Comments on Same As It Ever Was

"Pile" Place Market?

Freudian slip much?

Har! Whoops, fixed.

Commie queers.

Huh. Only white people on the beach in 1930. Go figure.

I guess people didn't need towels to lay on the grass at Madison Park before the geese invaded...

El Ganador, how many people of color do you think even lived in Washington State in 1930? Fewer than 3%. Fewer than 7,000 black people in the entire state.

@5 Nonsense. People were heartier and more resilient back in those days. There was poop everywhere, but they just sat on it and didn't complain. Life was simpler then.

At least Madison Beach served the surrounding community more than Pike Place Market does. Until Pike Place is open until at least 8pm, it is nothing more then a quaint tourist trap. I love the produce vendors there... but 6pm? Too early for me.

@7) I declare hogwash on your accusation of nonsense!

SEATTLE'S CANADA goose story begins in 1968. Before then, geese did not nest west of the Cascade Mountains. Lack of habitat had historically prevented the birds from making homes on the wet side of the mountains, although they migrated through. By the early 1960s, however, Seattleites had replaced the primary barriers to geese — big trees and dense understory along shorelines — with lush parks, yards and golf courses.

Miserable creatures, but I'll bet we wouldn't gas them if they were called the America Goose...

@4: Different from today how...?

It's 2008 and I bet those stinky hippies are STILL selling crafts (made out of Kucinich for President buttons) and STILL haven't taken a bath.

Stinky. Stinky hippies.

I think you'd look good in some dangly earrings, Jube.

Amazing powers of photo selection Mr Schmader!! That's my sister-in-law in the Market Vendors photo, and my mother (as a teen, but not a teen mother) is on Madison Beach!!!

@13, j'accuse! You are the brother-in-law of a hippy!

Fnarf @6:

There weren't a lot of black people in Seattle in 1930, but almost all of them lived within travel distance of Madison Park. See this map from 1920. By chance you'd expect some black faces on that beach unless they were being excluded.

And what about the large Japanese and Chinese population. Where are they in the picture?

I'm not saying they weren't excluded -- I don't know -- but their numbers, and those of Asians, were really, really low. 23,000 Asians in the entire state, fewer than 7,000 blacks. Maybe half those numbers in the city.

Also, only a tiny portion of the people in the photo can be identified by race. Most of them are black dots in the water. What race are they?