Introducing Book IV
MAGNOLIA: More Memories & Milestones
An online, ongoing collection in living color!
Our Stories So Far
The Tale of Magnolia's Giant Pumpkin Patch
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by Greg Shaw
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On July 21st, 1969, while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were walking on the moon, I was living in a rented house on West Hayes Street in Magnolia, and my first giant pumpkins were gaining size in the front yard...
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Fire Station No.41 - A Unique Landmark
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by Monica Wooton
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My friend Brian says everyone loves a fire station. For many of us they represent safety. It is the place where you can get your blood pressure monitored, call to get your cat rescued from a tree, and have a too tight ring cut off safely...
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How Magnolia Got Its Street Names: Perkins Lane
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by Benjamin Lukoff
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Perkins Lane boasts one of the best views in all of Seattle—a completely unobstructed vista of Elliott Bay, Puget Sound, the Kitsap Peninsula, and the Olympic Mountains—if you’re fortunate enough to own property there...
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35 Years (and, Counting…) of People, Talent, and Glorious Music: the Magnolia Chorale
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by Patty McKeehan
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As weather goes, the evening of December 8, 1989, was fairly mild for Seattle. The temperature was about 45°F. It was cloudy, but remarkably there was no rain. So when a group of singers, in a fledgling choral group known as the Magnolia Chorale, made their way across the Ballard Bridge at rush hour...
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Spending New Year's Eve at Magnolia's Gim Wah
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by Monica Wooton
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In the 1980s and 90s, the Gim Wah was among my family's first resolutions and rituals of the New Year! One seldom had to wait long in the entry area of the Gim Wah as smoke drifted by from the barely lit lounge to the left filled with the regulars there for bottomless Manhattans or gin and tonics...
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by Greg Shaw
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Camelot and Magnolia—idyllic places; and, I often think of Magnolia as my Camelot. But, both had undercurrents. Paul Muller and I were part of Magnolia’s...
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Novel Solution to Soothe Magnolians' Nerves
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by Monica Wooton
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The creation of the Magnolia Boulevard was literally the concrete version of the Beatle’s song: “The Long and Winding Road." And, Mrs. Grace M. Burt had an idea to calm down all the ruckus that the building of the road brought with it...
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by Sherrie Quinton
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In the Magnolia of the 1950s and 60s, it was an occasional experience to glimpse a petite woman dressed in a colorful harlequin-style outfit, a dab of red on her nose...
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Stay tuned for our Spring Collection of 14 writers to be launched in late May.
Learn about more Magnolia Memories & Milestones! Among the new stories: how different Magnolia would have been if 1900’s urban planners had their way, how the Seafair Clowns had roots in Magnolia, the history of the geology of Magnolia and Discovery Park’s Birding history. There are several “Growing Up on Magnolia” memoirs like “Milkshakes and Gunpowder”(Eriksons Pharmacy and the Fort Lawton Rifle Range) and “Cora Peterson’s Autograph Book of 1929-30”. We will have an author book reading and Historical Society launch celebration TBD in May. Hope you can join us!
We are always looking for writers and peer editors for the next collection of stories. We have topics from which you can choose or writers can bring their story ideas to us. We are always looking for all eras of Magnolia memoirs relating to growing up in the neighborhood!
Questions or interested in writing or peer editing? Reach out to us at: info@magnoliahistoricalsociety.org
Content by the Magnolia Historical Society or used with permission by the credited authors or owners. Authors and photographers retain copyright, except for those works in the public domain. Photographs and illustrations are from a variety of sources and credited within individual image captions. Users must seek permission from the appropriate copyright owners to use material.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this book do not necessarily reflect the views of the Magnolia Historical Society. All writers are sole owners of their material and are responsible for content.