Tony @tonychiado.com · 15hHere’s one on Talbot Hill in Renton that surprised me because I never would have guessed there’d been commercial there but it used to be an Italian grocer starting in the ‘30s. 040
Tony @tonychiado.com · 03/10/2026I, too, have a general aesthetic preference for the old brick homes of the last century. But the reality is that this house would approach $1M while the townhomes that replace it will be in the $500s. These monotonous, sore thumb, “Milk Cartons” are people’s homes that they take pride in. 150
Tony @tonychiado.com · 27/09/2026Here a great shot I’ve never seen before looking at Seattle’s Little Italy, Garlic Gulch. The camera looks south down Rainier Ave from Atlantic St. the built environment is radically different today, but Stewart Lumber remains (celebrating 100 years this year). 150
Tony @tonychiado.com · 27/09/2026From the photo collection, here’s the original Casa Italiana on the 17th Ave across the street from where Trader Joe’s stands today. The building was demolished at some point. 120
Tony @tonychiado.com · 26/09/2026Haven’t seen Sol perform since my college days helping him promote his show at the Showbox. This is cool as hell. 0110
Tony @tonychiado.com · 24/09/2026Gohan, a Japanese restaurant on Beacon Hill, looks to be opening beneath the Jefferson Station Apartments soon! 180
Tony @tonychiado.com · 23/09/2026Before Pete DeLaurenti opened the Pike Place grocery store the mid ‘40s, his relative Louis (Luigi) owned and ran Piemonte Grocery for Renton’s Italian community from 1906-1942. 010
Tony @tonychiado.com · 23/09/2026Speaking of the DeLaurenti family, here’s a photo of the Ciconio picnic at Barei Park in Kent, 1934. There are a ton of DeLaurenti family members in this photo. About 25 in total. 100
Tony @tonychiado.com · 23/09/2026Hilltop Red Apple on Beacon Hill is now stocking bottles of Crodino, which are probably the best NA Spritz you can find. 120
Tony @tonychiado.com · 21/09/2026That other building directly behind “The Fir” is another project planned by the same developer, Kamiak. Called “Treble,” it would include 214 units, 6k sq ft of retail, and 120 parking spots. It was supposed to begin Q3 2025. 160
Tony @tonychiado.com · 21/09/2026“The Fir” at 1906 20th Ave S looks like site clearance is underway, hopefully to begin construction. 204 units, 4k sq ft of retail, and 80 parking spots coming to North Rainier. This project was supposed to begin in Q2 2025. 1110
Tony @tonychiado.com · 17/09/2026It should be on the northwest corner of SW 7th Ave and Morris Ave S like it is in the present day. One of my hunches is that during I-405 construction, someone saved this home from the wrecking ball on Talbot Hill and moved it down to its current location. The foundation supports that theory. 100
Tony @tonychiado.com · 17/09/2026Recently, I found where my great-grandmother lived in Downtown Renton via school census records (very cool these were done yearly!). 637 Morris Ave S. Built 1915. Simple enough. But when I went to look at the 1936 Aerial, nothing was there. 1927 Sanborn map, the house wasn’t there. 110
Tony @tonychiado.com · 16/09/2026Check out my neighbor’s sunflower garden. Townhome owners maximize their precious space, I’ll tell you what. 0100
Tony @tonychiado.com · 15/09/2026Look at those views from the new affordable housing project atop Beacon Hill. Am I selfish for wishing we’d get some more rooftop restaurants and bars outside of downtown in this city? 3171
Tony @tonychiado.com · 15/09/2026This slipped my mind last weekend but it looks like about 80 people went to the Italian mass at Our Lady of Mount Virgin. 041
Tony @tonychiado.com · 14/09/2026Acknowledging the photo quality is suboptimal but are these the same people ~15 years apart? What do you think? 100
Tony @tonychiado.com · 13/09/2026I’d love to know how this new construction townhome project in my neighborhood got away with a lazy, cheap asphalt sidewalk when every other new construction project pours a concrete sidewalk to city specs. 1100
Tony @tonychiado.com · 13/09/2026Jackson Street Jazz Festival at Pratt Park this evening. What a great time! 160
Tony @tonychiado.com · 12/09/2026The renovation of the 1886 Turner-Koepf house on Beacon Hill is looking pretty good! 020
Tony @tonychiado.com · 11/09/2026Doesn’t feel like the corporations are making a good faith critique of Mayor Wilson… *Data from SPD Crime Dashboard 3307
Tony @tonychiado.com · 10/09/2026In 1923, Washington State saw its largest KKK rally at People’s Park in the Renton Junction area less than one mile west of this community. At this “Konvention,” tens of thousands of people showed up to espouse their hatred for immigrants and people of color among other groups. 151
Tony @tonychiado.com · 09/09/2026Why don’t we see more staircases like this (is there a name for it?) in Seattle townhomes where space is at a premium? Feel like it takes up less square footage than a typical staircase. 030
