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Lost Landmarks Meme
Mar. 23rd, 2008 11:44 pmHow it works
1. List 5 landmarks or interesting sights or locales you remember from growing up that no longer exist and what they meant to you.
2. If you're reading this, comment if you remember any of them!
The Unicron Mural in the hall of Garfield High School
The Unicron Mural was pretty much what sold me on going to Garfield High School. I was already down with the mostly brown school since I was coming out of Asa Mercer, plus the fact that none of the cats I had beef with were going to be there, but really, you had Unicron in the hallway. That's some deep shit.
Wa Sang Grocery
My great aunt Florence ran this shop for years. She'd always give my sister and I free candy, and we mostly saw her on holidays or birthdays to drop off cards or flowers. It really was a landmark for Chinatown, and even got featured a couple of times in the local papers. It's been replaced by a non-descript acupuncture place that has none of the mom-and-pop storefront charm.
The Kingdome
It was big, it was ugly, and it was the second landmark next to the Space Needle that everyone could recognize Seattle with. Sort of like a lot of things in Seattle- it was gray, poorly designed, and firmly trapped in outdated architecture. As a kid, I loved the size of it, though sports bored me endlessly. When they blew it up, the cloud of dust reached hundreds of feet in the air, at least 4 or 5 times taller than our tallest skyscraper. You could feel it on Beacon Hill as it collapsed. I imagined the dust plume was an Evangelion, because it was about the right height.
South China Restaurant
This is where we always had family dinners. The food wasn't spectacular, just over greasy or sweet chinese american food, but it was definitely home. As I got older, the dinners happened less and less often, and eventually the place closed with the new light rail system being put in, part of the usual gentrification trick of Seattle. I heard a new location opened somewhere hella south, but I haven't been there yet.
Ivory's Video Arcade
You had geeks, punks, and gang members all at the same arcade- playing games from the 80's and 90's, just as the Streetfighter craze came into swing. You could still play pinball, or videogames that only cost a quarter, including shit like Pac Man, Dig Dug, or Galaga. Though it got targeted for "high crime" due to supposed gang and drug activities, the owner and his brother kept shit in line- they would break out a fucking baseball bat. Ivory's was one of the first of a quick string of closures of arcades before overpriced ass Gameworks and the Wizards of the Coast HQ sprung up, with their $2 videogames.
1. List 5 landmarks or interesting sights or locales you remember from growing up that no longer exist and what they meant to you.
2. If you're reading this, comment if you remember any of them!
The Unicron Mural in the hall of Garfield High School
The Unicron Mural was pretty much what sold me on going to Garfield High School. I was already down with the mostly brown school since I was coming out of Asa Mercer, plus the fact that none of the cats I had beef with were going to be there, but really, you had Unicron in the hallway. That's some deep shit.
Wa Sang Grocery
My great aunt Florence ran this shop for years. She'd always give my sister and I free candy, and we mostly saw her on holidays or birthdays to drop off cards or flowers. It really was a landmark for Chinatown, and even got featured a couple of times in the local papers. It's been replaced by a non-descript acupuncture place that has none of the mom-and-pop storefront charm.
The Kingdome
It was big, it was ugly, and it was the second landmark next to the Space Needle that everyone could recognize Seattle with. Sort of like a lot of things in Seattle- it was gray, poorly designed, and firmly trapped in outdated architecture. As a kid, I loved the size of it, though sports bored me endlessly. When they blew it up, the cloud of dust reached hundreds of feet in the air, at least 4 or 5 times taller than our tallest skyscraper. You could feel it on Beacon Hill as it collapsed. I imagined the dust plume was an Evangelion, because it was about the right height.
South China Restaurant
This is where we always had family dinners. The food wasn't spectacular, just over greasy or sweet chinese american food, but it was definitely home. As I got older, the dinners happened less and less often, and eventually the place closed with the new light rail system being put in, part of the usual gentrification trick of Seattle. I heard a new location opened somewhere hella south, but I haven't been there yet.
Ivory's Video Arcade
You had geeks, punks, and gang members all at the same arcade- playing games from the 80's and 90's, just as the Streetfighter craze came into swing. You could still play pinball, or videogames that only cost a quarter, including shit like Pac Man, Dig Dug, or Galaga. Though it got targeted for "high crime" due to supposed gang and drug activities, the owner and his brother kept shit in line- they would break out a fucking baseball bat. Ivory's was one of the first of a quick string of closures of arcades before overpriced ass Gameworks and the Wizards of the Coast HQ sprung up, with their $2 videogames.
