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Signs of the times: Messages that popped up across greater Seattle that convey life in lockdown

Paul Kiefer

July 15, 2020 / 4:58 pm

caption: Customers pick up to-go orders at the North Star Diner in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood. The sign above the door advertising cocktails has taken on a new meaning during the pandemic: Relaxed liquor laws have allowed restaurants to sell sealed bottles of liquor for takeout and delivery. The North Star Diner has opted not to use delivery apps like GrubHub during the lockdown; instead, the restaurant's staff deliver orders themselves.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a shift in the language on signs, marquees and message boards throughout the Seattle area.

Movie theaters replaced showtimes with words of reassurance, churches began advertising online services, and teachers expressed their love for their students in signs taped to classroom windows.

The shift was amplified by the protests for racial justice, which began in late May. RadioActive’s Paul Kiefer scoured the greater Seattle area in search of these signs.

caption: Three movie theater marquees around the Seattle area announce their closure.

(Above) The Crest Cinema in Shoreline closed its doors on March 17 after briefly attempting to operate at reduced capacity. The small theater is part of the Landmark Theaters group, which owns venues in more than two dozen cities around the country. Thus far, the theater's management have not announced any staff layoffs.

The 101-year-old Admiral Theater in West Seattle likewise closed in mid-March. The Admiral is one of eight small theaters across the Puget Sound region owned by Far Away Entertainment, which has announced that it will begin reopening its venues at reduced capacity during stage three of reopening.

The marquee on the Uptown Theater in Lower Queen Anne directs customers to follow The Seattle International Film Festival through an online streaming platform. SIFF, for which the Uptown is one of three venues, was cancelled for the first time since the festival's debut in 1976.

caption: The billboard at the Deja Vu Showgirls strip club in downtown Seattle invites customers to return when the lockdown ends. A few seconds later, the image is replaced by a message that reads, "Thank you doctors and nurses."

(Above) In April, a group of strip club owners from around the country filed a lawsuit against the Small Business Administration after they were denied federal small business emergency loans because of a policy prohibiting lending to businesses that present "performances of a prurient sexual nature."

caption: The message board at Targy's Tavern on Queen Anne usually announces upcoming trivia nights, but the bar has been closed entirely since the coronavirus lockdown began. More than a dozen restaurants and bars have announced that they will be closing permanently because of the pandemic. Targy's, a fixture of Queen Anne since 1937, is not on that list.

caption: A couple walks past the words "We Miss You" written with red plastic cups attached to the fence of Lowell Elementary School in Tacoma's North End. Tacoma Public Schools are preparing for students to return to in-person classes in the fall, but plans are also in place for remote learning in case of an outbreak at a school. In the meantime, the school district faces a $7 million budget shortfall and laid off or cut hours for hundreds of paraeducators earlier this year.

caption: A sign placed near the ferry terminal at the north end of Vashon Island reminds arrivals of their role in protecting the health of island residents.

(Above) Vashon Island saw three new cases in the first week of July: nearly half of the total cases reported on the island since the beginning of the outbreak.

The island's 10,000 residents are an hour and a half away from the nearest emergency room, leaving the community especially vulnerable. A team of volunteers are operating a testing site at a historic home on the island in the absence of an acute care facility.

Vashon is an unincorporated rural community in King County, where the first rash of coronavirus cases in the United States were documented.

caption: The message board on the Four Spoons Cafe in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood invokes manners to direct passersby to wear masks. Manners were overshadowed on June 23, when Governor Jay Inslee announced that masks would become mandatory in public when physical distancing is not possible. Four Spoons Cafe had required customers to wear a mask when picking up to-go orders prior to Governor Inslee's announcement.

caption: The digital message board on the Pantages Theater in Tacoma. The theater is one of the venues for Tacoma Arts Live, which will be offering arts education summer camps over Zoom this year. Pierce County has seen more than 2,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, ranking fourth in the state behind King, Yakima, and Snohomish Counties.

caption: The mural painted on the windows of the Ballard Blossom flower shop offers gratitude to the occasional passing pedestrian. While the store is offering no-contact deliveries, they are unable to deliver to hospitals, including the Swedish Medical Center's Ballad campus across the street. Talk of banning flowers from hospitals has circulated for years, but the pandemic has elevated concern that the plants and vases could carry dangerous molds.

caption: A sign at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle explains the closed gates behind it. The zoo reopened to members in late June and began admitting non-members by appointment on July 1. During earlier stages of the lockdown, zookeepers struggled to provide mental stimulation to some of the animals.

caption: The message board at the Vac Shop in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood pairs its message of encouragement with an offer of a free Bible. Though houses of worship remain closed, some clergy leading online services have reported increased attendance during the lockdown. Though the Seattle area is among the least religious in the country, the pandemic seems to have prompted some to turn to spirituality for comfort and reassurance.

caption: The message board of Woodland Park Methodist Church in Seattle offers sympathy to demonstrators involved in the nationwide protests and riots against police violence and systemic racism. The United Methodist Church is one of several denominations in the United States to have adopted explicitly anti-racist messages; the denomination's national leadership have called upon members to commit themselves to racial justice "by changing our beliefs, changing our actions, and working to change the world."

caption: A series of hand-painted cardboard signs bearing the names of Black men killed by police and vigilantes appear on telephone poles along Fremont Avenue. The signs appeared within a week of the first protests in downtown Seattle, and similar signs have continued to appear across the city. Other event flyers and advertisements on these poles were removed months ago.

caption: Onlookers stand in front of the Grease Monkey at the intersection of 23rd Avenue and Rainier Avenue as an estimated 60,000 silent marchers pass by on their way from Judkins Park to Jefferson Park on June 12th.

(Above) The June 12 silent march, organized by Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, was among the largest demonstrations against police violence and systemic racism to take place in Seattle this year. The silence served two purposes: as a display of respect to Black people killed by police and as a way to minimize the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

caption: Demonstrators departing the silent march pass a flyer detailing the proper way to wear a mask. Despite concerns that protests would lead to a spike in COVID-19 infections in King County, preliminary testing of protesters suggests that the safety precautions taken by march organizers were successful in limiting the virus' spread among marchers. At the June 12th protest, masks were mandatory.

caption: Suthap Manivong sells wine and offers recommendations from behind a makeshift counter in the doorway of Champion Wine Cellars in Greenwood. Like many businesses across the city, Champion Wine Cellars chose to add a handmade sign displaying support for the Black Lives Matter movement to the pandemic-related notices taped the the front door. Manivong is the co-owner of the 51-year-old wine store: the oldest in Seattle.

caption: Protestors departing the June 12th silent march pass the Seattle branch of the Lee Family Association on Beacon Hill. The organization, established in San Francisco in 1866, purchased the storefront in 2014 to serve as a cultural center and social space. Like all other community centers in the city, the Lee Family Association will remain closed until phase three of the lockdown, at which point most businesses and gathering places can open at reduced capacity.

caption: A mural of country-folk artist John Prine covers the windows of an apartment building on Pike Street on Capitol Hill. Murals first appeared across the city at the start of the lockdown, but recent protests prompted many more building owners to put up plywood over their street-level windows, providing canvasses for both professional artists and amateurs. John Prine, who passed away on April 7th, was among the first prominent victims of the Covid-19 virus in the United States.

This photo essay was created by advanced participants of KUOW's RadioActive program for young people, with production support from Lila Lakehart. Edited by Isolde Raftery.

Find RadioActive on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram, and on the RadioActive podcast.

Support for KUOW's RadioActive comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.

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