File:Men posing in front of restaurant at Alki Point, Seattle, 1908 (MOHAI 11056).jpg

Alki Point, in today's West Seattle neighborhood, has seen many changes since the arrival of Seattle's first white settlers in 1851. After the settlers moved to what is now known as Pioneer Square, the area saw little development until 1905 when the Alki Point Improvement Company began expanding the area from a summer camping place to a resort. A natatorium (building housing a swmming pool), a dance hall, the Stockade Hotel and cottages were built, and the steamer Dix rendered hourly service from Seattle's central waterfront. In 1908 the first trolley reached Alki Point, and development of the area as an escape from rapidly urbanizing Seattle continued. In this image three unidentified men stand in front of a restaurant, purportedly Alki's first. Notes on the mount indicate the restaurant was located near the natatorium, near the Alki Point Lighthouse.

Handwritten on mount: 1st restaurant built at Alki, 1905 - near the Alki Point Light House, where the 1st Natatorium at Alki was built by a man named Spencer and operated until 1908. Caption information source: The Seattle Sunday Times, June 18, 1905, p. 52 Caption information source: https://pauldorpat.com/2016/10/15/seattle-now-then-the-first-and-forgotten-alki-natatorium

• Subjects: Alki Point (Wash.)

Restaurants--Washington (State)--Seattle

• Subjects (LCTGM): Alki Point (Wash.); Restaurants--Washington (State)--Seattle