Seattle of the 1970s by Stephen Cysewski

mthq · #1 Posted **Nov 22, 2007, 9:55 AM**

I came upon this incredible website filled with images of Seattle from the 1970s and into the 80s thanks to mhays at the Seattle regional forum. The photos were taken by Stephen Cysewski in Pikes Place Market, Pioneer Square, the waterfront, First Avenue, etc. and show both some urban grit and the people of its time.

Keep in mind the photos posted here are only a fraction of what can be found on the photographers website below:
http://www.cysewski.com/seattleweb/

http://www.cysewski.com/seattleweb/

http://www.cysewski.com/seattleweb/

Stephen Cysewski is a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and continues to photograph today.

Again, check his website out:
http://www.cysewski.com/seattleweb/

the Misanthropist · #2 Posted **Nov 22, 2007, 4:23 PM**

Gritty!

pwright1 · #3 Posted **Nov 24, 2007, 10:07 AM**

What interesting pics of not too long ago Seattle. Things have definately changed and some remained the same. I thoroughly enjoyed the set. Thanks for sharing.

Jarrod · #4 Posted **Nov 24, 2007, 6:44 PM**

Wow... amazing pictures!

zigzag · #5 Posted **Nov 24, 2007, 9:21 PM**

Sweet.

Chevelle · #6 Posted **Nov 24, 2007, 9:47 PM**

What a throwback, actually lived in Seattle in the 70s.

Little glimpse of this ferry..

Looks like the Coho Ferry that makes runs from Port Angeles to Victoria.

Could of been taken yesterday? No one would of noticed the 30 year gap..

raggedy13 · #7 Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 7:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chevelle

What a throwback, actually lived in Seattle in the 70s.

Could of been taken yesterday? No one would of noticed the 30 year gap..

That was my exact reaction to this pic, and I wasn't even alive in the 70s. Made me look at the past in a whole new way. Seems a little less distant and foreign to me now somehow.

Amazing set of pics. I envy those people who got to experience cities like this in the 70s and earlier. I often wonder about what it would be like to go back in time to 1950s/60s/70s Vancouver (not to mention 1890s etc). But at least amazing pictures like these make acceptable substitutes. Plus I feel little better knowing that I'll get to see our cities far into the future.

SuburbanNation · #8 Posted **Dec 5, 2007, 2:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by raggedy13

That was my exact reaction to this pic, and I wasn't even alive in the 70s. Made me look at the past in a whole new way. Seems a little less distant and foreign to me now somehow.

Amazing set of pics. I envy those people who got to experience cities like this in the 70s and earlier. I often wonder about what it would be like to go back in time to 1950s/60s/70s Vancouver (not to mention 1890s etc). But at least amazing pictures like these make acceptable substitutes. Plus I feel little better knowing that I'll get to see our cities far into the future.

what a great perspective.

mhays · #9 Posted **Nov 24, 2007, 10:37 PM**

The old version has a lot to like. It was gritty and cheap, and there's just something about the older urban jumble -- the remnants of history, as well as the 50s-70s newer stuff that probably looked cheap even then but was still interesting in its own way. BTW, some of those were from the 1980s.

PS, don't get me wrong. 90% of me prefers the ever-bigger, ever-denser version!

It's fascinating that some of today's core CBD areas weren't really core CBD back then.

ItsConanOBrien · #10 Posted **Nov 24, 2007, 10:53 PM**

Thanks for sharing!

I enjoyed the before+after shots too.

Austinlee · #11 Posted **Nov 24, 2007, 11:49 PM**

Wow; Nice matchups, Pwright!

I am SOOO glad I didn't live in that era. It looks depressing; I just feel all the social unrest would make it a very uncomfortable, transitory time period. I prefer this time period where there is less strife and uncertainty.

Chevelle · #12 Posted **Nov 25, 2007, 12:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PA Pride

Wow; Nice matchups, Pwright!

I am SOOO glad I didn't live in that era. It looks depressing; I just feel all the social unrest would make it a very uncomfortable, transitory time period. I prefer this time period where there is less strife and uncertainty.

Less strife and uncertainty today in the U.S. of... A huh?

Oh besides the expected development to occur and the advancement in technology over the ages you would be surprised to know how much is actually the same.

Prime example:

70's: had Nixon who was a "crook"...
2007: has Bush who is a.... *cough *cough..
70's: had the USSR/Cold War hanging over it's head also realing from Vietnam and the threat of Communi-SM.
2007: has the A'Queda and media prop G nda/ hanging over it's head also realing from the War in Iraq and the threat of Terrori-SM.

Sometimes we think the hands of time are in motion, but we wake up to reality and figure out just because we wear different clothing and old may appear black and white like above we are still very much the same.

Not to turn this political or to start a vs..just showing that those same emotions on the people above are still there today.

BTW great find.

vertex · #13 Posted **Nov 25, 2007, 12:56 AM**

Wonderful set of images. Nice to see any city in a different context, even one that I'm not too familiar with.

Austinlee · #14 Posted **Nov 27, 2007, 2:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chevelle

Less strife and uncertainty today in the U.S. of... A huh?

Oh besides the expected development to occur and the advancement in technology over the ages you would be surprised to know how much is actually the same.

Prime example:

70's: had Nixon who was a "crook"...
2007: has Bush who is a.... *cough *cough..
70's: had the USSR/Cold War hanging over it's head also realing from Vietnam and the threat of Communi-SM.
2007: has the A'Queda and media prop G nda/ hanging over it's head also realing from the War in Iraq and the threat of Terrori-SM.

Sometimes we think the hands of time are in motion, but we wake up to reality and figure out just because we wear different clothing and old may appear black and white like above we are still very much the same.

Not to turn this political or to start a vs..just showing that those same emotions on the people above are still there today.

BTW great find.

I agree that there are parallels and that some trends continue to repeat themselves over time, however consider the 58,000 dead americans in Vietnam compared to 5,000 in Iraq; Consider the social freedoms we enjoy now compared to before the late 60s social revolution, and compare the threat of small bands of terrorists on our country knocking over a few buildings at a time now to the previous threat of mutually assured nuclear destruction of our civilization and I'd say we are much better off today.

mthq · #15 Posted **Nov 27, 2007, 10:41 AM**

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yarabundi · #16 Posted **Nov 25, 2007, 1:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mthq

That is exactly how I looked like back on these days !! No kidin'
If you would have walked by a teenager with the same attyre and long hair and long bear on the streets of Montréal, that was me !!

James Bond Agent 007 · #17 Posted **Nov 25, 2007, 3:19 AM**

Wow, amazing set!!!!

LSyd · #18 Posted **Nov 25, 2007, 5:02 PM**

thanks for posting these, although a few are from the 80s and 90s. look at the clothes...ewwwwwwwwwwww!!!

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uwhuskies · #19 Posted **Nov 26, 2007, 10:59 AM**

Nice photos.

These photos brought several nostalgic memories back that I had forgotten. One of the photos had the Kress department store which I can still remember the general layout and how there was a cool restaurant on the lower level (at least thats how I recall the memory when I was in kindergarten and my mother taking me dowtown was such an adventure). Another photo of the butcher in the meat market with glasses also brings back memories of my mom buying sandwich meat from him. Wow, its amazing how photos can reacquaint you with the past!

Thanks. The experience brings back a special time when I was a young child.

Complex01 · #20 Posted **Nov 26, 2007, 4:37 PM**

Wow amazing how things change over time, and they just keep changing at such quick pace. Great find...