Site Report #1

A collection of photos from the Ave from the early 1900's. University Way (Seattle, WA). Taken on January 11, 2017. Evan Wong.

My block is between Brooklyn Ave. NE and University Way NE. It’s also nestled between NE 47th Street and NE 50th Street. There’s a few buildings that take up a chunk of space and they include Bank of America, Jack in the Box, and Safeway. These well-known establishments have a fair amount of people coming in and out depending on their needs and wants. People visiting Bank of America want to use the ATM or complete a banking transaction inside the branch. On the other hand, Jack in the Box and Safeway provide people with food, whether it be fast food or groceries. All of these places are surrounded by homeless people and Safeway has the most homeless folks outside of its location. Some other things that flew under the radar included an underground parking garage, a University District map, an alley, and a closed-down Chevron station. The underground parking garage allows convenient parking for people who are visiting the Ave. I had never noticed the University District map before my site visit and it looked interesting. There are some photos from the 1930’s and earlier which help provide context for my block.

After exploring my block, I came up with some questions that will hopefully be answered in later site reports. For example, Why is there an alley in the middle of the block and what could have been there? Was this block once a residential area where families and friends resided? What will replace the abandoned Chevron station in the future? Why did the train or trolley system disappear from the Ave? Some of the buildings that are missing include small businesses, shops, churches, and places of public gathering like parks and movie theaters. Nature may have been harmed by the modernization of cities and the improvement of the Ave. Looking at the cost of rent on the Ave can lead me to an answer about the missing mom-and-pop stores. Maps would help me identify geographical features like rivers, streams, and trees.