Seattle with my $13.50 Canonet (Sea 06)

Reflx Lab light meter

Some appointments took me to Seattle in early April. My intent was to take the Amtrak to King Street Station and then use one of the Lime rental bicycles. But rain was predicted, so I left my helmet at home. Well, as per typical Puget Sound weather, rain was falling in Olympia, but Seattle was sunny. 

OK, time to walk and try one of the Seattle Stairway Walks, the one from City Hall to Pike Place. Plus, it was another opportunity to test my $13.50 Canonet Camera. It is equipped with a 40mm ƒ/1.7 lens, a remarkably capable 6-element double-Gauss design, single coated. 

Because the camera's built-in light meter no longer works, I used a small meter that fits into the flash shoe. Mine is a model from Reflx Lab. At least ten electronics companies in China make compact light meters to attach to vintage cameras. They appear to be very accurate when used the right way (i.e., point them at the appropriate subject). This Reflx model has one of the larger fonts in its display, perfect for my vision.

King Street Station Area

Amtrak at the King Street Station

The Amtrak is only $14.50 from Olympia to Seattle (as of spring 2025). It saves you from the constant Interstate 5 traffic congestion at Joint Base Lewis–McChord. But the train is often delayed, so accommodate your schedule.

South Jackson Street at 4th Avenue

Parking garage, 400 4th Avenue

Business District

Seattle City Hall steps

Seattle's "green" City Hall is located between 4th and 5th Avenues. These impressive steps are part of the Stairway Walk. A stream gurgles down the left side of the steps. An employee inside told me that the fountain had just been restarted the day before. 

The 1914 Arctic Club Building with terra cotta walrus sculptures 

3rd Avenue view south (with a grumpy bus)

Federal Building steps leading to 1st Avenue

1224 1st Avenue

Pike Place

Public Market entrance from Pike Place

Vendor, main floor, Pike Place Market

Mmmm, nothing better than good ice cream

Lunch means Cioppino (Samsung digital file)

Maybe a hearty Cioppino in the market is better than ice cream. Maybe? 

Belltown

Waiting for riders on Pine Street

4th Avenue view south

By about 1 pm, the rain really started coming down. I took the trolley to Lake Union, completed my appointment, and returned to King Street station for the ride home. 

I took these pictures on April 7, 2025, using Kodak Portra 160 film, exposed at EI=100. I scanned the negatives with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 film scanner run by NikonScan software on a Windows 7 computer. 

Update: the Canonet has been overhauled and cleaned at Zacks Camera Repair in Providence, RI. I am awaiting its return home.

Primitive but Fun: the 1965 Volkswagen Squareback

Blog Note: I published this a few weeks ago but withdrew it so that I could post timely pictures of the April 5, 2025, Hands Off protest at the Washington State Capitol. Here is the Volkswagen again. 

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Ankara, Turkey

In the mid-1960s, my dad worked in Ankara, Turkey. He wanted to buy a car and ordered a 1965 Volkswagen Variant (known as the Squareback in the USA market). This was Volkswagen's Type 3 design, their attempt to cater to larger families with a slightly upmarket car compared to their classic Beetle.  

I am not sure why my dad did not choose the bus. I could see him in that kind of machine. But he opted for the little Squareback.

Small, medium, and large (not to scale)

1969 brochure, but the car looked the same as the 1965 model

I do not know if there were Volkswagen dealers in Turkey. I think he had never driven this type of car as a test. Volkswagen delivered the car to the docks in Istanbul. Awaiting delivery was common overseas mid-century. Dealers did not have parking lots covered with cars as in USA just waiting for you to drive one away. Normally, you paid a deposit, they ordered your car, and it was delivered weeks or months later. 

My dad was energetic. He took the train to Istanbul, picked up his shiny new car and drove it back to Ankara. How he negotiated the paperwork, I will never know. He had lived all over the world and was not intimidated by unusual bureaucratic issues. (But if he were still alive, how would he fare in modern USA, with every institution designed to make life clumsy, irritating, and inconvenient for the customer?) 

Hanging around, Farabi Sk., Çankaya District, Ankara, Turkey, 1965

At the Grand National Assembly, Ankara, 1965

This VW came with a 4-speed manual transmission, manual steering, manual drum brakes, and an almost non-existent heat system. The 54hp engine was a 4-cylinder pancake design mounted below the back deck, which left plenty of storage space. With the back seat down, you had a flat platform about 6 ft long. The car ran on very low octane petrol, which was perfect for Turkish use. The electrical system was 6 volt. There were no seat belts, but he added them in the USA. 

We lived in an apartment in the Çankaya District, which is still an exclusive neighborhood with embassies, museums, theatres, and better apartments. I spent part of 7th grade at the George C. Marshall Regional High School. We explored and visited Cappadocia, when it was a quiet backwater in central Anatolia. 

