The Carpenter Machineworks is gone
Jan. 7th, 2007 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randy_byersThe Carpenter Machineworks at the corner of 36th and Albion (the bottom of my block) has been torn down, and with it has gone some of the diversity -- and mystery -- of the neighborhood. I had noticed a couple of weeks ago that the windows and doors were open and that the building seemed empty. It was the first time in my 23 years living here I'd ever seen inside it, as far as I can recall. It was a nondescript light-industrial structure made of corrugated tin. Nothing much seemed to happen there, although occasionally I'd hear someone banging around inside. A rusty old heap of a flatbed truck with a little crane on the back was parked out front, off the street, for years. It was all a little mysterious, just like the blank-looking green building right next to it, which has a name and phone number painted on the door but little other sign of purpose or use. An old man drives up occasionally in a plain white van and goes inside, but what exactly does he do in there? It's gotta be a front for clandestine activity!
There is no land use planning sign on the now-empty lot, so I'm not sure what's up there. One would assume that they'll be putting in more townhouses, but one would assume they'd have to put up a land use planning notice if they were going to do that. The lot next to it on Albion has already been filled with townhouses. That lot used to be occupied by another boarded-up old industrial building of mystery. Just before it was torn down, a neighborhood group tried to save it by claiming it was of historical significance. Turns out it was a power substation for the old trolley-line that used to run down Woodland Park Avenue. It had a semi-Deco look (just barely), and it would have been cool if they could have renovated it into apartments. Oh, well. There's another remnant of the old trolley system on Woodland Park: the big building on the corner of 38th and Woodland Park was a trolley barn. You can still see the big bay doors where the trolleys were parked. When they tore up the intersection at 36th and Woodland Park last year to put the traffic circle in, they pulled up some old ties from the trolley line that is still buried under the pavement. Well, I guess we'll never restore that!
Denys tells me that he has seen a land use planning notice on the Bridge Motel up at the foot of the Aurora Bridge. I've never known what the Bridge Motel was used for, because as far as I can tell the sign has always said No Vacancy. I've heard of residential hotels, but is there such a thing as a residential motel? I've always imagined that it was occupied by aliens or people from the future or from the center of the earth. Probably something Lovecraftian that it was better not to delve into too deeply. Interestingly, the web business-listing Lost in Seattle agrees that these places are mysterious. Under "category," it lists both the Carpenter Machineworks and the Bridge Motel as Unknown. Spooky!
Undoubtedly these places will be replaced with more housing, and I'm for increasing density around here, so I support this on a theoretical level. But I like the mixed-use nature of Fremont, and I'd hate to see all the old commercial properties turn residential. I'll also miss the mystery. What will I have to wonder about now as I wander about the neighborhood? Well, there's still that quiet semi-Victorian house behind the Fremont Dock, with the quaint garden and wishing well. I've heard a man lives there with his elderly mother. I've never seen the old woman, but I have seen a nondescript man puttering quietly in the garden. I imagine his name is Norman Bates, don't you?
There is no land use planning sign on the now-empty lot, so I'm not sure what's up there. One would assume that they'll be putting in more townhouses, but one would assume they'd have to put up a land use planning notice if they were going to do that. The lot next to it on Albion has already been filled with townhouses. That lot used to be occupied by another boarded-up old industrial building of mystery. Just before it was torn down, a neighborhood group tried to save it by claiming it was of historical significance. Turns out it was a power substation for the old trolley-line that used to run down Woodland Park Avenue. It had a semi-Deco look (just barely), and it would have been cool if they could have renovated it into apartments. Oh, well. There's another remnant of the old trolley system on Woodland Park: the big building on the corner of 38th and Woodland Park was a trolley barn. You can still see the big bay doors where the trolleys were parked. When they tore up the intersection at 36th and Woodland Park last year to put the traffic circle in, they pulled up some old ties from the trolley line that is still buried under the pavement. Well, I guess we'll never restore that!
Denys tells me that he has seen a land use planning notice on the Bridge Motel up at the foot of the Aurora Bridge. I've never known what the Bridge Motel was used for, because as far as I can tell the sign has always said No Vacancy. I've heard of residential hotels, but is there such a thing as a residential motel? I've always imagined that it was occupied by aliens or people from the future or from the center of the earth. Probably something Lovecraftian that it was better not to delve into too deeply. Interestingly, the web business-listing Lost in Seattle agrees that these places are mysterious. Under "category," it lists both the Carpenter Machineworks and the Bridge Motel as Unknown. Spooky!
Undoubtedly these places will be replaced with more housing, and I'm for increasing density around here, so I support this on a theoretical level. But I like the mixed-use nature of Fremont, and I'd hate to see all the old commercial properties turn residential. I'll also miss the mystery. What will I have to wonder about now as I wander about the neighborhood? Well, there's still that quiet semi-Victorian house behind the Fremont Dock, with the quaint garden and wishing well. I've heard a man lives there with his elderly mother. I've never seen the old woman, but I have seen a nondescript man puttering quietly in the garden. I imagine his name is Norman Bates, don't you?
