As of 2025 the building is still there, though there are plans to replace it with a parking garage for the expanded Lynnwood Event Center. 194th St SW will be created to the north of the complex.

Aurora Village 4

4 screens opened at Aurora Village in 1980. Closed in 1993.

"Aurora Village 4", cinematreasures.org

Crest Cinema Center

16505 5th Ave NE, Shoreline

Built as a single screen theater in 1949. Acquired by Randy Finley's Seven Gables Theaters. An extra screen was added in 1979 by taking over the adjacent storefronts. In 1980 the main auditorium was split in three, giving the complex 4 screens. Landmark acquired the property in 1989.

"Crest Cinema Center", cinematreasures.org

Edmonds Theater

415 Main St, Edmonds

Built in 1923 with 250 seats, including the balcony. After a remodel in 1999 it had 240 seats. Reportedly there are only about 50 single screen theaters left in the country.

Everett Mall Cinemas

General Cinemas opened three screens in 1973 in the Everett Mall next to the White Front. In 1977 they opened three more screens in an exterior building west of the Sears. The exterior location was given 4 more screens in 1982.

General Cinema went out of business in 2002 and 7 exterior screens were closed immediately, but Regal operated the three screens attached to the mall until 2006. According to a comment on cinematreasures.org, the exterior building has been demolished, but the 3 auditoriums attached to the mall are still there.

Grand Cinemas

18421 Alderwood Mall Boulevard, Lynnwood, WA

Perhaps the nicest theater in the area when it opened with 5 screens in 1981. Expanded to 8 screens in 1985. Closed in 2005. I believe the original building was where the Kohl's is today.

"Grand Cinemas", cinematreasures.org

Grand Illusion

1403 NE 50th St, Seattle

This was Randy Finley's first theater. He converted a dentist's office and opened it in 1970 with seats for 70. The original name was "The Movie House"—it was renamed the "Grand Illusion" in 1979. It closed in 2025.

Guild on 45th

2105 N 45th St, Seattle

Opened as the Paramount Theater in 1921 with 475 seats. Renamed Bruen's in 1933 and the Guild on 45th in 1957. The Seven Gables chain acquired the theater in 1979 and added a second screen two storefronts to the west in 1983. Landmark acquired the theater in 1989 and closed it in 2017. The building was demolished in 2023.

Lynn 4 Theater

19802 Hwy 99, Lynnwood

Built in 1963, expanded to four screens in 1977. The theater closed in 1986, and the building was demolished in 2012.

"Lynn 4 Theater", cinematreasures.org

Metro 10

The Seven Gables chain opened this 10 screen theater in 1988 and it was acquired by Landmark the same year. Sundance acquired it in 2012, and AMC in 2017. It closed in 2025.

https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/38374

Neptune Theater

Built in 1921, originally with 968 seats. Landmark Theaters operated it from 1981 to 2011. Since 2011 it has been used for live events.

https://www.cinematreasures.org/theaters/487

Puget Park Drive-In

This theater opened in 1968 and closed in 2009. It was the last drive-in in the Seattle area on the east side of Puget Sound. Swap meets were held there in the 1970s.

The Los Angeles Times article from 2013 appears to be the source of some oft-repeated facts about drive-ins: that the first one opened in 1933, and that at their peak in the late 1950s there were more than 4000 theaters in the United States and that was a quarter of the screens. Today the number is around 300.

Ridgemont

7720 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle

It opened around 1920. It was showing porn when it was acquired by the Seven Gables Theaters in 1978. I saw "Withnail and I" here in the summer of 1987. It stopped showing movies when Landmark acquired the Seven Gables Theaters in 1989, but it continued to be used for live theater until the building was demolished in 2001.

https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2474

Seven Gables Theater

A dance hall built in 1925 which was converted to a theater by Randy Finley in 1976. It closed in 2017 and burned down in 2020.

Sno-King Drive-In

17420 Highway 99, Lynnwood, WA

The theater was built in 1948 and the aerial photograph taken in 1952 shows that there wasn't much in the neighborhood, at least along Hwy 99. The theater closed in 1986. The 2nd image shows the last double feature to play at the Sno-King: "Howard the Duck" and "Back to the Future".

"Sno-King Drive-In", cinematreasures.org

Varsity Theater

4329 University Wy NE, Seattle

The building was built in 1921. A single screen theater opened in 1940. It became part of the Seven Gables chain and two upstairs screens were added in 1985. I saw "A Room with a View" there in 1986. Landmark acquired the Seven Gables chain in 1989 and sold the theater in 2015.

https://www.cinematreasures.org/theaters/10090

Restaurants & Bars

Alfy's Pizza Lynnwood

4820 196th St. SW Lynnwood WA

The Alfy's in Lynnwwood was listed on Zillow in 2017, perhaps soon after the restaurant closed for good. The building sat vacant until it burned down in 2022.

The building was built in 1978. The entrance was in back and the dining area was an open area with a high ceiling. I remember the interior as being dark, with purple paint and lots of wood finish. The Seattle Times article from 1991 mentions the chain being remodeled for brighter colors and more windows. One of the interior pictures shows the stairs down to the "Game Room", which had coin-operated video games, and a "Sports Room", which had pool tables and foosball tables as I recall. Pizza parlors with video games were popular in the 1970s and the 1980s.

Alfy's was a chain of restaurants. The first was opened on Broadway in Everett in 1972 or some sources say 1973. This was not the same Alfy's on Broadway that closed in 2021, since the restaurant relocated at some point. The Alfy's website says they have as of November 2025 locations in Granite Falls, Marysville, and Monroe. In the past there were also locations in Stanwood, Smokey Point, Oak Harbor, and two in Everett on Evergreen Way and at Silver Lake. There were also locations in King County.

