The other night, I was a bit early for an event in Queen Anne. I walked passed Mercer where Easy Street Records used to be for the first time since it closed. A half demolished building with no signs that it used to be a a hip music store stood exposed to the elements and fenced off. It’s rather sad.
Don’t get me wrong: the Internet is objectively a better place to get music than a record store. It has a wider selection and your MP3’s don’t scratch.
Still, the thing of it is when you’re 20 minutes early to an event, the greatest way in the world to kill that time is to find a local record shop and fart around. Sometimes you buy something and sometimes you don’t. The next best place of that sort is a book store, and those are experiencing the same sort of existential problem.
I don’t know what in the Internet era replaces that for places to hang out on a rainy Seattle day with some time to kill. Coffee shops are fine, but you really have to buy something, and maybe you don’t want something to eat or drink.
I share your sadness, Carl, but Starbucks is still around, so may I suggest you try that?
(Disclaimer: Roger Rabbit owns Starbucks stock)
most people in your condition these days seem to be huddled under an overhang pinching, zooming and scrolling on a smartphone.
It will be interesting to see how public spaces evolve when more and more things can be purchased at home. What kind of spaces will we still use to be used, when people leave their homes?
Seems that eating and playing spaces would become the common place to meet up.
That and Wallmart.
Hi Carl,
What you seem to be talking about is a “third place”. This is the concept Ron Sher had in mind when he put together his Third Place Books stores in Lake Forest Park and Ravenna.
http://www.thirdplacebooks.com/ron
The idea of the third place is that you have work, home, and a third place to go to relax, socialize,and maybe shop. In Scotland or Ireland, the pubs serve some of this function. Here, it seems to be shopping malls.
Your post made me wonder if this might be a good function for Libraries to undertake. Libraries often have meeting rooms, likely underutilized, which could be a place people could go to talk with other people.
Starbuck’s is sorta-kinda OK, but I’ve had a quarrel with Howard Schultz’s at one time very public participation in the “Fixthedebt” organization that’s been flogging away at solving all our problems (snort!) by defaulting on the third or so of the debt otherwise known as the Social Security trust fund. It may be Mr. Schultz has had a change of heart…any mention of fixthedebt.com has been expunged from Starbuck’s online presence or store signage, and he’s no longer listed on the organization’s “elite” steering committee.
My favorite rekkid store in the Northwest is Quimper Sound in Port Townsend (which, incidentally, has its own espresso bar) but that’s kind of a long walk from Seattle Center.
“I’ve had a quarrel with Howard Schultz’s at one time very public participation”
I recall without any fondness how he cut off public access to Lake Washington so he could have more privacy at his mansion.
From 5,
What is most likely to happen with Social Security is that the age limit will be raised and the FICA tax ceiling will be raised to unlimited on earned income. (The limit is something like $108,000 now.). Also, Social Security retirement payments will be made to potential recipients on an as-needed basis. That is, those with pensions and other retirement assets won’t necessarily receive Social Security retirment benefits, depending on their other sources of income.
@7 Why? Social Security doesn’t have a problem. It has its own dedicated tax that brings in more revenue than benefits going out — i.e. is running a surplus. The Social Security Trust Fund has enough money to fund benefits for years to come, and is invested in the world’s safest securities — U.S. Treasuries. There’s no need to raise the eligibility age. Nor does boosting the FICA tax ceiling to “unlimited” make sense, as this would rupture the historic link between taxes paid and benefits received in the Social Security and Medicare programs.
I think the thing to do is, first, address the cost issues in Medicare by repealing the unfunded prescription drug program. Second, additional tweaks to Medicare, but not including privatization which would increase overhead costs and cut benefits. Third, the demographic issues facing Social Security eventually have to be addressed, but this doesn’t require drastic surgery to the program. The best palliative here would be economic growth, so for starters, let’s stop giving tax breaks to businesses for moving American jobs overseas and then take it from there.
From 8,
I have no idea how to fix Medicare. I’m glad to have to medical program that I have now, and I’m dreading the day I have to go to Medicare.
I disagree with you in that I really believe Social Security will eventually push up the age of eligibility, but that will be done gradually. We may not even be here to comment on it when it finally does start increasing, but I think the age of eligibility will eventually be raised.
Continued,
You might google this website for more info:
About.com/senior living
Some good info there.
They chose a new Pope today, and he has taken the name “Francis.”
Let’s all be disrespectful and refer to him as Pope Frankie!
Yeah, I like it!!
@4,
I grew up in LFP, and both the book store and the commons have been the sort of place I describe in the post. I’m not sure it lines up exactly with the notion of a 3rd place, although record stores and book stores can be that as well. In the case of the post, I was thinking quicker and more just killing time.
RR @8
Yes it does. It exists.
SS is a horde of cash that Wall St is hell bound to loot.
Years @ 11
Reminds me of my 17th most favorite movie, Stripes.
Easy Street lives. Just take the Rapid Ride to West Seattle, get off at California and Alaska and it’s 50 feet away. The original is still here. :)
@14
If you’re ever down here in Olympia, Rainy Day Records is still plugging along. (Or at least they were last time I checked..)
@15 and 17,
Both good stores that I’ve spent plenty of time in. Neither are very good when I’m in Queen Anne with a little time to kill.
“Easy Street Records”
Never heard of it. Is that the old Tower Records location?
Silver Platters is still at the old (last) Tower location, 701 5th Ave N. in Uptown/LQA.
Mercer Street books is still across from the old Easy Street location (soon to be a Chase branch). For coffee there is Uptown and Caffe Ladro, both on QA Ave.
Thanks. I must be several generations behind the times. I believe the Tower Records I was thinking of was at 5th and Mercer. I recall that it was a record store under a different name before Tower came along. I just looked at Google view. The neighborhood has changed a lot since I worked at Valley and Taylor back in the 1970s. The three little houses across the street on Valley are still there. I wonder how they survived?
Hmm, so what you are saying is that you would like to hang-out at a record store or a bookstore but don’t want to buy anything. Are you getting the picture as to why these places are closing?
BTW, I think Tower Records was Peaches before.