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The only constant is change.

And nowhere is that proverbial rule more evident than in Seattle.

Is it something to mourn and grieve or is it something to celebrate as shiny and new replaces old and worn?

How do we process the loss of connection with the possibly rose colored memories of the past?

That's part of our discussion with Cynthia Brothers, founder of a social media and filmmaking cooperative known as Vanishing Seattle.

Up next on northwest, now, Music.

since 2016, Cynthia brothers and a small army of social media followers have been documenting the constant and seemingly accelerating change underway in Seattle.

Obviously, when it comes to the absolute failure of civil governance, a lot of the change is easily identified as catastrophic.

These days, almost certainly guaranteeing at least a decade spent trying to rebuild.

But outside of the combat zones, a lot of the change is more subtle than that, more melancholy than toxic, more sentimental than material, and maybe more like inevitable progress than destruction.

Documenting the change often includes the closing of old stores and restaurants, the changing streetscapes of well-traveled neighborhoods, and the transition from a sometimes threadbare analog port city to a maybe more plastic feeling digital playground for the well-heeled.

It's all part of Vanishing Seattle's mission, much of which is expressed in a series of short films that you can find online.

great, though.

It has a very interesting community feel to it.

There's very much the history of the Scandinavian.

And they've like the fishing village and I do think people try very hard to keep that alive.

And I'm glad that they do.

When I first lived in Ballard, it was very seedy.

It was very industrial.

And thank goodness some of that is still left.

Ballard prior to 1907, was its own city over a hundred years ago when this was a quiet drinking village with a fishing problem, Ballard had that very authentic old world view.

They've been defiant and kind of being their own corner of this city, even as they've been incorporated into the larger city itself.

It was cozy, you know, all the little dimes and shops.

By Caddy's hand, I mean the small shop, you know, they're just crowding around.

by.

My name is Mike Kelly and I am or was the sole proprietor of Reckless video Some of the movies that I like to watch aren't even available on streaming services like this one.

Kind of a rare horror movie.

You get to see things you don't normally see.

I mean, even those streaming services, you don't get to come and like, peruse and like, oh, I forgot about this or here's some indie movie they did.

I had no idea.

It's a loss of choice and selection, to count on the online companies for content.

I grew up with albums and the discipline of getting back up off the chair, or from across the room to flip the album and play the second side, or swap albums out.

So there was this.

There was a relationship to the medium that took a little bit of effort, and that created appreciation and some respect for it.

Like I had to work for this music.

DVDs and I 1989, about 30 years ago, and I've been in the same studio ever since.

Which is a miracle in Seattle.

I have been living and working on and off the hill for 27 years.

Capitol Hill was once a place where, artists and musicians would come share their stuff, show their work, and there's a lot of music venues.

Tons of old, really cool, weird buildings.

And the rent was affordable.

It's really sort of a dynamic, environment.

Lots of different communities felt welcome.

And in that space, Cynthia, thanks so much for coming to northwest.

Now, I've been watching the vanishing Seattle, films and the social media for a while, and I just think what you do is very interesting, and it's very interesting to watch people try to process change as they make their postings, and, and talk about.

This is a topic.

Let's start though, with a little bit of a bio on you.

Talk a little bit about where you were raised and the era that you came up in.

I think that's important too.

Yeah.

Well, thanks so much for having me, Tom.

Super excited to be here.

Yeah.

So I was born and raised in Seattle.

I'd say I kind of came of age, in the 90s, early 2000.

You know, this is a very Seattle question, but where high school did you go to?

Yeah, yeah.

I went to Garfield.

Okay.

And then, u-dub for undergrad.

So pretty typical, I'd say Seattle educational experience.

Yeah.

And then I actually went to grad school at NYU.

So I was out in New York for about five years, and then came back to Seattle, I want to say 2011, and then started managing Seattle a few years later in 2016.

How did that get started?

What was the genesis of that idea and I'm sure it has evolved into more than it was.

Talk a little bit about that process.

Yeah.

So when I came back to Seattle, I kind of noticed how things, you know, things always change, obviously, but it seemed like the pace of change had really accelerated, kind of while I was gone.

And then it was coming back.

So I think I had this, I don't know, just this, you know, observation or just like, looking around me, and seeing things like, disappear so quickly.

