Search Results

RVHS is proud to honor Estela Ortega as our 2025 History Maker, recognizing her over five decades of leadership in building community, advancing equity, and creating opportunities that have shaped the lives of thousands across Rainier Valley, Seattle, and beyond. Born in Harris, Texas, in 1950, Ortega grew up working in the cotton fields from the age of eight. Those early years, marked by hardship and resilience, instilled in her a lifelong empathy for others and a belief that dignity and justice must be fought for, not simply hoped for. In her early twenties, she became active in Houston’s grassroots movements, organizing for farmworkers’ rights, protesting the Vietnam War, registering voters, and helping underrepresented communities find their voice. Her path led her to El Paso in 1972, where she met fellow activist and Franklin High School teacher Roberto Maestas at a national Chicano conference. That meeting marked the beginning of a lifelong partnership in both life and purpose. Later that year, Ortega joined Maestas and a coalition of organizers in the occupation of the shuttered Beacon Hill Elementary School in Seattle, standing up for the preservation of bilingual education and community programs. Their peaceful protest resulted in the founding of El Centro de la Raza, “The Center for People of All Races”.  Under the leadership of Ortega and Maestas, El Centro de la Raza became a cornerstone for Southeast Seattle, offering support, education, and a welcoming space for people of all backgrounds. Over the years, El Centro has hosted everything from English and GED classes to tenant rights workshops, and cultural events like Día de los Muertos, powwows, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day marches.  When Maestas passed away in 2010, Ortega stepped into the role of Executive Director, carrying forward their shared vision. Under her leadership, El Centro has expanded its reach, most notably through the creation of Plaza Roberto Maestas, a 112-unit affordable housing and community development project that combines early learning, retail, and public gathering spaces in the heart of Beacon Hill. The project stands as a living symbol of what is possible when a community invests in itself. In recent years, Ortega has led the organization into a new chapter with the groundbreaking of Four Amigos – Beloved Community in Columbia City, a mixed-use affordable housing project that will provide 87 homes for families, along with a bilingual child development center and community space. Her work continues to shape a more equitable, inclusive Seattle. Earlier this year, Estela Ortega received the Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Distinguished Service from King County, recognizing her lifelong dedication to uniting people across lines of race, language, and class. On October 25, Rainier Valley Historical Society proudly honored her as our 2025 History Maker at the 10th Annual Founder’s Dinner, where she was presented with a Proclamation from the City of Seattle officially declaring October 25 “Estela Ortega Day.”

Excerpts from Rainier Valley Food Stories Cookbook Seattle is known as the coffee capital of the U.S., with espresso stands at every gas station and hardware store. But even as Seattle exports its doubletall-skinny-vanilla-lattes to cities from Amsterdam to Zagreb, South Seattle’s immigrant populations import their own coffee traditions. In this chapter we will look at coffee in its myriad forms across Rainier Valley, from the ancient Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony to the unique Vietnamese coffee maker, to the evolving Italian espresso tradition. The variety is stunning — who would have thought there were so many ways to combine hot water, coffee beans, and dairy products? – yet each method provides the coffee drinker with a delicious beverage that simultaneously stimulates and relaxes. Along with the physical effects of caffeine in the bloodstream, we must consider the social context of coffee drinking. From its early days, coffee has been associated with an age-old community building activity: sitting around talking. In Rainier Valley today, you can find many examples of this tradition. A Brief History of Coffee Coffee is believed to originate in Ethiopia. The story goes that a goatherd noticed that his animals were especially frisky after eating berries from a certain plant. He tried them himself, and experienced the first human caffeine high in history. Soon tribal warriors figured out how to grind up the beans, mix them with butter, and form the mixture into balls that could be carried into battle in lieu of food. What a strategic advantage! By the 15th century, the Sufis had developed the basic process of roasting and grinding the beans and passing hot water through them, and by the 16th century, coffeehouses had sprung up across the Arab world. In Cairo, it was a common stipulation of a marriage contract that the husband would provide a sufficient supply of coffee to his wife; if he didn’t, it could be “grounds” for divorce. Early on, coffeehouses were recognized by local rulers as dangerous places where people might get together to discuss politics – and they were often shut down by officials who feared the results of these discussions. From the Middle East, coffee spread to Europe, where coffeehouses again became loci of political and social discussion. Coffee came to be seen by some as a degenerate beverage, and coffeehouses were places that respectable women would not go. Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” chronicles the woes of a woman who doesn’t want to get married because it will mean giving up coffee. From cowboy coffee made in the campfire, to stay-at-home mothers’ coffee klatches around the kitchen table, to students’ late night coffee binges, to truck drivers’ 32 oz. travel mugs of gas station brew, coffee has spread all over the world and is now an integral part of many cultures. Rainier Valley’s diverse community offers a fascinating array of coffee traditions. Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony: "That is the place in your neighborhood to discuss anything" At Ethiopian restaurants and homes, women in long white dresses roast coffee beans in a small pan over a hot plate, then grind them and put them in a carafe. They brew three rounds of coffee in the carafe, each with its own name. The first, strongest round is called “Abol,” the second “Tona,” and the third round is “Baraka.” Coffee is served with a snack called yebuna kourse – usually popcorn or bread. Aklilu Welemichael, owner of Fasica Ethiopian Restaurant says, “The people in the neighborhood will be together, they will sit down over there and discuss the social aspect of their lives. What happened yesterday? What we can do for the future? That is the place [in] your neighborhood to discuss anything.” Photo: Coast To Coast Coffee Vietnamese Coffee Vietnamese coffee preparation is equally languorous, though the result is quite different. A cup containing condensed milk is topped with a special coffee maker that slowly drips strong coffee directly into the sweet milk. This technique reflects Vietnamese history and geography: all over Asia tea is the dominant caffeinated beverage, but French colonists introduced coffee to the Vietnamese in the 19th century, along with sweet rich pastries to accompany it. Both coffee and pastries “stuck” and remain part of the Vietnamese diet today. Canned milk was used because fresh milk would quickly spoil in the tropical heat. Photo: Coffeeholic House - Columbia City French Coffee, New Orleans Style The French brought coffee to New Orleans too, where canned milk is also a common accompaniment. Edna Fortuné grew up drinking it, literally, at her grandfather’s knee. “My grandpa used to sit at that kitchen table and have his coffee in the morning, and when I’d see him go in there, see, I had to really sneak. I’d just crawl right around the other side where my dad couldn’t see. I’d go and sit right between [my grandfather’s] legs. I’d sit there and wait and be real quiet. Then I could hear when my mom was pouring him his coffee. And I just knew, man, I was gonna get some soon. When my mom would leave the room, he would [say], “Girl, girl.” He’d slip that saucer to me under the table, man. [Laughs] [I’d] drink it and try not to [slurp]. So that’s how I started drinking coffee. I think that’s how we all started drinking coffee. And I love it to this day, and I can go to bed after having drunk a cup right before. Whew. What a tolerance.” Edna says everyone puts evaporated milk in their coffee in New Orleans. “Well, I think it’s a French thing. It’s so rich, you know. Evaporated milk imparts this little nut flavor. It does something really nice to the flavor of your coffee. I never had pure coffee until I got west of Texas. The first time I drank it, I thought, ‘Whoa, this is water with a little coffee in it.’” Other coffee drinking grandfathers made an impression on their Seattle grandkids, including this Jewish immigrant from Europe in the early 1900s: “Grandpa would sit at the head of the table drinking his coffee out of his saucer through a lump of sugar he held in his front teeth. I used to think he did this for the benefit of his grandchildren, but since [then] I’ve learned this was the common way coffee was drunk in the European countries" (This is from Caroline Blumenthal Danz, born in 1892) Norwegian Coffee Break Karleen Pederson-Wolfe’s father passed on the Norwegian coffee drinking tradition he grew up with. She recalls: “I started my day, every day, at six o’clock in the morning on his lap with a little thing of coffee milk. Norwegians drink coffee. So do Natives. I was destined to be a coffeeholic.” Karleen’s sister Shirley remembers the role coffee played in the family’s social life: “Whenever people would come to our house – the first thing, you’d be offered a cup of coffee. And if there wasn’t something to eat being prepared right there, mom would offer you toast and jelly or fruit. Always had a snack. If you went to my mom’s house today or if my dad were here today you’d go over and first thing, “Have a cup of coffee and have a snack.” Sitting together drinking coffee provided a social bond within the family as well. Shirley goes on: “Coffee Break. Do people take coffee breaks anymore? Like we used to when I was growing up, my dad at ten o’clock in the morning there’d be a coffee break. It would be like a quick snack and a short conversation. My dad loved to talk. So coffee break time was always a time to [ask], ‘How’s your day going? What did you accomplish so far, what are you going to do next?’ He was very involved in our lives. He knew what we were doing.” Pioneer Coffee Coffee arrived in Rainier Valley with European settlers in the mid-19th century. This 1910 recipe from The American Woman’s Cookbook is fairly typical: “In preparing tea and coffee it is of first importance to begin right. See that the teakettle is clean, and the water pure. A tea kettle that is filled with lime or other sediment is unfit for use, and water that has stood in the house over night, or for some hours, is impure. To begin, then, rinse the tea kettle thoroughly and fill with fresh water, put on the fire and bring to a boil quickly. For coffee… allow a tablespoonful of ground coffee for every person to be served, and put in an extra spoonful for every five or six persons. If an ordinary pot is used, mix the coffee with an egg, put it in the coffee pot and add to it about a cupful of cold water; set it on the stove and bring to a boil quickly. The moment it begins to boil, add boiling water (about 2 quarts to five spoonfuls of ground coffee) and set it on the back part of the stove where it will keep hot, but on no account allow it to boil, as that destroys the aroma. The coffee will be ready to serve in six or eight minutes after the hot water has been added." Espresso The Rainier Valley boasts at least three Starbucks shops, plus innumerable independent coffee shops and espresso stands. These establishments carry on the Italian tradition of forcing hot water through finely ground coffee beans. The espresso machine was invented by Luigi Bezzera in 1901, and by 1961 the modern electric machine was perfected. Espresso is served straight, or with frothy steamed milk – “latte”. While Bezzera’s goal was to make coffee faster (shortening his employees’ coffee breaks), espresso can be enjoyed as slowly as any other brew, and it provides plenty of opportunity for the kind of community-building public conversations that coffee has encouraged for over 600 years. Photo: Olympia Coffee Roasters

Fireworks in Columbia City Thomas Gabriel Hitt, known as T.G. Hitt, was born in London in 1874. He studied chemistry at Westminster College, and in 1898 he began manufacturing fireworks. Within the year, he and his brothers moved to Victoria, B.C., and started the Hitt Brothers Fireworks Company. His wife, Annie, had met T.G. in England just 10 days before he sailed for Canada. They wrote letters for three years before she finally joined him. In 1905, the Hitts moved to Seattle and settled in Columbia City. T.G. started the Hitt’s Fireworks Company on a wooded knoll just south of town; as the business grew, the site became known as Hitt’s Hill. They built a house near the factory and raised four children: Raymond, Dorothy, Wilmot and Marion. Ray Hitt shared his father’s inventive and business talents and took over the business when his father died. Hitt Family Car for 4th of July Parade “The Best Fireworks Obtainable Anywhere” Hitt’s Fireworks became an internationally known company, developing new explosive products every year at their factory on Hitt’s Hill. The operation consisted of a series of sheds rather than one large building, so that accidental explosions and fires could be contained more easily. Hitt fireworks whirled, whistled, fizzed, and flashed. Their best-selling product, the “Flashcracka,” was advertised as “the best fireworks obtainable anywhere, at any time or at any price.” In addition to individual fireworks, they produced spectacular shows all over the country. Hitt fireworks extravaganzas opened the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition in Seattle and the San Francisco and New York World’s Fairs. They also produced the show that welcomed the King and Queen of England to Victoria, B.C. in 1939. Closer to home, they presented shows at Sick’s Stadium and at Playland in north Seattle. They created the 4th of July show for Ivar’s until 1974. Their fireworks shows were large-scale productions: for every major celebration, the Hitts built elaborate sets up to 400 feet long, which served as platforms for the fireworks show. The sets carried themes such as “Mt. Fuji,” “Fires of Freedom,” and the “Birth of America,” often with lines of chorus girls and military drill teams performing between the explosions. The Hitt signature grand finale was to blow the set up in a ball of fire, igniting the skies with explosions of color and showers of rockets. Various Ads and packaging from Hitt's fireworks: The Burning of Atlanta Their skill at building, burning, and blowing up sets made the Hitts pioneers in movie special effects. The company produced fire scenes for, among other films, “What Price Glory” and “Gone with the Wind.” The burning of Atlanta in “Gone with the Wind” involved a 40 acre set constructed from used sets (including the gate from “King Kong”) and then set on fire. Flames shot 500 feet in the air and it took three 5,000 gallon tank trucks of water to extinguish the flames after the shoot. All seven Technicolor cameras available in Hollywood at the time were used to film the sequence, capturing 113 minutes of footage at a cost of $25,000. The film was nominated for a special effects Oscar. Gone With the Wind’s epic Burning of Atlanta scene was filmed on Culver Studios’ backlot. Getty Images. A Smokescreen for the Shipyard During WWII, the company manufactured flares and safety supplies for