Seattle Municipal Archives dropped this 1945 shot of the intersection of Bellevue and Olive into the CHS Flickr pool: note that the Westinghouse X-ray Building on the left is now The Saint. The ad for Columbia Ale appears to be for an ale produced by Tacoma-based Columbia Brewing Company. In 1941, the brewery introduced Columbia Ale: “Brewmaster Birkmaier developed the ale, which was a top fermenting beer, and a first for the brewery. The old English style Ale immediately gained a following and remained a popular seller for 17 years.”
Bellevue & Olive, 1945 Originally uploaded by Seattle Municipal Archives
This would have been taken just a few years after they demolished Seattle’s streetcar system and replaced some of the routes with electric trolleybuses which use paired wires (streetcars use a single wire). Two sets of wires are visible in the photo. These represent the route of the current 14 Summit trolleybus line which goes up Olive to Summit, turns left to go north for several blocks, then returns south on Bellevue to Olive. Today there is additional overhead wire at this intersection for the 43 U District line which was not created until the trolleybus system was rebuilt in the late 1970s. Streetcar lines were responsible for the development of many of Capitol Hill’s excellent walking neighborhoods, and the electric trolleybuses continue to provide us with some of the best transit in the region.
Neat Pic. It looks like you don’t have to take your life into your hands just by making a left hand turn, either.
S’hardly changed.