yes, thank you so much for posting this!!! This is exactly the video that I wanted to see! Night and day difference between this and the current highway 16 so to get to Gig Harbor in 1982 you had to take the Pearl Street exit and go down sixth Avenue and then there’s this big long stretch of road with a lot of grass on either side That leads to the original narrows bridge? one scene just as people are turning Left on sixth street at the Pearl Street exit you can see where they’re very beginning to construct what I assume is the current freeway?
The landscaped stretch leading up to the east side of the bridge was called Olympic Boulevard. If you look at the area on a satellite photo, it's easy to see that it used to be a highway. After it was cut off from the highway, the portion closest to Sixth Avenue was turned into a park-and-ride. The rest of the land was used for relocating War Memorial Park when the new bridge was built. (The park and monuments used to be on a lookout roughly where the eastbound lanes come off the new bridge.) When they built the overpass over Sixth, they staged equipment on the NE corner of Pearl as you see in the video. Before the freeway construction, Buck's A&W drive-in had been on the site for about 15 years.
It's really interesting to see Bantz Boulevard, before some parts were turned into the freeway and other parts were left as surface streets. I'm glad they were able to document this stretch just in time.
Tacoma boys. The Denny’s, jack in the box ect. It’s crazy the roads still look the same 😂 the chevron is across tje street now and that spot is a chiropractor spot mow.
Tacoma Boys had just been moved from an outdoor stand on the north side of 6th Avenue to make room to construct the overpass over Pearl St. The real changes came once you reached the end of 6th Avenue and crossed the bridge.
so much has changed, yet some has not. then there's other spots that are this mix of both. seeing the pillars of the overpass at pearl still being built is so cool to see. thank you for posting!
I love watching these. Its as close as you can get to going back in time. I was just thinking about how there wasn't any new videos in a while and boom, this popped up. I was just wondering, are these in a public archive or is this something that only you have access to? I would love to check it out and help in any way possible!
Long-term the State Archives is hoping to get them uploaded to their website but it's quite a task. In the short-term they've been sending them to me via mail and I've been uploading them here.
Four months later in January 1983, all street light along WA-16, including the Tacoma Narrows Bridge are Sodium Vapor Lamps with light fixtures with cut off bottom for not only more energy efficient, but also reduced light pollution. I have visited Bremerton Washington back in Christmas of 1982 to see some of my siblings who lived in Bremerton from Sea-Tac Airport.
Whoa - Tacoma Boys, Bantz Blvd., Tower Lanes, Pay-n-Pak, one bridge structure, and (not seen)... the infamous Span Deli on the other side of the Narrows. Total throwback!
Fun to see an area where I have been many times(I was born in Tacoma, but was raised and still live in Lakewood), a couple of years before my birth(was born in 1984)... Amazing to see the McDonald's on 6th Avenue, and the Jack in the Box as you turn towards Mildred and Tower Lane, as they are all still in those places. Even more surprising to see a Mobil gas station in the middle of the plaza on 6th Avenue with Safeway(which as of 2023 is a Winco Foods)...
yea, all they do is remodel after remodel. That safeway had been there since highland hills shopping center opened, I am happy to see it turn Winco now. I have a lot of photos of that area, on a facebook page at the same name as my youtube name.
@@westernwashingtonhistory1889 Safeway, Wigwam, and Pay 'n Save built at Highland Hill in the mid-'60s, about 10 years after the first (eastern) half of the complex opened. Wigwam and the original Marina-style Safeway were replaced with a new Safeway (which is now the WinCo) around 1988.
It's changed a lot! Except for a couple spots, everything at Highland Hill was torn down and rebuilt. There were so many gas stations. Dynasties (which was the glamorous Tower Restaurant back in the '40s and '50s) is gone and apartments have been built right up to the sidewalk there. And the highway turned onto Olympic Boulevard (which was turned into a park-and-ride after the freeway went in) before it ever got to Jackson. Compared to 1982, the area west of Mildred is a ghost town now. The immediate drop in traffic when the freeway was completed hit those businesses very hard.
ThrillerWA09 it's kind of fun for me to see this, as while I am a Tacoma area resident, I was born in 1984... so the area has changed quite a bit... I kind of wish the video included Flakey Jake's on 6th Avenue as I used to eat there regularly when I was a kid in the mid to late 1990s... I truly miss that place, as their burgers were amazing... not to mention the toppings bar...
@@tkaye2I noticed that the traffic started turning slight right off of 6th right around Skyline. That road -- I think you said it was Olympic Blvd. -- isn't even there anymore. The ROW is now taken up by a Park & Ride and War Memorial Park. You can clearly see in Google Maps where the old road connected the Narrows Bridge with 6th. I always think stuff like that is pretty cool.
