WRITTEN BY PAUL DORPAT

COURTESY OF LAWTON GOWEY

Photographed during the late summer or early fall of 1909, this look up Marion Street reveals a scene that has gone through many changes in the ensuing 95 years.The building in the foreground, below, is the IDX Tower.

	PAUL DORPAT

Up the hill at Fourth Avenue is the big brick box of the Hotel Stander. At least that was its name when new in 1905. But soon thereafter owners Anton and Violet Stander turned hostile to each other and lost their hotel through divorce. Here the sign hanging from it over the sidewalk reads "Butler Annex." Two years more and the YMCA would own and use it for nearly 20 years before replacing it with the Y building seen in the "now."

Next in the photo is part of the ornate Stacy Mansion, shown mid-block. The Stacys moved out long before, and here it is the Crescent Hotel. Many of the older gastronomes among us remember it as the home of La Maison Blanc Restaurant until a fire ran through it in 1960; the entire structure was sacrificed soon after.

A part of the Vancouver Arch fills much of the left side of the frame. This monumental but temporary piece of street art was dedicated on Aug. 21, 1909, when locals and a large entourage of Canadians enjoyed the downright jolly ceremonies. The entourage of Vancouver Mayor Charles Douglas had come to visit Seattle's first world's fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.

I confess, however, that of the intended subjects here — the motorcar and its sturdy owner — I know nothing. In 1909, having a car was still such a distinction that this driver was allowed to straddle the street for a portrait. What precisely is the brand name for this piece of prestige? Perhaps some help from a reader will be forthcoming.