The P-I Globe and the Bubbleator
January 10th, 2009Posted by Jim Reppond
One of my fondest childhood memories of visiting the Seattle Center as a kid was riding up and down the Bubbleator and visualizing a Jetson-like-reality in my future. I remember being saddened to learn the Bubblator had been sold off to, ironically, a Seattle P-I employee to be used as a greenhouse in Des Moines. I never really understood why it was decommissioned. I STILL miss it and look for it whenever I visit that building in the Seattle Center.
Now it appears to be the Seattle P-I Globe’s turn to be “put out to pasture” in an ironic twist of fate. There is more than the globe-shaped iconic nature of these structures that they have in common. These long-time symbols of Seattle’s past bring warm emotional reactions to many of us here in Seattle.
The web pages have barely been refreshed on the blogs and already a company is clamoring to take advantage of the marketing potential of the amazingly well-branded globe. A watchband internet startup wants to wrap it with adverting. Am I alone in wishing that this not be the fate of our beloved past? Hopefully someone will come up with an alternative more dignified to preserve this unique piece of Seattle’s history.
2 Comments Add your own
1. Austin Real Estate Blog |&hellip | January 12th, 2009 at 11:52 am
[…] BRONZE MEDAL: Jim Reppond’s “The P-I Globe and the Bubbleator” talks about the sentimental value of a local landmark and does a great job of drawing in his audience. […]
2. Jim | January 29th, 2009 at 10:14 am
I think it would look great at the new MOHAI South Lake Union
site. It could be a stand alone art piece.
Visualize, a clear summer night looking south from gaswork
park mount and seeing a neon lite globe at the base of a Seattle
skyline.
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