I remember all the lights down Bantz Blvd and 6th. This was before the freeway redesign until growth began to take over. Now people drive like 60 mph is too slow; they need to watch these videos of old Washington.
it still backed up nearly to gig harbor every morning due to the one Narrows bridge. Also those lights on 16 were horrid at Orchard. This video was not at rush hour, believe that. The bridge backed up traffic to the tacoma dome in the evening.
Its very interesting, I miss the Old Tacoma Narrows Bridge. I'm still living in the area, I was here in 1982, but I don't remember Highway 16 being routed through city streets. My memory is that Highway 16 went around Fircrest, but never actually went through the town... I Might be wrong
Until you get to Sixth Avenue, SR 16 follows the same route as it did in this video, it's just that Bantz Boulevard has been converted from a four-lane highway to a restricted access freeway. Bantz ended at Sixth, where the offramp next to Tacoma Boys is today. SR 16 continued down Sixth to what is now the Narrows Park and Ride and the new War Memorial Park. That was called Olympic Boulevard and served as access to the bridge.
There was a Dunkin Donuts in Seattle in 1982?? I knew they were primarily a New England outfit and did some major expansion when they went national. I just didn’t think they were that far out west in that time frame. 🤷♂️ ☕️
while the bridge was still free, now they have to budget a toll bridge 7:56 Shakeys pizza, I never went to that one, darn. youngsters may not recognize the illegible signs, if you know you know
yes, thank you so much for posting this!!! This is exactly the video that I wanted to see! Night and day difference between this and the current highway 16 so to get to Gig Harbor in 1982 you had to take the Pearl Street exit and go down sixth Avenue and then there’s this big long stretch of road with a lot of grass on either side That leads to the original narrows bridge? one scene just as people are turning Left on sixth street at the Pearl Street exit you can see where they’re very beginning to construct what I assume is the current freeway?
The landscaped stretch leading up to the east side of the bridge was called Olympic Boulevard. If you look at the area on a satellite photo, it's easy to see that it used to be a highway. After it was cut off from the highway, the portion closest to Sixth Avenue was turned into a park-and-ride. The rest of the land was used for relocating War Memorial Park when the new bridge was built. (The park and monuments used to be on a lookout roughly where the eastbound lanes come off the new bridge.)
When they built the overpass over Sixth, they staged equipment on the NE corner of Pearl as you see in the video. Before the freeway construction, Buck's A&W drive-in had been on the site for about 15 years.
lol stop lights... I never expected that. I love these videos.
It's really interesting to see Bantz Boulevard, before some parts were turned into the freeway and other parts were left as surface streets. I'm glad they were able to document this stretch just in time.
Tacoma Boys, still there. Wild.
Tacoma boys. The Denny’s, jack in the box ect. It’s crazy the roads still look the same 😂 the chevron is across tje street now and that spot is a chiropractor spot mow.
Tacoma Boys had just been moved from an outdoor stand on the north side of 6th Avenue to make room to construct the overpass over Pearl St. The real changes came once you reached the end of 6th Avenue and crossed the bridge.
so much has changed, yet some has not. then there's other spots that are this mix of both. seeing the pillars of the overpass at pearl still being built is so cool to see. thank you for posting!
I love watching these. Its as close as you can get to going back in time. I was just thinking about how there wasn't any new videos in a while and boom, this popped up. I was just wondering, are these in a public archive or is this something that only you have access to? I would love to check it out and help in any way possible!
Long-term the State Archives is hoping to get them uploaded to their website but it's quite a task. In the short-term they've been sending them to me via mail and I've been uploading them here.
Four months later in January 1983, all street light along WA-16, including the Tacoma Narrows Bridge are Sodium Vapor Lamps with light fixtures with cut off bottom for not only more energy efficient, but also reduced light pollution. I have visited Bremerton Washington back in Christmas of 1982 to see some of my siblings who lived in Bremerton from Sea-Tac Airport.
this was only a little over a month before I was born. I've been on this road so many times. It's changed a lot.
What’s amazing to me is how much things don’t change.
Whoa - Tacoma Boys, Bantz Blvd., Tower Lanes, Pay-n-Pak, one bridge structure, and (not seen)... the infamous Span Deli on the other side of the Narrows. Total throwback!
Hillariously, they've put in a little cutoff from westbound 6th to northbound Pearl and called it Bantz Blvd. It's about a hundred yards long!
Fun to see an area where I have been many times(I was born in Tacoma, but was raised and still live in Lakewood), a couple of years before my birth(was born in 1984)...
Amazing to see the McDonald's on 6th Avenue, and the Jack in the Box as you turn towards Mildred and Tower Lane, as they are all still in those places.
