Seattle's South Park district is a compact neighborhood tucked between the west side of the Duwamish Waterway and the bluffs that rise steeply to Highland Park. The main thoroughfare running north-south is 14th Avenue South. Several Boeing factories are next to the Duwamish, and Boeing Field is across the River.
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| South Park (from Google Maps) |
The earliest European settlers settled the bottomlands along the Duwamish river in the 1850s. In the late 1800s, South Park was an agricultural community of Italian and Japanese immigrants. Industry developed along the banks of the waterway in the 1920s, with Boeing's first factory just to the north. World War II brought rapid growth of aircraft at Boeing Field and shipyards along the river. In the 1960s, the area began to attract Hispanic immigrants.
During my short time looking around in October 2025, I could see the strong Hispanic influence in the stores and restaurants. Here are some examples.
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| Unicorn Ranch, 9021 14th Avenue S |
The owner here had some interesting sculpture on the Unicorn theme.
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| Multiservisios, 9011 14th Avenue S (21mm ƒ/4.5 Zeiss Biogon-C lens) |
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| Multoservisios, 9011 14th Avenue S (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens) |
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| Werner's Auto Repair, 9001 14th Avenue S (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens) |
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| Werner's Auto Repair (25mm ƒ/4 Snapshot Skopar lens) |
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| Time for lunch, 8709 14th Avenue S (25mm ƒ/4 Snapshot Skopar lens) |
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| Closed shop (24mm ƒ/4 Snapshot Skopar lens) |
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| Pros Tires, 8620 14th Avenue S (25mm ƒ/4 Snapshot Skopar lens) |
This ends out too-rapid cruise through South Park.
I took these photos on Kodak Portra 160 film exposed at EI=100. I used my Leica M2 camera with 21, 25, 35 and 50mm lenses (yes, I take too much equipment with me on an outing). The 50mm is the ƒ/2 Dual-Range (DR) Summicron from 1968. This is version 2 of the Leitz Summicron series. It was made as either a single range focus body or a more complicated dual-range version. I rarely use the close-up function, but take the goggles with me in the camera bag.
Many photographers love the way the these Version 2 lenses render their subjects, especially portraits. Mine has pristine coating and is totally clean inside. The contrast is a bit softer than modern lenses.
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| 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens with close-up goggles to allow close focussing |
This lens will mount on all of the original film M bodies, the M3, M2, M4, M4-2, M4-P, and M6. I have read that it will not mount on the digital Ms, but do not have details.
