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CDRewind: 23rd & Cherry, Part 2

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This morning we checked out the historical view of the southeast corner of 23rd & Cherry. Here’s the view across the street on the northwest corner, showing a building that’s still in place, if heavily altered, with historic 1937 businesses that include the East Cherry Street Tavern, Alaska Fuel company (selling coal), and what appears to be a vacant storefront further north on 23rd:

By 1954 the building had lost a lot of charm, with some of the upper windows filled in. But the tavern is still there, and a grocery store offering meat had taken up shop in the storefront to the north:

The tavern had a long life, but changed its name some time in the following ten years. Here’s a poorer quality photo from 1965, showing the Blue Bird Tavern and its offering of shuffleboard excitement, located in a more thoroughly modernized version of the same building:

And here’s the modern view, which is just a paint job, and awning, and a few trees different that 1965 (and substituting a barber shop for the tavern):


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0 thoughts on “CDRewind: 23rd & Cherry, Part 2”

  1. Thanks so much for assembling these photos. One of the best things about the CD is its history. The buildings only suggest what the community was like, but that is nevertheless very powerful. It’s great that there are so many sources for neighborhood photos now…

  2. It’s so interesting to see these photos, and how much it hasn’t changed… that south wall is still used for poster type ads (same as in 1937), and there is still a gas station across the street. The mature trees are definitely an improvement! Maybe somebody will renovate the building someday and restore those great transom windows. Thanks for sharing this, Scott :)

  3. Funny you say that about the trees. My first impression was that the trees are now completely overgrown and are out of proportion, taking away the viability of the storefronts. Seattle is dark enough. From a storefront window perspective I would want as much natural sunlight as possible.

  4. Someone at the city must have made street trees a priority at some point since the 60’s. Most of the historical photos show streets with only buildings and poles. It is nice to know the city is filling in with more green stuff since the original clear-cuts over 100 years ago.