There are "subdivisions" of these houses here in Seattle. They used to
be where the lower income folks lived but are now very upscale in price
and quality. Look at the movie, "Sleepless in Seattle" to see a more or
less typical houseboat here on the lake.

Don't know if there are any pics online but if you are really in need of
one I can take a pic or two of the log flotation houses and send you.

Rick

Back in the 1960's, most of the houseboats in Portage Bay and Lake Union were
literally shacks built on log floats. They rented very cheaply. I have some
hazy memories of outrageous parties on houseboats around 1968, 1969.


Beginning in the early 1970's, houseboats had to connect to the city sewer
system, moorage rents started going up, and the shackiest dwellings got
displaced. These days you can spend 1/2 million or more for a Seattle
"houseboat" and own nothing but
2000 sq ft of floating building.

That "sleepless" pad is about average among the current crop of houseboats, but
it would have been the nicest one on the lake in the 60's.

There are a lot of houseboats along the river down in Portland. I think more of
them may still be on log floats.