In late 1965, my dad's project in Ankara ended. We packed up, and, with me as passenger, drove the little Squareback west to Istanbul, and then on to Athens. I recall the back was well-filled with possessions. From Athens, on to Patras, and then the ferry boat to Brindisi. Then Rome and, finally, Genoa. From Genoa, it went by ship to Boston. We flew to London and then took a Boeing 707 PanAm flight across the ocean to Boston.

Belmont, Massachusetts

Living on Winn Street, Belmont, Massachusetts, 1969

My dad used the Squareback as his commuter car. We took summer trips to Nova Scotia and Ontario. I took driver education at Belmont High School in some behemoth Ford Galaxy, but practiced in the little Squareback. The car carried my friends and me on many hiking trips to the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  

Living in the snow, Belmont, Massachusetts, 1969

Pacific Northwest

In late 1971, another adventure. We packed my possessions and drove west to Seattle. The poor little 54 HP engine could barely manage 70 mph on a cool damp morning on the Great Plains. By the heat of midday, 65 mph was maximum with the accelerator floored. 

My dad left the Squareback with me and flew home to Massachusetts. I lived in the dorms and parked in the parking garages underneath Lander and McMahon Halls. Covered parking! 

On the Bremerton-Seattle Ferry, Washington, 1973

Somewhere at Mount Rainier, January 1974

Stevens Pass, Washington, January 1974

The little Squareback took my friends and me on many adventures in the Northwest, to Crater Lake, Mount Rainier, and Mount Saint Helens (before it blew up). With the rear engine over the drive wheels, that Squareback could go up muddy logging roads or snowy passes in the Cascades. I also did a roundtrip to and from Boston in summer of 1972. 

One trip while cross-country skiing at Snoqualmie Pass, someone broke in and stole the front seats. The police gave me a crate to sit on, and I drove back to Seattle. I bought better condition high-back seats at a junk yard.

If I was camping alone, I could sleep at an angle in the back and close the hatch. But with two people, we had to keep the hatch open at the bottom and let our feet stick out. If it was cold, our breath would condense all over the windows, and it was a mess to clean off the windows considering the almost non-existent defrost system.

The heat came from the engine fan via a tube in the middle of the car. Two levers controlled the air flow. One lever opened the vents to the floor. That was reasonably effective if the engine was hot and you had been driving a while. A second lever was supposed to direct air up to the windshield, but very little warm air made it to the glass surface. In other markets, Volkswagen sold a petrol powered heater, but I do not know if this was available in USA.

I sold the car to a friend. and moved on. I wish I had bought a classic Volvo station wagon then. That would have been a smart move. 

The Squareback had a sad end. My friend and his wife were moving across country. The Squareback rolled down an embankment in some reservation. When my friend last saw it, tribal members were stripping wheels, seats, and parts from the car. I wonder if the hulk is still down there? So it goes....

 

Tom Tom's museum/junk yard, Moab, Utah

Another treasure at Tom Tom's museum, Moab, Utah

In the last two decades, I have seen maybe 2 or 3 examples of a Squareback on the road. I saw some sad examples in Tom Tom's VW disposal yard in Moab, Utah. No one seems to care about restoring VW's Type 3 cars. I see a surprising number of restored Type 1 (Beetle) and Type 2 (bus) in Olympia, but no Type 3s. It was reasonable technology that did its job a long time ago. 

On the Waterfront - Seattle, Washington (Summer 2024)

The Seattle waterfront has changed drastically since I lived in Seattle in the mid-1970s. At that time, the horrible 2-level Alaskan Viaduct snaked along the waterfront. Underneath was a sort of nether-land, similar to the underside of the Southeast Expressway in Boston. But at least there was parking under the concrete. Back then, waterfront Seattle was a working district, with warehouses, small factories, and industrial activities. 

Today, the viaduct is gone! Alaskan Way is sunny. Now there are bike lanes, gardens, and a clean new surface street, Elliott Way. Warehouses have been rebuilt into condominiums, and totally new buildings have been erected. And the traffic flows underneath through the SR99 tunnel. 

Alaskan Way

Pier 50 view north along Alaskan Way (Kodak Tri-X film, Rolleiflex 3.5E camera)

The grotesque viaduct once marred this view. Now this is a cheerful and popular bund or esplanade.

This monstrous cruise ship loomed over the waterfront. I have never been close to a vessel this large. It was like a floating office building. I can understand why more and more popular destinations in the Mediterranean, like Venice, Santorini, and Barcelona, object to these ships disgorging thousands of tourists in a short period. They overwhelm the local infrastructure, water supply, and plumbing. But the merchants like the shoppers.

Pier 70 view south along Alaskan Way from the Olympia Sculpture Park

Sounder commuter train

BNSF tracks near Pier 66

In the past, I wondered where the trains came from that ran on the tracks parallel Alaskan Way. I only recently learned that the Great Northern Tunnel extends for about a mile under the business district. This was a major engineering accomplishment in 1904. The southern entrance is just north of the King Street station. The northern entrance emerges from the mountain almost under the Pike Place Market. The opening is obscured by fencing along Elliott Way.  This is another example of the great engineering that made a nation. 

