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COURTESY OF JOHN COOPER Looking east onto Northeast 72nd Street, the view is of an up-and-coming commercial district for the rapidly growing Green Lake neighborhood around 1909. PAUL DORPAT Few, if any, structures from the early 20th century survive on the street, but the vitality remains.

THANKS TO THE industry of M.L. Oaks, we have a few score photographs of Seattle neighborhoods in the early 20th century. Here, with his back to Green Lake, Oaks recorded this view up Northeast 72nd Street and across East Green Lake Drive North in about 1909.

Also close to the photographer is the primary stop for the Green Lake Electric Railway, whichhad been making settlement around the lake a great deal easier for 20 years. Much like the University District, which in its early years was referred to most often as the "University Station," this vibrant commercial neighborhood was known as "Green Lake Station."

The number of businesses and services just in this short block running east from Northeast 72nd Street to its intersection with Woodlawn Avenue Northeast is an impressive witness to its commercial vitality. Included here on the south side of 72nd — moving right to left — are Green Lake Hardware and Furniture, a dentist, a real-estate office, an ice-cream parlor that stocks candy and cigars as well, the Model Grocery Co. and Hill Bros., the first store in the East Green Lake shopping district in 1901. At the end of the block is the Central Market. Across 72nd are the neighborhood hotel, post office and a paint-and-wallpaper merchant.

Completing this tour of 72nd, two blocks to the east, the belfry of Green Lake Baptist rises. And to this side of the church, worshipers can complete their cleansing, if they feel the need, with a visit to the North Seattle Bath House. But then so can the bankers. Green Lake's only brick structure at the time, the single-story Green Lake State Bank, is set at the southeast corner of 72nd and Woodlawn Avenue, at the scene's center.

Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.