The building at 1117 Pike Street—now Club Z—was a quarter-century old in 1930. There’s a mention in that article that the apartment manager before Yoshinobu Hasegawa was G. Nakahara, but in all my research I couldn’t find any information about Nakahara nor the building at the time he was manager. Stranger reader Gregg Watts writes: “I liked your article on the building at 1117 Pike Street. As an amateur genealogist, I dived into some other sources I have and found out who was living in the building at the time of the 1930 census. Thought you might like this for your files should you ever do more follow-up.” The census! Of course! I’ve been posting all the follow-up from the article here on Slog, so I’m posting Gregg’s findings here, after the jump—click on “Continue reading ‘Who Lived at 1117 Pike Street in 1930’” for the name, birthdate, age, proficiency in English, occupation, marital status, and amount per month in rent paid by each person living in the building the year that Neil Armstrong is born, Betty Boop is invented, and The Shadow is first broadcast. The residents of the building in 1930 have names like Bertus Geiger, Meaddy Brunson, and Bonnie Brannon. One of them has the occupation “moving machine picture operator.” Any Slog readers know what became of any of these people?

"Looked like there were 5 apartments in the building, with some renters taking in additional boarders," Gregg notes. "Family values, indeed."

FIRST APARTMENT
G. Nakahara, 45 y.o. Japanese male, married at age 38 (no wife residing w/ household), able to r/w English, b. in Japan, parents b. in Japan, immigrated in 1912, alien, worked as apartment manager, paid $10 in rent.

SECOND APARTMENT
Fred R. Geiger, 43 y.o. white male, married at age 20, able to r/w English, b. in Kansas, father b. in U.S., mother b. in Pennsylvania, worked as laborer in a steam plant though unemployed as of April, 1930, paid $18 in rent.
Bertha Geiger, 41 y.o. white female, married at age 19, wife of Fred, able to r/w English, b. in Nebraska, father b. in Michigan, mother b. in Iowa.
Bertus Geiger, 17 y.o. white male, single, son of Fred & Bertha, able to r/w English, b. in Nebraska, father b. in Kansas, mother b. in Nebraska, not attending school and no occupation noted.
Bernice Geiger, 8 y.o. white female, single, daughter of Fred & Bertha, able to r/w English, b. in Washington, father b. in Kansas, mother b. in Nebraska, attended school.

THIRD APARTMENT
Dell Brannon, 34 y.o. white female, divorced, able to r/w English, b. in North Dakota, father b. in U.S., mother b. in Wisconsin, worked as seamstress in a retail store, paid $25 in rent.
Bonnie Brannon, 13 y.o. white female, single, daughter of Dell, able to r/w English, b. in North Dakota, father b. in North Dakota, mother b. in North Dakota, attended school.
Clyde Brannon, 8 y.o. white male, single, son of Dell, not able to r/w English, b. in North Dakota, father b. in North Dakota, mother b. in North Dakota, attended school.
Everett W. Markham, 30 y.o. white male, widower, boarder of Dell, able to r/w English, b. in Kentucky, father b. in U.S., mother b. in Kentucky, worked as waiter in a restaurant, a veteran of the First World War, paid $14 in rent.
William Knox, 38 y.o. white male, married at age 20 (no wife residing w/ household), boarder of Dell, able to r/w English, b. in Ohio, parents b. English Canada (likely Ontario), worked as a finance broker, a veteran of the First World War, paid $15 in rent.

FOURTH APARTMENT
Alice E. Montgomery, 45 y.o. white female, married at age 17 (no husband residing w/ household), able to r/w English, b. in Missouri, parents b. in U.S., worked as laborer in a laundry, paid $20 in rent.
Betty M. Montgomery, 5 y.o. white female, single, daughter of Alice, not able to r/w English, b. in Washington, father b. in U.S., mother b. in Missouri, did not attend school.
Kenneth R. Ridgway, 11 y.o. white male, single, son of Alice, able to r/w English, b. in Oregon, father b. in U.S., mother b. in Missouri, attended school.
Charles E. Partea, 17 y.o. white male, single, boarder of Alice, able to r/w English, b. in Idaho, father b. in France, mother b. in Wisconsin, worked as an automobile mechanic.
Meaddy Brunson, 30 y.o. white male, single, boarder of Alice, not noted whether able to r/w English, b. in U.S., parents b. U.S., worked as a laborer on odd jobs.
Paul Holt, 35 y.o. white male, single, boarder of Alice, not noted whether able to r/w English, b. in U.S., parents b. in U.S., worked as a laborer on odd jobs.
Paul Downing, 27 y.o. white male, single, boarder of Alice, able to r/w English, b. in Minnesota, parents b. in Minnesota, operated a beauty salon.
Charles C. Downing, 32 y.o. white male, married (no wife residing w/ household), boarder of Alice, able to r/w English, b. in Minnesota, father b. in Michigan, mother b. in Minnesota, worked as a salesman.
Joseph Woods, 25 y.o. white male, single, boarder of Alice, able to r/w English, b. in Kansas, parents b. in Kansas, worked as a salesman.

FIFTH APARTMENT
Joe L. Dennis, 49 y.o. white male, married, able to r/w English, b. in Missouri, parents b. in Ireland, worked as a steam engineer in a lumber mill, amount of rent not noted.
Margaret Dennis, 26 y.o. white female, married, wife of Joe, able to r/w English, b. in Maine, parents b. in U.S.
W. C. Walker, 58 y.o. white male, single, boarder of Joe, able to r/w English, b. in Iowa, father b. in U.S., mother b. in Mississippi, worked as a "moving machine picture operator."

Startling how much you can glean from the straight facts, isn't it? This is obviously a kind of flophouse. It's so Dickensian—unwed mothers of 5-year-old girls, out-of-work steam factory workers, seven unrelated people crammed into one apartment, the names (Charles E. Partea? How great is that?). They should make this building's history into a muscial.

Gregg writes: "I looked at the 1920 census but didn't find the building. The census enumeration district 207 should have had it (area bounded by E. Pine, 14th Ave., E. Madison, & Broadway), but I didn't come across the building. There was a large apartment building at 1111 E. Pike that I thought might be a typo for 1117, but 1111 is an actual address I believe. It's possible it was missed, or bypassed and later enumerated on a supplemental page...I also started to look at the 1910 census, but there are 14 wards, with each ward having 6 to 8 districts, and the index doesn't list any streets or boundaries. One would have to just troll microfilm hoping to find Capitol Hill, unless the library or some society has a more thorough index. Do you know who the original owners were? I could do a name search and maybe get lucky in the 1910 or 1920 censuses."

I don't know who the original owners were. The handwriting in that square on the information card at the state archives is illegible. Anyone know?

Thanks for all this, Gregg. I love this stuff.