Renton Then and Now, Renton, WA (2026)

12/30/2025

Automatic car washes were a new novelty in the 1960s. One of the first in the area was at Renton Shopping Center. The 1964 "then" photo shows Renton Center's "Five Minute Car Wash" at the corner of Sunset Blvd and Hardie Ave. Similar to today's car washes, the building had large windows where you could watch the cars move through and there was a small attendant booth near the entry. From 1964 to the early 80s, the building was located in the narrow lot just north of Sears (now Fred Meyer). Today, this area is just a parking lot.

Photos courtesy of Puget Sound Regional Archives and Renton Historical Society (colorized)

12/28/2025

This series of photos shows various views of the nearly 100 year old building at Bronson Way and Mill Ave (1017-23 Bronson Way S). The 1962 photo shows Joe's Riverside Service and Richfield gas station. Next to it is A&K Automotive Repair (Arnone & Kauzlaurich), an auto supply store, and a launderette. Raymond Bellando built the building in 1927, and he and his brother William operated the first businesses. In 1938 it was the Union Garage, the Snappy Tavern, and Snappy Lunch. Today, the building is occupied by Stereo Centro Car Audio, Upscale Barber & Beauty, and other businesses.

Photos courtesy of Puget Sound Regional Archives and Renton Historical Society, colorized

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12/26/2025

The 1986 "then" photo shows the Dairy Queen in Benson Hill in the year it was built at 17824 108th Ave SE. It appears to be summer as customers are in the outdoor seating area and the parking lot is full. Note the payphone outside in case you need to make a call. Nearly 40 years later, Dairy Queen is still here but with an updated exterior completed around 2015. The signs have changed from "Dairy Queen" to "DQ" to reflect corporate rebranding, and the payphone is gone but the concrete pad where it stood is still there.

Photo courtesy of Puget Sound Regional Archives (colorized).

12/24/2025

The 1979 "then" photo shows Godfather's Pizza at Sunset Plaza shopping area in the Highlands (3152 NE Sunset Blvd). The building was built in 1979, two years after the strip mall was built (out of view on the right), and a year after Wendy's (partially visible on the left). Their slogan was, "The pizza you can't refuse," and they had an all you can eat lunch buffet that was cheap and fast. Godfather's was here until at least the mid 1990s. It was briefly Horatio's Pizza & Pasta in 2004, and in 2005 it was Evergreen Seafood Garden. In 2006, Mai Place Asian Bistro opened and has been here for nearly 20 years. They serve authentic Cantonese dishes and fresh seafood. Their large tables are great for families and groups. They're open for Christmas and will be very busy, no doubt because they have excellent food but also for that restaurant scene in A Christmas Story (last slide).

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12/23/2025

The 1994 "then" photo shows the strip mall building at the corner of 108th Ave SE and SE Petrovitsky/Carr Rd in Benson Hill. The building is newly built and the main tenant is Hollywood Video which takes up almost half of the building. In the 1990s and 2000s, visiting the local video store was a common ritual, and Hollywood was known for having the most copies of the latest new releases and an early adopter of renting DVDs and video games. Today, their old space is 7-Eleven, T-Mobile, and BECU.

Fun facts: Hollywood Video began when Mark Wattles opened a video store in Portland, OR in 1985. He changed the name to Hollywood Video and grew it to 16 stores before going public in 1993. In June 1995 there were 153 stores in 11 states but it was growing very rapidly, purchasing smaller regional chains across the U.S. At its peak it had around 1,900 stores and was the second largest video rental chain. Intense competition from Blockbuster, mail-order movie rentals (Netflix), and video streaming, impacted demand and profitability. It filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and all stores were closed the end of that year.

Photo courtesy of Puget Sound Regional Archives (colorized). 1998 ad courtesy of YouTube betagemslostmedia607.

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12/21/2025

The 1996 "then" photo shows McDonald's at the intersection of Rainier Ave and Airport Way/Renton Ave (73 Rainier Ave). The building, built in 1983, has the familiar mansard style roof and there's an outdoor PlayPlace in front featuring McDonaldland characters like Officer Big Mac. By 1999 the play area had been removed. A fire destroyed the building in December 2007, but it was quickly rebuilt with a slightly different footprint and an updated look. The large sign and flagpole wasn't damaged in the fire and was retained.

