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News & ArtsTuesday, September 1, 2009
Architecture Out of Time
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 3:44 PM
At 12:50 p.m. today, the defeated mayor of Seattle climbed up to the 11th floor of the clock tower at King Street Station (a structure that should have been demolished instead of endlessly being renovated) and officially restarted the station’s long-dead clock. These are the words he offered for the sad occasion, sad because at the very moment life was returning to the clock was also the moment that life was leaving his mayorship: “For the first time in more than a decade, Seattleites can once again set their watches by the King Street Station clock.” (Yes, Nickels, we will now be able to see if the Global Positioning Systems's time synchronization for cellular phone networks is correct or not.) As the mayor descended the tower, step by step, the sound of time's ticking diminished.
1
What does your architectural opinion have to do with this post?
Also, can someone please pull the wine from Charles already? He's making less sense than usual today.
Also, can someone please pull the wine from Charles already? He's making less sense than usual today.
2
No, no, CT. That last sentence is brilliant. The whole post, taken as a short story, is beautiful. You'd keep reading a novel that started with that paragraph.
4
Charles have you contemplated the virtues of public timepieces. They stand as sentinels of the rhythms of Civic life.
Not all of us have ccell phones
Not all of us have ccell phones
5
how does this fit in with your 'oooh dats wascist' postings though? Is the clock a symbol of white supremacy? Come on Chuckles, you're failing us!
7
I for one am very, very happy that the clock is working now. I've long thought that there should be fines levied against those who don't keep time on their publicly viewable clock faces. It deceptive. Kudos to the mayor for fixing the region's most public clock, and restarting it.
8
It's certainly not the prettiest train station I've ever seen, but if it had been demolished it would have been replaced by something far uglier. You only have to look across the street to see that.
9
Charles, King Street Station has not been "endlessly renovated": It was renovated in the 50's, and is being renovated now. That's twice in over 100 years or, if you prefer, once every fifty years or so. Either way, that's not "endlessly". Sea-Tac is endlessly renovated, King Street Station, not.
As for your assertion that it should be demolished: Sometimes it's better to keep things in your thought bubble - that way, you don't look stupid.
Lastly, they say that it's best to write about what you know. You're a dirty old man, so you should stick to writing about Amanda Knox and whatever else gets you tingly.
As for your assertion that it should be demolished: Sometimes it's better to keep things in your thought bubble - that way, you don't look stupid.
Lastly, they say that it's best to write about what you know. You're a dirty old man, so you should stick to writing about Amanda Knox and whatever else gets you tingly.
10
I agree with the above comments that this was a beautifully-written little story, although its impact was somewhat diminished by my unintentional expectation halfway through the first sentence that it would conclude with "and he threw himself off".
11
i know it would have been out of place in this dreamy little post, but can't help wondering why you, charles, think king street station be demolished...
13
I thought Charles would love King Street Station...it hosts Amtrak (a socialized, government-monopoly mass transit system). Isn't he all about that?
14
Yes, so sad that they're removing the false '50s ceilings in there and making it look more open and airy. I hate old buildings and clocks too.
15
I think Charles would prefer an entire city filled with buildings which look like the main downtown library. And Italian chicks in short dresses who don't have internet access and therefore aren't already creeped out by him.
16
I'd prefer that Charles be demolished instead of renovated each morning. But nobody's looking for some white idiot to shit his opinion all over a local blog each day. Apologies to all.
17
Actually, When they first redid the station in the 50's-60's, it was kind of cute: Great chrome furniture, a fun color scheme, and a great ticket counter.
Of course time and tide wore it all down, and made it depressing, especially after they filled in the windows.
Of course time and tide wore it all down, and made it depressing, especially after they filled in the windows.
18
I'm sure it looked cute (I like that era too), but just seeing the peek thru at the orignal ceilings makes me think it's going to look a lot better set up more like it originally was.
19
g, that goes without saying. My point was that those glorious pre-Amtrak free market railroaders didn't just sit down one day and ask each other "How can we make this station as depressing as possible?"
22
Sigh..... Too bad you never bothered to spend any time at 2nd & Jackson in the clock's shadow. You'd have been approached by people asking what time it was at least three times an hour.
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