The pizza chain was founded by Bruce and Judy Olson, who got started in the business by buying a pizza place on Highway 99 near 196th (address?) which they renamed "Bonnie & Clyde's". The switch to the name "Alfy's" was motivated by a better location in the phone book, but both restaurants derive their names from movies in the 1960s. The chain used a central commissary where according the Seattle Times "each day the pizzas are made fresh... and shipped by truck to the various restaurants". It would have been the dough and maybe the sauce that was being made fresh daily.

The Olson's had a mansion in Mukilteo and two sons, Brian and Brett, who inherited the business when Bruce died in 1988. The family mansion was sold in 1999 and the restaurants were split up among various family members in 2012. A grandson also named Bruce Olson inherited the Evergreen location and the original commissary. Comments on various websites mention the quality of the food going down. You have to wonder if this is just due to changing tastes, but it might have been a consequence of the chain being split up and no longer using the central commissary.

Chuck E. Cheese

3717 196th St SW Ste. 100, Lynnwood

Opened in 1986. Closed in 2023.

https://cheeseepedia.org/wiki/lynnwood-wa-3717-196th-st-suite-100/

Godfather's Pizza

According to Wikipedia, Godfather's Pizza closed about 200 restaurants in the late 1980s or early 1990s. There used to be one near the Alderwood Mall. I think it might have been where the Buffalo Wild Wings is today: 18508 33rd Ave W, Lynnwood. The Buffalo Wings building was built anew in 2012. It replaced a Billy McHale's, which was there from 1990 to 2009, and that was preceded by Wayne Cody's Sports Bar.

I think there was also a Godfather's on Hwy 99 across from Aurora Village.

Harvey's Tavern

21116 Hwy 99, Edmonds

The original Albright's Cafe was built in 1934 on the NE corner of 196th and Hwy 99, just north of Cressey's Garage and Service Station, which was between the cafe and 196th. The garage and possibly the cafe were destroyed by fire in 1938. The garage was rebuilt in its original location, but Albright's Cafe was rebuilt in 1939 in Seattle Heights. Harvey's Lounge replaced it in 1949.

Jack in the Box

4323 196th St SW, Lynnwood

The Jack in the Box at the NE corner of 196th and 44th is on what was formerly a 5 acre plot of land the Puget Mill Compnay sold to the Lobdell family in 1928. Shown is an advertisement in the Edmonds Tribune Review that Puget Mill Company took out in 1917 to sell land in Alderwood Manor, and the Lobdell house. Their land extended north to 194th.

Dice Lobdell died in 1955, but his wife Mabel lived to 2000. Supposedly Mabel continued to live in the house after her husband passed away. The parent company of Jack in the Box obtained title to the land in 1998, but restaurant was built and operating some time before then.

https://snoislegen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Lynnwood-Through-the-Years.pdf

Jimbo's Family Restaurant

19626 Hwy 99

We didn't eat at this restaurant very often and I don't recall ever wanting to eat there either. The Herald article says they were known for their burgers and their fish and chips.

James Anderson bought Bings Burgers in 1963 and renamed it Jimbo's. Which sounds like his nickname, so I suppose he named the restaurant after himself. He made a landmark out of the restaurant by erecting the large sign with the clock. The intersection of 196th and Hwy 99 was at that time the center of the newly incorporated city of Lynnwood. Interstate 5 came through Lynnwood in 1965 and the city would expand along 196th to meet it, but the location of the restaurant, which closed in 2008, is still prime commercial real estate.

Anderson's daughter Cindi Benoit took over the restaurant in 1983. She sold it to George Ageladaris in 1999.

"Well known restaurant closes", HeraldNet, 3 March 2008

Kidd Valley University District

5502 25th Ave NE, Seattle WA

I ate here a lot when I was a student at the University of Washington. It was close to the Silver Cloud Inn that I worked at as a night clerk. I didn't realize at the time that it was the original location, opened by John Morris in 1975. It was a true hamburger stand: only 800 square feet of interior space. The pictures on Google Maps show counters inside with 8 stools, and 4 outside tables. The parking lot had room for 4 cars. It was remodeled at some point since I used to eat there. I remember counters of natural wood with graffiti carved into them.

Morris expanded Kidd Valley to 7 stores and sold to Ivar's in 1989. However, there are only 3 stores now. When the company closed the University District store, they blamed the Americans with Disabilities Act, which didn't sit well with some people in the comments.

Last Exit on Brooklyn

3930 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle

Opened in 1967 by Irving Cisski, who passed away in 1992. The University of Washington, which had acquired the building, evicted the restaurant in 1993. The restaurant moved to 5211 University Way NE but closed for good in 1999. As of 2025 it appears that the building is still there.

https://www.seattlestar.net/2013/06/june-23-1967-last-exit-on-brooklyn/

Red Robin

Original location at Fuhrman and Eastlake closed in 2010. The building was demolished in 2014.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/red-robin-restaurant-in-seattle-washington--652529433485629063/

Sambo's Lynnwood

4626 196th St SW, Lynnwood

There was a Sambo's in Lynnwood—an online source says it was where the Applebee's is today. The chain supposedly grew from 98 restaurants in 1969 to 1117 restaurants in 1979. By 1982 all them closed, though some would re-open under a different name or be sold to other restaurant chains.

The company got criticism because the name was perceived as a racial slur, but the chief reason for the company's decline appears to be a ruling the SEC made in 1978. Supervisors at the company had revenue sharing and they could pay to increase their share. The company was booking those payments as sales and this was the practice that the SEC disallowed, since the company could buy back the revenue fraction the supervisor was earning if the supervisor left the company. The company then canceled the revenue sharing program and a lot of managers left. The company immediately became unprofitable and stayed that way until it went bankrupt.

