The Seattle Story

About a month or so ago a marina and surrounding property in Ballard got sold to a "Botique Developer". Previously the land, which includes water access along Silshole bay, had been in the same family since the late 1800's and during that time became known as the "Shingle capital of the world" because of how many shingles they were exporting. Eventually it turned into a multi use property with scores of tenants running buinesses out of the various buildings and structures (or making their own out of shipping containers). It's a very free form space.

There's a large concrete warehouse on the property and it's divided into several bays, out of one of these bays is my friend's auto repair business. Another is split between my freinds and their art/workshop and a window repair business. Another bay was taken over by several members of the moped club I'm in to store and work on bikes. All of them are going to lose the space in less than 18 months. 

For the moped club it has been a tumultuous several years. The original garage the club had been based out of - along with several other tenants including a wood shop and motorcycle repair shop - had to move when the landlord sold the property to a developer. They moved to a smaller garage before settling at the Marina, and now are forced to move again.

The previous space had signage, and all of the walls had been covered by a Joey Nix penned mural. Soon it's going to be another 5 over 1 

And this has been my story as well. In the 10 years I have lived in Seattle, I have had to move 3 times because the house I was living in was going to get put on the market by the landlord. It doesn't matter if you can make the rent if you don't own the building. This is why Dick's Drive In has been able to exist at it's Broadway location in Capitol Hill since forver - because it owns the land the building is on. I mainly try to rent houses because I find the apartments in this city to be overpriced and souless, but also don't provide a good space for me to store and work on my mopeds. Recently I've been having to consider keeping the hobby as it's become very hard to secure living space with a garage within the Seattle city limits.

Eventually the hundreds of people and dozens of businesses based out of the Marina are going to be scattered to the 5 winds or whatever, my friends are all g

And it is not just me and my friends. But all the vibrant and interesting people I know are living up in Lake City or Shoreline - which are pretty much the stroad and car suburbs that plague the rest of america. You can't really get anywhere by walking or riding a bike like you can in Seattle. Yes, it is possible to get into Seattle via the Light Rail - but the bars close at 2 and the light rail stops at midnight. Conformity is no longer a choice, it's being forced by the landlords and real estate companies. 

What happens to culture when the only way to afford an apartment is a FAANG job and the only apartment you can afford is a 100 square foot "efficiency" unit? The death of culture. 

The last story is of another friend of mine, also in the Marina, but he rented a room that the auto repair friends were also renting as a part of their front of house operations. He transformed it into a recording studio - and built sound isolation walls - and filled it with tens of thousands of dollars of recording equipment. Then he burned out. Then the property got sold. "You know, the Seattle Story" he quipped.