West Seattle scene: ‘New lawn art’ in The Junction?

After two notes and one call, including one person describing the sight as “new lawn art,” we had to go see this for ourselves: A fire truck is parked (at least since last night, when our first note came in) on the lawn of an apartment building along 44th SW, north of Junction TrueValue and Terry Gangon‘s building. We knocked on doors and asked nearby, and couldn’t find anyone who knew exactly what it was doing there; we spotted a Parking Enforcement Officer nearby and she said it wasn’t the kind of thing she’d be ticketing for, though she couldn’t say whether it was legal in terms of land use. The fire truck bears the name of Westport/Wauna, which is along the Columbia River in northwestern Oregon. The person who called us said they’d heard secondhand that someone had bought the truck from that department; so far, we’ve discovered that Westport/Wauna indeed had three surplus fire trucks offered via eBay this fall (scroll down), including a 1975 American LaFrance – and this truck is marked LaFrance.

Any more info, please share!

10 Replies to "West Seattle scene: 'New lawn art' in The Junction?"

  • angelescrest December 16, 2010 (5:09 pm)

    I saw it and got excited. Reminded me of the 1929 Hook and Ladder my dad used to park in our driveway and drive around San Diego in the 60’s! Hitch-hikers got the ride of their lives on El Cajon Blvd!

  • (required) December 16, 2010 (5:39 pm)

    That’s not a fire truck; it’s a chick magnet, dude.

  • LatteRose December 16, 2010 (6:25 pm)

    Hm! Wonder what kind of mileage a fire truck gets?

  • ad December 16, 2010 (6:58 pm)

    I saw it being washed by hand yesterday..

    I think it’s cool.

  • sophista-tiki December 16, 2010 (7:47 pm)

    COOL some lucky boy is getting a life size fire truck for Chrismas. ( big boy)

  • Rick December 16, 2010 (10:30 pm)

    Aaawww criminney! So that’s where I left it. Gotta ease up on the holiday cheer. Never was good at parallel parking anyway.

  • ElevenTruckmen December 16, 2010 (11:27 pm)

    It seems at home on that spot. Maybe because that was the site of the original Fire Station 32.

    @ LatteRose most engines fully loaded get less than 8. Closer to 5 really

  • deb December 17, 2010 (5:32 am)

    When I was young the station was located where the Sunday Market is held.
    Was it moved to market site from the location the trunck is on?

  • Embers December 17, 2010 (7:27 am)

    Great sleuthing. I’m hoping that truck shows up in my stocking with some firemen attached to it.

  • Here December 17, 2010 (12:21 pm)

    @Embers My thoughts also!

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