The Wall Of Sound
The ‘wall of sound’ was Phil Spector’s contribution to the recording industry, and, as we now know, he eventually became criminally insane.
Arriving at the Colman Dock yesterday it was hard not to imagine a connection. The Viaduct and city as a whole pulsated with an amount of sound that went beyond what you could hear- quite literally. The effect on the civic psyche is about the same as putting a bucket on your head and hitting it repeatedly with a hammer.
In spite of an astounding amount of development, the ground-level Alaskan Way is almost devoid of people. Being almost in the center of a city, there are people who must be there, and they look it, as they jog past or ride tourist buses through, or stroll in a dazed way with their families, quite obviously wondering what was supposed to be fun or interesting about this waterfront.
When the Viaduct comes down, there’ll be a demand for streetcars. You may have avoided the waterfront because of the noise and traffic, but drive through once in a while to see how much pent-up demand is there already. Maybe wearing earplugs will help with the vision thing.
2 comments
I just heard a great idea to save the waterfront streetcar. Let’s build the maintenance barn for the new First Hill in the International District. Then it can be shared with the waterfront streetcar.
On the face of it a very good idea. I wonder, however, how big the maintenance base eventually wants to be.
The South Lake Union cars have their own carbarn. If that happened with every line, you end up with a number of mini-carbarns, cheap to build, but maybe not so cheap to administer and run. These places have a tendency to turn into little empires, all of them hoarding and stockpiling parts, and developing their own ‘special’ ways of doing things.
But you could certainly do worse than choosing a half block in the International District, building a carbarn there, and getting started.
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