Vestiges of Old-Time Seattle

I believe that the Bartell drugstore here in the Medical Dental Building is the original one in that chain. In any case, it still employs a couple of cashiers who look like they may have been around back in the middle part of the 20th Century. Everyone there is friendly and helpful, but I find the two older ladies’ slow-paced service (not slow like a snooty upscale-store clerk, more like a waiter in a small Parisian bistro) endearing. It reminds me of when, not that long ago, people would drive 45 MPH (now it’s more like 65 MPH) past the Twin Teepees on Aurora or slow down as they drove by The Blob on lower Queen Anne. Every Tuesday morning I go into Bartell (I say Bartells in my head, the way old-time Seattle-ites say Nordstroms or Boeings) and buy the New York Times, and most Tuesdays Gail, the more youthful of the two, rings me up and always says, “Thanks a lot, dear.” I just love that.