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Mysteries of the Bridge Motel
Sep. 15th, 2007 10:45 amI think I've mentioned before, at least in passing, the enigmatic Bridge Motel, which sits at the north end of the Aurora Bridge, just a long block from here. It has always presented a fairly blank face to the neighborhood, as though it were hiding something. In my mind, the sign always says No Vacancy, but nobody seems to be there. In my imagination, I've always seen the place as a hive of aliens here on a secret mission, undoubtedly plotting an invasion. Turns out that in reality the reasons for the air of secrecy were much more tawdry and pragmatic.
According to an article in today's Seattle Times, "When the Bridge Motel opened in 1954, it served mostly as a way station for traveling salesman and a sentry for traffic entering Seattle from the north, Pan said. In recent decades, it has become a home to drug users and prostitutes, and the site of several murders." Hm, wonder if that was the source of the body that was dumped on the sidewalk two houses up from us a while back. The body was apparently pushed out of a car that then sped away. I've never heard any details, but there was a rumor that it was an OD.
The motel will finally be torn down next week. This has been impending for months. It will be replaced by yet another set of townhouses, much to nobody's surprise. Tonight from 5pm to midnight, "the old motel will transform into a free-form gallery and performing-arts space." The artists are memorializing the "surreal and iconic" nature of the motel and decrying the transformation of Seattle into a playground for the middle class. I have some sympathy for this point of view, but it always seems to me that the artists come off as way too self-aggrandizing in this kind of thing. (Unusual in an artist, I know.) The article points out that the motel, in its time, replaced "a cute single-family home, built between 1910 and 1920." I'm sure the neighborhood went to hell then too, with the infusion of god-damned traveling salesmen sticking their toes into everybody's doorway.
But we bid thee a surreal and iconic farewell, Bridge Motel. The aliens will have to find another blank face to hide their invasion plots behind.
According to an article in today's Seattle Times, "When the Bridge Motel opened in 1954, it served mostly as a way station for traveling salesman and a sentry for traffic entering Seattle from the north, Pan said. In recent decades, it has become a home to drug users and prostitutes, and the site of several murders." Hm, wonder if that was the source of the body that was dumped on the sidewalk two houses up from us a while back. The body was apparently pushed out of a car that then sped away. I've never heard any details, but there was a rumor that it was an OD.
The motel will finally be torn down next week. This has been impending for months. It will be replaced by yet another set of townhouses, much to nobody's surprise. Tonight from 5pm to midnight, "the old motel will transform into a free-form gallery and performing-arts space." The artists are memorializing the "surreal and iconic" nature of the motel and decrying the transformation of Seattle into a playground for the middle class. I have some sympathy for this point of view, but it always seems to me that the artists come off as way too self-aggrandizing in this kind of thing. (Unusual in an artist, I know.) The article points out that the motel, in its time, replaced "a cute single-family home, built between 1910 and 1920." I'm sure the neighborhood went to hell then too, with the infusion of god-damned traveling salesmen sticking their toes into everybody's doorway.
But we bid thee a surreal and iconic farewell, Bridge Motel. The aliens will have to find another blank face to hide their invasion plots behind.
