Montlake - 2021 and Way Beyond by William Goodrich Bellman Chapter 23 - Other Neighbors

The Ecks lived next to Druxmans, with their three girls. The girls were much younger than I so I don't recall much about them, however I do remember their father as being a very friendly man. Between the Isles house, on the corner of 20th Avenue East and East Lynn and the Eck's, lived my friend Carl Gleason, his brother John and their two sisters. In elementary school, Carl and I palled around quite a bit, however we drifted apart during our high school years. Carl used to sneak cigars from his father's humidor, and we would go into the woods and smoke them. I've wished for 67 years that I would have been taken ill from that first encounter with tobacco. Perhaps I wouldn't have touched tobacco again.

Immediately in back of our home lived Dr. Thompson, his wife and their daughter, Phoebe Ann. Dr. Thompson was an avid hunter; I think he concentrated on deer, as in deer season there was usually one hanging in his garage for a few days. Daughter Phoebe was five years older than I and became a very good friend of my sister.

Across the street from the Thompsons, at 2035 East Newton, lived Dr. Kyle and his family. His daughter, Helen, played the piano, she and my sister would take turns practicing duets at either her house or ours. I got so I couldn't stand listening to their continual practicing of music scales, and usually left the house when they were practicing. Dr. Kyle had the reputation of being a drunk (something I didn't know at the time). Their house was a large three story with full basement, and in that basement the doctor had a large den with fireplace. As kids, we used to go there in winter and sit around the fire, eating hazel nuts and listening to the stories Dr. Kyle told. He was usually in his cups and some of the stories he told were pretty weird, but as youngsters we enjoyed that weirdness.

Across the alley from the Thompsons, on the corner of 20th Avenue East and East Newton, was the home of the Pattersons, then the Butterworths, the friendly undertaker. Never did get to know them. It was kind of a no-no place. We even left it alone on Halloween. The next house north of the friendly undertaker, at 2211 22nd Avenue East, was occupied by the best looking girl in the neighborhood, Constance Turner. I was in love with her, off and on, for many years. For a very short period she showed some interest in me, but thought better of it. Her parents married her to a doctor, twenty years her senior. That was the talk of the neighbors for weeks. Her dad's first name was one of the few that I recall: "Army". Army Turner.

During my childhood era it was disrespectful to call our elders by their first names. With very few exceptions, neighbors, and parents of friends were always addressed as Mr. or Mrs. My mother, when talking about people, referred to them as "Mrs. Whatcha-M'call-Her" or "Mr.Whatcha-M'call-Him". However, if she really cared for someone she would refer to them by their correct last name. In conversation, women usually referred to their spouses as "the mister", or, as in our family, "Mr. Bellman."

The Harrahs, before moving a block east, lived next to Turners at 2213 22nd Avenue East. Mr. Harrah and a brother operated several grocery stores on Capitol Hill (Harrah Brothers Grocers) one on 19th and the other on Broadway. Before the chain stores came in, they were quite successful, as were most of the small neighborhood grocers.

An elderly couple, the Lemons, lived directly north of Harrahs. I don't recall much about them except that Mrs. Lemon was a fine baker and usually had a plate of cookies handy. Mr. Lemon built two single garages that he rented out. Many of the neighborhood residences did not have garages and so it proved profitable to build garages and rent them out for $5.00 A month. My dad rented from Lemon for many years. Many of the garages in the area were of a portable nature. They were prebuilt, knocked down, then reassembled in a do-it-yourself project. The end result was a flimsy structure with thin walls and a tar-paper roof, though they did keep the rain and snow off the car.

The Coolidges, Mr.& Mrs., son Milton, and daughter Margaret lived next to Lemons. I never got to know Milton as he was much older than I, and besides, was in college at the time. Mr. Coolidge had the first model "A" Ford in the block. He put together a portable garage and spent much of his spare time washing, polishing, and tinkering with the car.

Mr. Coolidge loved to go to dances and apparently his wife did not share the same feeling, as Coolidge would take me with him on Saturday nights to barn dances in the Kenmore area. Much of the property north of Kenmore, extending as far as Lynnwood and Alderwood Manor, had been owned by Pope & Talbot, the lumber people. They clear cut all the trees, then platted the ground into five acre parcels and put them on the market as potential chicken farms. These tracts sold for a minimum of $49 down with reasonable monthly payments. Most of the purchasers were of meager means and the first homes they built there were very small and unpretentious. However, these people had a great community spirit which showed in the dances they put on every Saturday night. These were held at different locations in someone's barn, with hay bales for seats, while several fiddle players supplied the dancing music. I was never told this but I'm sure the reason I was asked to go with Mr. Coolidge, was that his wife figured, with me along, he would not do anything at the affairs, but dance. I often went to sleep on a stack of hay and was awakened when Coolidge was ready to go home, and what he did while I was asleep, was none of my business.

North of Coolidges' lived the Kearns with a daughter Patricia, then there were two vacant lots that my brother and I, together with friends, used as play areas; building forts, underground tunnels, and where my brother and Walt Wei built their small wooden one room cabin. Years later the Dupars and the Jones built homes on those lots.

The Jones were late comers to Montlake. An elderly couple, they built, what we all thought was a strange looking affair of brick, with a flat roof and several turret looking structures rising above the roof level. The Jones' used the flat roof to raise vegetables and potted plants. I think they intended to sun themselves up there, but I don't recall ever seeing them using it for that purpose. We had a good view of the roof from my mother's bedroom window, perhaps that's why the Jones stayed below. I had a “Heinz 57” dog named “Woof”, Mr. Jones (Miles) took a shine to the dog, and over a period of time, Woof was assimilated into the Jones' household. I accepted that, as I had become older and had other interests.

One of me first jobs - for pay - was to put in a grass parking strip for the Jones'. I remember Mr. Jones having to push me to get the job finished before winter set-in. Mr. Jones had several duplexes in the area of 12th and Madison, and after living in Montlake for several years, they moved into one of these, then rented their brick home to the Costellos.

The Costellos' had an infant daughter, Mary, that I often baby-sat at night as her parents liked to party. Along with baby-sitting for the Sutherlands, across the street, many of my evenings were taken up. In those days, as contrasted to today, I didn't have access to the refrigerator, and often was told to do the dishes and clean-up the kitchen. Some of those evenings paid as much as fifty cents.

The "spite house" near East Newton Street, on 24th Avenue, was the talk of the neighborhood when it was built years ago. Previous to its being built, the city condemned part of that property for right-of-way for 24th Avenue. At the time, everyone said that what was left of the property, was too small to build on. But in “spite” of what people said, the property owner built the odd shaped triangular house that exists today.