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| 4/20/19 Showbox Theater, downtown Seattle |
Last
year, the historic Showbox Theater
near the Pike Place Market was in the news when its owner announced that it was selling the property. The theater, opened
in 1939, would be demolished and replaced by a (yet another, most likely boring
and boxy) 44-story apartment building. (It’s the story of Seattle these days.)
After that, nostalgic venue fans, historic preservationists and even
high-profile musicians like Eddie Vedder stepped forward to try to save the
Showbox. The debate rages and is still unresolved. Meanwhile, the venue
continues to operate.
I wasn’t
even aware of that last part until I arrived Saturday to sketch the theater
and saw that the marquee was current. Although I’ve never seen a concert there,
the marquee and Showbox sign are downtown icons, and I wanted to document them,
since it’s likely that they’ll eventually come down. Others must have felt the
same way, as we got a good turnout of Showbox sketchers.
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| 4/20/19 buskers at Pike Place Market |
It
probably helped that the morning was dry and mostly sunny (though not warm).
After the Showbox, I swam upstream through the throngs (what is this, July or
something?) at the Pike Place Market to my favorite busker spot near Rachel the Pig. Performing were a
ukulele player and a tuba player – a colorful duo that I’ve sketched before.
Swimming
further upstream, I spotted the usual long line of people waiting their turn to
buy coffee at the “original” Starbucks location
on First and Pike. As I captured the storefront and P. K. Dwyer (another busker I have sketched many times)
playing guitar and harmonica outside, I overheard a couple of young men (visiting
from the UK, based on their accents). Taking photos of each other with upheld
Starbucks cups, it was clear that this was an important stop on their tour. Reviewing
the photos, one man was especially delighted to finally be photographed in
front of his mecca. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the actual first
Starbucks on Western no longer exists (though natives like me remember it), and
this second store on First somehow became the “original.”
Times
change, old buildings get torn down, history gets rewritten. Meh. I may be a
grumpy, overcrowded native, but at least I’m sketching it all.
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| 4/20/19 One-man band P.K. Dwyer busks in front of the "original" Starbucks on First and Pike. |
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| A good turnout at the Showbox! |
Glad you captured the marquis! It is a shame that they tear down so many of the things that give a city charm. We were riding home yesterday (3 sketchers) and commenting how the NYC skyline looks so strange now. The iconic look is gone and there are these tall, narrow apartment buildings that went up that look like towers!
ReplyDeleteI hope they're not tearing down all the old buildings in NYC!
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