Great Northern Tunnel north entrance (Samsung phone digital file)

BNSF freight train near Pier 70

It feels like a train comes along about every 15 minutes. The amount of commerce is amazing.

Pike Place Market

Everyone takes pictures and selfies at the famous Pike Place Market. My Olympia photography friend comes here often and does excellent work. I took pictures in the Market in 1973 when I lived in Seattle. 

The famous Pioneer Building is a Richardsonian Romanesque edifice of stone, red brick, terra cotta, and cast iron. It faces Pioneer Square, now rather grungy because of the homeless and filth. 

I remember entering the Pioneer Building when it was being renovated in the early 1970s. There was an inner atrium with iron railings. Somewhere in the basement was the well-known French restaurant, the Brasserie Pittsbourg. I remember eating here with friends and, possibly, my dad. Do I have any photographs from those happy and innocent 1970s?

Entrance to the Brasserie Pittsbourg, March 3, 1970 (courtesy of the Seattle Public Library, photograph by Werner W. Lenggenhager, 1899-1988)

This ends our short walk in downtown Seattle and along the waterfront. I took these photographs on Kodak Tri-X 400 film with a Rolleiflex 3.5E camera with 75mm ƒ/3.5 Xenotar lens. This is a 1959 model still going strong. Most Rolleiflex twin lens cameras are superb picture machines. Praus Productions in Rochester, NY, developed the film.

This was article Sea 05

When Film is too Old (Sea 04)

Sample film strip, Epson Perfection 3200 Photo scanner

Oh, oh, some old film is just that, film that should have been discarded long ago. 

I bought an expired roll of Kodak High Definition film (Max 400??) at Photoland, the laboratory at The Evergreen State College in Olympia. It had been frozen but was much too old. I wanted to test my new/old Pentax MG. I had never heard of High Definition, and online information was scarce. It may have been discontinued around 2005. Kodak had a bad habit of renaming their various emulsions, often changing names in different markets. 

Most of the roll was grossly underexposed, and holding the strip up to the light, I could barely see any image data. The Epson 3200 flat bed scanner was remarkable at its ability to extract something for me to review. Some of the frames from Seattle looked marginally promising. I am amazed how well my Nikon Coolscan 5000 can extract data from a lousy negative. For the examples below, I scanned the frames with the Coolscan's automatic exposure function. Then I opened some of the frames in Photoshop and manually adjusted the contrast.   

Arriving at King Street Station, Seattle

King Street Station

Smith Tower from Jackson Street

Maybe I'll Walk-In (or maybe not)

Pine Street scooters

I am a Rockfish. Make some delicious fish 'n chips from me. Note the enormous eyes.

Rockfish are rather ugly. They live on rocky bottoms in cold water. There are at least 30 species in the Pacific Northwest. But they are delicious eating. Dingey's at the Olympia Farmers Market offers rockfish fish 'n chips. 

Let's drop in to Party in Reality. Well, maybe no.

I took these pictures with a Pentax MG camera, which has aperture priority autoexposure (meaning, you select an aperture on the lens, and the camera sets the correct shutter speed based on the through-the-lens light meter). The MG meters for as long as 14 or 15 seconds, which would be useful for tripod-mounted scenes. 

But because the film was so flawed, I do not know if the exposures were correct. The lens was a 50mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A with an unusual 5-element air-spaced optical design. 

Expired color film is a gamble. It just does not age well. Do not bother buying it. But black and white films, especially slow speeds, seem to last for years, especially if stored cool. Long-term readers may remember my amazing results with 60-year-old Versapan film packs. 

From the Archives: Pike Place Market (Seattle) in 1973 (Sea 03)

Once upon a time, when I was young and energetic, I lived in Seattle, Washington, while attending the University of Washington (the 'Dub). I liked to go downtown with my friends to explore or eat at interesting restaurants. I found some March 1973 negatives from that previous life. 

My dad had been visiting from out of state. We took the ferry boat to Bremerton and later explored Pike Place Market. He liked Pike Place, but that was expected. He was an old hand at exploring markets, such as the famous Flea Market in Athens or the Scott's Market in Rangoon.

My dad checking out the scene

The fish fellow looked crabby

Candles were such a thing in the 1970s

Mellow time, 1973-style

Chopping the cows.

Stacking the crabs neatly. It reminds me of the Central Market in Athens. 

I took these photographs on Kodak Tri-X 400 film with my Nikkormat FTn camera and 28mm ƒ/3.5 or 50mm ƒ/2 Nikkor lenses. I vaguely recall developing the film in the darkroom in McMahon Hall with Microdox-X developer. I did not know what I was doing, but still, the negatives have survived a half century (just as our digital files will, right?). They were scratched and had dirt and lint issues, so I cleaned the examples you see here with the heal tool in Photoshop CS6. 

We will look at more Seattle pictures in future articles, with this being article Sea 03. Please type "Seattle" in the search box to see older entries.