Officially, this alley off 34th Avenue E between E John Street and 35th Avenue E is unnamed. That proved inconvenient for Jack Sussman and Cathy Nunneley, who live at 184 and 128 33rd Avenue E, respectively. Yes, 33rd Avenue E, even though their house is accessed from 34th.
I don’t know how it works in other cities, but in Seattle, you can have an address on a nonexistent — or, more accurately, unimproved — street. This is the case with W Semple Street — the three residences with a Semple address are only accessible from 45th Avenue W. And this is the case here. Unlike Semple, 33rd Avenue E is improved… but not for the entire length of its right-of-way. From about 450 feet south of E Harrison Street to about 175 feet north of E Denny Way, 33rd Avenue E is unimproved and makes up part of the Harrison Ridge Greenbelt.
Sussman writes in the July–August 2010 issue of The Valley View, the newsletter of the Madison Valley Community Council:
We have a problem because our address is one that people cannot find. Get a new mailperson and we won’t see any mail for a week!… How many Roto-Rooter men, phone line fixers, and Craigslist contacts have been lost trying to find us? GPS and MapQuest systems are useless for locating my house. How many times have I run out to the street vainly searching for the delivery truck going round and round the neighborhood?
He goes on to explain that “a fine article lamenting [the] neglect of city alleys” written by Knute Berger inspired him to put up a sign reading “Swanson’s Alley” underneath the city’s official sign directing people to his and Nunneley’s houses. He chose the name to honor “Swanson, a Swedish carpenter, [who] lived here in the 1930s,” and happily reports that giving the alley a name, albeit unofficial, did indeed help people find his residence.
In the next issue of The Valley View, Sussman reports that he was able to locate a grandson of this Swanson, to give him the news and get further details on the alley’s namesake:
The grandfather who founded the family here was Elof Svenson [1881–1958]; the name later became Swanson in America. Elof was a teenage laborer, a Swedish immigrant who spoke little English. I had one detail wrong: he was not a carpenter but a landscape worker who specialized in rockeries. He put in all the bulkheads that hold the ground above the Harrison Greenbelt.
In general, I’m not a fan of unofficial signage (especially signs proclaiming public rights-of-way to be private, which I’ve come across in Blue Ridge, Montlake, and Wedgwood) but I have no problem with this one. It doesn’t imply private ownership and it’s meant to improve navigation. And it honors someone most people would otherwise never have heard of.
By the way — in case you’re wondering why Swanson’s Alley shows up in Google Maps and OpenStreetMap even though the name is unofficial, it’s because I added it. The name, that is — the alley was already present on both. (I’m trying to get it added to Apple Maps as well, but that may be a bit more difficult.)
Born and raised in Seattle, Benjamin Donguk Lukoff had his interest in local history kindled at the age of six, when his father bought him settler granddaughter Sophie Frye Bass’s Pig-Tail Days in Old Seattle at the gift shop of the Museum of History and Industry. He studied English, Russian, and linguistics at the University of Washington, and went on to earn his master’s in English linguistics from University College London. His book of rephotography, Seattle Then and Now, was published in 2010. An updated version came out in 2015.
Wow! So you are the one who got Swanson’s Alley on Google Maps! Thank you! I’ve lived at the end of the alley since 1977. When I moved into my house as a renter, Jerry was 51, and he had lived in his house since 1971. I was 27 at the time. I was eventually able to purchase the house and have never moved out.
The official street sign, installed by the City, was placed after many years of concern by us and the local fire and police that our houses were so hard to find. (Our addresses are 184 and 128 33rd Ave E, even though they are nowhere near 33rd Ave E. Access is only by 34th Ave E.)
Despite the improved signage installed by the City, people still constantly got lost trying to find our homes. Once you put it on Google Maps, all we had to do is say “go to Google Maps and find Swanson’s Alley – it’s the only one in the world”!
Please be assured that Jerry did not intend to imply private ownership. In fact, both of our households have happily encouraged people to pass through. We repaved the alley at our own expense (the City does not maintain alleys apparently) to allow easier access. In hanging the customized sign, Jerry simply wanted to honor the man who built Jerry’s house for himself in the 1920s (and our house for his daughter in the 1930s).
Jerry was an amazing guy who steadfastly helped to preserve the Harrison Ridge Greenbelt over many years. He also designated a portion of his property in front of his house as Open Space, pledging not to develop that land. (He was also instrumental in keeping most of Cypress Island undeveloped.)
Jerry passed away a few months ago, at 95. The future of the Alley is of concern to many in the neighborhood. I can fill you in with more details if you desire.
Again, thanks for telling Google Maps about us! I tried to inform Apple so that we’d appear on their map, but it didn’t seem to work. Maybe you can help?
Hello, and thank you for commenting! I’m sorry if it looked like I was complaining about Jerry’s sign or thought he was trying to fool others into thinking the alley was private. Quite the opposite. I may go back and edit that part of the post to avoid any confusion. I’m sorry to hear of his passing. And yes, I would love to know more about the future of the alley. You can either comment here or email me directly at addressnerd@writesofway.org.
As for Apple, they are quite a bit more difficult to deal with than Google Maps, but I’ll see if there’s anything I can do.
It looks like Swanson’s Alley is finally appearing on Apple Maps, by the way!
My mother bought the 128 33rd house in 1945 when i was 7 years old. My brothers and I lived there until about 1952 or 3. I have fond memories of that house. Mr and Mrs Swanson lived next door. I thought he built our house but not sure. We used to play in the lot on the alley and climb trees and in the woods below our house. Mr Swanson had an old pickup truck with some rocks and his sledge hammer in the back of it. i remember using that hammer to break the rocks to see what they looked like inside. We had blackberries and the Swanson’s had raspberries which i would thoroughly enjoy eating. I also remember the mahogany wood doors in the hallway and the lead pane windows in one of the bedrooms on the main floor and pine panelling in the upstairs bedroom that looked over the valley. We walked to Madrona grade school. We also attended Edmund Meany Jr Hi later on. Sometimes we would ride our bikes to the Arboretum and catch tadpoles. Fond memories.
I love these sorts of stories, Lynn — thank you for sharing!
Wow! Thanks for this info Lyn. My wife and I have lived at 128 33E since 1977! Jerry Sussman, the man who lived in Mr. & Mrs Swanson’s house from 1971 to 2023 is responsible for re-naming the alley. (Jerry was also responsible for preventing development of what is now the Harrison Ridge Greenbelt, the woods that you played in as a child.).
We created a handmade street sign several ago. Ben Lukoff saw the sign and stopped at the alley on a day when Jerry and my wife were both outside. We are grateful for his interest and expertise in Seattle street name history! Swanson’s alley now appears as the official name on Google and Apple maps. We should probably get the city to change the name so that we can have a Swanson’s Alley mailing address. Let us know if you would like to visit our house and the Swanson house (now occupied by a young family).
I love the idea of a Swanson’s Alley mailing address! Although my guess is the city would insist it be Swanson Alley E, if they approved it… I’m pretty sure there are no street names within the Seattle city limits that feature apostrophes and I doubt they would want to introduce one.
Swanson Alley E would be in pretty good company with Post Alley, Canton Alley, and Maynard Alley!