Re:Take: The Orpheum Will Rise Again
Re:Take is a weekly look at the Emerald City now and in days of yore through photos dug out of the city archives. This week we wish the 60s never happened.
1960s Seattle. The futuristic World's Fair. The Supersonics and Pilots. The end of sewage in Lake Washington. Good times.
But horrible things happened to Seattle in the 1960s: Interstate 5; racist grapes; renegade hippies loitering on the streets of the University District.
And, of course, the Orpheum Theatre on 5th was destroyed to build the Washington Plaza (now Westin) Hotel. This 1964 photo shows the theater's backside with a long view of the Space Needle. The current shot shows the Westin columns and its bland Westlake facade. You can sympathize with the Orpheum's architect, who drank champagne on stage in its final days.
But, the 2060s are on their way. And who knows what Century 21 has in store:
"To those who mourn the death of the beautiful Orpheum Theatre, let me give these words of comfort: Late in the 21st Century the old Washington Plaza Hotel will be demolished and in its place a beautiful new theater will be built. It could well be named the Orpheum. Late in the first half of the 22nd Century..."
More over at Flickr.
(Quote Seattle Times letter to the editor 1967/9/28 page 12. Photo courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, August 1964.)
