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Earlington Flats: Renton's Little Italy

Something the historical photo collection convinced me of is that there is too little known about Renton’ Little Italy, Earlington Flats. No mention of it, all family names absent from those presented at Festa Italiana. Would love to change that.

tonychiado.com

10 miles south of Seattle, Italian immigrants found the old world in their new homes.

Here 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).

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From 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.

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Sat in on an Italian language class, watched some Bocce, looked over a collection of historic photos, and watched the Grape Stomp at Festa Italiana this weekend at Seattle Center. Grateful to the Italian community in Seattle for putting this on every year.

A random thought: are taller ceilings in Seattle townhomes worth it if they require longer staircases taking up valuable floor space?

Tony @tonychiado.com · 26/09/2026

Haven’t seen Sol perform since my college days helping him promote his show at the Showbox. This is cool as hell.

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Tony @tonychiado.com · 26/09/2026

Found this digging around recently

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Tony @tonychiado.com · 25/09/2026

Hopefully good purchase volume incentivizes them to keep it on their shelves going forward.

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Tony @tonychiado.com · 25/09/2026

The Crodino are flying off the shelves at Red Apple. You love to see it

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Infatuation says more specifically that this is going to be Japanese-Italian

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I think Cultural Space Agency has been holding some open houses here in the last couple months as they plan to build out their retail space “LaunchPoint” here in 2027, but I’m not sure because they don’t have much information beyond a couple eventbrite posts.

Grand Street Commons on Rainier Ave S

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Oh, that’s a really good question and now you have me wondering if wealthier Seattle parents are more likely to send their daughters to private schools due to perceptions that their public schools would be too rough and tumble for them.

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Pound for pound, give me North Beacon Hill’s food scene over anywhere else in Seattle. There aren’t a thousand options, but everything on the hill is good to elite.

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Gohan, a Japanese restaurant on Beacon Hill, looks to be opening beneath the Jefferson Station Apartments soon!

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I think that’s pronounced PFAS

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If I’m getting pizza napoletana in the Rainier Valley, I’m going to Pizzeria Pulcinella. Bar del Corso up on Beacon Hill, too. But it’s a bummer to see a long time institution close.

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Before 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.

Speaking 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.

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It’s a Piemontese aperitivo. The DeLaurenti family is from Ciconio, Piemonte, a bit south of Crodo where the drink is made.

The only other two places that I know carry them in the Seattle metro area are DeLaurenti’s and Big John’s, both Italian specialty grocers. And they both carry the mini bottles (but you can buy a 10 pack of them for $19) from DeLaurenti’s.

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Wow, Tutta Bella is closing in Columbia City on October 2nd per their social media.

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Tony @tonychiado.com · 22/09/2026

Hilltop Red Apple on Beacon Hill is now stocking bottles of Crodino, which are probably the best NA Spritz you can find.

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Money only does so much to help solve issues of segregation and inequality in education. Social capital is perhaps a larger, more significant resource.

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Tony @tonychiado.com · 22/09/2026

That’s a bummer. I’ve loved using the ones at Beacon Hill and Judkins Park stations

Tony @tonychiado.com · 22/09/2026

Thanks for sharing all of this! Going to take a deeper look this week.

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Tony @tonychiado.com · 21/09/2026

“The Fir” submitted what looks like to me a plan for updated soil testing just yesterday. So definitely moving closer to breaking ground, I’d think.

Tony @tonychiado.com · 21/09/2026

That 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.

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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.

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Tony @tonychiado.com · 20/09/2026

I think I have access to ESRI as a high school teacher… but maybe not the full access I would need to build this out?

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Tony @tonychiado.com · 20/09/2026

Joe! Good to see you on this site. And good to see City finally rolling.

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I don’t think it’s a particularly well known or documented history, tbh. Renton’s own references to the Italian community just say that some congregated up on Talbot Hill, which is really something of a half truth.

A card would tell about the family’s history, too. On top of that, I would present a narrative of the history of the neighborhood from platting to the present (like I have in the original link). Whether I can actually do this, I’m not so sure.

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Ideally, I’d like to map out where each family lived in the neighborhood. Then you could click on the household to see historic photos of the home (and any family photos available). It’d also pull up a map of Italy off to the side and show where in Italy the family immigrated from.

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I have some fresh ideas for what I think could be a pretty cool interactive mapping website for this history, but I’m not sure that I possess the technical skills to readily make this happen.

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Hell yeah, you can find anything at Menards. Even a good hitting coach.

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Another large mixed-use project planned in the North Rainier corridor. The neighborhood keeps the tally going.

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So now I’m not really sure where they lived. There doesn’t appear to have been more than a shed on the property in the 1920s. Looking forward to digging into the King County survey photos from the late 1930s on Friday to see if I can find anything more helpful.

It 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.

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Recently, 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.

This looks wonderful. St. Louis continues to build out a really impressive central greenway.

This is the first time I think that I’m seeing renderings of this one! Very excited to see new projects continuing to move forward on North Rainier.

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Check out my neighbor’s sunflower garden. Townhome owners maximize their precious space, I’ll tell you what.

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Anecdotal but I feel like 8 AM Sunday mass attendance at St James Cathedral is way up in the past year or so.