Tony @tonychiado.com · 07/09/2026Renton School District is currently investing more than $500M into the Renton High School campus and the new site for the Renton Transit Center is also a large opportunity for the future of that area. The Renton Market is also near opening and will breathe in some new commercial life. 230
Tony @tonychiado.com · 07/09/2026Here’s a 1910 illustration of what boosters believed Renton was destined to become over the next couple decades. Look at that waterfront! 1100
Tony @tonychiado.com · 07/09/2026Seattle’s Italian paper was also promoting fascist propaganda praising Mussolini during the ‘20s and ‘30s. In addition to promoting this film, other articles celebrated Mussolini is making Italy great again. 110
Tony @tonychiado.com · 03/09/2026So cool to find stuff like this about the family’s horse racing history 030
Tony @tonychiado.com · 02/09/2026Another photo of the Barei businesses. This was on East Valley Highway in the neighborhood. Earlington Flats was *very* Italian. Probably among the most Italian neighborhoods in the region after Garlic Gulch. 110
Tony @tonychiado.com · 02/09/2026She mentions going to Renton’s Italian grocer (Barei’s) with my great-grandma’s sister. 130
Tony @tonychiado.com · 01/09/2026An Italian Catholic Mass will be celebrated at the now-closed Our Lady of Mount Virgin Catholic Church on September 12th. 111
Tony @tonychiado.com · 01/09/2026So I feel pretty confident that this was their humble neighborhood in 1936. That northern most road would become Grady Way. The neighborhood would survive until the 1990s despite 405 plowing through it in the 1960s. But eventually, the desire to build more industrial and auto dealerships demo’d it. 110
Tony @tonychiado.com · 31/08/2026He tried to suggest SPS teachers are already paid more than enough while citing pay for a 15+ year teacher with the 2nd highest education level. Unfortunately, this flies in the face of the recent research on teacher pay. 180
Tony @tonychiado.com · 31/08/2026Here’s one of the horses my wife shows nationally. Probably my favorite horse to be around. As sweet as she is beautiful as she is talented. 130
Tony @tonychiado.com · 30/08/2026Digging through more family history last night. I had known one of my great-grandmother’s cousins was a partigiano killed during WWII. The SS caught wind of political resistance in the Lanzo valleys north of Torino. As they gained control, firing squads killed a handful of partigiani. 150
Tony @tonychiado.com · 28/08/2026St. Hardini, a Maronite Catholic Church in North Beacon Hill, is hosting a Middle Eastern Food Festival Sunday from 12:30-6:30. 130
Tony @tonychiado.com · 27/08/2026This part of Renton, near where the Black met the Duwamish, was also home to both Longacres (Washington’s most notable horse track) and the Earlington Golf Club (one of the state’s oldest). So it drew the wealthier, urban crowd from Seattle. 130
Tony @tonychiado.com · 27/08/2026Near the Black River, which largely dried up in 1916 when Lake Washington was lowered, they lived outside of the main town of Renton. These are the 1912, 1930, and 1950 Kroll Maps with a 1936 aerial. 130
Tony @tonychiado.com · 27/08/2026Digging more into some family history this evening and figured out both my great grandparents on my dad’s maternal side grew up near each other in Renton. In the 1930 census, I could see that they lived just a street away from each other. “Earlington Gardens.” This is the 1926 Metsker Map. 2150
Tony @tonychiado.com · 21/08/2026I appreciate that Gee questioned the ethics of the media spectacle at the center of all of this. Saying that she always asks for consent, but doesn’t think she actually needs consent to violate the dignity of other people by filming them in crisis pretty much says it all. 170
Tony @tonychiado.com · 20/08/2026My Great-Grandpa George got out of farming and into horse training because my Grandma didn’t like him killing any of the livestock. Here’s a cool article from the Seattle PI about him in 1970, during the height of his racing days. They called him “The Prince of Poverty Row” 000
Tony @tonychiado.com · 20/08/2026In addition to working with the horses, my great-grandmother was also a co-owner of the Main Corner Cafe in the ‘50s. This at 3rd and Main in Renton, where Premier Meat Pies is today. 110
Tony @tonychiado.com · 20/08/2026Accompanying that photo was also this one of the barn. It was a thrilling danger to peak into it as a kid before it collapsed during a snowstorm one year in my teens. 110
Tony @tonychiado.com · 20/08/2026This was his farmhouse where I spent many youthful days visiting my great-grandmother long after he passed. When I found this photo, I thought the records were wrong. It didn’t look anything like my memory. But the front of the house was hidden by bushes. Cool to see it in its early years. 110