But I think the thing that really kind of became the catalyst for starting the vanishing Seattle project.

I have to credit, this restaurant on North Beacon Hill called Eni's.

It was a Filipino restaurant, and one of my friends worked there as a server and a drag performer attached to Manila.

And every Friday would do this incredible, drag show in addition to, you know, serving.

And, so North Beacon Hill was getting gentrified and so rent went up and the owner, Uncle Ernie, had to close.

So I went to their very last day open, which happened to be a Friday when I, Tosha manila would perform and the place was just packed out.

And there was one point at which Natasha got on top of the table and was performing to the song, Effie song from Dreamgirls.

And I'm telling you, I'm not going.

And it was just a really defiant, powerful moment.

And you had this cross-section of people from the Beacon Hill community, the Asian-American community, the queer community all coming together in this space.

And it just really struck me that to me, this is a very uniquely Seattle place was coming to an end.

Yes.

And that it's kind of irreplaceable.

Like, where does this magic go when these places close?

So I went home that very same night and just kind of grabbed the vanishing Seattle handle on social media, shared a video of that, and then it just kind of went from there.

Went from there.

Yeah.

Went viral.

I think that's fair to say.

You know, and and there are a couple of websites, that I follow on, on Facebook that gets thrown at web sites, Facebook pages, vintage Seattle, one and two that you're probably involved with those two.

And, you know, I'm constantly seeing things like you're always having these oh yeah moments and oh, I remember there and I remember seeing some of the reporters that I thought were I kind of, you know, wanted to emulate at the dog house.

And, you know, I have all these and, and things.

It's funny, your memories are from the 90s and early 2000s.

And you're nostalgic.

Yeah.

My memories of Seattle are from the 60s, in the 70s when we, you know, my grandparents lived there, and every generation probably has this sense that Seattle's lost its soul.

You know, when the Coca-Cola went out of service, those people probably, you know what's going on in this darn town, you know, freeways.

What are they doing?

They're building I-5.

Are they crazy?

This is.

And and before them, people probably bemoan the regrade and before them, the end of the gold rush.

Right.

So put that into context a little bit.

Is it worse than it's been?

Is it different this time because it's becoming so corporatized and plastic or.

No, it's always been this way.

We just need to see it in a larger perspective.

Give me a little counseling.

Yeah, those are great questions.

And I think it's kind of like all of those things because, you know, Seattle's always been a boom and bust town.

Yeah, I mean, it was, you know, founded by settler colonialists who displaced indigenous people.

And I feel like that kind of cycle of like the gold rush, you know, profit making people coming, people going has always been a part of its history.

So I think it's important to acknowledge that.

And there's just, you know, there's so many layers, like, I think the, the, the fun thing about this project for me is getting to, learn and uncover those layers.

Learn about the dog house, learn about, like, all the layers of history that are here.

I think it does definitely feel like we've been in this kind of boom period, what with, you know, to over generalize it, just the impact of big tech and Amazon and corporatization.

I mean, I think that does have a big effect, especially if you just look at, what the affordability has been like over the past few years.

The effect that has had on people with displacement, gentrification, the effect on small businesses.

So I think it's not really an either or, but I think it's important to, just kind of acknowledge what people's experiences and how not just the physical landscape changes, but also the cultural and the social landscape.

What does that mean in terms of do people still feel like they have a place to belong?

Are people who don't work, you know, white collar tech jobs feel like they have a place that they can gather and build community.

So and what do we lose as a city if we have less of those places?

Like what if organizers and artists and teachers can't exist in the city anymore?

What does that.

I think those are kind of the questions I like people to ask themselves.

And how can we kind of maintain this?

The spirit of whatever people feel is like the spirit of Seattle.

That makes it a great city.

Like, how do we kind of all pull together and, yeah, maintain and even recreate that.

It's interesting.

You mentioned the artist piece because I said recently in another conversation that I really feel like the next big thing coming out of the northwest when it comes to art and music is going to come out of the South Sound or even beyond because of affordability.

Does that critical mass still exist in Seattle?

Is it possible?

And I also feel too, you know, there's Seattle is always a collection of a lot of smaller neighborhoods.

I spent a lot of time in as a kid in Lake City and in Maple Leaf and, with family extended, you know, extended family and things back through the generations.

