day 2 – walking lucile street – the inception segment

S Lucile St & 39th Ave S - A quiet and inviting place to sit on the street.

Joining us for our second session of walking Seattle’s Lucile Street from end to end was Ms M’s good friend and neighbor Ms N.

Lucile Street – we walked from Rainier Ave S to Martin Luther King Jr Way S and back

Reflections

Pets in windows, pets in fenced yards. Evident in the post walk reflection sketches and write-ups is how the presence of pets captured the kids’ interest on this segment of Lucile. I think the closer proximity of homes to the street, more townhomes, and less dense front-yard gardens on this stretch meant we had a clearer view of the life within the homes.

Walk reflection by Ms N – 8 cats, 1 chicken, 2 dogs, 2 puppies, 35 flowers, and 2 chicken coops
Walk reflection by Ms M – pets in windows and spider-like bugs caught for analysis
Walk reflection by Ms A – flowers, palm trees, a montessori school, a film crew, and a hanging plant caught her attention.

My earliest memory of Lucile Street is here on this segment of the street. Years ago when we moved to Columbia City, Erica made friends with Kristen and Lindsey – both of whom lived in the house pictured below with other roommates. I think I came here with Erica to see Lindsey and that may be where we met for the first time.

Lindsey says she remembers growing things – the decadent supply of lilacs for her table that she could cut – the potatoes Kristen planted and that she witnessed grow for the first time. She remembers porch-sitting, gingerbread house-making with neighbors during Christmastime. She remembers borrowing my projector for a film screening for a refugee fundraiser.

Lucile Street – Lindsey’s house

A dear friendship, Lindsey travelled in a parallel timeline with us to New York City for her master’s degree. And with the birth of Ms A, she became one of her two caregivers while Erica and I worked. Like us, she also returned to Seattle, now married. She then lived in Lower Queen Anne, a block from where Erica and I first lived in Seattle. Now Erica is working with refugees.

It is a wonder how our lives can move in parallel like a double helix, swinging round and round, and appearing from so many vantage points to come together when so often also distant.

Streets also can fold and turn, engulfing you in a valley one moment and lifting you up to see the whole city in another. This segment of Lucile has that feel. Maybe it was the presence of the film crew who didn’t seem to know what they were filming for Microsoft, but the street gave me the feeling we were in Christopher Nolan’s film Inception in which the city folds like a pop-up book.

This segment of Lucile has fewer trees and defined sidewalks compared to the first segment, but the street was just as quiet and several homes had a park like feel to them, particularly those west of 39th Ave S. There in the shade and next to bamboo shoots growing out off a tree stump, the kids decided to sit on the edge of the street for a snack.

Dossier

To document our walk, we made notes, took pictures, recorded a sound sample, sketched drawings, and gathered material samples. Below is a collections of the images.

Lucile Street – We found two little free libraries on this segment.
Lucile Street – A taste of the flowers and pets – photo by Ms A
Lucile Street – Feeling Hollywood vibes with the film crew and all the palm trees
Lucile Street – Two traffic circles between Rainier Ave and MLK Jr Way
Lucile Street – Signage and posters found along the road between Rainier Ave & MLK Jr Way
At 37th & Lucile – Left: a storefront for what? Right: Ms M collects bugs for inspection
Sound recording on Lucile Street just West of Rainier Ave. The jack hammering of construction can be heard – plodding the progress of redevelopment. Ms M and Ms N can be heard with me at the end wordlessly forbidding them to press the doorbell on the Montessori school’s gate.

Measurements

Date of walk: Thursday, July 20th, 2022
Start time: 12:51
End time: 13:47

Sunny, 77℉

Elevation plot generated by Garmin Connect App.

Max elevation: 224ft
Min elevation: 138ft

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