By Jean Godden
For as long as I've lived in Seattle (all my adult years), this city's image has been changing dramatically from decade to decade. When I first arrived here, it was a little-known destination, North of San Francisco and maybe next-door to Nome, Alaska. Fashion trendsetters said mean things like "What time is it in Seattle when it's noon in New York?" The cringe-worthy answer: "1938."
In the post-War boom years, Seattle was seen as an aspiring blue-collar town, known for its bustling waterfront, its maritime industries and its booming aircraft industry. Those were the years before downtown expansion, times when the Smith Tower still topped the skyline and city boosters wanted to be as freeway-ridden Los Angeles and as hipster "cool" as San Francisco.