But now it's all I just feel like neighborhoods have kind of gone away.

And maybe they had, too, because the neighborhoods are too defensive, too protective, too many new neighborhood voices, not enough ADUs, not enough, you know, they those forces work against each other.

Which I know is a lot.

I'm laying on you, but but talk a little bit about that.

Is Seattle still a place where you can be in a neighborhood, be creative and afford to do it?

I think so.

I mean, yes and no.

I mean, I still definitely feel that kind of neighborhood flavor.

I mean, some places I'll go, you know, like parts of Capitol Hill or I'm just like, oh, it just feels very does kind of, I don't know, like tech worker land or Amazonia, you know, parts of South Union.

But there's other neighborhoods where I'll definitely feel like, it feels like it has its own identity.

It has its own kind of neighborhood landmarks, its own clubs and bars and watering holes.

Does it, though those third places, those smaller clubs, watering holes, bars, small restaurants used to go to either with the quirky sign or whatever.

There they are.

That's part of what you're documenting.

They're going away.

I mean, I'd say they are an endangered species.

Yeah, but people really fight hard for them.

And then I think there are new places that pop up where there are folks who try to maintain that, vibe in that spirit.

So like Clock Out Lounge is one of my favorites in Beacon Hill.

They do a lot of live shows.

Owners like a music industry veteran, screw driver and Belltown.

And then as far as art spaces, yeah, I think people know the challenges are really hard in terms of, barriers to creating something.

Accessibility.

It's not the Seattle of the 90s, or you just have a great idea and you can do it.

But I see, like a lot of really exciting, spaces and examples where artists are pulling together and repurposing downtown spaces.

So like common area maintenance has opened a couple new places.

They have crazy as it sounds, you can maybe do a free show somewhere.

Yeah, yeah.

And, you know, there's only just space for that $40 tickets or whatever.

Yeah.

So I really think that there's still I mean, the thing that gives me hope about Seattle is that there are very creative, passionate, dedicated people that will overcome so many obstacles together to keep creating, really cool spaces.

So I think the culture really is flourishing, but I think we always have to kind of, be protective of it and keep trying to nurture that because it can just become so difficult in such a, fast amount of time.

I'm glad to hear you say that, though, because you're more optimistic than I am, which is great.

You're there more than I am, though.

Two I can bump out to you, but yeah, yeah, but I'm glad to hear that from you.

So.

So that's nice.

This is a bit of a cliche, but I'm still going to toss it to you.

And you can do what you want with it.

You've heard it a thousand times.

Is Seattle dying?

Yeah.

Haha.

Yeah.

I mean, I guess it's like, oh, that's such a loaded, I know question.

I know, I mean, I feel like what's there I mean, I think it's been interesting that people have kind of flipped it because we know where that origin of that came from.

It's like, oh, there's, you know, too much, crime and sales going down the tubes and stuff like that.

But I think a lot of people interpret that as well.

If Seattle can be dying, if we're seeing a decrease in, art spaces and affordability and, diverse small businesses.

So, yeah, I think it depends on like what is someone's interpretation of what is a healthy, vibrant city.

So I would say no.

But we got to be careful that again, we yeah.

Just like look out for each other and try to, you know, keep the things about Seattle that make, you know, people want to live here and come here.

I want to talk about your process as a filmmaker and also processing as a human being when it comes to dealing with change in some of those things.

Talk a little bit about, I would assume because when I'm shooting a piece, you know, it changes me to some degree.

It helps me process things.

I learn from it somehow, I somehow I grow from it.

I'm sure the same has been for you as well.

How does Vanishing Seattle help you process the loss of these third places in this change, in this gentrification that you're seeing some of the things that you're observing?

And talk a little bit about what your process is.

So how do you get your ideas and tell me how it all fits together?

It seems intentional.

Yeah.

I mean, a good amount of these places, I do have feelings about them because I have a personal connection to them.

So yeah, I would say that at times this can be kind of an emotionally strenuous role.

So, for example, Busch Garden in the Chinatown International District, like that was my personal cheers.

And I was very involved in the same Busch Garden campaign when a developer bought it and wanted to tear it down.

And we also made a film about Busch Gardens and then a series based on other places.

