West Seattle Blog...

WSB Forum » Open Discussion

1. DP
   Member Profile

   

   Mike in West Seattle.

   Are you out there today, man?

   I got sumpin' I wanna tell ya.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

2. miws
   Member Profile

   

   I'm here, DP!

   *unneeded e-mail addy edited out*

   Mike

   Posted 1 year ago #         

3. DP
   Member Profile

   

   Oh, no Mike! I don't use e-mail.
   I don't trust it.

   But I'm going to share something with you now, over the Blog. And this is just between you and me, ok? (So the rest of you lot, please bugger off.)

   Mike, I don't know if I should be telling you this, but you're pretty much my BFOI. My Best Friend On the Internet.

   But don't tell the others that, ok? Because I like them, too, and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

   Anyway, since you are my BFOI, there's something else I need to tell you about that bronze medallion at the Junction.

   

   Well, you know how it's right out in the middle of the sidewalk right? — So lots of people walk over it all the time, whether they're allowed to or not. But at the same time, it's private property, right? It belongs to someone.

   But who does it belong to, exactly?

   There's no Savings Bank of Puget Sound anymore. There's not even a Puget Sound Savings Bank.

   And yet there lies the medallion, right there on the sidewalk, saying that we're not supposed to be there, because that space is theirs. And yet, at the same time, that "space" is part of something that actually disappeared a long time ago, like a black hole that's left over after a star is done farting out all its gas.

   So it's a paradox really: an oddity of both time and space. Just like you and me.

   Let me tell you what's really going on there, Mike. See, I've discovered that this thing marks the entrance (or exit) to some kind of weird West Seattle Wormhole — or "WSWH" as I call it — and if you step over it at exactly the wrong moment (or the right moment, depending), you will take a Journey to the other end of the Universe — or maybe even to a different Universe all together.

   And you might just come back. But then again, you might not.

   Or you might come back changed somehow. And it might be a change for the better. But then again, it might not. See?

   ***********************************************************************************

   How do I know all this?

   Well, it's funny you should ask, because last week, as part of my official SWIWS research, I chanced to step on this thing, and the next thing I knew, I was spinning head-over-heels in space and time, passing over the old Evinrude Plant, swinging wide around Luna Park, and ending up flat on my ass in Richard Hugo's old front yard.

   In other words, I took a quick trip from the RWS to the RWC, which is not at all what I wanted to do. (If I'd wanted to do that, I would've just taken the #22, right?)

   So I'm warning you, buddy. Watch where you're stepping around that intersection; treat it like you would an off-leash dog park. Cuz' if you get sucked into the vortex, and you end up somewhere else, sure, it might turn out like you want . . .

   But then again, it might not.

   And if you went somewhere and didn't come back, and it was all because I'd never warned you about the WSWH, I'd never forgive myself.

    

   Posted 1 year ago #         

4. miws
   Member Profile

   

   ".....you're pretty much my BFOI. My Best Friend On the Internet."

   Aw Garsh! I'm flattered! :blush:

   I've actually been aware of the WSWH for quite some time now.

   I also have it on good authority that some who are sucked into it, and end up in an Alternate Universe, can appear to still be in the Original (our) Universe.

   This same.....ummmmm.....source, has also conveyed to me, that one common give-away to a person from the AU, appearing to be in the RU, is they communicate with the occasional code word(s) and/or phrase(s).

   So, yeah, as you stated, an oddity of both time and space.

   A definite Welby and Kildare.

   Mike

   Posted 1 year ago #         

5. johnnyblegs
   Member Profile

   

   uh.........I didn't mean to ease drop but....where is this medallion & how would someone like myself find this worm hole?

   Posted 1 year ago #         

6. JanS
   Member Profile

   

   pssstt...jbl...how's that new job in Belltown treatin' ya?

   Posted 1 year ago #         

7. johnnyblegs
   Member Profile

   

   It's great Jan. Thanks for asking. Been working A LOT (6 day weeks; 12+ a day). My 4am start time took some adjusting too as well. WSBer's should go check it out. Located in the old Flying Fish spot. Nice space. Great food. and some pretty good reviews so far too.
   http://www.yelp.com/biz/local-360-seattle

   Posted 1 year ago #         

8. JanS
   Member Profile

   

   wonderful....I have read about this place....glad it's working for You :) Apple fritters with bacon caramel? Yummmmmmm!!!!

   Posted 1 year ago #         

9. HunterG
   Member Profile

   

   Thread jacker! =D

   Posted 1 year ago #         

10. miws
    Member Profile

    

    johnny, I think it's near the bank entrance where David and his group assemble, at the east end of the bus shelter.

