Raincity360

Virtual Tours of the Pacific Northwest - raincity360.com

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #1: Around 1903, on a cliff above Golden Gardens Beach there was a forest of ancient trees; four-feet in diameter. They still stood, since the city of Ballard had stopped expanding about 10 blocks south of this point. However, since Ballard had just connected to downtown Seattle via an electric trolley line, its growth was about to explode. A perfect time for Harry Treat (pictured above) to arrive in town. Although young, he had already made himself absurdly rich via real estate and saw the opportunity. With his great wealth, he bought up this land. 

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour. 

 Photo courtesy of the McBride & Anderson Collection, MOHAI

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #2: Harry Treat replaced the trees with homes and named the area Loyal Heights. These homes went unsold, since nobody from Seattle traveled this far north. So Treat built the Loyal Heights Railway; an electric trolley line from downtown Ballard to the top of the Loyal Height's bluff. To entice people to want to visit the bluff, he bought and built an amusement park at the beach down below; naming it Loyal Beach (later renamed Golden Gardens). Once he had the beach-goers captive on his train, he gave them a sales pitch for the homes slowly moving past. Within a few years, Treat had turned a profit of a million dollars. The photo is of an electric trolley in Seattle circa 1903.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Park Virtual Tour. 

Photo courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archive.

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #3: Harry Treat named everything after his youngest daughter Loyal; Loyal Heights, Loyal Heights Railway, and Loyal Beach.  His oldest daughter Priscilla is forgotten to history, as her name was not dedicated to anything.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Park Virtual Tour.

Photo courtesy of the McBride & Anderson Collection, MOHAI

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #4: The problem still remained for Harry Treat, how to get the people, dressed in their Sunday Best, down the steep Loyal Heights bluff to Golden Gardens Beach? Treat so happened to be famously skilled at handling a team of horses. Those lucky enough were Treat-ed to a ride down the hill on his horse and buggy. But the rest had to walk their way down a steep, dusty trail. The problem was not to be solved in Treat's lifetime, as the middle-aged man was soon to die when he tragically drove his car off a cliff.  

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour

Photo courtesy of the Seattle Historical Society Collection, MOHAI.

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #5: Upon Harry Treat’s death in 1922, the city of Seattle bought Loyal Beach from his estate and renamed the park Golden Gardens.  At this time, the only way to access the beach was from the steep Loyal Height’s bluff.  So the city built a series of long staircases to ease the hike. Today, the stairs are a popular jogging destination.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour.

Photo courtesty of the Seattle Municipal Archives.

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #6: As witnessed in the photo, dogs were allowed at Golden Gardens Beach in 1928.  That is no longer the case, with a $54 fine to prove it.   However, Golden Gardens Park does have an off-leash dog park, half way up the bluff. There is an acre of play space, that is secured by a fence. A rain shelter is provided for you to stay dry as your dog does not. There is an isolated shy dog area, a water faucet and bowls, clean bathrooms, and a large parking lot. But be prepared, the dog police don't just comb the beaches. With a wiff of entrapment, dog parks are frequently raided to fine owner's of unlicensed dogs at $125 a pop. And for the ne'er-do-wells who do not properly display their dog's license, they will leave the park $54 lighter.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour

Photo courtesy of the PEMCO Webster & Stevens Collection, MOHAI

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #7: Managing the streams that are produced by the steep bluff from Loyal Heights down to Golden Gardens Beach, was done with style by the city of Seattle in 1936. Today, the streams are largely hidden until it reaches the south end of the beach, where it provides a fresh water play pool for the kids.

Click here to take my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #8:  As we have seen, getting to the Golden Garden Beach oasis was not always easy. Under the management of Harry Treat, after the dapperly dressed men, with their damsels in tow, had wound down the steep dusty trail, they still had to walk across train tracks. When the city took over, they refurbished the hill (built stairs and added gravel to the dirt road), added a parking lot just to the east of the tracks, and added a train underpass. But it was not until 1933 that a road was built between the tracks and the Puget Sound connecting Golden Gardens directly to Downtown Ballard. As access became convenient, the popularity of this park took off, as seen from this 1936 photo.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #9: In spite of the average water temperature of the Puget Sound swaying between 45 and 53 degrees, these tough pioneer people made it a popular pastime to swim at Golden Gardens Beach. So much so, that a lifeguard was hired and a wooden bathhouse was built. The bathhouse gave the swimmers a place to wash off the salt water and change. In 1929, it was rebuilt to its present form, as the wood was replaced by brick.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour

