I’ve been reflecting on the inevitability and tumult of change a lot lately. It’s partly due to the time of year, and partly due to general upheaval surging in and around this town. Spring, after all, is a season whose new life is fertilized on the compost of the old. And short of Christmas/the Holidays, nothin’ draws forth a combination of sentiment and of-the-now celebration more than St. Patrick’s Day.
Author Jaimee Garbacik knows that feeling. She’s been building a shared remembrance of Seattle’s lost corners for awhile now, and the fruit of her labors (again with the nature metaphors) soon surfaces in the form of a book called Ghosts of Seattle Past. Due out in the near future (date TBD) via local publisher Chin Music Press, Ghosts collects essays, photos, and art from several local creatives, all commemorating local spaces reduced to memory by regional development.
It’s likely to be a crucial read/view of expansive scope: Expect in-depth examinations of regional change from the displacement of Native Americans to the closure of your favorite Capitol Hill watering hole last week, with much striking visual accompaniment (full disclosure: one of my photographs will be included). But you can get a peek at elements of the finished project—and a whole bunch more—tonight.
The Love City Love space at 14th and Pike plays host to an Irish wake for lost Seattle places from 6:00 p.m. to midnight this evening. It’s free and all-ages, and everyone who comes in is invited to mark a large map of Seattle with pins to designate their own lost spaces. Personal remembrances are encouraged, too. If you care about the Seattle that was as well as the Seattle that’s here, there’s no reason you can’t drag your green-clad self in, at least for a spell.
You’ll get to hear at least 19 Ghosts contributors reading from their book selections, and get a look at art from Shelly Leavens and Mita Mahato. Photographers extraordinaire Alice Wheeler, Victoria Holt, and Renee Krulich will be on exhibit, there’ll be Halfway Haus drag perfomances, a lost-Fremont slide show from Robert Zverina, and plenty more. Android Hero (reformed for this one-off gig) and iconic local jazzman Dave Holden provide the soundtrack. Beer—and memories—will flow freely.