Fun fact: The original McDonald's at this location was built in 1967 as a simple drive-in restaurant with minimal seating.

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12/18/2025

The most severe flood in Renton's recorded history occurred on November 19, 1911. The "then" photo looks west from 2nd St and Burnett Ave. Two boys are walking on a wood sidewalk as muddy water flows on both sides. In the background is the original Renton High School building constructed that year. In the "now" photo, the original building is gone, replaced with larger school buildings and the Ikea Performing Arts Center.

The second "then" photo shows a flooded Downtown and North Renton viewed from Renton Hill. Bronson Way bridge is on the right. In the distance, the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks are just above the floodwaters (running left to right). The tracks ran parallel to today's Logan Ave and it crossed the river at the Renton Senior Activity Center, where a huge log jam formed that needed to be cleared.

The flood was caused by heavy rains and mountain snow melt from warm winds. Residents were warned that a timber crib dam located 14 miles upstream at Landsburg was at risk of failing. The dam was built in 1899 to divert water into pipelines supplying freshwater to the City of Seattle. The upper portion of the dam failed, and while it didn't create a flash flood situation in Renton, it did destroy a bridge carrying the pipelines causing a Seattle-wide water outage that lasted for a week.

After the flood, citizens voted to create King County Commercial Waterway District No. 2, which straightened and dredged the Cedar River to improve flood control. Seasonal floods continued to occur outside of the downtown area, usually near Renton Airport, Earlington Flats (the area between the Green River and Hwy 167), and along the Cedar in Maple Valley. Major flood events occurred in 1926, 1932, 1946, 1952, 1976, 1990, and 1996. In 1998-99 the City and US Corps of Engineers dredged the river and built levees and floodwalls near the airport/Boeing to protect against the 100 year recurrence flood. The City continues to monitor the sediment levels and perform maintenance dredging to mitigate flood risk.

Photos courtesy of Renton Historical Society, colorized

The map on the last page, without my notes, can be found at https://info.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/roads/mapandrecordscenter/mapvault/ (Folder A-119, Map Number 3-42.a)

12/15/2025

The 1970 "then" photo shows Shakey's Pizza at 225 SW 7th St. The image shows the back of the building and a Pontiac GTO in the parking lot. The building was built in 1970 and Polk city directories show Shakey's was here until at least 1991. The building was remodeled and became Jimmy Mac's Roadhouse in March 1998. Jimmy Mac's is a family friendly "Texas style" roadhouse known for its all-you-can-eat yeast rolls and endless peanuts with shells on the floor. The Renton location closed in December 2025 after 27 years.

Fun fact: The large sign facing SW 7th (last picture) still lists Billy McHale's Restaurant, which used to be an adjacent building that was demolished in 2013.

1970 photo courtesy of Puget Sound Regional Archives, colorized

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12/13/2025

As the Cedar River has crested and hopefully continues to drop, memories of the 1996 flooding event come to mind. These "then" photos show how much of Renton Airport was flooded in February 1996 from a severe atmospheric river event. The Cedar River reached a peak of 16 feet that year, overflowing its banks into the airport. A similar event occurred in November 1990 and covered 2/3 of the airport. The weather event this month reportedly exceeded both the 1990 and 1996 events, with the Cedar River peaking at 18.25 feet. Why was there less impact this year? In 1998-99, the river was dredged and earthen levees and concrete flood walls were constructed.

Clarification: The first photo is from Nov 1990 and the second photo is from Feb 1996. Images and dates courtesy of King County iMap viewer.

2025 photos are stock aerials and not intended to show this month's flooding.

Video footage shows the height and speed of the river through downtown Renton on December 12.

Fun facts: Renton was established near the terminus of the Cedar River and a natural river delta (now portions of Renton Airport and Boeing). It was first dredged and channelized in 1912, just a year after the 1911 flood that inundated much of downtown. Flood control features and periodic dredging is necessary to prevent flooding of downtown, the industrial areas, and residential neighborhoods. The river has been dredged several times (1956, 1976, 1986, and 1998).

