The Reflexive: 5/24/05 and The Mystery Woman

The Dakar Apartments-My first floor apartment is on the left.

I happened upon some photos recently that were taken on May, 24, 2005. It got me thinking about the past, which is what I do best. What was going on with me 20 years ago that day? It's also the day I took the photo of the mystery woman, a photo that I’ve reflected on many times over the years.

May 24, 2005 was on a Tuesday that year. I had been in Seattle for about 2 years from Brooklyn at this point. I had an apartment at the Dakar apartment building on Summit Ave E in The Capitol Hill neighborhood. It was only $600 a month. I was on the first floor in an apartment that was probably less than 500 sq ft. It had wood paneling and totally outdated appliances, but they worked and the building was clean. Plus I had my own entrance with a little front patio. The laundry room was just across the hall from my official front door in the building. And as if that wasn’t enough, across the street was Top Pot Doughnuts. I had a lot of doughnuts that year. I really liked my time there, which was about two years. I had also recently purchased a 1993 red Toyota Corolla which was great for getting around Seattle. I ended up driving it for the next 10 years. For work, I had been freelancing at Screaming Flea Productions as a video editor. Screaming Flea produced a lot of shows for HGTV, A & E and the like. Their biggest claim to fame was producing the original “Hoarders” show a few years later. I had been working on shows like “Sell This House” and “Toolbelt Diva” as well as a few other projects there since December 2004. A few months after May 24th, I would work on “Move This House” an offshoot of “Sell This House”. That show helped pay for my first European trip that fall.

My private patio at the Dakar

My cool apartment

Check out that wood paneling

My two kitties I had at the time, Pixie and Pollito

Top Pot Doughnuts-my home away from home

I was going to lots of events and parties with my Seattle friends and acting as a tour guide for my visiting NYC friends. I was very active socially. In fact, later that evening on May 24th, I played some dodgeball and took photos in Cal Anderson Park. It had become a thing on Tuesday nights. I do remember that I looked forward to those dodgeball games. A lot of people would show up and we'd play for a few hours on the tennis courts there and just hang out afterwards.

Dodgeball at Cal Anderson Park 5/24/05

I would say that those first few years in Seattle I was at my best, in terms of outlook and how I felt about myself. But what was I thinking that day? What were my hopes and dreams? Was I worried about the future? Who amongst us can remember what was on the top of our minds so many years ago? They were probably thoughts like, I want to see that movie or remember to pay the phone bill. Maybe I was contemplating something more serious like avoiding a situation because it involved some kind of confrontation. Most likely, a lot of my thoughts then are probably kind of similar to my thoughts today, ranging from the most mundane, I've got to get that laundry done later. To the more profound, what the hell is going on in this world? To the philosophical, one day I won't be here anymore. One thing I don't think I worried about then was money since Screaming Flea was paying pretty well, certainly well enough to easily come up with the $600 rent. So that afforded me the time on a weekday to do what I love best: walking around town taking photographs. I vaguely remember a few reasons for doing this photo walkabout; one was to photograph Naramore Fountain, which is on 6th Ave by I-5 and the other was to see my friend Cy, who hung out at Victor Steinbrueck Park. He had this yellow cart and he would paint these miniature paintings all the while engaging with anyone who wanted to.

Naramore Fountain

Cy at his regular spot at Victor Steinbrueck Park

Other than that I didn’t have any set route. I was also still discovering parts of Seattle. I meandered downtown from Capitol Hill via Pike Street down to Freeway Park, then to Naramore Fountain. After that I went past the new downtown library, which had opened the year before. I headed south on 4th ave and hit Cherry Ave and photographed the razing of the Public Safety Building. That area, 20 years later, is still just a vacant lot, which seems odd given the ridiculous building boom of the 2010’s in Seattle. I went to Pioneer Square then north onto 1st Ave S and 1st ave to Pike Place Market and Victor Steinbrueck Park where Cy was painting away. I sat with him there for a while, probably talking about how he ended up to be painting like he was in that park. I don’t remember what time I started my walk that day or how long my journey took but I ended up heading home around 5pm. I walked up Olive Way towards Capitol Hill. This is where I took my most significant photo that day. It’s a photo I’ve reflected on many times over the years. I was walking up Olive Way and was approaching the bridge that spans I-5 and takes you into Capitol Hill. Then up ahead, there she was, a woman with a green bike about 20 paces ahead of me.

The Mystery Woman on Olive Way

I was completely enamored by her. Her outfit was just so cool. I loved the blue bag over her shoulder. I snapped a few photos of her. Was she coming from work? We continued up Olive Way past the bridge. When she got to Bellevue Ave E, where the bus in the photo is, she turned right. I was going to take a left, towards Summit Ave E and the Dakar apartments. I don’t remember if I entertained the idea of turning right. I’m sure it crossed my mind but I didn’t. I turned left at Bellevue Ave E. and I never saw her again. I actually never even saw her face. She was only ahead of me for about 2 minutes before she turned right but over the years she has become the mystery woman. What if she had turned left? What if we stopped together at an intersection, waiting for the light and I summoned the courage to talk to her. Would we have dated? Marriage? Could she have been at the dodgeball game later that evening? I’ve wondered many times over the past 20 years, what if? Ah yes, what if? A question that we ask ourselves when we want something other then what we have in front of us in the present. Though I have no memory of it now, I'm sure in the weeks and months that followed, I thought about her and hoped I would see a girl with a green bike and blue bag roaming the streets of Capitol Hill.

Here some of the photos taken that day in chronological order.