Shari's

James village location opened in 1993 and closed in 2025. The hexagonal building now contains a Sumo Sushi & Grill.

Malls & Shopping Centers

Alderwood Mall

William Morrice purchased the Drake homestead, a 100 acres containing the future Alderwood Mall, in 1893. Morrice was married to Elizabeth Stephenson, whose sister Jennie Stephenson married Duncan Hunter, who homesteaded 80 acres to the west of the Alderwood Mall.

The Alderwood Mall opened in October 1979. The original anchor tenants were JC Penny on the west, Lamonts and Nordstrom on the north, Sears on the east, and the Bon Marché on the south. Lamonts closed in 2002, and the Nordstrom moved to that location in 2003. The old Nordstrom location was replaced with an outdoor promenade called "The Village". The AMC theaters were built to the SW in 2005. They are connected to the main mall by an outdoor walkable area called "The Terraces". The Bon Marché was renamed to Macy's in 2005. The Sears closed in 2017 and it was replaced by the Avalon Alderwood Place apartments.

* https://www.historylink.org/file/8200

Aurora Village

N 205th St & Aurora Ave N

The mall opened in April 1960 with a Pay 'n Save Drug and a Lucky Stores supermarket.

An Ernst Hardware and a J.C. Penny were added in 1961. A Frederick & Nelson department store was added in in 1963. Ernst Hardware relocated to a freestanding building in 1967.

A Nordstrom opened in 1974. A parking deck was added next to the Nordstrom.

Lucky and Pay n' Save moved to freestanding buildings in 1977. The mall was enclosed and became climate controlled in 1980.

The old Lucky location became the Aurora Village 4 cinemas in December 1980. I don't remember visiting the mall very often. We were more likely to go the Everett Mall before the Alderwood Mall opened in 1979.

The Alderwood Mall was probably what put the Aurora Village into decline. J.C. Penny closed in 1986. Frederick & Nelson closed in 1991, and Nordstrom in 1992. The mall was demolished in 1993. A Costco opened on the site in 1994 and a Home Depot around the same time.

Everett Mall

1402 SE Everett Mall Way

The first store in the complex was Sears, which moved from their downtown Everett location at 2701 Colby in 1969. White Front opened a store in 1971. General Cinema opened what is said to be Washington's first triple screen theater in 1973. A mall between Sears on the west and White Front on the north east was opened in 1974, but White Front closed its store before the mall opened.

The Bon Marché opened a store in the location of the old White Front in 1977. Also that year General Cinema opened a second triplex of screens in a external building to the west of Sears.

In 1979 a south wing was added to the mall. Frederick & Nelson and Payless Drugs became tenants.

General Cinema added 4 screens to the exterior location in 1982.

Frederick & Nelson went bankrupt in 1991. Mervyn's took over the location in 1992, but closed in 2006. The Bon Marché was rebranded as Macy's in 2005. The Macy's closed in 2017 and the Sears closed in 2020.

General Cinema went out of business in 2002. Regal operated the three screens attached to the mall until 2006, when it opened the Everett Stadium 16 in the location of the Payless, which was rebranded to a Rite-Aid at some point, perhaps when Rite-Aid acquired Payless in 1996.

"Everett Mall", mallmanac.com, 12 Feb 2023

James Village

Louis Arp homesteaded the 160 acres which would become the NW corner of 196th and Hwy 99 in 1888. Today, his lot would be bounded by 188th St SW on the north, 60th Ave W on the east, and 68th Ave W on the west. Arp built 196th to connect his land with Edmonds.

An Albertson's opened in the NW corner in 1959. It would become part of the James Village Shopping Center in 1961.

The north building was occupied by Ernst Hardware. According Wikipedia, an Ernst was built in Lynnwood in 1991, and maybe this was it. The chain went out of business and closed its stores in 1996. The building was then occupied by a G.I. Joe's sporting goods store, which rebranded as Joe's in 2007 and went out of business in 2009. Hobby Lobby opened in the north building in 2011.

A Trader Joe's was in James Village from 2001 to 2019, when it move to Lynnwood Center.

"Louis Arp and the roots of Lynnwood", lynnwoodtoday.com, 10 May 2016
https://myedmondsnews.com/2022/10/looking-back-lynnwood-moves-forward-to-incorporation-part-3/
https://mylynnwoodnews.com/hobby-lobby-now-open/
"Home-store competition heats up". The Seattle Times. 12 April 1991
https://myedmondsnews.com/2019/01/still-your-neighborhood-joe-lynnwood-trader-joes-opens-new-digs-across-street/

Lynnwood Center

SE corner of 196th St SW and Hwy 99

propertyshark.com shows the main retail building as having been built in 1990. Trader Joe's moved in from James Village in 2019. Ace Hardware replaced Office Depot in 2023. The Jo-Ann Fabrics in the separate building in the NE corner closed in 2025.

Lynnwood Crossroads

The SW corner of the intersection of 196th St SW and Hwy 99 was purchased in 1937 by Karl O'Biern. The lot he purchased extended all the way to 204th St SW. The lot was covered with second growth trees. The intersection, which was known as the Alderwood Crossroads, was not completely undeveloped, since Albright's Cafe and the Cressey Garage and Service Station were on the NE corner.

O'Biern coined the name "Lynnwood" for the area after his wife, Lynn. He subdivided his land into 18 lots for resale. Jimbo's restaurant, with its prominent sign, stood on the SW corner of the intersection from 1963 to 2007. The company which owned the Lynn 4 bought up most of the properties in the SW corner and started redeveloping the area as the Lynnwood Crossroads in 2011. All of the new buildings were complete by 2015.

