This column originally appeared on January 12, 2000, published in The Seattle Press.
If GlamOrama has touched you – you were married in the wedding chapel or made a new man by the banana boxers purchased there – Charlotte would like to hear about it. If the highlight of your life was strutting in costume at the Outdoor Cinema or if the frivolity of Miracle on 34th Street, a celebration of life through miniature golf, sent you into therapy, please write down your experience and send it to Charlotte.
Because it’s all her fault, you know. Charlotte Buchanan is the zany mind behind GlamOrama, a famously funky shop in Fremont, as well as many of the headline grabbing stunts pulled here in the last ten years. “Most of the things I did,” she acknowledged, “people told me, ‘No’.” Fortunately for all of us, Charlotte didn’t listen. Kathy Moeller, another small business owner, remembers shopping for an emergency Christmas dress at GlamOrama. Charlotte picked one out and Kathy immediately thought, “This is NOT me.” Charlotte persisted and Kathy wore it. “I loved it!,” she admitted. “Charlotte made me stretch my wardrobe over the years.”
Unfortunately for all of us, Charlotte is closing GlamOrama. “A Lady knows when it is time to leave,” she quoted from Fried Green Tomatoes, “not that I’ve always been a lady.” The store featured high-quality clothes, and totally outrageous, usually irreverent, often-nonsensical gift items. “I have learned everything I can from GlamOrama. All the things I’ve dreamed of have happened.”
According to Mike Peck, a local landowner, Charlotte first saw the ad for a World War II surplus rocket for sale – and saw its possibilities. Eventually it became an art piece, and source of neighborhood pride. “She spun Fremont’s (inherent) zany-ness to a new level,” Mike explained. Pam Hinckley, of Red Hook Brewery, has been witness to many of Charlotte’s plans. “She is very bewitching in the way she flounces into this office, getting whatever she wants.” Red Hook has sponsored many GlamOrama Productions, including the latest Center of the Universe Ball. “It’s always a delightful surprise to see what comes out of her mind,” Pam explained, “I admire her track record. When she says she is going to do something, it has always exceeded my expectations.”
Revealing a long held secret, Pam admitted she, Jon Hegeman and Charlotte spent one evening sponging orange paint on the sidewalks of Fremont to create “Troll prints”. It was the first time Pam “saw the kind of magic Charlotte is capable of.” Mike recalled Charlotte’s pioneering efforts in Fremont ten years ago. The neighborhood, it may be hard to believe, was a little sleepy at the time and Charlotte worked to waken it up. She kept her store open after 5 p.m. and urged other shopkeepers to follow her example. We’ve never been the same since.
Suzie Burke, another local landowner, remembered when Charlotte first came to the neighborhood. Some Fremonsters grumbled and made dire predictions about the future when they heard a young woman was to replace the Mike’s Old Clothes store, ‘a Fremont institution’. Charlotte opened GlamOrama, and “Mike’s clothes were pretty old and tired by comparison,” Suzie recalled. “Everyone knew Charlotte instantly. She was a real spark plug in the small retail district we had then. She showed that you could come out from behind the counter and work for the good of the neighborhood.”
Pam pointed out, “it’s not all fun and glamour.” Charlotte has been a hardworking force in our area. I asked her what she is most proud of, expecting to hear about events like Shopping Spree or Trick-Or-Treat. Instead she spoke with pride about lessons she has learned through 20 years of work in retail. “I’ve learned to be in the moment,” she explained. “Retail can be both freeing and frightening. And life is ever changing.”
For Charlotte, closing the store now is “like a Siddhartha moment.” She won’t be abandoning us entirely. Under GlamOrama Productions, with partners, she will still be showing the Outdoor Cinema in Fremont and at Gas Works and Marymoor Parks. She hopes to open up to new ideas and, possibly, new events.
“We’re going to miss her,” Kathy said, “I will.” As a send off, Charlotte would most like to hear stories of your experience of GlamOrama. She is realistic. In retail, “if you are open 362 days of the year, you are not going to be in a good mood every day.”
©2013 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.