    Once I realized the Puget Sound Bank connection the other day, I recalled I'd seen the medallion in that vicinity.

    (Oh, and glad the new job is going well!)

    Mike

    Posted 1 year ago #         

11. DP
    Member Profile

    

    The medallion is not close to where the bank building is or ever was. (Weird, huh? Guess that's the wormhole effect for you.) It's out there close to the curb ramp such that you would normally have to walk right over it on your way across the Junction. Look for it right there next time you cross and you can't miss it.

    Even though this spot is obviously within a public thoroughfare, it is probably platted (?) within the official property line for the corner tenant. Hence, technically, it does belong to whoever owns that building.

    Why is it there?

    Bueno. Glad you asked.
    Even if you're not.

    There's a legal tradition that if the public has historically used your property for a certain purpose (like walking over it to get somewhere else) you cannot arbitrarily throw up a fence or other obstacle in their path. So the original tenant of the property (Savings Bank of Puget Sound in this case) may have been trying to state some advance claim to the property, as if to say: This is our space, Seattle, so don't go getting any foolish ideas that it's yours. If we want to do something with it later, we just might. —However unlikely that scenario might be, since the space is clearly unbuildable.

    What is more likely going on here is that the Bank wanted to reserve the right to kick troublemakers off the spot should the need arise. So if someone set up a soapbox there, for example, and started making angry tirades against usury, the owners could have the cops shoo them away on the grounds that it's private property.

    Such claim-staking became common practice starting in the early years of the last century, and if you keep your eyes peeled you'll see medallions like this on city streets all over the country.

    Here's another one adjacent to the bus shelter on the north side of the building . . .

    

    I'd like to thank all of you for your interest in this matter.

    Now get off my thread, y'all. I was having a 'special' moment with my pal, Mike, until you people butted in . . .

    Posted 1 year ago #         

12. DP
    Member Profile

    

    Mike, I knew we were twins from the moment I saw the first brain scan. (Remember?)

    How sad it is that we can never meet, but I guess that's just the way the time/space cookie crumbles . . .

    http://roominate.com/blogg/I_love_you_man.pdf

    Posted 1 year ago #         

13. miws
    Member Profile

    

    Yeah....the brain scan.....meeeeemmmmmmmorieeeeesssss....

    Obviously, you ended up with the better functioning, or more accurately, actually functioning portion of the brain.

    I remember, meeemmmmm....um, a discussion of those property markers/medallions a long time ago, maybe in the '80's, and probably in one of the daily papers. (Remember when we had two? Meeemm........)

    I think it was pretty much what you said, David. A property owner buys up an entire block, in some cases, and plops their new building on it. I think this was often/mainly done on projects with a set back building, and a plaza/public area surrounding it, or at least in front, especially when they rebuild the public sidewalk, to match the plaza within their own, legal, property line.

    The 50 story Sea-First Building, (the box the Space Needle came in), comes to mind. There's fairly standard width public sidewalks, along Spring, 3rd, and Madison, but the building is set back on the 4th Av side, with a plaza.

    Mike

    Posted 1 year ago #         

14. DP
    Member Profile

    

    

    Posted 1 year ago #         

15. miws
    Member Profile

    

    Well, at least I'm not the Man Who Gnu Too Much! :-D

    Mike

    Posted 1 year ago #         

16. DP
    Member Profile

    

    

    Posted 1 year ago #         

17. JanS
    Member Profile

    

    I wanna know what youse guys are smokin'....

    Posted 1 year ago #         

18. DP
    Member Profile

    

    Don't ask me, Jan. Ask austin.

    austin: What was in that stuff we had last night, anyway?

    

    Posted 1 year ago #         

19. austin
    Member Profile

    

    A mixture of cathair and Oh Henry! bars strained through 125μ mesh and cooked into smoked salmon drippings over a double boiler. Plus my "secret ingredient".

    Posted 1 year ago #         

20. johnnyblegs
    Member Profile

    

    "secret ingredient" = bacon?

    Posted 1 year ago #         

21. austin
    Member Profile

    

    Bacon wrapped cheddar stuffed jalapeños actually. Don't tell anybody.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

22. Escondido
    Member Profile

    Hey, DP, you're "The Dude"....right?

    Posted 1 year ago #         

23. DP
    Member Profile

    

    I am indeed "The Dude."
    And yet I am not "The Man."

    —Whatevah tha hell that means.

    My guess on the secret ingredient: Chupacabra crumbles.

    Whatever it is, my man austin does it up right.

    And Hunter Thompson never did actually die, you know . . .

    Posted 1 year ago #         

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.