A Sprout's opened in 2019 but closed in 2023. Lynnwood Mayor Hurst heard that it was because of theft which Sprout's thought was due to the nearby hygiene center. A T&T Supermarket replaced Sprout's in 2025.

Lynnwood Square

SW corner of 196th St SW and 44th Ave W

Interstate 5 reached Lynnwood in 1965. On-ramps were built at both 196th St SW and 44th Ave W. According to loopnet.com, the current building main building in Lynnwood square was built in 1969. In the 1970s I recall a Payless Drugstore and a budget grocery store where customers bagged their own groceries. In 2019 the city council approved plans for redeveloping the area as "Northline Village".

Northgate Mall

The mall opened as "Northgate Center" in 1950 with 18 tenants, including the Bon Marché, and expanding to 70 tenants by 1952. It was an open-air mall, but it got something called a "SkyShield" in 1962, and it became fully enclosed in 1974. The mall expanded to the south in 1965, adding a JCPenny and Best's Apparel, which would rename itself to Nordstrom Best in 1967 and Nordstrom in 1973. A Lamonts was added to the north end in 1977.

The mall was renovated in 1997. Lamonts was acquired by Gottschalks in 2000, but the store was closed in 2006. The Bon Marché was acquired by Macy's in 2003. Macy's, JC Penny, and Nordstrom all closed in 2019 and all three buildings were demolished by 2021.

https://www.cardcow.com/images/set719/card00900_fr.jpg

Old Milltown Mall

When Allen Yost purchased a car in 1911, he was supposedly the first Edmonds resident to do so. He opened an auto garage at 5th and Dayton in 1914, which over the years was also used as a bus terminal. The business was still operating in the 1960s. In 1973 the property was purchased and converted to the Old Milltown Mall.

University Village

Opened Aug 30, 1956. The main tenant was Rhodes, a department store chain which went out of business in 1969. It was replaced by a Lamonts.

A skate rink called Rolladium was built in 1953. The building became Village Lanes in 1958, which went out of business in 1995.

Barnes & Noble opened a store at U Village in 1995 and closed it in 2011.

Stores

Circuit City

2800 196th St SW, Lynnwood

Ward's Company was a chain of stores in Richmond, Virginia, which sold TVs and home appliances. It rebranded as Circuit City in 1978 and began building superstores around the country in the 1980s. There was a location in Lynnwood. I'm not sure when it was built, but I remember visiting it in 1998. The chain closed all of its stores in 2009. The Lynnwood location is now a Whole Foods.

Ed's Surplus

5911 196th St SW, Lynnwood

The Lynnwood store opened in 1967 and closed in 2018.

"Ed’s Surplus closing", HeraldNet, 23 Oct 2018

Ernst Home Centers

On the left a picture dated 8 September 2011, showing a G.I. Joe store in James Village being dismantled. The remodeling exposed evidence of the Ernst that used to be at the location. On the right, a shopper in front of the University Village Ernst during the liquidation sale in 1996.

Ernst Hardware was founded in Seattle in 1897. There were 9 stores when the drugstore chain Pay 'n Save acquired them in 1960. Ernst Home Centers were the dominant hardware store in the PNW in the 1970s. There was a location near the Alderwood Mall at 18420 33rd Ave W, Lynnwood.

There were 95 Ernst stores when the chain was at its peak. In the 1990s Eagle Hardware and Garden started building stores that had more than 100,000 square feet in Washington State, and Home Depot also started expanding into the state with similarly sized stores. You might wonder where Eagle is today and the answer is that it merged with Lowe's in 1998. It would seem that in the face of this new competition, Ernst found itself with stores that were too small. Home Depot opened a store with 108,779 sq. ft of floor space near the Alderwood Mall in 2021. In the map below, you can see the outline of the Home Depot store to the right. The Ernst, meanwhile, was the building on the left and south of 184th St SW. It was probably the unit labeled "Guitar Center" but also included the unit to the south of it. If I'm right about that, the Home Depot is three times the size of the old Ernst. The unit north of "Guitar Center" might have also been part of the Ernst, originally an outdoor area holding the nursery.

Pay 'n Save, the owner of Ernst, was acquired by Pacific Enterprises, a subsidiary of a gas company, in 1988, and was sold to Payless in 1992. Ernst was spun off as an independent company around this time and went public in 1994. However, it went bankrupt and closed its remaining 53 stores only two years later.

Fred Meyer

4615 196th St SW, Lynnwood
2902 164th St SW, Lynnwood

The Fred Meyer on 196th St SW opened in 1968 on a lot where Charles Olson formerly kept dairy cows.

The Fred Meyer on 164th St SW opened in 2009.

House of Clocks

15605 Hwy 99, Lynnwood WA

The business was started by Dale Nofziger in 1963. His children Susie Hennig and David Nofziger continued to run it until they reached retirement age in 2017. As of 2025 the building is still there, but it is not painted bright red, making it a bit less of a landmark.

The House of Clocks is close to a local high point at which the elevation is about 650' above sea level. The grade going up from Keeler's corner to the high point used to be called Gunny Sack Hill according to the Herald, which also claims that gunny sacks were used to help cars get up the muddy road before the highway was paved.

"Time’s up for A House of Clocks", HeraldNet, 3 November 2017

K-Mart

8102 Evergreen Wy, Everett
22511 Hwy 99, Edmonds

The Edmonds K-Mart opened in 1973 and closed in 2002. The Everett K-Mart opened in 1966 and closed in 2014. The Everett building was demolished in 2021.