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12/08/2025

The circa 1983 "then" photo shows Vince's Italian Restaurant in the Highlands (2815 NE Sunset Blvd). The building was built in 1971 and expanded in 1983 with a large lounge area. It had a Mediterranean themed exterior and a large sign on the roof. Today, Vince's has a more detailed exterior and a newer sign, and continues serving the Renton community after more than 50 years.

Vince's was started by Vincent “Enzo” Mottola and wife Ada. He was born in Naples, Italy in 1932, immigrated to the United States in 1954, and settled in Seattle. In his early days he held many jobs, including baker, taxi driver, deputy coroner, chef, and terrazzo contractor. Enzo and Ada opened their first restaurant in 1957 at Empire Way (MLK Jr Way) and Othello. It was a huge success and they went on to develop 14 restaurants. Today, there are 3 Vince's locations - Renton, Burien, and Federal Way.

1983 photo courtesy Puget Sound Regional Archives (colorized).

12/05/2025

Longacres Racetrack opened in 1933 through the efforts of Joseph Gottstein, a Seattle real estate magnate with a deep passion for horse racing. It was built in Renton in less than 30 days. Gottstein turned over the business to son-in-law Morris Alhadeff in the 1960s. The racetrack was successful and had multiple expansions in the 1970s and 80s. Business began declining in the mid 1980s as competition in the entertainment and gambling industry came from professional sports teams and the state lottery which started in 1982. The Aldaheff's sold the site to Boeing in 1990 but the track continued operations for a couple more years. The last race was September 21, 1992. Up to that point, Longacres had been the longest continuously running racetrack on the West Coast.

The grandstands and clubhouse buildings were demolished in 1995, but much of the area was never redeveloped. Despite 30 years of natural tree and brush growth, the outline of some buildings and portions of the track are still visible. I was able to do "then and now" pictures of the North Parking Lot Entrance gate and the concrete "Green Wall" that separated the seating area from the racetrack.

The amazing video footage is courtesy of YouTube Andy Smallman. His family were regulars at the track, and their home movie footage truly captures the essence of Longacres in the late 1970s. Photos courtesy of Renton Historical Society, some colorized. Google aerials have the track outline drawn in.

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12/05/2025

The 1958 "then" photo shows Bryant Service Station at the corner of Bronson Way N and Garden Ave (1300 Bronson Way N). The two signs above the canopy read "76" for Union 76 gasoline and "International" for International Harvester vehicles. Bryant Service Station was started in 1947 by William R. Bryant, but the original service station and canopy were built in 1936. A 1927-44 Sanborn Map shows this was one of four service stations on this side of the road as this was part of the Sunset Highway and a main road in and out of Renton.

The business changed its name to Bryant Motors in the early 60s and focused on the sales and service of International vehicles. International produced tractors, farm equipment, and a diverse range of vehicles including light duty trucks like the Scout 80, Scout 800, and Travelall, as well as heavy duty vehicles like school buses, large trucks, and specialty truck chassis. Bryant Motors remained here until 2019, when the building and adjacent lots were sold to the Construction Industry Training Council of Washington (CITC). CITC has plans to renovate and expand the building for a training school, but the current tenants are Evergreen City Ballet and Heritage Cars. The Bryant family continues business as Bryant Tractor & Mower near Grady Way and Lind Ave (501 SW 12th St).

Trivia: Large buses and trucks would often be parked on the adjacent public streets, which was a neighborhood complaint for many years. Bryant worked with the City and agreed to demolish the vacant and decrepit Don-a-Lisa Motel in 2008. This provided a larger parking lot for the vehicles to get them off the streets. There are still many "No Parking" signs around the neighborhood specifically for those large vehicles.

Photos courtesy of Puget Sound Regional Archives (colorized) and Renton Historical Society (1960 and 1986 photos)

Correction: Advertisement is from 1978

Renton Then and Now

12/30/2025

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12/23/2025

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