Explore Seattle’s Lake City Neighborhood
In this Exploration Guide for students in high school, explore the history of Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood, encompassing the Cedar Park, Matthews Beach, Meadowbrook, Olympic Hills, and Victory Heights areas. Who has lived here over the decades, and what have they left behind, both physically and culturally?
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Lake City | HistoryLink
This HistoryLink “Thumbnail History” looks at the major architectural, historical, and cultural changes in Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood up until 2001. That’s now almost 20 years ago. If you were asked to contribute to an updated section covering the past 20 years, are there any special places or events that you would include?
View Lake City | HistoryLink -
Lake City Murals | KUOW
Mark Mendez leads Lake City’s teen leadership program, and looks to transform Lake City with murals and help cultivate pride in the neighborhood. Have you seen any of the murals popping up around the neighborhood? How does public art make you feel about being in the community? What topics would you like to see in a new mural?
View Lake City Murals | KUOW -
Lake City Branch, The Seattle Public Library | HistoryLink
The Lake City Branch of The Seattle Public Library is a city landmark as well as a community hub for culture, recreation and learning. Have you visited this library branch, with its award-winning George Tsutakawa-designed bronze gate? Has the library played any role in your life?
View Lake City Branch, The Seattle Public Library | HistoryLink -
Italian Spaghetti House Restaurant Menu | Seattle Public Library Special Collections
This 1989 menu is from the Italian Spaghetti House, a Lake City staple for 55 years, owned by the Andolfi family until its closure in 2011. Are there any restaurants in your neighborhood that you can remember having always just been there? How do they become part of the fabric of the community? How would you feel if they were closed?
View Italian Spaghetti House Restaurant Menu | Seattle Public Library Special Collections -
Seattle Neighborhood History Project | Special Collections, The Seattle Public Library
This project is a great place for accessing historical information about Seattle neighborhoods, including Lake City, from the Library's special collections and elsewhere. Click on Lake City on the map or the list below, and look at the “digitized items”, which includes photographs, postcards, and even restaurant menus, like the Italian Spaghetti House! What sorts of historical artifacts do you find yourself most connected to? Choose an “item type” from the left hand menu and look for something that you find interesting. What draws you to this item?
View Seattle Neighborhood History Project | Special Collections, The Seattle Public Library -
Racial Restrictive Covenants Map Seattle/King County | Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project at University of Washington
This interactive map from the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project at the University of Washington shows just some of the subdivisions known to have been racially restricted through deed provisions or restrictive covenants, looking at less than half of the property records for the years (1923 and 1950). Choose different areas to see what the specific restrictions were. Are there any patterns to the types of areas with these racial restrictions? How do you think this practice shaped the Seattle we live in today?
View Racial Restrictive Covenants Map Seattle/King County | Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project at University of Washington -
Seattle’s Ramps to Nowhere | KCTS 9 Mossback’s Northwest with Knute Berger
Watch this short video to learn how Seattle neighborhoods were affected by Seattle freeways in the 1940s to 1970s, and how protests made a difference in the plans for one freeway. The RH Thomson Expressway Project that the ramps were a part of would have originally gone through Lake City connecting to SR 522. If this project had gone forward, how do you think the neighborhood would be different? When is it appropriate to develop an area, and when should a community resist?
View Seattle’s Ramps to Nowhere | KCTS 9 Mossback’s Northwest with Knute Berger -
Seattle at 150: Coloring Pages | City of Seattle Municipal Archives
Just last year (2019) the city of Seattle turned 150. There are artifacts from the past century and a half all over the city, whether you’re seeing bricks under the pavement, old street signs, entire historic buildings or things as mundane as manhole covers. These particular coloring pages include manhole cover designs done in 1976. Do you recognize any of these hatch covers? What other interesting designs have you seen? What would you like to see in future municipal designs?
View Seattle at 150: Coloring Pages | City of Seattle Municipal Archives -
Seattle Walk Report | Seattle Walk Report Instagram
The Instagram webcomic Seattle Walk Report is made by a Library staff member, who captures all of the little details that make Seattle worth walking through. What historic and mundane things do you notice while walking around your community? How do they make you feel about your neighborhood? While Lake City developed because of the automobile and is dominated by Lake City Way, what parts of the neighborhood are great places for a stroll?
View Seattle Walk Report | Seattle Walk Report Instagram