255) This is a very bitter mailbox. Why? Because it’s on a very busy street, yet one that no one can name. Seriously, do you think anyone knows Union Bay Place? No, of course not. They all just think of it as “that road behind University Village.” This box has no identity. This box has no soul.
253) You know what I love about this mailbox? I love how it’s just nestled back into those shrubs like it’s a part of nature. Like trees and moss and fungi. The wonderful thing is, if you’re as enamored with this box as I am, you can actually buy the house that hosts the box! Cherie Keller is standing by, waiting for your call!
210) Whenever I see a mailbox stationed outside a bank, I wonder if people ever mistake it for an ATM. Maybe in a drunken state people walk up, drop their card in the slot and then wait for money to come out. Yeah, I bet this box could tell some stories.
200) Faithful readers will remember 100 posts ago, when I celebrated that monumental occasion by inviting a group of friends to join me in a cake-filled boxapalooza. This week has been a bit busy, so I’m having to scale back on the festivities for the big 200 celebration. There’s no crowd, there’s no cake, but there is a nice Wallingford box that looks like it recently got a new coat of doesn’t-quite-match paint. On to 300!
148) I came here to apologize to this box. You see, a couple weeks ago I did a world-famous bike series through the lower portion of the U District and I confidently thought I had picked up every last box in the area. A few days later, however, I realized I had missed the grandest box of them all, the one that stands guard outside the fortress-like post office building. So it was with the best intentions that I returned to the area to make my amends… but as I was about to do so, I got distracted by this sign.
142) Sometimes I go out searching for mailboxes, sometimes the mailboxes find me. Such was the case last night when we went to try a new (to us) pizza place and found this magnificent box standing guard outside. As hungry we were, dinner had to wait until this much more important task was completed. And yes, the pizza that we did eventually eat was good.
138) Bike series (7/10). When you get down below 42nd, it really doesn’t look like the Ave anymore, does it? Do you see any funkiness? I don’t see any funkiness. No used record stores, no pho restaurants, no sandals. Weird.
137) Bike series (6/10). I was so happy to find this mailbox! Over the past year, this stretch of Roosevelt has seen a lot of construction, and I had feared that this box had been a casualty of the march-of-progress. But there it was, in all its double-wide glory! I felt it best to celebrate its resilience with some stretching exercises, but it kind of looks like I’m trying to push it over.
136) Bike series (5/10). I just think it is so great that the city installs these workout stations all over town. Stopping off to do a quick set of dips is a wonderful way to take a break while on a bike ride.
135) Bike series (4/10). This is one of those weird mailboxes that’s right out in the open but so easy to overlook. In my 30+ years in Seattle, I have probably driven, biked, run, and walked past this box over a thousand times, but I didn’t know it was there until I started this project. Someone else apparently felt the same way because they felt compelled to write “OPEN” on the side so others would know the box was available to do business.