![]() The original reputation of houseboat colonies as refuges for hard-scrabble laborers, rough-and-tumble ne'er-do-wells, and the chronically unemployed was not entirely undeserved - and more than one administration at Seattle's city hall did what it could to dissuade their growth. Both on the Sound and along the fresh water lakes all the comforts of a home may be transported from one inviting and secluded spot to another as the inmates desire" ( Seattle Mail and Herald, p.5).īut that gentrified aspect was a mere sliver of the whole gritty story. In 1902 it was reported that there were nearly 1,000 houseboaters in Seattle, and another local newspaper noted that: "Within the past few years house boats have formed a part of summering in the West. There - and off Madrona and Denny-Blaine - is where well-heeled families enjoyed new summer getaway houseboats or, as Westerner magazine dubbed them, "Amphibian Houses," and joining them were some elegant wooden boats. Not long after the Yesler cable-car line was installed in 1888, a couple of considerably more upscale colonies arose along the western shores of Lake Washington, where a few privately operated destinations like the Victorian-era beachfront parks at Madison and Leschi had been founded. There was also a subset of sailors, fishermen, or dockworkers who coexisted there by living aboard sea-worthy vessels - or boat houses - in the off-seasons when they (the "live-aboards") weren't trolling the sound or local lakes. The lifestyle was not, however, perfectly carefree: Storms and heavy snows threatened the houseboats' viability - indeed, one historic account notes an incident that saw a Puget Sound-based unit torn from its mooring, its two residents luckily rescued only after it was located, partially-submerged, seven miles out to sea.īy the 1880s Seattle's central waterfront was the site of a number of shabby houseboats anchored just offshore or moored to pier pilings and wharves arrayed just inside the then-trestled Railroad Avenue (today's Alaskan Way). Because timber work is seasonal - just like the Northwest's other main industry, fishing - some of those lumbering loggers and salty sailors quite naturally (in order to preserve their financial savings) took to building themselves floating shacks from scrap boards, and living rent- or mortgage-free lifestyles during their off seasons. Seattle was founded in 1852-1853 as a seaport town whose first industry was logging - an enterprise that sometimes towed floating bunkhouses and cookhouses up rivers for crews' use. ![]() Over time, several colonies were effectively decimated through zoning wars, shoreline-redevelopment schemes, and freeway-construction projects, but the shrunken-but-still-thriving colony (of about 480 units) on Lake Union - with its increasingly luxurious structures, one of which served as a key setting in the 1993 Hollywood blockbuster, Sleepless In Seattle - attests to the continuing desirability of this unusual lifestyle. City Hall responded to the landlubbers' concerns about property values and views - not to mention underlying outrage over moral turpitude - with decades of land-use battles, health department inquiries, and other legalistic crusades against the floating homes. Scandalized uplanders - especially those in middle-class neighborhoods who literally and figuratively "looked down" on the waterborne communities - viewed them as squalid, lawless nests of anarchic outcasts, rowdy riff-raff, and the flotsam of society. Because of the low-cost living, the colonies also attracted bohemians, political radicals, and a certain share of criminals. Others - along the Elliott Bay waterfront, the Duwamish River, Harbor Island, Salmon Bay, Lake Union, Portage Bay, and Union Bay - were mainly inhabited by workers struggling to stay financially afloat. Some of these communities - especially those off the Madison Park and Leschi neighborhoods on Lake Washington - were formed by the well-to-do who enjoyed summering aboard their fancy abodes. Although Seattleites didn't invent houseboats, the young town saw early colonies of them arise at disparate locations along its numerous bays, lakes, and rivers. ![]() ![]() For more than 100 years Seattle has famously been host to remarkable clusters of floating homes that have helped define the town's social culture and maintain its reputation as a place where unconventional modes of living are enjoyed.
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