Photo courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #10: On July 16th 1967, the Golden Gardens parking lot was host to a "Be-in". Which was the hippies version of a "Sit-in" popular throughout the radical sixties. This version of the "-in" consisted of getting "loose" and grooving to music. At this particular event, a truck's flat-bed served as the stage for six non-descript, local rock bands. As a couple thousand youngsters hung out in the sun, an unexpected seventh band showed up to close the show. The Grateful Dead were in town to play the prestigious Eagles Auditorium, but they decided to warm-up by rocking Golden Gardens.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour

Photo courtesy of historylink.org

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #11: The north shore of Golden Gardens Beach, called Meadow Point, was home to a shipyard when Harry Treat bought it. The shipyard was destroyed as the park grew, but you can still see its pylons at low-tide. As the beach became popular for swimmers, they were prohibited in swimming in the fresh water pond that is at Meadow Point.  It was reserved for model boat racing, a perfect spot since the surface was smooth and the winds were high. The sport was popular and local, as well as international competitions were held there. Today, the only thing swimming in this fresh-water basin are Mallard Ducks.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #12: There is no beach on the east coast of the Puget Sound with softer sand. While naturally occurring, it was enhanced in 2002 by a barge of sand pictured above. This attracts beach volleyball, with six courts available. Trees on the beach are often strung with tightropes and are acrobatically crossed. Of course, being the home of the 12th man, it is common for a football to be tossed. Sun bathing has been known to happen, as well.  Staying hydrated through all that activity may cause nature to call. Luckily, there are nice bathrooms in the bathhouse.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour

[raincity360]

Golden Gardens Park #13: Golden Gardens destiny could have been much different. In 1959, plans were developed by the city to build an aquarium. The community did not want an aquarium, but did start planning a swimming pool. Eventually both ideas were scraped as the majority of people protested changes to the beach.

Click here for my Golden Gardens Virtual Tour

Photo courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives

[raincity360]

Gas Works Park #1: The pioneers of Seattle were severe people who could live without much comfort, hence only 1 in 10 were woman.  Even the joyless founder of Seattle, Arthur Denny, knew his city needed families in order to flourish. To attract the civilized world he invested in the Seattle Gas Light Company. That company would turn North Lake Union into a Gas Plant and an environmental disaster. On the bright-side, instead of walking down dangerous, dark streets at night, they were illuminated by gas street lamps. And instead of families struggling to see by dim candles, their homes were brightened by gas lamps. 

Click here for my Gas Works Park Virtual Tour

[raincity360]

Gas Works Park #2:  The first Seattle Gas Light Plant was built in the 1870's on Elliot Bay. Soon after, a more efficient way of making a much cleaner gas was invented that required vast amounts of fresh water. Unfortunately for the Seattle Gas Light Company, Elliot Bay was salt water. There was pressure on the company to stay competitive since there was a rival gas company in town. So from 1900-1905, the Seattle Gas Light Company bought land on the north shore of the fresh waters of Lake Union. Unfortunately for the surrounding neighborhood, the city balked at turning this area into a park in 1903, as suggested by John Olmsted. In 1906, the Seattle Gas Light Company moved to this spot and the people of Wallingford would be breathing coal smoke for the next fifty years. 

Click here for my Gas Works Park Virtual Tour

[raincity360]

Gas Works Park #3: Preserved from the Gas Works days are giant concrete train trestles.  Trains loaded with coal mined from the Cascade Mountain Range would drive up onto these trestles. Hoppers would be rolled underneath the trains. The coal would be dumped from the train into the hoppers. Then the hoppers could transport the coal throughout the plant.  The path the train tracks used to follow has now been turned into the Burke-Gilman Trail. 

Click here for my Gas Works Park Virtual Tour

[raincity360]

Gas Works Park #4:  What is today known as the "Picnic Shelter" was where two giant boilers ran non-stop for fifty years. They took the water from Lake Union and turned it into steam. The steam was used to power the air compressors, gas pumps, and all the other machines in what is today known as the "Play Barn".  The air compressors had two jobs.  First, they needed to extract pure oxygen so the fire in the Cracking Towers could burn as hot as possible.  The second job was to refine the gas before it was delivered to the customer, as any contaminant would cause a lamp to explode.  The pumps were used to push the gas through the pipes around the plant and throughout the entire Puget Sound region.   Over a thousand miles of pipe supplied the residents with hydrogen gas to light their lamps.  The boiler, air compressors, and gas pumps have all been preserved as historical monuments. 

Click here for my Gas Works Park Virtual Tour