Larry's Market Oak Tree

10008 Aurora Ave N

Larry McKinney opened his first store in central Seattle in 1964. Ten years later he bought the corner market that his father opened in 1945 near Greenlake. It was the store that he opened in Oak Tree Village in the mid 1980s—or according to another source, 1989—that pioneered the concept of a high end grocery. I guess the niche is occupied by Whole Foods today, but I remember Larry's as being more exciting.

Molbak's

13625 NE 175th St, Woodinville

Founded by Danish immigrants Egon and Laina Molbak in 1956. The Molbak family sold it to Green partners in 2008. The nursery shut down in 2024.

"After tumultuous year, Molbak’s is being demolished in Woodinville", HeraldNet, 27 Nov 2024

Petosa's on Hwy 99 & Shelby Rd

Hwy 99 & Shelby Rd

When we moved to the Picnic Point neighborhood in 1976, there were no supermarkets nearby. There was a grocery named Petosa's on Hwy 99 and Shelby Rd. Petosa's was small but at least it had produce and a butcher's shop. The only other option in a 3 mile radius was the Day & Nite at 168th and 52nd. Day & Nite is still there, but it was larger back then if memory serves.

I think the Petosa's was run by the same Tom Petosa who opened the Petosa's Grocery in downtown Edmonds in 1986. It would have made sense for him to close his grocery on Hwy 99 after the larger Safeway opened at 148th in 1980. I haven't been able to find a picture of the original grocery on the internet, or much mention of the grocery at all. The current building, which contains a marijuana store, is not the building that housed the grocery.

Tom Petosa was from a large family and his siblings ran several restaurants in the area.

Safeway

14826 Hwy 99, Lynnwood
19500 Hwy 99, Lynnwood
12811 Beverly Park Rd, Lynnwood
5710 196th St SW, Lynnwood
190 Sunset Ave, Edmonds

The Safeway in James Village (19500 Hwy 99) was originally an Albertson's that opened in 1959. Safeway and Albertson's merged in 2015, and the store converted to a Safeway in 2017.

The Safeway at 190 Sunset Ave opened in 1966. This Safeway had previously been in the Schneider building at 5th and Main, where it opened in 1926, initially as Skaggs United Stores, and then later as Skagg's Safeway. The building at 190 Sunset Ave was occupied by an antiques mall for "about 20 years" when Salish Crossing LLC purchased the building in 2012, so the Safeway at 190 Sunset Ave must have been gone by 1992 or so.

The Safeway at 5710 196th St SW was built in 1967. Google Street View goes back to Aug 2008, at which time it was a Big Lots.

The Safeway on 148th St SW opened in 1980.

The Safeway at 520 128th St SW was originally an Albertson's. The property has a year built of 1983. Uncertain when the property was converted to a Safeway, but it was still an Albertson's in 2017.

The Safeway at 16304 Bothell Everett Hwy was also originally an Albertson's. I'm not certain when the Albertson's was built, but homes didn't start going in to the Mill Creek planned community until 1976. Also uncertain when the store was rebranded as a Safeway.

The Safeway at 12811 Beverly Park Rd was originally an Albertson's that opened in the 1990s. It was rebranded as a Safeway in 2020.

Sky Nursery

18528 Aurora Ave N, Shoreline

Opened as Richmond Highlands Feed Store in 1953. Renamed Sky Nursery in the early 1960s.

https://www.skynursery.com/our-story/

Ted's Sport Center

15526 Hwy 99, Lynnwood, WA 98087

Opened in the above location in 1973 and closed in 2020. There was an earlier store with the same name that opened in 1968.

Toys "R" Us

18601 Alderwood Mall Parkway, Lynnwood

Opened in 1981 and closed in 2018.

Toy Town

16809 Pacific Hwy, Lynnwood WA

The store opened in 1979. It was gone by 1982 when Toys "R" Us opened at the Alderwood Mall. My sister remembers an entire aisle devoted to Barbie dolls and accessories. I remember the Dungeons & Dragons and Avalon Hill box sets over cabinets with lead minis and polyhedral dice.

The building which is there today is I believe the same, though the facade might not be original. I remember it as being gray. The store had 12,000 sq ft of retail space. It seemed gloriously large, but the Toys "R" Us had 43,000 sq ft of space.

"Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 18"

Wight's Home and Garden

5026 196th St SW, Lynnwood

Chauncey Wight started a gardening store at the 5026 location in 1963. The current building on the property was constructed in 1977. Wight sold it to Jim and Dorothy Anderson, owners of Jimbo's Restaurant, in 1983. The Andersons closed Wight's in 2017. Senior Services of Snohomish County bought the property for $5.8 million in 2017 and sold it for $11 million in 2025.

Skating Rinks & Bowling Alleys

Everett Skate Deck

9700 19th Ave SE Everett

A skating rink was opened by Bobbie and Eric Englund at 2201 California St in 1961. The original building is now used as a sports arena.

The Englunds moved to the 19th Ave SE location in 1976. Daughter Teri Acklus inherited the property in 1979. Grandsons Ryan and Cory Acklus sold the 3.72 acre property for $2 million in 2022.

Lynnwood Bowl and Skate

6210 200th St SW, Lynnwood

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/lynnwood-bowl-skate-still-on-a-roll-after-60-years/

Roads, Rails, & Highways

Burlington Northern

In 1892 the Great Northern Railroad was completed from St Paul MN to Everett, WA. In the following year a line along the tidewater was completed from Everett to Ballard where it connected with the Seattle, Lakeshore, and Eastern. In 1970 The Great Northern merged with 3 other railroads to form Burlington Northern. That in turn merged with the Acheson, Topeka, and Santa Fe in 1996 to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe, which became the BNSF in 2005.

