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News & ArtsFriday, January 28, 2011
City Fremont's Quirky Reputation Goes Global
Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 8:26 AM
Posted on the BBC's main page: Johannesburg next to Fremont. This is Fremont in a nutshell..
This neighbourhood, less than five miles north of the heart of downtown Seattle, continues its legacy of public art, everyday weirdness, and off-the-wall-events inclined towards nudity and costumes. Yet its popularity, soaring rent prices, new luxury condos, and inundation of high tech company offices have transformed it into something a tad different than its tie-dyed forefathers and mothers anticipated.
This is Jozi in a nutshell...
The best way to avoid trouble in Johannesburg is by using common sense.On one side, urban weirdness; on the other, urban adventure. Which should the tourist (the consumer of places) pick?
Always take local advice from concierges, hotel receptionists and friends on where to go and places or areas to avoid. When walking around town, minimize external trappings of wealth and avoid the city centre or walking between areas at night. If in any doubt about personal safety, take a taxi.
3
@2,
Please tell me how one neighborhood has a monopoly on fraternity brothers' patronage.
Please also demonstrate how Ballard, Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, the U-Dist and Belltown have been able to remain fraternity free.
Thanks.
Please tell me how one neighborhood has a monopoly on fraternity brothers' patronage.
Please also demonstrate how Ballard, Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, the U-Dist and Belltown have been able to remain fraternity free.
Thanks.
4
@3, a monopoly? I don't believe I said any such thing. Obviously there are douches across multiple neighborhoods. However, Fremont's the only neighborhood I know of that's gone from "ordinary place to hang out" to "if you drive through there on a weekend night, you will be forced to stop as big guys and tiny girls in high heels stagger drunkenly across the street giggling, sometimes forgetting where they are halfway across and standing there blankly."
6
There are certain words that are supposed to be code for something good but that are actually code for something awful. For example, "eclectic". Decoded: "I am an indiscriminate cipher. I eat anything in the trough, then parade my complete lack of standards as though it were a mark of my broad-mindedness." And "quirky"? Decoded: "My personality is a bloodless tabula rasa, but I have this grab-bag repertoire of memorized idiosyncrasies that will hopefully make it more interesting. Ta-da!"
Fucking Fremont.
Fucking Fremont.
7
You had me at "tiny girls in high heels stagger drunkenly across the street giggling." Gotta go there.
9
a taxy? in joburgh? u crazy charles. with all the kidnappings.
the other thing they didnt add was, avoid being zimbawean or from mozambique. despite of what the goverment says, south africans are mean as hell to folks from those countries. when it comes to xenophobia they make the arizonans look like lefty activists.
the other thing they didnt add was, avoid being zimbawean or from mozambique. despite of what the goverment says, south africans are mean as hell to folks from those countries. when it comes to xenophobia they make the arizonans look like lefty activists.
10
@Leek,
"Obviously there are douches across multiple neighborhoods."
My point exactly. Thanks for playing.
"Obviously there are douches across multiple neighborhoods."
My point exactly. Thanks for playing.
12
You know what's really funny? You're describing Fremont as "urban" - hahaha! It's college kids living in the 'burbs. Oh Seattle. You just want to pat it on the head sometimes.
13
Leek: "if you drive through there on a weekend night, you will be forced to stop as big guys and tiny girls in high heels stagger drunkenly across the street giggling, sometimes forgetting where they are halfway across and standing there blankly."
Are you really trying to say this doesn't occur regularly on Pike/Pine? Or Ballard Ave? Or Belltown? Or Pioneer Square?
Are you really trying to say this doesn't occur regularly on Pike/Pine? Or Ballard Ave? Or Belltown? Or Pioneer Square?
14
Schmacky: For sure it happens places like Belltown and Pioneer Square. You may have missed the part about how it's "gone from an ordinary place to hang out," however. I don't understand why this is getting everyone up in arms.
I live on Ballard Ave, and thankfully it hasn't gotten as bad as Fremont. But I'm starting to worry.
I live on Ballard Ave, and thankfully it hasn't gotten as bad as Fremont. But I'm starting to worry.
15
@13,
There's no comparison. There are still many places for adults to drink in Ballard (even Belltown) on Friday and Saturday night. I'll be damned if there's a single adult bar left in Fremont on the weekends. Anyone over the age of 25 should only visit the neighborhood on weekdays.
There's no comparison. There are still many places for adults to drink in Ballard (even Belltown) on Friday and Saturday night. I'll be damned if there's a single adult bar left in Fremont on the weekends. Anyone over the age of 25 should only visit the neighborhood on weekdays.
16
To all Fremont's transition from, as Leek puts it, an "ordinary place to hang out", to a carbon copy of the Pi Square/south Ave scene has been remarkable in both scope and quickness. I can't remember those areas being substantively different than they are now, but I do remember when Fremont was quite different.
17
Everyone loves us.
In fact, of the top 10 tourist spots in Seattle, half are in Fremont.
Have a pitcher of cider at the Red Door and enjoy your visit to our Organic Fair Trade Chocolate Factory!
In fact, of the top 10 tourist spots in Seattle, half are in Fremont.
Have a pitcher of cider at the Red Door and enjoy your visit to our Organic Fair Trade Chocolate Factory!
21
"In fact, of the top 10 tourist spots in Seattle, half are in Fremont."
Your toenail clippings are NOT a tourist attraction, Will.
Your toenail clippings are NOT a tourist attraction, Will.
22
I probably haven't been to Fremont at night in over 15 years. I was not aware of it's apparently sudden Abercromorphosis.
What's that place on Fremont, just up the hill a ways, maybe around 40th or so, has a parking lot. When I live nearby in the 90's, a lot of bikers hung out there. That still there?
What's that place on Fremont, just up the hill a ways, maybe around 40th or so, has a parking lot. When I live nearby in the 90's, a lot of bikers hung out there. That still there?
25
It depends on the type of tourist. The bucket list tourist should go to Johannesburg. The tourist who appreciates her time away from work and wants to relax on her hard earned holiday should go to Fremont.
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