Slog - Comments on Centro http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro Fabrizio Troccol, a Perugian photographer, to me: I met Amanda Knox. I used to own a gallery near the Piazza San Francesco. Paintings, pictures, that kind of thing. And she came to the gallery with a friend. Yes, I remember her because we talked about Seattle. She said she didn’t like it. Seattle did not have a center. Just a lot of houses that all looked the same. But no center to this place. Perugia is better, she said. It had a center and looked better. We talked about this for 30 minutes. She is an attractive woman. Don't... Copyright 2008 Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:09:46 -0800 Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:32:12 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Lou But...but what about Nickels' City Center Seattle campaign?
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/center_city/Overview/

]]> Lou http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957475 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957475 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:17:13 -0800 Comment by Matt Fuckin' Hickey Charles, what about Seattle Center? Where the Space Needle and that bustling amusement park is? It's even CALLED Seattle Center! (This was sarcasm.)

]]> Matt Fuckin' Hickey http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957478 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957478 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:18:06 -0800 Comment by Patrick Fuck that bitch.

]]> Patrick http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957482 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957482 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:19:29 -0800 Comment by Deacon Seattle I thought the Stranger was the closest thing we had to a center and that your writing was at the very center of it.

]]> Deacon Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957484 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957484 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:20:12 -0800 Comment by Mr. Poe Who cares what some murdering bitch thinks?

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957486 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957486 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:21:04 -0800 Comment by charles mudede seattle center is invalid. that is not a civic space in the traditional sense of a civic space.

]]> charles mudede http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957498 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957498 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:25:54 -0800 Comment by C Maybe everything can't be viewed through the prism of European superiority. Perugia was founded 2500 years ago, when city centers were more important. Plus it a quarter of our size. you could argue that Seattle's center is the Pike market. Or that large American cities don't have European-style centers because they were founded so much later. NY has Central Park, but you could argue 3 or 4 other places as its center.

]]> C http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957502 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957502 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:27:43 -0800 Comment by Hernandez When you go to NWA, make sure and give Cindy Rhinehart a nice firm slap on the behind for me, Charles.

]]> Hernandez http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957503 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957503 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:28:32 -0800 Comment by Patrick Again...fuck that bitch.

]]> Patrick http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957504 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957504 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:29:20 -0800 Comment by elenchos Seattle could build a replica of an old world city center, but that would be as real as some global village recreation at Epcot. The modern city center is located in cyberspace.

]]> elenchos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957507 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957507 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:31:06 -0800 Comment by Jeff Stevens Amanda Knox is terribly, terribly wrong. Seattle does have a true center, namely, Paul Allen's ego. And eventually, Seattle's psychoeconomic center will swallow up Seattle's (approximately) psychogeographic center, namely, Lake Union. Literally. One day he'll just get so thirsty for more real estate acquisition that he'll just drink up Lake Union whole, in one big swallow.

Then there'll be no more precipitation in Seattle, and our fair city's raison d'etre will cease to exist.

Burp!

]]> Jeff Stevens http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957518 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957518 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:35:28 -0800 Comment by max solomon where is the "center" of NYC? London? Paris?

comparing a TOWN built in the era of donkey carts to any CITY is comparing apples to oranges.

]]> max solomon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957520 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957520 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:36:29 -0800 Comment by Dougsf I think it's pretty well understood that "downtown" is the Seattle's center, just like every other city in the world. And just like anywhere else, locals often prefer to avoid city centers.

Rural towns have town centers, and for very obvious reasons, local people enjoy congregating in them. Usually it's the only choice you have for interacting with people outside your immediate relations, buy goods, etc. That's probably why it FEELS like the center of town, as so many essentials to life there revolve around it.

]]> Dougsf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957522 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957522 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:36:42 -0800 Comment by Fnarf London doesn't have a center, Charles. Public spaces, sure, but not a CENTER. It too is a collection of villages grown together.

Paris doesn't have a center. Public spaces, sure, but no true center. Like all large cities, it has many centers. So does Seattle.

Perugia's center is mostly for tourists now, vistors, people like Amanda Knox.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957528 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957528 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:39:41 -0800 Comment by Mudede NWA I'm sorry -- maybe it was the schrooms, but did you say that you'll be appearing on "Northwest Afternoon"?!

Oh no, bad trip...

]]> Mudede NWA http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957534 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957534 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:42:05 -0800 Comment by C She just sounds like one of those college kids who finally left home and feels the need to bad-mouth it, that's all.
Also, bite me MIlwaukee!

]]> C http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957544 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957544 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:47:07 -0800 Comment by joykiller Fremont is the center of the universe, so I see no need for a center of Seattle.

]]> joykiller http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957574 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957574 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:59:39 -0800 Comment by John What could be better for a Slog post for Charles than Amanda Knox talking about architecture?

