A new effort to document Montlake history is under way, thanks to the help of a few neighborhood history stewards and the talents of UW student, Matt Swope. Matt has taken on this job as a service learning project for university credit through the UAA Carlson Center. Some of his work will be collecting oral histories of long-time residents of Montlake, scanning documents for Montlake.net and cataloging information by subject area.

The collection will enable present and future residents to have access to the story of how the Montlake neighborhood developed and has maintained itself as a community in an urban setting. Matt will be working under the direction of Anita Bowers who has been instrumental in developing this project. Residents who would like more information are welcome to contact Anita or Kathy Laughman, who is assisting her, at history@montlake.net.

Photo Details: Longtime Montlake resident Allan Seidenverg and his younger brother Mark washing Allan’s 1960 Austin Healey 3000 BN7. The photo was taken in front of the family house. Allan bought the Healey with earnings from his Seattle Times paper route three months after turning 16 in August 1964. The Healey cost $1,500. At the time of this post, Allan has lived in Montlake 56 years. He was 4 when his family bought their house across from the Montlake playfield. He lived out of Montlake for 5 years after graduating from the UW. He is 65.