![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
On Saturday I went with m'boy to the reopening of MOHAI, the Museum of History & Industry, Seattle's local history museum.
The new building used to be the old naval armory - featured in photos in the museum's WWII exhibit - on the south shore of Lake Union. It's been beautifully renovated, with a big central open space for large objects like Boeing's first plane and the Slo-Mo-Shun IV, the boat that revolutionized hydroplane racing. (Trust me, auslanders, "hydros" are kind of a big deal around here.)
Most affecting exhibit: Traditional Japanese dolls given by interned Nisei kids to their grade school principal for safe keeping. I don't cry easily even with the girl 'roids (Hey, neither does my mom.) but those dolls nearly made me.
Most yay exhibit: The first sign from a gay bar to announce that the bar is gay, from 1973, a place called Shelly's Leg. Yes, there's a story behind that name.
Most teeth-gnashing exhibit: The failure of the Forward Thrust transportation bond initiatives in 1970, thereby dooming the area to underinvestment in infrastructure and a traffic nightmare that started in the '80s. MOHAI says we have the 4th-worst traffic in the country (I'd heard 3rd a few years ago.) even though we're only the 15th-largest metropolitan area.
Most nostalgic exhibit: Local boy made good Quincy Jones talking about the non-stop jazz scene in the '40s in what is now Little Saigon, where he cut his teeth as a musician.
Spookiest exhibit: Photos of Cedar Falls, WA getting submerged under the reservoir that provides Seattle's drinking water.
Most omigod exhibit: The, uh, humble 19th-century beginnings of the University of Washington, where I got my Master's.
Silliest exhibit: Seattle on film.
Despite the crowds - admission was free - I had a blast. I wore out m'boy, and I like to think he grew a few new synapses. He was too tired even to go for Korean food, so I can tell you that the museum cafe is like most: decent food, but you'll pay for the convenience.
There was a largely positive writeup about MOHAI in Saturday's New York Times. I agree: it's a fun museum.
ETA: While we were waiting to get in, we rode the South Lake UnionStreetcar Trolley. That's right: I rode the SLUT with my son.
*Alki, for you non-Seattleites, is the name of the beach in the southwestern part of the city where the original settlement was. (It was latter moved to Elliott Bay.) Seattle's original name was New York Alki, "alki" being Chinook for "eventually". I'm glad the name changed; we needed our own identity, and we needed to forget the notion that bigger is necessarily better.
The new building used to be the old naval armory - featured in photos in the museum's WWII exhibit - on the south shore of Lake Union. It's been beautifully renovated, with a big central open space for large objects like Boeing's first plane and the Slo-Mo-Shun IV, the boat that revolutionized hydroplane racing. (Trust me, auslanders, "hydros" are kind of a big deal around here.)
Most affecting exhibit: Traditional Japanese dolls given by interned Nisei kids to their grade school principal for safe keeping. I don't cry easily even with the girl 'roids (Hey, neither does my mom.) but those dolls nearly made me.
Most yay exhibit: The first sign from a gay bar to announce that the bar is gay, from 1973, a place called Shelly's Leg. Yes, there's a story behind that name.
Most teeth-gnashing exhibit: The failure of the Forward Thrust transportation bond initiatives in 1970, thereby dooming the area to underinvestment in infrastructure and a traffic nightmare that started in the '80s. MOHAI says we have the 4th-worst traffic in the country (I'd heard 3rd a few years ago.) even though we're only the 15th-largest metropolitan area.
Most nostalgic exhibit: Local boy made good Quincy Jones talking about the non-stop jazz scene in the '40s in what is now Little Saigon, where he cut his teeth as a musician.
Spookiest exhibit: Photos of Cedar Falls, WA getting submerged under the reservoir that provides Seattle's drinking water.
Most omigod exhibit: The, uh, humble 19th-century beginnings of the University of Washington, where I got my Master's.
Silliest exhibit: Seattle on film.
Despite the crowds - admission was free - I had a blast. I wore out m'boy, and I like to think he grew a few new synapses. He was too tired even to go for Korean food, so I can tell you that the museum cafe is like most: decent food, but you'll pay for the convenience.
There was a largely positive writeup about MOHAI in Saturday's New York Times. I agree: it's a fun museum.
ETA: While we were waiting to get in, we rode the South Lake Union
*Alki, for you non-Seattleites, is the name of the beach in the southwestern part of the city where the original settlement was. (It was latter moved to Elliott Bay.) Seattle's original name was New York Alki, "alki" being Chinook for "eventually". I'm glad the name changed; we needed our own identity, and we needed to forget the notion that bigger is necessarily better.