Highway 9

The section from Woodinville to Snohomish was built in 1895. A highway called Secondary State Highway 1A was designated in 1937, but the northern terminus was Blaine, not Sumas. The modern route to Sumas was added in 1953. The Highway 9 designation was introduced in 1964. The section from Lake Stevens to Arlington was completed in 1966.

Highway 99

A route called the Pacific Highway existed from about 1913 to 1926 which ran from Mexico to Canada. The route was created in part by connecting pre-existing roads.

The North Trunk Road was finished from Seattle to the county line in 1912. The road is Aurora Ave today. It was extended to Edmonds in 1915. From the county line it went north on 84th Ave W to 212th St Sw, and took what is today Bowdoin Way into Edmonds.

The 1924 Pacific Highway used the North Trunk Road. At 212th St SW it went east to 76th Ave W, then north to 196th St SW, then east to 36th Ave W, then north to 164th St SW, then east to the Bothell-Everett Highway.

Plans to straighten the Pacific Highway were finalized in 1923 and two paved lines were opened to the public in 1927. The road was widened to 4 lanes in 1931. The map above gives what it calls the "Highway 99 Alignment" a date of 1932, but that appears to an erroneous date.

The Pacific Highway became a federal highway and was designated US Route 99 in 1926. The federal highway was decommissioned in the years 1964-72 as Interstate 5 was built. The section of US Route 99 from Everett (the SR 527/I-5 junction) to Tacoma has been preserved as State Route 99, though it is discontinuous because a section in Tukwila has been put under city maintenance. In Snohomish County SR 99 is called Hwy 99 or the Pacific Highway. In King County from the county line south to downtown Seattle it is called Aurora Ave N. From 1953 to 2019 the section along the Seattle waterfront used the Alaska Way viaduct, a double-decker freeway on which northbound traffic used the upper level. Since 2019 SR 99 uses a tunnel.

"Seattle-Everett highway opens on October 26, 1927.", historylink.org, 22 Apr 2020

Interstate 405

The last section of the 405 to be completed was the section connecting Woodinville with Lynnwood. It opened in November 1969. The Swamp Creek Interchange, connecting SR 525 with I-5 and I-405, was completed in November 1984.

https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-29-1969-1893711/

Interstate 5

The National Interstate and Defense Highway Act of 1956 authorized funds for the interstate system. The Ship Canal Bridge opened in December 1962. Work on I-5 between Seattle and Everett began in 1963 and finished in February 1965. The last part of I-5 to be completed in Washington state was the section connecting Everett to Marysville, which was finished in May 1969.

Lynnwood was served by 3 on-ramps. The on-ramp at 44th Ave W was used by traffic heading to or from Seattle, and the on-ramp at 196th was used by traffic heading to or from Everett. The on-ramp at 164th was used by both Seattle and Everett traffic. The on-ramp at 196th was upgraded to a "full diamond" interchange in 1997. In 2011 a tunnel was created for southbound traffic on I-5 exiting at 196th so that it could go under traffic merging from SR 525 onto I-5 southbound.

Seattle-Everett Interurban

Fred Sander started work on the line in 1900 and completed a six mile track from Ballard to Hall's Lake. His line was purchased in 1909 by Stone & Webster, which managed the Seattle-Tacoma interurban, and extended the line to Everett by 1910. The line discontinued service in 1939. Puget Power retained the right-of-way and used it for power lines. In the 1990s an 11.8 mile long bicycle path was opened between the Everett Mall and Lake Ballinger.

Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern

The railway was conceived in 1885 after the Northern Pacific selected Tacoma as its western terminus. The line would go north along the future Lake City Way to Bothell. From there one branch would go east to Spokane, and another line north to the Canadian border at Sumas. However, by 1892 when the funds were exhausted the eastern line only made it to North Bend, and the northern line to Arlington. The Northern Pacific, which added a spur line from Tacoma to Seattle, bought the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern and finished the northern line. Burlington Northern acquired the lines in 1970 and shut them down in 1971.

State Route 522

The road from Lake City to Bothell was completed in 1887 and it was a by-product of the Seattle, Lakeshore, and Eastern railway. With the advent of automobiles, the section was between Lake Forest Park and Bothell was paved with red brick circa 1907.

The SR 522 designation was introducted with the Washington State highway renumbering of 1964. Originally the route went from Seattle to Bothell and Woodinville and then SE to North Bend. When a section of highway between Woodinville and Monroe was added in 1970, it became part of SR 522 and the Woodinville to North Bend segment was given the new designation SR 202.

"City of Bothell History - The Red Brick Road Park", youtube.com

State Route 524

Louis Arp homesteaded the 160 acres which would become the NW corner of 196th and Hwy 99 in 1888. Arp built the road that would become 196th to connect his land with Edmonds. Work on the Seattle-Everett Interurban began in 1900, and it reached Everett in 1910. It would cross 196th at 36th, and it is possible that 196th was extended to 36th at that time. The initial, 1913 version of the Pacific Highway used 196th from 76th Ave N to 36th Ave N.

In 1917 the Puget Mill Company platted the Alderwood Manor area and began selling lots to farmers. Manor Hardware (1918), the Wickers Building (1919), and the Masonic Temple (1921) were built in the area, and 196th connected Alderwood Manor with Edmonds. 196th from Edmonds to Alderwood Manor appears to have been paved by the 1930s.

"Secondary State Highway 1W" was designated in 1957 and in 1959 it ran from Edmonds to the Bothell-Everett Highway via 196th, Filbert Road, and 208th St SE. It was renamed SR 524 in 1964. The southbound on-ramp to I-5 opened in 1965.

