Home » Fremont’s Top Fives?

Fremont’s Top Fives?

by Kirby Lindsay, posted 24 August 2012
 
   
Is this Fremont's #1 icon/identifying feature? The 'People Waiting for the Interurban' sculpture by Rich Beyer Photo by K. Lindsay, Aug '12

I love writing columns about all the weird, wacky and wonderful things people do for (and think of) Fremont.  Yet, I feel wildly uncomfortable speaking on behalf of this amazingly diverse, sincerely independent and utterly unique community. 

When assembling interviews and information for the ‘Timber To Troll’ history project at History House, videographer Gary Thomsen asked Fremocentrist.com for suggestions on five of Fremont’s top fives.  He needed the information ‘tout suite’ (‘con prisa,’ for those who don’t speak French) and I didn’t have the time to interview a few hundred Fremonsters … so I gave my best guesses. 

For your consideration, the following are my Fremont Top Fives: 

People often recall Fremont as the location of a favorite bar or restaurant - and we all have our favorites. Simply Desserts shown here. Photo by K. Lindsay, Aug '12

Five Iconic Fremont ‘Things’ 

Thomsen actually asked two questions – the top five icons Fremont is known for and the five things people think of when they think of Fremont.  I couldn’t see a difference between them so I’ve combined them here: 

  1. ‘People Waiting For The Interurban’ (by Rich Beyer)
  2. Naked Cyclists
  3. ‘Fremont Troll’ (by Steve Badanes, Ross Whitehead, Will Martin and Donna Walter)
  4. Lenin Statue (by Emil Venkov)
  5. (tie) a favorite bar/restaurant (e.g. Costas Opa, Red Door, Paseo, Thai restaurants, The Ballroom, Brouwer’s Cafe…and Dusty Strings, even if it ain’t a bar)
    (tie)Fremont Bridge

 Honorable Mention –  ‘The Guidepost’ (in 2012 both the Fremont Chamber of Commerce and the Fremont Neighborhood Council used this image in their promotional materials) 

Interviews on Fremont history at History House - here Amanda Zahler and Gary Thomsen (l to r) speak with former Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman Photo by K. Lindsay, Aug '12
Five Things People DON’T Know About Fremont (and Fremonsters wish they did:) 
  1.  This township was originally named for Fremont, Nebraska (not General John C. Fremont.  Fremont, Nebraska is named after the General.)
  2. Stand face-to-face with the Fremont Troll – now turn around (180 degrees.)  The Fremont Arts Council first declared that architecturally magnificent view (designed by Captain Ralph Ober) ‘The Hall Of Giants.’
  3. Slippery Slope – the real name of the park to the west of the Fremont Library.  The Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation can name it A.B. Ernst Park, have a dedication and erect a sign (which disappeared after being knocked over by a drunk driver) but the park remains ‘Slippery Slope’.
  4. Most neighborhood buildings were raised to meet the raised street when the Fremont Bridge was built (between 1917 & 1919) – except for the ‘Imperial Mattress’ building (current location of Custom Smoothies) which is why it looks like it sits in a hole
  5. (tie) In addition to Fremont Avenue, we have a Fremont Place, Fremont Way and Fremont Lane
    (tie) Fremont has been individualistic and self-determining since its days as a township – and no ‘gentrification’ or ‘selling-out’ or ‘change’ can stop our inherent will to be weird…
Interviews on Fremont history take place at History House - shown here Carla Main speaks with Amanda Zahler (and the camera) Photo by K. Lindsay, Aug '12

Five things tie-dyed-in-the-womb Fremonsters wish non-Fremont people didn’t know:

  1.  Trolloween
  2. Our ‘secret’ parking space (the place each Fremonster knows they can located a parking space, when they absolutely have to park here tonight)…and if I told you these locations, they’d have to kill me
  3. Paseo – everyone wishes that everyone else in line would go somewhere else!
  4. The mid-1970s Seattle P-I photo that the paper ran with any story about Fremont (or any urban decay) that showed a drunk man slumped in a Fremont alley.  After asking nicely, each time it appeared, that the editor send out a photographer to take other, more current, more relevant Fremont photo, a local property manager – Suzie Burke – went to visit the newspaper’s offices. She asked very sweetly (her words) if she could see the photo, and when they showed it to her, she tore it up and told them that now they could send someone out to take another photo.  They did.
  5. No incontrovertible, scientific proof exists that Fremont is the center of the universe…but, it must be somewhere, so why not here?
For the 'Timber to Troll' Fremont history project, State Representative Frank Chopp speaks with Amanda Zahler at History House Photo by K. Lindsay, Aug '12

 Five phrases used to describe Fremont (besides ‘Center of the Universe’):  

  1. ‘De Libertas Quirkas’ (‘The Freedom To Be Peculiar’) (source: Official Fremont motto)
  2. Fremont Is A State Of Mind (source: Fremont Chamber of Commerce/W. James Daly, who also said, “Orange you glad you came!”)
  3. The Fremont Vortex – it sucks you in (source:  Suzie Burke)
  4. ‘Artist’s Republic Of Fremont – Don’t Tell Me What To Do’ (source: ARF – possibly Jon Hegeman)
  5. Funky, funny, friendly, frenetic, fantastical, philanthropic, fabulous, forever Fremont! (source:  Fremocentrist.com Facebook Description)

 Five Favorite Moments In Fremont History: 

Peter Toms takes a break after his interview for the 'Timber To Troll' history project, while Gary Thomsen adjusts the lights - Have you told your story yet? Photo by K. Lindsay, Aug '12

Thomsen didn’t ask this one – I did.  Here are my favs… so far.

  1. When local farmer Erastus Witter told the City of Seattle that Fremont already had a library (of which he was self-selected librarian,) so we didn’t need the Seattle Public Library system (circa 1890s)
  2. Building of the ‘Artist’s Republic Of Fremont’ (ARF) and declaration of Fremont as an ‘Independent ImagiNation,’ which came through collaboration among members of the Fremont Chamber, the Arts Council and the Fremont Neighborhood Council (circa 1994)
  3. The election process, for Mayor of Fremont, in 1973
  4. Dedication of the ‘Late For The Interurban’ statue (by Kevin Pettelle) with honorees J.P. Patches (Chris Wedes) and Gertrude (Bob Newman) on August 17, 2008
  5. Fremont business leaders and community activists get very vocal with the Seattle School District when they propose building a ‘new, state-of-the-art’ B.F. Day…in Wallingford.  (circa 1985/1987)

Please, pass along critiques, comments and your own suggestions/votes on any one, or all, of these – as well as any other ‘top five’ topics you think were missed.  If I get enough response, expect to see future news items with revised lists. 

Submissions can be sent to instigator@box2219.temp.domains or posted on the Fremocentrist.com Facebook page. 

Oh, and if you still need to give your stories for the ‘Timber to Troll’  Fremont history project, contact john@historyhouse.org 

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©2012 Kirby Lindsay.  This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws.  Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited. 

www.fremocentrist.com 

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