Alex Rast wrote:
> Actually it's not owned by the taco shop nor the neighbouring ice-cream
> shop. It's owned by a private individual. Apparently there is some question
> as to what to do with it, and it's not clear that the businesses on that
> corner really want it there, but until a decision is made, there it sits.
> People like to decorate it in various ways. At Christmas they put a
> Communist Red Star in neon on top and draped it with lights. It wasn't
> clear if this was satirical, whimsical, or respectful.
Here's the story, with a picture of the statue:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/201257_vcenter26.html
Friday, November 26, 2004
Fremont merchants plan to light up Lenin this season
By KERY MURAKAMI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
In downtown Seattle, they light a big Christmas tree for the holidays.
But in Fremont, they're going to light up -- what else? -- the big
statue of Vladimir Lenin.
Lenin will be lighted at 5 p.m. Dec. 3 at the corner of Fremont Place
North and North 36th Street. (It's the intersection with the big statue
of Lenin.) The monument will be bedecked with garland and lights -- and
probably not just red ones.
It will be the first time the 18-foot bronze statue has been lighted
since it came to the Center of the Universe in 1995 by way of Slovakia
and Issaquah.
As the story goes, a sculptor named Emil Venkov was commissioned to
build the statue by the Czech Communist Party. But when the regime
fell, so did the statue. It lay in a dump until an Issaquah man
teaching in Poland happened upon it. Struck by it, he mortgaged his
home in Issaquah and had the statue shipped from the East Bloc to the
Eastside. It sat in a pasture behind his house until the Fremont
Chamber of Commerce agreed to take it.
This week the Seattle Post-Intelligencer spoke with Corky Merwin, 48,
one of the Fremont chamber members who came up with the idea to light
up the old Bolshevik.
Merwin recently opened the Postmark Gelato shop behind the statue in
"Lenin Square," but she already seems like a native in this eccentric
neighborhood. The walls of her shop are filled with her collection of
postcards and a bronze-colored ice cream cone more than a foot long.
"We put it out there in Lenin's hand sometimes," she said.
Merwin, who moved here from Vashon Island (which has its own share of
characters), said her friends worried about her living in the big city.
"But then when they heard I was going to Fremont, they said, 'Oh,
she'll fit right in there.' "
How did the Lenin-lighting idea come up?
A bunch of us were sitting around talking at the Fremont Chamber (of
Commerce) about what we could do to celebrate all the things that have
happened at Lenin Square. Not only did our store move in, but we redid
the tiling around the edges of the plaza (where the Lenin statue
stands). No one used it as a plaza before. I also think it's an
interesting time to honor a controversial head of state.
Does Lenin get any visitors?
People from all around the world, from Russia and England, come by.
They're aghast to see it here.
Some people complained about the statue when it went up because they
thought it took his regime's repression lightly. Do you still get
complaints?
One guy came in and started yelling at my people, like it was their
fault.
Do you think using him in a lighting ceremony makes more light of Lenin
and his regime?
I don't think putting lights and garland on him is honoring him.
What's with all these postcards in your store?
It's been a passion of mine since I was a child. I love to travel and I
love to write. ... We got this postcard someone sent us. They were
traveling in Russia and somehow she heard about us and sent us this
postcard.
How else have you used the Lenin in front of your store?
I wanted to watch the (presidential) debate, so I brought a little
television to the store and I put a notice on craigslist.com, "Come
watch the debate in the shadow of Lenin." It was great. About 40 people
showed up. Where else in the United States could you do that?
How do you think Lenin would feel about being all lit up?
I don't know. He didn't sound like a guy with a great sense of humor. I
think Trotsky probably would have had more fun with it.
What do you think of Lenin?
I studied him in college and so my feelings are mixed. ... This is
embarrassing. Maybe I used to drive too fast through Fremont. But for
as political as I am, I'm embarrassed to say that I always thought it
was a statue of Ivar (as in clam chowder). He has this cap on and he's
looking toward Ballard. If you think about it, that makes so much more
sense than (there being a statue for) a Russian dictator in Fremont.
P-I reporter Kery Murakami can be reached at 206-448-8131 or
[email protected]
---
Derek Juhl
