Then and now: Sunset Trailer Park

The first camp trailers appeared behind cars in the 1920s and were mainly used by adventurous travelers on overnight journeys. In the 1930s they housed people displaced during the Great Depression.

Section:Gallery

Sun., Dec. 22, 2019

1951 - Sunset Trailer Park at the bottom of Sunset Hill, behind the Boulevard Motel, served as semi-permanent homes for traveling workers in construction, maintenance, sales and military service, as well as for retirees. The trailers shown are typical of the era, ranging in length from 15 feet to more than 30 feet, with some set up for yearround living. The trailer park disappeared in the early 1960s, before I-90 was built nearby and train tracks were rerouted through the area.

The Spokesman-Review Photo Archive Sr
The area around Government Way, between the Sunset Highway and Interstate 90 was once occupied by Sunset Trailer Park but landscape has been radically altered by the 1960s construction of the interstate highway, major reroutes of railroad tracks and changes to local streets. The trailer park, roughly in the area behind the Boulevard Motel, was here from the late 1940s to the early 1960s and could accommodate 76 trailers. Travelers trailer parks were often associated with motels, like the nearby El Rancho Motel.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review