I'm a fan of the U-District (college district) here in Seattle. It is one of the better examples of neighborhood plurality left in Seattle. I temper that thought with the atrocities that have occurred in the adjacent South Campus of the University. Thats another blog post. But the commercial University Avenue is still urban muscle. They're trying to destroy it, but haven't succeeded yet.
I've admired the above building for a long time. Back in the day, it housed a used bookstore run by a long time U-District character. There were always intriguing women there amongst the musty books and a number of cats. I bought my "used" mint condition copy of Graphic Standards (the architectural bible) for an absurdly decent price. How could he do that? It was also painted during his tenure in this wonderful painted lady hippy kaleidoscope of colors. Today, as its faded it still provides a glimpse of what was a less branded time, albeit the Sub shop.
The power of Paint!
Also around the corner, the above piece of wasted lumber was for years this painted blueish grey and white slug of structure that has this weird doughnut style setback from the street. Its never worked (for me anyway) until now. The audacity of the carnival paint job almost completely disguises the problematic structure itself. Almost... Who would of thought?