Thursday, June 12, 2014

No Sound

6/11/14 Platinum Carbon and Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuyu-Kusa and
Fuyu-Shogun inks, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble
colored pencils, Zig marker, Canson XL 140 lb. paper
If you remember the sound that was emitted by something like this, or if you even know what this is, you’re probably at least as old as I am.

This air raid siren tower in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood is, according to a 2002 Seattle Times article, the only remaining one in Seattle. Put up in 1953 and silenced in the mid-‘70s, the siren was tested every Wednesday at noon. Had there been an actual nuclear-missile attack, the siren was ready to warn Seattleites.

Growing up in the Leschi neighborhood several miles south of Phinney, I regularly heard the siren from a similar tower. I was about five years old when I asked my mom why we heard that noisy sound every Wednesday at noon. She told me that it was to let everyone know it was time to go in for lunch.

As I sketched the tower yesterday from outside Starbucks on a gorgeous afternoon, I was thankful for its silence.

1 comment:

  1. I don't think we ever had a siren tower anywhere that I know of, but I'm sure they must have existed on the east coast just like the west coast. I wonder if there are any around...I'll have to check into it. It is much nicer that it is a sketching opportunity rather that what was originally intended. Nice job...and you got to have Starbucks too.

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