But I think the thing that helps me to process it is, just having hopefully having a space, whether it's in like the comments in social media or conversation that I get to have with people at film screenings or in real life, where people are able to share their memories and stories, things that are funny and hilarious, things that are poignant about these places they met, their significant other, you know, they had parties, their celebrations, weeks, yeah.

I just think it kind of shows that people still, even if places are gone physically, it still holds a place in people's psyches and hearts and that these places really matter and people still care like they see value in remembering and celebrating and still talking about them.

I mean, they're almost like people.

Yeah.

And that like the weight that they carry and folks lives.

So I think that's helped me not just get totally overwhelmed at times by the sadness, but it's also about like, celebrating them while you're remembering, know you're creating something too.

That helps with that memory, that helps that collective memory, that helps with that, probably helps other people process of the disappearance of their favorite this or that to help.

So yeah.

Yeah.

You talked about one of the things that, you know, that vanishing, Seattle, you know, deals with disappearing and displaced institutions, cultures and communities.

One of the institutions you've talked about, vanishing involves media, particularly independent media.

You've lamented that to some degree, this is maybe you can set me straight to I feel like a lot of independent media is flourishing, but I'm looking at online things that are probably more blogs than they were the printed papers and the weeklies in the, the underground, printed pieces that you're talking about a little bit.

Is one a substitute for the other?

Are we losing something there?

Particularly in the activist community and some of the vibrancy that that brought to Seattle?

Talk a little bit about that.

Again, I know I'm speaking a little vaguely, but, yeah.

No, I mean, I again, I think it's kind of a mixed bag, you know, like back in the day, you did have a lot more print and kind of underground publications.

Pie was a big one.

The rocket, the tablets, a rocket.

Yeah.

The stranger, which went out of print, is still online, are kind of actually coming back with like, a quarterly arts and performance print edition.

Yeah.

And then online, you know, like you saw the Seattle globalist that's no longer around, but now we have the South Seattle Emerald and yeah, crosscut.

So I think it's, you know, there's been a change in kind of like the media format which people can debate the accessibility of that or not.

I mean, I think there is kind of a trend nationally that filters down locally, just sort of media consolidation and who's kind of like the corporations that are controlling that and the loss of maybe local coverage.

I think comparatively, Seattle's pretty lucky that we still have a lot of that.

And again, like a lot of interests and I think still an interest in like physical media, a sense of place was really embedded in a lot of those though, too.

Yeah, yeah.

So, you know, and I think like the, you know, the staff that are probably working at media outlets are kind of stand out as well and more resource strapped.

But again, I think it's media, local media, something that people will fight for and are so passionate about.

So I think we are seeing, yeah, kind of a resurgence of like hyper local or like culture specific media.

One of the areas that a lot of these discussions converge upon that I've had several discussions on several programs over several years, and it a lot of these kinds of topics, when we talk about preservation, activism, gentrification, diversity of the city, some of those things comes back to the Central District, Central District, Central District, Central District.

You've documented some of this to talk a little bit about what's going on there.

And I think the big thing to help people understand why does it matter?

Yeah.

Well, I mean, the Central District is Seattle's, historically black African-American community.

You know, because of redlining and racism, discrimination.

But also just like the flourishing of really resilient, beautiful arts, culture, faith, small business, music scene.

Yes.

I mean, that was like just locally, but like nationally impactful.

Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Jimi Hendrix, just, you know, so much Ernestine Anderson, so much that came out of the Central District.

And I think that is still very much felt today going on Garfield High School.

Clarence o'clock.

So the cow, I mean, just so many we kind of knew that legacy of music.

And then I think it's still again, like, very much alive at the school.

But I probably one of the, like, earliest examples of gentrification that I think was, you know, kind of done through like weed and seed and policies and then also just like economics, and just yeah, a lot of, you know, institutions that were torn down in the past few years, like the Red Apple Promenade in 23rd and Jackson, threw away the can that economic with you because you you get to the gist of it there and ultimately it's economics that drive this.

How much land is worth, how to turn a dollar on that land.

Yeah.

What the rents can support it.

What the rents can't support.

Yeah.

Real estate speculation like this just, you know, I mean, it's so forces it seems inevitable.

I mean, I think there just because there's a blueprint for it and how like, I think gentrification plays out in different cities time and time again.

I don't think that's inevitable.

I think it can be done a different way.