Even more surprising to see a Mobil gas station in the middle of the plaza on 6th Avenue with Safeway(which as of 2023 is a Winco Foods)...
yea, all they do is remodel after remodel. That safeway had been there since highland hills shopping center opened, I am happy to see it turn Winco now. I have a lot of photos of that area, on a facebook page at the same name as my youtube name.
Don't forget panda express and carls jr
@@westernwashingtonhistory1889 Safeway, Wigwam, and Pay 'n Save built at Highland Hill in the mid-'60s, about 10 years after the first (eastern) half of the complex opened. Wigwam and the original Marina-style Safeway were replaced with a new Safeway (which is now the WinCo) around 1988.
I’ve been a driver for Safeway for years and I remember delivering to that store on sixth Avenue. I had no idea itd been there that long.
Lol the stretch on 6th Avenue between Pearl and Jackson almost hasn’t changed at all!!
The chevron is now across the street. The Mobil station later became 76 before Panda Express
Also….the boat dealership is gone so the parking lot at grocery outlet is a big open space
It's changed a lot! Except for a couple spots, everything at Highland Hill was torn down and rebuilt. There were so many gas stations. Dynasties (which was the glamorous Tower Restaurant back in the '40s and '50s) is gone and apartments have been built right up to the sidewalk there.
And the highway turned onto Olympic Boulevard (which was turned into a park-and-ride after the freeway went in) before it ever got to Jackson. Compared to 1982, the area west of Mildred is a ghost town now. The immediate drop in traffic when the freeway was completed hit those businesses very hard.
ThrillerWA09 it's kind of fun for me to see this, as while I am a Tacoma area resident, I was born in 1984... so the area has changed quite a bit...
I kind of wish the video included Flakey Jake's on 6th Avenue as I used to eat there regularly when I was a kid in the mid to late 1990s... I truly miss that place, as their burgers were amazing... not to mention the toppings bar...
@@tkaye2I noticed that the traffic started turning slight right off of 6th right around Skyline. That road -- I think you said it was Olympic Blvd. -- isn't even there anymore. The ROW is now taken up by a Park & Ride and War Memorial Park. You can clearly see in Google Maps where the old road connected the Narrows Bridge with 6th. I always think stuff like that is pretty cool.
Please do more 90’s or 00’s videos
I remember all the lights down Bantz Blvd and 6th. This was before the freeway redesign until growth began to take over. Now people drive like 60 mph is too slow; they need to watch these videos of old Washington.
The fact in 82 they were just starting the modernization of 16 with that huge mound of dirt and support pylons.
I had forgotten what a convoluted route it was getting across the (single) Narrows Bridge.
8:40 there's a Jack n the Box (cube sign) at the intersection corner, left side. I worked there during high school (1st job).
A real sunny, early fall day for September 29, 1982.
I just started Clover Park Voc Tech and they were building the overpasses at Orchard on 16, what a mess but it was nice when it was done.
Do u have an old video of downtown Kent and auburn? That would bring me back memories 🙂
Memories of No traffic 24/7.
Check out the hitchhiker at 10:58! Bremerton or bust!
Any video of SR-302 in the works?
Back when driving was calm and easy. Not like now.
it still backed up nearly to gig harbor every morning due to the one Narrows bridge. Also those lights on 16 were horrid at Orchard. This video was not at rush hour, believe that. The bridge backed up traffic to the tacoma dome in the evening.
The unsecure loads and trash on the roads, crazy.
Man I miss these days
Its very interesting, I miss the Old Tacoma Narrows Bridge. I'm still living in the area, I was here in 1982, but I don't remember Highway 16 being routed through city streets. My memory is that Highway 16 went around Fircrest, but never actually went through the town... I Might be wrong
Until you get to Sixth Avenue, SR 16 follows the same route as it did in this video, it's just that Bantz Boulevard has been converted from a four-lane highway to a restricted access freeway. Bantz ended at Sixth, where the offramp next to Tacoma Boys is today. SR 16 continued down Sixth to what is now the Narrows Park and Ride and the new War Memorial Park. That was called Olympic Boulevard and served as access to the bridge.
Any old videos of steilacoom boulevard?
I remember that merge lane it would get dicey at times lol
There was a Dunkin Donuts in Seattle in 1982?? I knew they were primarily a New England outfit and did some major expansion when they went national. I just didn’t think they were that far out west in that time frame. 🤷♂️ ☕️
while the bridge was still free, now they have to budget a toll bridge
7:56 Shakeys pizza, I never went to that one, darn.
youngsters may not recognize the illegible signs, if you know you know
Looks completely different
I live very close to high harbor I live in lakebay