]]> John http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957595 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957595 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:07:36 -0800 Comment by Lou Wait, I just checked, and Seattle does have a "center of the city". It's at Minor Avenue North, between Harrison and Thomas streets in the Cascade neighborhood of Seattle. There's even a plaque.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM29A8
Maybe we need to bulldoze everything in a 2-block radius and install faux remnants of a Roman circus maximus or bullfighting ring, and call that the center?

]]> Lou http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957599 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957599 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:08:18 -0800 Comment by Dougsf Damnit, Thinking about how London is laid at, Fnarf's right, I rescind my "all cities have a downtown = center" idea. Not that it matters really, or at all.

I also guess it depends on who you ask.

]]> Dougsf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957611 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957611 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:13:18 -0800 Comment by kid icarus Damn I wish I'd known before coming to work this morning... I totally would have Tivo'd that action. Someone please get this on YouTube after it airs!!

]]> kid icarus http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957619 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957619 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:15:47 -0800 Comment by catnextdoor Most old cities have centers- when I lived in france I lived in a teenie town called Saint Anne d'Auray and it even had a center. Most old world cities/towns, when they were built, it started with the church, then they built the town around it. Hence the winding circular roads. Look at a map of Paris and you'll see spirals, and thats where the old saying that Paris is shaped like escargot comes from.

I never really saw an american city or town built like this until I moved to the SW. Albuquerque and Santa Fe both have "old towns" or "city centers" that shape the town. It's kinda nice, I kinda like it. Feels european.

Silverdale, Washington has a city center. I remember, they built the MALL first, then the town around it. But that's the gross americanized city center.

But this doesnt mean seattle sucks, and I dont think seattle is an ugly town because of it.

]]> catnextdoor http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957665 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957665 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:33:46 -0800 Comment by k max solomon is right. so is dougsf. so is fnarf.

Yes, central spaces like Il Campo in Siena are cool. But major cities do not generally have a place where *all* the functions of the town are bundled like that. That is because they are large enough to be able to afford to displace some of those functions.

The only thing this girl is "on to" is the absolute most traditional critique of American cities. A modern metropolis isn't formed in the same way as a village that grew organically around a church and central square! SHOCKING!

Charles, your posts about architecture really are fun because aesthetically your heart is in the right place. But they are slightly removed from reality.

And the Amanda Knox thing? Uh... I don't really know what to say about that.

]]> k http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957817 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957817 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:14:33 -0800 Comment by Jeff Stevens Lou @1 & 19:

Hey Lou, is your last name Guzzo? If so, then perhaps you are The Center Of Seattle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Guzzo

Good to see you survived that Punk Rock Eruption (not to mention the 1980s)...

]]> Jeff Stevens http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957842 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957842 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:23:00 -0800 Comment by Lloyd Clydesdale Sure, she's attractive, but big deal. A lot of guys stop being suckers after a while.

]]> Lloyd Clydesdale http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957915 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957915 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:42:45 -0800 Comment by Lou @ 24
Nope, though I am "largely inoffensive and moderate". I'm a Chicago-dwelling Seattle transplant that can't stop reading about what's going on back there.

]]> Lou http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957938 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957938 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:46:10 -0800 Comment by JMR I've turned on KOMO to watch Northwest Afternoon... a few minutes early... and some soap opera is on. It's really awful... wooden acting, people talking and the next thing you know they're wrapped in towels, post-sex presumably... someone just got strangled with a rope on a wharf... what is this shit? Who watches this?

]]> JMR http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957958 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c957958 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:49:46 -0800 Comment by orson THIS Amanda Knox?! WTF!
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/dempsey/archives/127406.asp

]]> orson http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958045 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958045 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:10:05 -0800 Comment by JMR May this be the first and last time I watch Northwest Afternoon. Do the give "highlights" of soap operas every day? I thought that bedroom fight scene was actual uncovered footage of the Knox murder.

]]> JMR http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958063 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958063 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:13:50 -0800 Comment by stinkbug My god JMR, if you have no idea who Cindi Rinehart is then you know little about Seattle.

]]> stinkbug http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958084 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958084 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:18:06 -0800 Comment by JMR What's with Charles's fake-ass British accent? Oh, he lived in England? Never mind.

]]> JMR http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958131 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958131 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:27:23 -0800 Comment by Jeff Stevens @3 & 9: "Fuck that bitch"?

Well well well. Maybe Hillary Clinton should pick Amanda Knox as her running mate. Then the ovariphobes would really need a diaper change...

]]> Jeff Stevens http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958190 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958190 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:42:48 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle No center?

The Center of the Universe is in Fremont.

She was just looking in the wrong part of Seattle.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958320 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958320 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:35:28 -0800 Comment by i heard it coming a universe away oh, you mean like @17

]]> i heard it coming a universe away http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958550 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/centro#c958550 Architecture Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:32:12 -0800