Hike 8C: Near Northwest

Dear Diary,

Of course I didn't hike to Ballard on January 19, as recounted in "Hike 8A" March 21 and "8B" March 23, and then skip downtown Ballard.  I actually had to go there twice, and one reason I've dawdled so much to tell you about those hikes, dear Diary, is that I wanted to present the two visits in one page.  But I haven't found a way to make that work.  So this page is strictly about my first visit, in mid- to late afternoon of January 19.

The Urban Rest Stop, Ballard branch

My first stop was a dud.  Because I hadn't checked the map first, I hadn't looked at this place's open hours, which turned out to end at 2:30 P.M. that day.  This is certainly as good a postcard shot as I could reasonably hope to take:

but because I got there at 3:21 P.M., gives a mistaken impression.  This is one of the two reasons I came back to downtown Ballard on the night of January 21, as a future page will recount.

Ballard Commons

Rachel Schulkin, communications manager for the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, had finally filled me in on why the department claims there's a "restroom" at Ballard Commons:  they mean the "Portland Loo".

Now, dear Diary, when I've told you about this sad little park before, June 25 in "History and Parks", part II, and December 16 in "The Water Fountains of Ballard, mid-October 2020", I've mocked that "loo" as a fancier "sanican".  This turns out to have been untruthful of me:

An outhouse retains our excreta indefinitely.  A "sanican" retains them for a few days.  A toilet removes them promptly.  Clearly, the "Portland Loo" offers a toilet.  My apologies.

Ballard Commons also does have "sanican"s:

but I didn't find that hand-washing station working.  Nor were either of the push buttons on the side of the "Loo", which apparently are supposed to deliver water to wash with and air to dry with:

Fortunately, this is the last of the three parks in northwest Seattle whose water fountains had been left running:

I haven't been back to check its current status, but have noticed SPU sinks replacing hand-washing stations elsewhere, so hope that's happened at Ballard Commons too.

Seattle Public Library, Ballard branch

When I got there, there was an actual crowd - you're too young to remember crowds, aren't you, dear Diary? - anyway, a crowd waiting to pick up library materials.  There were also a lot of tents along the edges of the sidewalks.  Navigating my cart among all this was challenging, and I just couldn't find evidence that the restrooms there were open.  I also found taking a real postcard shot hopeless, but here's the best I could do:

Anyway, after several minutes of confusion, I decided to knock on the door to the restrooms, which I found locked.  A library security guy answered; he had to spend a few seconds doing something that sounded like removing tape before he could open the door.  I introduced myself and you, dear Diary, and said I wanted to take a photograph that would demonstrate that the restrooms were open (even though they plainly weren't!).

His reply was nearly classic.  He pointed out that a pandemic was happening.  And then said "So if you aren't here to pick up library materials, and you aren't here to use the restrooms, I'm going to have to ask you to move along."

You could tell how gratified he was to have an opportunity to use that last phrase on an actual homeless person, just like before the pandemic.  Although I generally consider it a little presumptuous of me to claim the title "journalist" on the basis of you, dear Diary, I do find myself wondering whether a housed journalist would've gotten quite such a reply.

Anyway, soon thereafter, I had recovered enough from my confusion to notice this:

It was adjacent to the front of the pickup line, which may or may not have been optimal placement.

So there it is, evidence that the Ballard branch's restrooms were open in mid-January, whether or not they actually were.

Ballard Community Center and environs

Well, hully gee!  The map I took these hikes to check on had seemed frozen for some time.  Now it's getting populated with what looks like summer data.  In particular, it claims tonight that these restrooms are open.

But that doesn't mean it's incorporated all the info I e-mailed to the people responsible.  My last e-mail, covering all my January hikes not already summarised, was sent February 15.  (I figured I should give them a chance to digest what I'd sent before publicly calling them all liars, which is why I put that off until February 18.)  But the map still doesn't show this:

It was across the street from Ballard Playground, in which Ballard Community Center with its then-closed restrooms sits, on January 19.  It was also in the street, which means it was on city property.  I should think, then, that it was there because of a city contract with the Honey Bucket people, but it wasn't and still isn't mapped.  I wonder whether it's still there.

Anyway, the Ballard Community Center.  An attempt at a postcard shot:

The closed door:

The closed doors:

I think my return to Ballard a little over two days later is about five pages away in this story.  I'll probably write another page tonight that isn't part of that story.  Until then, dear Diary.