Tourism

One of the side effects of the Seattle greyness is that it turns the entire town agoraphobic until the sun comes out. This means that not only can we get pizza delivery, but Amazon will deliver grockeries from PCC and Uwajimaya in 2 hours or less for the same price as visiting the locations. If you don't want to cook, then they will bring deliciousness from neighbourhood restaurants, and you need never leave your house or interact with strangers. (They have a box you can check to tell them to leave it on the porch in order to avoid the potential horrors of social interaction.)

What all of this means is that I haven't been getting out of the house very often, except when I am volunteering. I have been spending the bulk of my time buried in outdated internet law books for my Cyberlaw course, most of which were written before 2000. In any other field, this would be like reading a text from the 1890's and expecting it to apply. Needless to say, since they are law texts, they are also soporific. I tend to only leave the house if I have company or a compelling need (read: ice cream emergency), and most of my friends have either moved, are nesting in the suburbs, or are agoraphobic, misanthropic hermits. (No, mother, you cannot paint their shells).

SO in the spirit of fresh air and adventure, I decided to try to spend a little time each week exploring the city and taking pictures. Most of my photos are of exotic locales, and I have very few of the local area, so I'm going to try to remedy that.

What better place to start than the center of the known universe: Fremont. Fremont (which I have today learned is named after Fremont, Nebraska), bills itself as an art community. I sort of doubt any starving artists can afford to live here, so I think it is mostly populated with posers and trust-funded "artists."



Fremont is the sort of aggressively quirky are that people in the northwest love to create. Its sort of like Little Portland. There is a lot of public art, especially statues, and during the solstice there is a naked bike parade. First and foremost among the sculturey is Lenin. He inhabits a corner, and seems to be perpetually trying to cross the street.

If Lenin seems like a strange icon for an artsy community, never fear. Vandals/revolutionaries/cubans generally make sure his face and hands are painted red, and today he sports a fancy "murderer" label. I think the red represents the blood of the people. At least that's what it would represent if I was the vandal. Or raspberry jam. Or candy apples. Yeah, definitely candy apples. 

Lenin stares longingly at the Red Star Taco Bar across the street. The morning is super grey, so I decided to stop in and have a drink and see if things would perk up. They didn't.

It was just as grey when I left, but at least I was full of Sangria. I was the only customer in the place, and to their credit, they didn't question the fact that I ordered a drink at 11:30. No wonder Lenin likes this place.  Maybe its the sangria of the people on his hands. 

Fremont also has some cool neon on some of the buildings, but it isn't very exciting during the day time. The High Dive has a woman plunging from their roof onto the sidewalk. It seems like a terrible message, but I guess there is no accounting for Art.

The street people here are also artistic. This sculpture belongs to a guy named Benny, who stacks and balances rocks in exchange for spare change. I was here last year and there were only three or four rocks, now it is a fullblown arch. There is no mortar involved, just lots of time and balance.

Around the corner is Theo Chocolate. I had heard that they had an interesting tour of the factory, with no-golden ticket required. I thought maybe I would do that and take pictures. 

Then I walked in and saw a) people gearing up in hairnets, b) the cost ($10) and c) the sign across the street. Obviously C was the most appealing of these options, so I set off to taste whiskey, vodka, and gin instead of chocolate. 

Apparently there was some confusion about the distillery. "WE'RE OPEN" says the door. "We're closed Monday" says the sign....

"Drink more whiskey!" says Mark Twain. I'd love to Mark, but it seems the door is a dirty, drunk liar! Mischief indeed. 

I made my way back towards the chocolate factory, where I managed to blend in with a group coming out of the tour and get some free samples. (None of which tasted like Schnozzberry). I also got to see some chocolate dinosaurs. 

Dinos have apparently become some sort of leitmotif here in Fremont. In addition to chocolate form, I also saw them in hedge form, guarding the canal...

...and in what I can only assume is Solid Gold Plastic in one of the nearby shops. They also featured prominently in graffiti, but most of that wasn't interesting/subversive enough to photograph. 

Across from the chocolate factory is the wall the Fremont Outdoor Cinema uses to show movies during the summertime. It has become a bit more upscale than it used to be, back when they just showed them on whatever building seemed the cleanest.

The Fremont rocket is another local landmark. It used to be one of the taller things around, but is now surrounded by condos that dwarf it. 

One of the condo buildings has added a planet as a sort of architectural apology, I think. I hope it makes the rocket less size-conscious.

I think one of the rules of the Fremont Business Association must be that your business is required to have quirky signage. 

This shop announces itself as being "The gift shop for the thoughtful procrastinator."

This was my favourite bit of vandal art, and just generally very, very good advice. It was stickered to a utilities box.

The Fremont bridge has been recently painted, and is probably really pretty on a sunny day. 

It has a neon Rapunzel in one of the towers. Because all bridges need that. 

From the bridge you can see a brigade of stabled bicycles that I am assuming belong to google, based on colour.

I went to check out the JP Patches sculpture that has recently been put up. It is actually pretty cool, despite my general dislike of the entire clown race.

It has a second part that is a see-through televison a few feet away, where you can frame up the clowns if you are willing to sit on the pavement with your head at child-height. (of course I was!)

I think one of the most famous statues in Fremont might be this one. People dress it up regularly. Right now it is sporting the remains of a "happy birthday" banner.

On the way out, I paid my respects to the Dumpling Tzar, because I heard they had mac and cheese dumplings, and that seemed like a good take-home lunch. While I waited I got to investigate their buildings. They have turntables and LP's set up. The saavy among you will notice why I took this picture in the lower right. Clearly someone has good taste in music.

And lastly, I took this photo last year, but no Fremont post is complete without the troll under the Aurora bridge. I cross this bridge regularly, and have never been asked for a toll, but maybe that is just because I'm not a billy goat.