In 1991 SR 524 was extended to SR 522 using Maltby Road, which must have already existed.

State Route 525

Passenger service between Mukilteo and Clinton started in 1911, with car service beginning in 1919. Matthew LeAnderson was hired to build the road that would become the Mukilteo Speedway in 1928. His road went from the Pacific Highway to 88th St SW.

The SR 525 designation was introduced in 1964. Originally it went to Anacortes, but the section from Coupeville to Anacortes was assigned to SR 20 in 1973.

SR 525 was extended to I-5 and I-405 and the Swamp Creek Interchange was opened in 1984.

State Route 526

The SR 526 designation was applied to Casino Rd in 1964. Boeing constructed a temporary four line highway in 1967 when working on the Everett Production Facility. The current highway was completed in 1969.

State Route 527

The first road connecting Seattle with Everett went from Lake City to Bothell and then took the route of what is today the Bothell-Everett Hwy. The route followed what is today SR 522 and SR 527. The road from Bothell to Lowell (a town on the Snohomish that is now part of Everett) existed in the 19th century. The section north of 164th was incorporated into the Pacific Highway in 1913 and the Bothell-Highway itself was paved in 1916. The road was part of SSH 2A in 1937 (which ran from Renton to Everett), but the Snohomish portion was removed as a state highway in 1943, and re-added as SSH 2J in 1957. This was renamed SR 527 in 1964. The northern interchange at I-5 and SR 526 was built in 1969.

Large Buildings

Boeing Everett Factory

Built in 1967 to manufacture the 747. It is 115 feeet high and covers about 100 acres. Said to be the largest building in the world by volume.

Key Bank Tower

203 foot tall building built in 1994 and originally known as Everett Mutual Tower. It is the tallest building in Snohomish county.

Safeco Plaza

Built in 1975. Sold to the University of Washington in 2006 and renamed UW Tower. It is 325 feet tall and has 22 floors. It is the tallest building on the Sno-King Upland Plain.

In 2017, the Seattle City Council increased the height limit in the University District to 320 feet. Buildings taking advantage of this include "The Accolade" (2022) and "OneU".

https://www.djc.com/news/co/12160197.html

Parks

Gold Park

Gold Park, Lynnwood

The Gold family purchased the 5 acre lot in 1954. Dr. Morris Gold ran his practice out of the home until 1982. The family sold it to the city of Lynnwood in 1997 to be used as a park.

https://www.lynnwoodwa.gov/Community/Play-Lynnwood/Parks-Trails-and-Open-Space/Gold-Park

Heritage Park

The land was a 5 acre plot purchased by Albert Humble, who live there in the 1930s and 1940s. The house originally built by the Puget Mill Company is gone, but the house built by Albert Humble is still there and contains the Sno-Isle Geneology Research Library today. The Wicker Building was moved from its original location on 196th into Heritage Park in 2001.

https://snoislegen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Lynnwood-Through-the-Years.pdf

Martha Lake Park

Meadowdale Beach Park

The land was purchased by the county in 1971 and a park opened in 1988. A restoration project to enable salmon to swim under the railroad and spawn in the creek was completed in 2023.

Picnic Point Park

The overpass was built in 1982, after 4 year old Bobby Linden was hit and killed by a train.

https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20021120/snapshot20n/in-memoriam-151-and-for-safety

Sunquist Family Nature Park

The 5.6 acres were donated to the county in 2015.

https://snohomishcountywa.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Sundquist-Family-Nature-Park-194

Wilcox Park

The park was founded in 1962.

The land was park of Charles Olson's dairy farm in the 1920s. The Wilcox's leased the land which became the park in 1926. The Scriber Creek Bridge used as a pedestrian bridge is the original bridge used by 196th St, when it was two lanes. 196th was moved to the south at some point, and it was widened to four lanes in 1966.

https://www.lynnwoodwa.gov/Community/Play-Lynnwood/Parks-Trails-and-Open-Space/Wilcox-Park

Scriber Lake Park

Paul Schreiber homesteaded 160 acres here in 1890. City of Lynnwood purchased the 22 acres that became the park in 1982.

https://www.lynnwoodwa.gov/Community/Play-Lynnwood/Parks-Trails-and-Open-Space/Scriber-Lake-Park

Old Buildings

Lynnwood Lumber Company

19832 Hwy 99, Lynnwwood

"Looking back at Lynnwood", mylynnwoodnews.com, 26 Dec 2013

The building at 19832 Hwy 99 was built by Clarence Fulton in 1938. He opened at lumber yard at the location called "Lynnwood Lumber Co". His was the first business to include "Lynnwood" in its name.

Keeler's Corner

16401 Hwy 99, Lynnwood, WA

Several sources say that it was built in 1927 when the Pacific Highway was straightened between the county line and Everett. In the 1970s it was no longer used to pump gas and instead it was used as an antiques store.

Manor Hardware

3699 195th Pl SW, Lynnwood

The building was constructed in 1918 as a school. The school closed in 1921 and the building was moved a short distance to the north and put on a new foundation, where it was used as a sales office for the Puget Mill Company and a post office. In 1947 Pope & Talbot sold the building to Lew Silvers, who opened Manor Hardware. Silvers sold the business in 1973, but the new owners continued to run the business until 1997. The building demolished between Aug 2011 and Oct 2015, and the lot is empty as of 2025.

https://myedmondsnews.com/2018/09/looking-back-memories-of-another-time-and-a-special-building/

Masonic Temple

19425 36th Ave W

Built as a Masonic Temple in 1921, it was the most significant building in the community of Alderwood Manor before the city of Lynnwood was incorporated. The Robert Burns Masonic Lodge #243 sold it to the Vietnamese Christian Church in 2000. Now it is occupied by an Ethiopian Orthodox church.

https://myedmondsnews.com/2018/09/looking-back-memories-of-another-time-and-a-special-building/

Wickers Building

The building was built in 1919 by the Puget Mill Company and initially used as a grocery and supply store. From the pictures, it looks like its original location was the SE corner of 196th St SW and 36th Ave W. It was moved in 2001 to Heritage Park on the other side of I-5.

