On the Streets: Georgetown, Seattle

Photography can be a solitary pursuit. It’s nice to be able to mix it up occasionally and chase shots with a friend. Did that Wednesday night, and it was a lot of fun. My friend suggested we head to Georgetown. That worked for me. I’ve heard great things about that neighborhood from friends and in Ana Sophia Knauf’s excellent piece in The Stranger’s Slog about the Carleton Avenue Grocery. In that article, Knauf interviews Alan Phillips and La Dele Sines about their decision to purchase the Country Inn Roadhouse and “revive the old saloon as the Carleton Avenue Grocery.” The interview also discusses the challenges they have faced running the small business and the changes they’ve seen over the years in Georgetown.

My friend and I met at Georgetown’s Via Tribunali for pizza (it was really good) before hitting the streets for an hour or so of photography. Cool little Main Street area with restaurants, coffee shops, and bars that still look like frontier-era saloons. On the east side of Airport Way South there is a series of large red brick buildings and warehouses that are also a link to Seattle’s frontier and industrial past. My friend pointed out that they’re the remnants of an old Rainier brewery. I’m choosing my words carefully because some light research turns up several references to and descriptions of old and original Rainier breweries. I’ll learn more when I go back for more photos, but for now I don’t want to inadvertently find myself pitted between Seattle neighborhoods with possibly competing claims to Rainier lore.

That area of Georgetown also has a lot of old trucks, the kind that will make you think back to the days of the Tonka steel trucks. I suspect they might have been part of the beer distribution chain, but that’s just a guess.