Looking Back at Seattle Half a Century Ago

A lot has changed in 50 years

By Avi Patel, Web Editor-In-Chief

March 2, 2026

Photo: Seattle Municipal Archives and Unsplash.com

Voices from the 70s and 80s

Judy Ghavamian: Substitute teacher

"We had dinner in 1975 in the tallest building in Bellevue. At the time, the tallest building in Bellevue was four floors high."

"I think you have to be on the road at maybe 4:30 a.m. in the morning to get a sense of what it was like to drive through downtown in the middle of the day in the 1970s."

"In the 1970s, it felt like a big, small town. I know after my husband and I were first married, there came a point where we decided we’d been to every restaurant in Seattle. There were no new places to go. I don’t think you can do that anymore."
Dan Chestnut: Upper School math teacher

"The buses used to be better because they went, all over the place. They went more into the city. Now, there’s fewer buses."

"The music scene was way different. Seattle, for a lot of reasons, created music differently than the rest of the world did... [Musicians] will kind of help out each other."

"When I was a kid, on Fridays, you would go to a parking lot. You’d park in a parking lot that was centrally located, where cars would drive by, and you’d be there with a couple of people and just hang out."

Donate to The Puma Press

Your donation will support the student journalists of UPrep.

About the Contributor

Avi Patel, Web Editor-In-Chief

Avi Patel is a Web Editor-In-Chief for the Puma Press. He is a senior and has been on staff for three years. His favorite stories to write are news stories and op-eds. His favorite part of journalism is giving a voice to students or staff who are otherwise unheard. Outside of journalism, he enjoys playing squash, hiking, and photography.