And even in the Central District, you will see examples of groups like Africatown, King County Equity.

Now they've been able to to, have their own developments that prioritize residents coming back to the neighborhood, bring in black owned businesses.

You've seen several return to the Central District.

So I think there's definitely been and that's, you know, through community organizing and just community, you know, like, claiming and maintaining place there.

So I don't yeah, I don't want to I think to say it's inevitable is kind of giving in that that has to happen.

And there can't be another way.

And I think there totally can because I'm not ready to be like, oh, like gentrification is just the end all, be all.

And that's progress, you know, paved over condos.

Yeah, yeah.

No, no interesting things anymore.

That's the big thing that I would kind of lament about that process.

Yeah.

People can create new great things too.

So and talk a little bit too about your new book.

It's probably not new anymore, but your book, The Signs of a Vanishing Seattle, there's a lot of classic Seattle memorabilia now.

That's that's around.

It was just recently announced, Amazon, strangely, is going to be hanging the Pink Elephant Carwash sign in their building, which is great, but weird.

So talk a little bit.

Talk a little bit about your how you brought all of that together and the show that you did with those you documented in a book.

Talk about that process.

Yeah, yeah.

I think the, the smaller pink elephant sign is hanging and kind of like the Amazon campus.

And, you know, people have feelings about that.

It's kind of ironic, you know, kind of like, yeah, for you.

But anyway, a lot of deeply embedded, I mean, yes, yes.

So yeah, the book Signs of Vanishing Seattle is a documentation of an exhibit I did at the Rail Spur Building, which is this historic warehouse building that used to be my quarries in Pioneer Square.

And so that had been empty for a couple years.

And then some artist, activated the building.

So, like, each floor would be, a different exhibit to coincide with, the Seattle Art fair.

That was in summer of 2023.

So forest for the Trees and archives, that organize that just approached me and was like, would you like to take 12,000ft of this warehouse space and do vanishing Seattle exhibit?

And I was like, okay, so I just put a call out to my followers.

I had, you know, hadn't done anything like this before to see, like, we wanted to make it this large scale, immersive experience.

And here comes all this memorabilia.

Yeah.

I mean, luckily, because I was like, what if people don't have anything because the timeline was so short, it was like, I think two, maybe three months from concept to opening to the public.

So it's not like we could go to mo higher these institutions because they require a longer timeline.

So I just kind of put it out to the public.

And they came with lots, so much stuff.

We were able to put about maybe 100 science in there, but we got the sunset bull letters, which are huge.

The original Colosseum Theater, neon sign, the rock candy, all ages venue sign, cellophane square.

Yeah.

Tons of stuff.

So that was only supposed to be up for a long weekend, and I got it extended for a couple more.

But, Tom Eichmann's, who runs his own independent press tome press, approached me and was like, would you like to document this in a book?

The exhibit vanishes.

So that's what the book is.

It's kind of some great confirmation about.

Yeah, it's like an art book of the signs.

And our last 60s here.

If people want to get involved, where can they find you?

How can they participate in vanishing Seattle and where they where can they see some of your work?

Yes.

So they can always contact me through, Instagram.

Or vanishing seattle.org.

I totally welcome people, you know, letting me know what's going on in their neighborhood, sending me information, pictures.

I've also got some events, coming up, at clock out at the here after the crocodile doing some, like, live storytelling, events.

So that's all up my website.

Yeah.

I'm going to make another film.

Yes, yes, there's another film series, in the works as we speak, so.

Okay.

Stay tuned.

Yeah.

All right, well, make sure you send me some links and, keep me posted there for sure.

All right.

Cynthia, thanks so much for coming in northwest now.

Thank you so much, Tom.

I had fun.

You can find Vanishing Seattle on Facebook or Instagram with a simple search, or just visit Vanishing seattle.org and link from there.

The bottom line my personal philosophy is that a person can only afford to be nostalgic at a ratio of about 10 to 1.

If you spend ten minutes looking ahead and investing in the people in the places around you right now, I say you've earned maybe one minute to look back.

Maybe you can do a little better.

I hope this program got you thinking a talking.

You can find this program on the web at kbtc-dot-org, streaming through the PBS app, or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

That's going to do it for this edition of northwest now, until next time, I'm Tom Layson.

Thanks for watching Music.