June 24, 2014 - Bridge Motel

"Sleep off the Hiway" the weathered sign of the Bridge Motel advocates.  The small motel this sign advertises for was located just off of Highway 99 north of the Aurora Bridge - 3650 Bridge Way N.  It opened in 1954, several years before the nearby interstate highway (I-5) opened.  By the time it was closed and torn down in 2007 to make way for townhouses, the Bridge Motel was just another seedy hotel known for prostitution, drugs and murder on this section of Aurora Ave N. This sign, located on the opposite side of Highway 99 from where the motel once stood, remains as a reminder of a different era.

May 6, 2010 - A Troll's Eye View

Gasworks Park and Lake Union as seen looking East through the railing of The George Washington Memorial Bridge. The 2,945 foot long, 70 foot wide steel cantilever bridge is more commonly known as the Aurora Bridge. The bridge is about 160 feet high. Prior to its completion in 1932 several tall masted ships had to move from their anchorage in Lake Union, as the clearance above the shipping lane, 150 feet, wouldn't have been enough for some of them to clear. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Over 230 people have committed suicide by jumping from the bridge, second in the US only to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. This view will soon be gone as a suicide prevention fence nearly 9 feet high will be completed later this year.
(Note: The suicide prevention fence was completed in February of 2011.)

Underneath the north end of the Aurora Bridge, an 18 foot high, one-eyed concrete troll keeps vigil. Here's a view from over his left shoulder.  The Fremont Troll was commissioned by the Fremont Arts Council and sculpted in 1990 by four Seattle artists -- Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead.