MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — It’s not fancy, but it’s my hometown.
My parents bought their two-bedroom house in Mountlake Terrace for about $10,000 in the 1950s, when Korean War and World War II veterans such as my dad were settling down.
Terrace was a suburb for the working class.
My father was an assistant postmaster and served on the Mountlake Terrace City Council in the 1960s.
He worked to hold strip malls to a minimum and pushed to have a parks system. At the city’s Recreation Pavilion, 5303 228th St. SW, the building’s dedication plaque from 1968 lists my dad’s name alongside the others who made sure it was built.
From the minute the Pavilion swimming pool was open, we kids rode our bicycles from the outer reaches of Terrace’s four square miles to swim and hang out.
Now, 46 years later, it’s still one of the few municipal indoor pools in Snohomish County. And it’s still in pretty good shape.
The Mountlake Terrace High School girls swim team was there on a recent Wednesday to work out.
Hailee Malins, 16, a junior, has spent a lot of time at the pool since she was a child, having learned to swim from her team coach Karin Reddecliffe.
“It’s a good pool. It’s clean and well-maintained,” Hailee said. “It’s on the warm side for swim teams, but it’s great for little kids.”
The Pavilion offers a long list of swim classes, activities and events. It’s also home to an indoor playground, dance classes, a weight room, an espresso stand and swim shop.
In my day, we also pedaled our bikes uptown near the intersection of 56th Avenue W. and 232nd Street SW to eat at the burger joint and spend our coins at the five-and-dime. The central area of Mountlake Terrace has changed a lot, in part because of arsons in the 1990s.
But family-owned Double DD Meats is still there, bigger and better than ever.
Along with being a full-service, old-style meat market, Double DD sells row upon row of stuff to put on your meat: More than 3,000 kinds of hot sauce, over 1,000 sorts of barbecue sauce, 600 dry rubs and hundreds of marinades, steak sauces, salsa, ketchups and spices.
Owner Kim Nygard says she and her crew of 25 sell lots of steak, as in “tons of rib-eye.”
But carnivores can get just about anything they want at Nygard’s meat shop.
She sells lunch meats, sausage, jerky, bacon, hamburger, ribs, roasts, steaks galore, pork, lamb, chicken, rabbit and wild game.
Right next door is the family-friendly Diamond Knot Brewpub. The Mukilteo-based craft brewery opened the pub in 2013 and it has fast become a destination for people in south Snohomish County. Along with a meal, you can enjoy beer fresh from the conditioning tanks in the restaurant. In the summer, outdoor seating is available.
The pub serves hearty breakfasts on weekends and lunch (try the 12th Man Salad) and dinner daily. Try the stone-grill specials. The server brings to the table a 750-degree stone, on which you cook your food. It’s a Viking thing, say the owners.
The city is promoting the establishment of a new downtown, one with the shops along the sidewalks and apartments in the stories above. It’s working.
A short distance from the pub is the Mountlake Terrace Library, which is worth a stop just for the artwork displayed there. Behind the library is Veterans Memorial Park, with its 100-year-old trees and nice trails.
Most of the area that makes up Mountlake Terrace had been completely logged by 1900 and some of it divided into small chicken and mink farms.
Developers began in the late 1940s to build the concrete-block houses and mid-century, ranch-style homes found throughout the city. From some lots one could see Mount Rainier and Lake Washington, views that inspired the community’s name.
By the time the city incorporated in 1954, there were 5,000 residents and few amenities. A lot of work had to be done.
Back to those city parks my dad cared about.
Arguably the best of Mountlake Terrace’s 262 acres of parkland is the mile-plus-long Terrace Creek Park, located at 232nd Street SW and 48th Avenue W. I remember going with my dad to help clear the land for the candy-cane colored playground equipment. The park includes paved and natural hiking trails, a gazebo, picnic area, a big open field and an 18-hole disc golf course.
Another great park is the city’s former golf course on Lake Ballinger in Terrace’s southwest corner.
On a recent sunny day, Shirley Rybock was out for a walk with her dogs in Ballinger Park. Around her neck were binoculars.
“The bird watching here is great. You can see geese of all sorts, kingfishers and more,” she said. “It’s very peaceful out here.”
In November, Mountlake Terrace will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its incorporation.
At 20,000 people now, surrounded by Brier, Lynnwood, Edmonds and Shoreline, the city won’t grow much more. It remains a place for working-class families.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
Tourist in Your Own Town
In each of our cities in Snohomish and Island counties, we have tourist attractions often overlooked by the people who live in this region. Have you taken the time to be a Tourist in Your Own Town? This the 10th in a continuing series of monthly explorations of our hometowns. For more Tourist in Your Own Town stories, go to www.heraldnet.com/tourist.
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