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Curious what it is about the people in Seattle you guys don't like. I'm from this area and a lot of times I don't like the people. I even lived out of state for a long time partly because I wanted to get away from them. Now that I've been back a while, I'm starting to remember again why they suck. They're often passive aggressive and take themselves way too seriously. They dress frumpy but still want to be noticed. They can't take a joke. They're fake humble and are actually full of themselves. They're nosy like small town people. They suppress their true thoughts and feelings only to talk shit about people behind their backs. Of course not everyone's like this but a lot of them are.
curious as to what made you develop that impression of people in seattle. are you referring to skaters, or the citizens as a whole? I think the skate scene is wonderful, most skaters are easy to spark up a pleasant conversation with. most of the "cool-guy" skaters seemed to either grow up or move away. it kind of sounds like you're more-so describing one or two specific people and using that as your whole impression of the people of seattle. maybe you just work in an industry that tends to have pretentious people, and that put a sour taste in your mouth?
I was born and raised in Washington state and people here are known for being cold and passive aggressive, and that's been my experience as well, except for certain close friends. They call this aloofness the "Seattle Freeze." It's a bit of an exaggeration but there's some truth to it, just like it's generally true that East Coasters are more abrasive and straightforward; I prefer that style of open and direct communication. But maybe it's changed somewhat in Seattle in recent years with all the transplants here? I don't meet that many new people so I may mostly be talking about what was true in the past. I think skaters in general tend to be pretty cool though wherever you go.
I went on a trip to Seattle about a decade ago and that was kind of the vibe I got when I had deal with people. I was skating one park and some of those Concrete Disciples guys were there and one guy murmured something about people not wearing helmets (the only people not wearing helmets were me and some other out of towner from Oregon who was a beast). I chalked that one up to old guy-ism.
While in Ballard some guy gave a mom and her kids a hard time for fucking around in the bowl between runs. “It’s just not safe for them to ride a scooter in there. It’s not built for that.” I thought it was wack. Mom was letting them in for a minute at a time and making them get out. The “session” was me and and this other guy putzing around. I’m used to putting up with way worse at home and if he wanted them out he should have been less poosey. Every park I skated that trip was nearly empty and I thought it was an affront that skaters had is so fucking good (mostly paid for by local government).
I later related the Ballard story to another skater at a party and a girl materialized from nowhere, started poking me in the chest and informed me she was FROM Ballard and didn’t like hearing people “talk shit on Seattle.” We unfortunately started calling her Seattle Slew after that.
Seattle just got stuck with a group of weird Norwegian immigrants at one point who kind of set in motion the same passive aggressive, nosey, judgmental atmosphere wherever they've moved.
My dudes, Ballard sucks. It's weird it became like the new neighborhood to kick it but anybody who knows their shit knows Ballard sucks.
Fun story: around the turn of the century the city of Seattle wanted to annex the then independent Ballard for its port. The city of Ballard refused so Seattle threw a dead horse in their water supply to force them into it. I shit you not, some Ballardians are still salty over it.