Seattle's Mud Room

I went to a public hearing of the Century 21 Committee to report on their vision quest for how to actually turn the Seattle Center into “Seattle’s living room.” (Now it’s more like Seattle’s mud room, a place you have to tromp through, but never linger in, on your way to the Rep, the opera, a stoner laser show at the Science Center, etc.)

There were a few different proposals (knock down Memorial Stadium, replace it with underground parking and a lawn on top). There were a few quibbles from the audience. (Most comically from a guy who thought altering Memorial Stadium would insult the veterans. Look, pal: It’s an ugly-ass stadium. Leaving it up is an insult to the veterans.)

All the proposals mentioned renovating the bejesus out of the Center House (which has one feature worth keeping—the art-deco north wall, making the Center more “porous” and “green,” leaving Key Arena as-is, and razing the fun forest.

Happily, one of the proposals featured a ferris wheel—the only part of the Fun Forest worth fixing and keeping.

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Speaking of the stoner laser dome, I hereby propose a homo-curated Gayzer Beam show in there for this year's Pride festivities.

And speaking of ferris wheels, I hope it'd be the kind with just enough privacy & room to perform (or receive) a blowjob on. Let's "do the Puyallup" right under the Space Needle.

The fun forest has been haunted by grizzled carnie ghosts for years. Just because you bulldoze the rusty rides doesn't mean the angry spirits entombed in the native american carnie burial ground beneath the fun forest will cease rattling their spooky, crooked ring toss.

The photos of protestors in front of the north entrance to the Center House from 1949 (when it was the Armory, and hosted some of the earliest House Un-American Activities Committee hearings) make it a weird and unacknowledged door through time. Look them up and try to ever wait in line for a Mem Stadium show at Bumbershoot the same way again.

I'm with Fnarf...but with the Gayway & Wild Mouse, bring back Show Street:

http://www.historylink.org/cybertour/index.cfm?file_id=7042&frame=14

"Dad, now that you've got a little time by yourself, you might want to stroll down Show Street, the "adult entertainment" section of the fair. Pick up a schedule for Gracie Hansen's Paradise International to show the fellas back in your neighborhood. You all might want to come down here one night to take in the floor show. Ooh la la."

I love the Fun Forest--it has character and the kids love it. Why this obssession with upgrading Seattle into the same acceptable blandness found all across America.I'd rather see some of this money used to help the homeless or destroy THE WEEKLY.

Architecture Seattle’s Mud Room Posted by Brendan Kiley on April 18 at 13:02 PM

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Architecture Seattle’s Mud Room
Posted by Brendan Kiley on April 18 at 13:02 PM