Under a bridge in a vast city dominated by a powerful
\nempire, lives a giant troll. A short walk from the
\nbeast's dark hiding spot stands a statue of a faraway
\nleader where the locals drink a potent brew for stamina.
\nThis is not a hobbit town in Middle Earth. This is Fremont,
\na suburb of Seattle, the self-declared Centre of the
\nUniverse.<\/p>\n
Since the Centre of the Universe was
\n'discovered' in 1991, Fremont has become known for
\na growing collection of public art that all manages to live
\nup to the official motto, De Libertas Quirkas, or Freedom
\nto be Peculiar.<\/p>\n
On a cold, grey day in April, a six block walking tour
\nis a great way to exercise the body and mind. I
\nwalked east from the colourful signpost that points to the
\nmajor attractions, 'LENIN 2 BLKS' in ochre and
\n'ATLANTIS 663 FATHOMS' in aquamarine. A block
\nfrom the sign is a cold-war missile that once adorned the
\nside of a surplus store in nearby Belltown. Now painted
\nwith the crest of the Fremont republic, the
\n'Rocket' is lucky to be there at all. The first
\nattempt to erect the rocket in 1993 failed, allowing the
\nlocals to make a joke about the committee not 'being
\nable to get it up'. The rocket was finally installed in
\ntime for the 1994 summer solstice and the liberation of
\nFremont. <\/p>\n
A short walk north from the Rocket, amongst the pink
\nblossoms, next to the 'Taco Del Mar' sign, is a 16
\nfoot bronze sculpture of Vladimir Lenin. Weighing 7 tons,
\nthe statue is the only known representation of the Russian
\nleader that shows him surrounded by guns and flames instead
\nof holding a book or waving his hat. Lewis Carpenter, an
\nAmerican working in Slovakia, found the statue lying face
\ndown after it was toppled in the revolution of 1989 and
\nmortgaged his house to pay for the shipping back to the US.
\nCarpenter planned to sell the sculpture as the world's
\nmost unique garden gnome. The statue is still for sale for
\n$US 150,000.<\/p>\n
I was not wearing a long thick coat designed for Russian
\nwinter, so I moved on to boost my energy the way the locals
\ndo. In 'Still Life', a bohemian coffee shop,
\nartists, writers and students buzzed. The drug of choice
\nfor these urban rebels was the same as the Microsoft campus
\ndwellers, caffeine. I was still getting used to the
\nsuper-brew and even with an asparagus and red pepper
\nomelette on thick brown toast I could feel my eyes jolt
\nopen and my pulse speed up.<\/p>\n
With the java beans aid I walked up the hill and under
\nthe north end of the Aurora Bridge I found the Fremont
\nTroll. Sculptured in 1990 by four local artists –
\nSteve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter and Ross Whitehead
\n– who won a Fremont Arts Council competition, the 18ft
\nconcrete beast munches on a full size Volkswagen Beetle and
\nleers at visitors with a shiny metal eye. As with much of
\nthe community's installations, the Troll is a living
\nexhibit that reflects local feeling. In 1998, when a man
\nshot a bus driver causing the bus to crash off the bridge
\ninto the apartment building next to the Troll, a glistening
\ntear appeared under his eye. The creature is also the guest
\nof honour at “Trollaween” every October.<\/p>\n
The wind rushed up under the concrete pillars of the
\nbridge and bit deeper and colder than the cement
\nTroll's teeth ever could. The weather also drained the
\ncolour of the faces of the five passengers 'Waiting for
\nthe Interurban'. The cold aluminium statues looked
\nresigned to their fate, wrapped in the sporting colours of
\na local winning team. I paid special attention to the face
\nof the dog with a man's face, brought about by a
\ndispute between sculptor Richard Beyer and aluminium
\nrecycler Armen Stepanian, the one-time honorary mayor of
\nFremont.<\/p>\n
Trying to rid my bloodstream of caffeine, I walked away
\nfrom the centre, along the cycle path lining the edge of
\nLake Union, past the houseboats made famous in Sleepless in
\nSeattle to the decaying metal structures of Gasworks Park.
\nIn the shadow of the rusted boilers covered in bright
\nswirls of graffiti I looked back at the Seattle skyline as
\nthe Fremont drawbridge tooted, cutting the republic off
\ncompletely from the city, just the way the locals liked
\nit.<\/p>\n
David is trying to combine careers in internet, Under a bridge in a vast city dominated by a powerful empire, lives a giant troll. A short walk from the beast's dark hiding spot stands a statue of a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-july-2002"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nmarketing and travel. Travel Writing and Photography is one
\nof several projects he is currently working on.
\nInformation about other projects can be found at www.dmfreedom.com<\/a>.
\nDavid can be contacted by email at dave@dmfreedom.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"