The people who showed up tonight to say goodbye to the century-old Highland Park Improvement Club building spanned close to a century themselves – from babies to longtime HPIC board member Martha Mallett, whose 90th birthday was celebrated there six years ago.

(That’s Martha at left above, with friend Dorothy Ziegler.) Three years after that party, in 2021, the HPIC building at 12th/Holden was ravaged by fire, and the community-owned center’s trustees have been working ever since on design and fundraising for its replacement. More a successor than replacement, really, as the old building carries so many memories (here’s a bit of its history). But it’s had to remain fenced off for safety reasons while the process proceeded – and the patio that once hosted lively summer gatherings has grown weedy.

As if to promise that the site’s idle interlude is ending, those who came tonight surrounded the fence as a “group hug” for the building:

They were also invited to share memories in online posts using the hashtags shown on this sign (you can do that too):

Another sign on a different side of the fence served as a reminder of what’s to come:

But first comes the site clearing. Demolition was expected to start tomorrow, but HPIC board members say they aren’t quite done with the permit process after all, so it’ll be a while longer. Once the building is gone, they expect to be able to use the site for some interim events while they continue fundraising to build the new HPIC (scroll down here for more on their successes and needs).