As usual, my apologies for your 56k bandwidth, this is a photo-heavy post. Also many thanks to the various online archives I have plundered for your enjoyment. Very special thanks to the Olympia Historical Society, http://olympiahistory.org/, where many of these photos were originally curated and posted, also thanks to http://www.jonesphotocollection.com/, and http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ for making these photos available for us. 

Let's start with a round of "name the familiar building." Try to guess before you scroll. No cheating!

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This is a somewhat unprofessional video of a truck on fire downtown. 

This essay is photo heavy, so pardon the bandwidth. Most photos link to hi-res versions. 

The photos have been pulled from various online sources and the “now” pictures are from Google Maps Street View and Google Earth. 

Thanks to http://www.jonesphotocollection.com/, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/, and http://olympiahistory.org/

I have tried by best to find the current locations, but I may be wrong in a few instances. 

1. Olympia in 1894. 

I had this photo labelled 1848 but I am pretty sure that is wrong based on the inscription. 

It is not easy to tell, but you can see how much the shoreline has grown. 

Now:

2. Olympia in 1948

I believe this photo was taken with the next few that follow it. You can see Little Hollywood and I am pretty sure that is the Oyster House

Now: 

note - this is a very photo-heavy essay, so please forgive the bandwidth. most images link to higher resolution versions.

I have been doing research based pretty heavily in the 20’s and 30’s as of late, and recently I stumbled across this very low-resolution photo of our local Bus Depot, in about 1920something.

no larger resolution available

You can barely see, but poking out of the garage are two very unique buses, of a style that was apparently only produced here in the Pacific Northwest. 

Before we get into the nitty gritty of cool buses (yes buses are cool), I want to take a second to tell you about the state of the road system in the United States in this era. Check out this photo from 1912:

According to the following article posted here by KOMO:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Drunk-drivers-light-sentence-triggers...

There is a protest taking place this afternoon to protest what is claimed to be preferential treatment of a local businessman in a string of DUI arrests. 

In an interview with one of the organizers, Sam, had the following to share with me:

There shouldn't be two seperate legal systems, one for the rich and one for the poor. This is not "about" Goodman, this is about the legal system as a whole. But his case is an analogy for the greater injustice taking place."

The protestors will be meeting at 3:00 PM on the corner of Deschutes Parkway and Lakeridge, and marching up the hill. 

The organizers can be found at the associated Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/273342256181758/