In the 1930s in Seattle there were fewer zoning restrictions, so there were streets which had some businesses mixed in with private homes. The 1938 photo collection of King County showed this house at 3521 Stone Way with a barber shop sign in front of the house. There was a gas station next door at 3525 Stone Way. In the 1930s Stone Way began this transition to all-commercial structures so that there are no houses on Stone Way now.
In the 1930s residents of the house at 3521 Stone Way were Oscar & Marie Skotdal who had immigrated from Norway in 1923. We don’t know for sure if Oscar or Marie were the ones who had this sideline of hair-cutting in addition to Oscar’s other job, or if they were leasing out space in their house for a barber. It would have been a good location for a barber, with gas stations and other businesses close by, a very visible site along Stone Way.
The Skotdal family came to Fremont in an era when men worked very hard at unskilled labor in mills and factories. City Directory employment listings of Oscar Skotdal showed that he worked in wood products shops such as millwork, and operating machinery at a barrel factory.
The Skotdal family lived in this house for about fifteen years and raised three sons here. In 1959 the house and the gas station next door were demolished and a company, Daly’s Paint and Decorating, built their building here at the southwest corner of North 36th Street & Stone Way. After Daly’s closed in 2018, the building has been utilized for retail storefronts including a coffee shop.
Sources:
Genealogy & City Directory listings.
Fremont Photos: At the top of this page, click on “Menu” and “Photos” to see the collection.
HistoryLink Essay #3692, “King County Land Use Survey,” by Paula Becker, 2002.
Puget Sound Regional Archives: repository of the property records of King County.