It started with the Fremont Troll. I saw a picture and description and knew it was going on the agenda for our time in Seattle. The cool thing about these Roadside America oddities is that you never know where they will lead. A few years ago, a stop off the highway to see the World’s Largest Spur happened to be in Abilene, Kansas, which we learned also features the boyhood home of Dwight D. Eisenhower, which, as long as we were in town, was also worth a visit. Always upping the ante, Abilene recently installed the World’s Largest Belt Buckle. However, when it comes to local oddities, we haven’t seen anywhere in our travels that can compete with Fremont.
The Fremont Troll is a sculpture that was commissioned by the Fremont Arts Council in 1991 and is, logically, placed under a bridge. The troll was constructed with the goal of reducing both litter and homeless encampments or, “rodents, mattresses, beer cans, [and] guys sleeping.” Over the years, the troll has been targeted by vandals, productized as a Fremont Troll Chia Pet by the Fremont Arts Council, and featured in the film, 10 Things I Hate About You and the comic, Zippy the Pinhead. My advice for a troll visit is to go early in the day before the crowds gather. He is very popular.
The Guidepost to the Center of the Universe
Just blocks from the Troll is the fantastic sounding Guidepost to the Center of the Universe. The backstory of this fun sign goes like this: In 1991, a group of scientists gathered in a bar at the corner of North Fremont Avenue and North 35th Street were arguing about the possible existence of the center of the universe. They decided that, since no one could prove otherwise, they would designate the very spot in which they were sitting as the center of the universe. The resulting sign provides direction for the Louvre, the Troll (of course), Timbuktu, Noogie (top of head), the North Pole, Rio de Janeiro, the lost city of Atlantis, and the Fremont Sunday Market, among others. But the story doesn’t end there. In 2018, a woman, who was videotaped by numerous bystanders, tore the Guidepost apart, threw the pieces into her awaiting Audi, and drove away. Undaunted, the neighborhood pulled together and created a replacement which still stands today. In the words of Maque daVis, the Guidepost creator and also a local artist and performer “You can break, take, and destroy our art, but we will just make more!”
Statue of Lenin
A half block from the Guidepost stands the Statue of Lenin. The statue, which formerly stood in Czechoslovakia, was toppled in the Velvet Revolution. A Seattle-area man subsequently bought it and had it shipped to the U.S. in 1993. We have read that the man’s family is willing to sell it for $300,000. Any takers?
The Fremont Rocket
The rocket bears Fremont’s coat of arms and motto De Libertas Quirkas or “Freedom to be Peculiar.” The rocket is literally attached to the side of an otherwise normal-looking building, so normal-looking, in fact, that we didn’t really notice what the nature of the building is and couldn’t find anything to tell us. The rocket, along with the Lenin statue, rounds out the area’s cold war era kitsch.
Theo Chocolate
Less weird, but still interesting, is Theo Chocolate, which is housed in a building erected c1900 as a trolley barn. When it opened in 2006, Theo was the country’s first fair-trade chocolate company in the U.S. The flagship store, which is the one in Fremont, offers chocolate tasting and factory tours. While there, we bought a bag of chocolates broken in the factory process – a bargain for $11 for a one pound bag, representing about six bars. Individual bars go for $4.50. What a deal! Apparently, they occasionally have a day when the bars break during production, according to one of the workers, although she wasn’t able to tell us why or how this happens. The chocolate is first rate.
Waiting for the Interurban/Late for the Interurban
These statues are a couple of blocks apart with the only similarity being that of their name. Waiting for the Interurban is a fairly serious study of people waiting for the train (although there is no train at that location); Late for the Interurban is a depiction of two characters from a long-defunct local children’s TV show called J.P Patches and Gertrude, running in different directions. The show must still have a cult following because their web site has quite a selection of merch, including a “Patches Pal license plate,” which is a real Washington State license plate with images of the characters on it. Be aware if you look for these statues that Google maps will lead you under the Fremont bridge to a rabbit warren of Google’s offices. If you’re not at street level of the bridge, you’re in the wrong place. Is this a nefarious Google plot?
Gas Works Park
Gas Works Park is a “don’t miss,” not for the rusting ruins of the former gas company equipment onsite, but for the hill that overlooks the lake and the city skyline. On the Sunday morning we were there, the lake was a beehive of activity, with boats ranging from kayaks to yachts, and float planes engaged in nonstop takeoffs from the water.
So, there you have it. Fremont’s tagline is Freedom to be Peculiar, but it could just as easily be So Much More Than Just the Troll.
You and Me, Odyssey 