =
publisher =Sambo's Restaurant
accessdate =2006-07-26
The original restaurant in Santa Barbara, remains.]

Lake City today

Despite the presence of many other businesses and public art displays, many outside of the area think of Lake City only in terms of its many car dealerships. [ [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/webtowns/article.asp?WTID=30&ID=105880 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Lake City ] ] Its charm is fast disappearing due to the demolition of original restaurants to make way for low income housing.Fact|date=March 2008In 2006, the newly rebuilt Lake City branch of the Seattle Public Library was re-opened.

Neighborhoods in Lake City

* Cedar Park
* Matthews Beach
* Meadowbrook
* Olympic Hills
* Victory Heights [cite web
last =Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas
first =
date =n.d., map .jpg17 June 2002 | year = | month =
url =http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/nmaps/html/NN-1040S.htm
title ="Lake City"
publisher =Office of the Seattle City Clerk
accessdate =2006-04-21]

Notes and references

Bibliography

* cite web | last = | first = | date =2006-04-30 revised | year = | month = | url=http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/about.htm | title ="About the Seattle City Clerk's On-line Information Services" | work =Information Services | publisher =Seattle City Clerk's Office
accessdate =2006-05-21
See heading, "Note about limitations of these data", and "Sources for this atlas and the neighborhood names used in it include".
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Page links to [http://coastsalishmap.org/Village_Descriptions_Duwamish-Seattle.htm Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle section] .
Dailey referenced "Puget Sound Geography" by T. T. Waterman. Washington DC: National Anthropological Archives, mss. [n.d.] [ref. 2] ;
"Duwamish et al vs. United States of America, F-275". Washington DC: US Court of Claims, 1927. [ref. 5] ;
"Indian Lake Washington" by David Buerge in the "Seattle Weekly", 1-7 August 1984 [ref. 8] ;
"Seattle Before Seattle" by David Buerge in the "Seattle Weekly", 17-23 December 1980. [ref. 9] ;
"The Puyallup-Nisqually" by Marian W. Smith. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. [ref. 10] .
Recommended start is [http://coastsalishmap.org/start_page.htm "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound"]
* cite news | last =Hodson | first =Jeff | author = | coauthors = | url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=4005200&date=20000216&query=Creeks | title ="Restoration urged for Thornton Creek : Local News" | work = | publisher =The Seattle Times | pages = | page = | date =2000-02-16 | accessdate =2006-04-21
Was [http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=4015776&date=20000416&query=Northgate+creeks] , NF.
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Note caveat in footer.
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Includes bibliography.
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Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan [http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/menu.htm]
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Sources for this atlas and the neighborhood names used in it include a 1980 neighborhood map produced by the Department of Community Development (relocated to the [http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/neighborhoods/resources.htm Department of Neighborhoods] and other agencies), Seattle Public Library indexes, a 1984-1986 Neighborhood Profiles feature series in the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer", numerous parks, land use and transportation planning studies, and records in the [http://www.cityofseattle.net/CityArchives/ Seattle Municipal Archives] .
[Maps "NN-1120S", "NN-1130S", "NN-1140S".jpg[sic] dated 13 June 2002; "NN-1030S", "NN-1040S".jpgdated 17 June 2002.]
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Stein referenced “Speakeasy? Jolly Roger's Shady Past Still A Mystery,” "The North Seattle Press", 9 January 1991, p. 1;
“Burning Questions Persist,” "Seattle Post-Intelligencer", 30 November 1990, pp. B-1, B-5;
“Wrecker Flattens Jolly Roger's Charred Remnant,” "The Seattle Times", 12 January 1992, p. B-1.
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Wilma referenced
David Buerge, "Seattle Before Seattle", "The Weekly", 17 December 1980, p. 26;
David Buerge, "Indian Lake Washington", Ibid., 1 August 1984, pp. 29-32;
Paul Dorpat, "History Lives At Lake City Speakeasy", "The Seattle Times", 17 March 1979;
Jane Cartwright, "Lake City's Death Sentence May Be Commuted", Ibid., 1 March 1977;
Clipping, "Q & A", Ibid., 29 October 1997, Lake City Library;
George Foster, "Lake City, Washington: A City Within A City", "Seattle Post-Intelligencer", 2 June 1974, Northwest, 3;
Mark Higgins, "Community Seeks Balance As Population Changes", Ibid., 29 March 1997, (seattlep-i.nwsource.com);
Clipping, Scott Olson, "Resident Digs Into Bawdy Past", "The Lake City Star", n.d., Lake City Library, Lake City History File;
Frank Bishop, "Community Motivation". Seattle: The Craftsman Press, 1968;
"Lake City Community Information in Seattle Public Library", typescript, Lake City Library;
Steven Jay Abrams, "Lake City: From Rags to Riches to Rags to Riches", typescript dated 1980, Seattle Public Library;
"Meadowbrook Pond", Seattle Public Utilities Website, (www.ci.seattle.wa.us/util/planning/meadowbrook/history1.htm);
"Thornton Creek Watershed", report presented by Landscape Architecture Studio 504, Regional Landscape Planning, Professor Kristina Hill, University of Washington, Fall 2000 (online.caup.washington.edu/courses/LArch504);
Don Sherwood, "Burke-Gilman Trail", in "Interpretive Essays of the Histories of Seattle's Parks and Playfields", handwritten bound manuscript dated 1977, Seattle Room, Seattle Public Library;
Gail Lee Dubrow, Maren Van Nostrand, Cathy Tuttle, "Northbrook Community History". Seattle: Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, 1995.