the military. Their most notable contribution to the war effort was the smokescreen over the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton. Throughout the war, the shipyard at Bremerton built ships for the navy and repaired battle ships and aircraft carriers serving in the Pacific. To protect this essential operation from a sneak attack like the one at Pearl Harbor, the Hitt’s Fireworks Company used their knowledge of chemicals and explosive powders to create a smoke screen for the shipyard, hiding it from potential enemy planes flying overhead. Flashcrackas The best-selling retail item was the Flashcracka, which T. G. Hitt developed in 1916. Hitt substituted photographic flash powder, a mix of powdered magnesium or aluminum and an oxidizer. His “flashlight crackers” exploded with a much louder noise than their black powder predecessors. Flashcrackas were a key ingredient in Spokane's annual Firecracker Golf Tournament, held at the Indian Canyon Golf Course from 1936 through the 1960s. In this event, described as "the most tumultuous ear-splitting golf tournament in the world," competitors teed off and played amid a cacophony of exploding Flashcrackas, sirens, bells, and horns. "For golfers it was like playing through a firefight in the streets of Beirut," they wrote. "The booms, bangs, and blasts startled players out of their strikes, shattered their nerves, and helped send their scores soaring as high as a Roman candle" Hitt’s took a certain pride in its role in staging the event, and used footage from one of the tournaments in a promotional film. “They’ve taken the independence out of Independence Day” There were a few explosions at the Hitt factory over the years, with one tragic fatality in 1921. In 1961 the Safe and Sound Fireworks Restrictions made it illegal to manufacture many types of fireworks in Seattle. These regulations hurt the Hitts’ business. Ray Hitt commented, “They’ve taken the independence out of Independence Day.” With fireworks production moved to China, Hitt’s continued to produce lavish fireworks shows until the cost of permits and liability insurance made the shows unprofitable. The last fireworks show the Hitts put on was for Ivar’s in 1974. Hitt’s Hill Today Members of the Hitt family spent years negotiating with property owners, developers and Seattle mayors advocating to preserve the hilltop. These efforts finally paid off after the formation of the Friends of Hitt’s Hill, when the group worked with the Cascade Land Conservancy and the Seattle Parks Department to transform the site of the old Hitt's Fireworks Company into a park. The nearly four-acre property now provides quiet, natural, open space and trails for Rainier Valley residents and a home for birds and other wildlife. Hitt's Hill Park, 2020

Historical society in Seattle, Washington. Our mission is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret the history and heritage of the Rainier Valley. WELCOME TO RAINIER VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Learn More Our Mission To collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret the history and heritage of Rainier Valley and its community and to educate and promote public involvement in, and appreciation of, its history and culture. Big News! We bought a building! We're excited to announce the purchase of the historic Columbia Motor Co. Building at 3806 S Ferdinand Street in Columbia City. After more than 130 years of preserving and sharing Rainier Valley’s stories, we finally have a permanent home to grow our archives, host exhibits, and create a vibrant community space. Read More Upcoming Events See all events Weekly Office Hours Fri, Nov 28 RVHS Office Stop by the RVHS office! Learn more Holiday Open House Sat, Dec 06 3806 S Ferdinand St, Seattle, WA 98118, USA Come by for hot cider and photos in the Chubby & Tubby Santa sleigh! Learn more Featured Articles See more articles Our Archives Learn more about our archives Articles & Publications Photographs Newsletters Oral Histories Become a Member Help us preserve and celebrate the history of the Rainier Valley. Be a part of our advocacy for local preservation. Become a Member

Help us preserve and celebrate the history of the Rainier Valley. Be a part of our advocacy for local preservation. Support RVHS Your gift helps preserve the stories, cultures, and histories that make Rainier Valley unique. Every donation supports our archives, exhibits, programs, and the creation of Rainier Valley Heritage Hall. Thank you for your support!

Watch and listen to our collection of interviews and videos. Oral Histories We have serval dozen oral histories in our collection. A portion of our catalog are available on our YouTube Channel. The full catalog is available to researchers by appointment. explore our library RVHS Video Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Now Playing 01:43:42 Play Video Oral History Alice Yasutake Now Playing 23:43 Play Video RVHS 131st Annual Meeting, 2022 Program: 1995 Heritage Day Slideshow Now Playing 39:55 Play Video Oral History Series: Lavenia Natuna Submit Your Oral History Share your story with us! RVHS welcomes submissions of oral histories from individuals interested in preserving their experiences for future generations. To contribute to our library, fill out our contact form, and we'll reach out to you. contact us