The picture with the older, Model T style cars shows 196th as being unpaved. The street appears to be paved in the picture with cars with wheel wells, which dates the picture to the 1930s at the earliest. The Seattle Everett Interurban discontinued service in 1939. The Interurban ran in southwest-to-northeast direction and intersected with 196th at a 45 degree angle.

Mills

Scott Paper

In 1930, a large paper mill was built on Puget Sound north of Weyerhaeuser's Mill A by the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Company. The mill was acquired by Soundview Paper Company, and by Scott Paper in 1951. Scott Paper ran a competition for high school students called Hi-Q. Scott was acquired by Kimberly-Clark in 1995. The mill ceased operations in 2011 and was demolished in 2013. It was the last mill to operate in Everett.

Weyerhaeuser Mill A

Port of Everett South Terminal

When James J. Hill brought the Great Northern Railway from St. Paul to Everett, he was supported in part by the land grants stipulated in Pacific Railway Act of 1862. In 1900 he sold 900,000 acres—about 2% of the land in Washington State—to Frederick Weyerhaeuser at a price of $6 an acre. Weyerhaeuser purchased the Bell-Nelson sawmill, which was upgraded and designated Mill A. The main product of the mill at that time was Douglas-fir lumber. This mill was replaced by a sulfite pulp mill in 1936. The mill was converted to use a thermomechanical for processing pulp in 1975 and closed in 1980. The Port of Everett acquired the land in 1983.

Frederick Weyerhaeuser bought

Weyerhaeuser Mill B

Riverside Business Park, Everett

Weyerhaeuser opened a second mill on the river side of Everett in 1915. Like Mill A, it produced Douglas-fir lumber. Unlike the steam-powered Mill A, it was an all electric mill. The mill closed in 1979.

"Port of Everett’s Riverside Business Park finally takes shape", HeraldNet, 5 March 2018

Weyerhaeuser Mill C

Weyerhaeuser operated Mill C from 1923 to 1977. It was just to the northwest of Mill B on the opposite side of what is today SR 529. It processed hemlock and cedar.

Homes

19304 40th Ave W, Lynnwood

Zillow shows this house as having been built in 1938. Is this the house that Ruth Morrice had built in 1936 on property her uncle Duncan Hunter left to her? Duncan Hunter filed a homestead claim for 80 acres in 1889. It included land on both sides of 36th, which would be part of the Pacific Highway before the re-alignment. He divorced and split the claim with his former wife in 1926. He died in 1935.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/19304+40th+Ave+W,+Lynnwood,+WA+98036/@47.8235754,-122.2900721,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x5490056b0ff99e0f:0x677f1dfc61eda679!8m2!3d47.8235754!4d-122.2874918!16s%2Fg%2F11c4jt51mm?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDExMy4wIKXMDSoKLDEwMDc5MjA3MUgBUAM%3D
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/19304-40th-Ave-W-Lynnwood-WA-98036/38469536_zpid/
https://www.snohomishwomenslegacy.org/2020/03/24/ruth-morrice-2/

14514 57th Ave W, Edmonds

My parents bought this house when it was new in 1976 for $44,000. It was originally stained gray with a darker gray for trim. My Mom sold it in 1982 or 1983 and it sold again in 2019 for $520,000. My parents planted the Weeping Alaskan Cedar on the left. It was only a few feet tall when it went in. Dad borrowed grandpa's Ford truck to get those railroad ties, which were purchased down in Kent.

The original carpet was a yellow shag. I don't remember the popcorn ceiling but it must be original. My parents kept a parlor grand in the living room.

The cabinets and the counters in the kitchen are original. There was room for a table in the kitchen, but it made the kitchen too crowded in retrospect. When we moved in, it was possible to see the Olympics from the dining room—trees obscure the mountains now.

I think my parents installed the mirrors between the windows in the master bedroom, and I believe the counters and cabinets in the bathrooms are original. I remember the orange formica pretty clearly.

The downstairs was unfinished when we moved in in 1976. My dad put in the walls and installed drywall. We had a blue parakeet named Freddie who flew up to the top of one of the walls before the ceiling was installed and fell inside the wall. I was horrified but dad cut a hole in the drywall and saved him.

The diagonal wood siding and wood stove were put in by my parents. They also got this old wooden bench from a building that was being remodeled and installed it under the three windows as a piece of built-in furniture. It didn't look right and they never finished the project off, so small surprise it isn't there.

The bedroom downstairs was built for me. I may have chosen the wallpaper with the age-of-exploration maps myself. The curtains and even the carpet look like what I had. Out-of-picture to the left there was a built-in dresser with corkboard over it, and left of that a closet with sliding doors.

The back deck was replaced. The old deck had a simple flight of stairs. No landing halfway down with a choice of way to go. My parents never put up a fence. The fourth picture shows some Western Hemlocks behind a Western Red Cedar. The hemlocks were human height when I was a kid. My parents had lawn in front and I think we got some patchy grass to grow in back. The side yard in the fourth picture had bark and junipers, but it looked much better in 2019. I like how the ground is mostly bare. Simple, natural, and low maintenance.

CLARK GRUBB

Theaters

Alderwood Stadium 7

Alderwood Village Cinema 12