Columbia Motor Company
Introduction
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Columbia Motor Company was one of several car dealerships in town in the mid-20th century. Zeke LeMay’s legendary ability to move cars earned him many prizes from Chevrolet, as well as the reputation that he could “sell a widow a two-pants business suit to bury her husband in.” LeMay and partner Herb Jose bought the business from owner Pierre Weiss in 1934 and operated it until 1935, when LeMay left the auto business and opened the first bowling alley in Seattle on Empire Way.
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Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Origonally constructed around 1921, the Columbia Motor Company occupied from then until the 1970s. This comapny was operated by three people, Frank Clark, Pierre Weiss, and Harry Baker, and sold Ford cars in the 1920s and then Chevrolet cars in the 1930s. In the building also was a battery shop ran by Harry Driftmiller.