When you first go up the stairs from the main floor, if you take a hard left, rather than a slight left into the "True Northwest: The Seattle Journey" exhibit area, you end up in the Joshua Green Foundation Theater. I don't know if this is permanent, but inside was a pretty spiffy 8-minute film about Seattle, the history of the city and visions of the future. But it's not your normal "Indians lived here, white people came, built a city." It talks about history like the Native Americans who were here and Chief Sealth, but it also talks about the history of Seattle as a business city, with Starbucks, Microsoft, etc.; the history of the city on the world stage, especially as the site of the 1999 WTO; the history of Seattle as a music hub; the history of Seattle as a home to medical technology companies, and things like that. It was a nice little movie. Plus, it was shown over two side-by-side screens, so the screen on the left showed one thing, while the screen on the right showed another thing. The two were related, but it was cool the way it was like split-screen, especially because sometimes the two images juxtaposed each other (juxtaposed with each other? against each other?), or sometimes a quote would start on the left screen, and finish on the right screen. PLUS, the music. Oh, the music! Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Death Cab for Cutie... and not only was there good local music during the film, but also during the break between showings. Scott McCaughey (solo? Young Fresh Fellows? Minus Five? I'm not sure), Damien Jurado... Whoever put the film together and whoever chose the music both were the winners of the day, in my view. And, according to the MOHAI gentleman at the door of the theater when we went in, the seats came from the Cinerama.
Another big part of the second floor is the Walker Gallery, which houses temporary exhibits. The first temporary exhibit at the new MOHAI is "Celluloid Seattle," a history of Seattle on film and theaters in the city. It's a local pop culture geek's heaven. Various places of the gallery are set up like mini-theaters, where themed montages play, like "The Sleepless City," which shows clips from Say Anything..., Georgia, Sleepless in Seattle, The Ring, Singles, and 10 Things I Hate About You, among others. There's also a mock drive-in theater, with a car as the seats, where I heard a mother explain to her son what a drive-in theater was! The gallery also has the living room set from Frasier, and clips of Seattle on TV shows (Here Come the Brides and The Simpsons, for example). The museum also displays various items from Seattle theaters, like light fixtures, ticket takers' stands, and restroom signs.
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| Hello, Seattle. I'm listening. |
But the COOLEST part of the second floor is the Seattle's Great Fire exhibit. In 1889, a massive fire broke out in Seattle, destroying most of the wood-based business district. In 1952-3, Ruddy Zallinger, a local artist, painted a mural of the fire for MOHAI. The mural was used as the backdrop to the Great Fire exhibit at the old museum. In the new museum, though... whoa. Okay, I've mentioned many times now that the new MOHAI has lots of interactive exhibits, but this one is REALLY an interactive exhibit. That is, it interacts with itself. The Great Fire exhibit is now off in a little theater-type room, with artifacts from the fire lining the walls of the area. There are plates, marbles, and coins that were fused together in the fire, a couple of dolls, fire helmets, a wheel from the fire wagon (I think that's what it's from), and ... the glue pot that started the fire (Dunh dunh dunhhhh). Now, in the middle of the mural, there's also a screen... that shows a film about the fire... told in song. And who sings the song about the fire? The artifacts in the exhibit. There's a typewriter; it sings. There's a newspaper; it sings. There's a money bag; it sings. The fused plates sing. The dolls sing. The glue pot sings (It sings, "Don't blame me!"). As each item sings, a spotlight shines on it. Oh my God, it was AWESOME. So much fun! The words to the song are displayed on the screen, along with pictures from the fire, and as each word is sung, a little icon bounces over them, like a sing-along, and the icon corresponds to the item singing. When the typewriter sings, an "A" key guides you. When the newspaper sings, a rolled up newspaper icon bounces along. The glue pot? Represented by a glue pot. Plus, the mural and the film interact with each other, with the screen showing most of the mural, but the edges shown on the wall, so that the fire hoses are held by firefighters on the wall, but are spraying the buildings on the screen. It was all pretty cool.
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| Seattle's Great Fire film and mural. You can also see the doll and glue pot. |
Of note back among the smaller displays are an interactive activity about how far you'd be willing to go for social change (which, at the beginning of the game, plays "Takin' It to the Streets," so wink-wink and a nod for that); the first Ultrasound machine made by ATL, based on technology from the University of Washington; and the one thing many, many Seattleites are glad MOHAI owns: the 1979 NBA Championship trophy the Seattle Supersonics won. (Harumph)
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| I hate Clay Bennett |
Toward the end of the second-floor excursion is the World City area, which is another pop culture lover's dream. This area focuses on sports and music. The first display case you come across when you enter has jerseys from Edgar Martinez and Freddy Montero, a Gary Payton lunchbox, penants from all the professional teams of the past few decades, and other little pieces of pro sports memorabilia. Next to the display is a television that plays highlights from major Seattle sports moments, like Rosalynn Sumners at the 1984 Olympics, Apolo Ohno at the 2002 Olympics, Edgar Martinez's "The Double," the Storm winning the WNBA championship, the UW Huskies in 1992, and the Seattle Seahawks going to the 2006 Super Bowl.
Going through a little doorway after the sports area puts you in the music section. Everyone who's paid attention to almost anything in the world in the past 20 years has a pretty good idea what's in this area. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, just like you'd expect. But there's also Screaming Trees, SubPop Records, "Louie Louie," Modest Mouse, Fleet Foxes, and Heart (What? No Posies?!? No Harvey Danger??). A lot of the Nirvana-, Pearl Jam-, and Screaming Trees-related stuff are actual items on display (just a few, though), and the rest are featured in a video playing on one wall.
Now we're nearly at the end of the second floor. The whole floor is wonderful, but those are my personal favorites.
Tomorrow, we'll finish our little tour of the very large museum.
One more article about the new MOHAI:
King5, 12/29/12
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