The composites in Pink Umbrella Love Rainydaze are based on true events.
Violet Wander, the main character is based on my early life. There were many real-life punks and poets in Seattle during the 1990s. It was impossible to choose one or two from a roster the size of “Grunge Alley’s”(live) music dives.
Pioneer Square’s “Zentral Tavern” is a good example of the composites used in the stories. I worked in “the Square” during the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and Y2Ks during various phases of my life. My partner owned two architecture firms in the neighborhood. The first was above Larry’s Greenfront (my former employer), and the other was directly across First Avenue from “Larry’s”, the green-fronted restaurant in the photo below.
Most of this district is built on top of an authentic wild west ghost town. “The Great Fire” of 1889 happened during the Yukon gold rush.
Within a year, the city planners re-built right on top of the burnt bones of the lucrative shipping (and red light) district by the docks. Today, the Seattle Underground is a fabulous tourist attraction as seen below.
The doorways on the left were once at street level. Many buildings on top of the underground have renovated their original 1889 spaces for storage, though I’ve seen rustic “storage units” fashioned from crude drywall with the original floors.
It’s important to honor friends, family and acquaintances who often overlooked in the mainstream media. There were too many cool characters on the dive bar scene to focus on just one.
Some of their stories are closely linked to addiction and other destructive behaviors. I feel citing one person was too narrow of a focus, when there were too many tragic overdoses to count.
The “27 club” doesn’t work for me personally. It’s a truth, but the heart of it is lost when the stigma of ageism enters the headlines, and these artists become just a number in a tabloid.
They were our friends.
Pink Umbrellas Love Rainydaze 