MetaFilter posts tagged with Ballard

'Where Yesterday Began' --More about Edith Macefield and the Little House In Ballard

y2karl — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:05:34 -0800

'Where Yesterday Began'

More about Edith Macefield and the Little House in Ballard. See also The Little House in Ballard is now empty..

...Ms. Macefield had little time for trendy food or fitness. Her interests were opera and Sinatra, Garbo on videotape or the classics in dusty hardback. She had history, too. If she let you in the door, she might recount her escape from a concentration camp while she was an undercover agent for the British during World War II. ...'She was just full of stories and stories and stories about her past,' said Charlie Peck, whose friendship with Ms. Macefield began more than 20 years ago, after she gave him a collection of recordings of Benny Goodman, Paul Whiteman and other bandleaders on old 78s. ...'Everybody that’s come in and tried to talk about this has tried to create that image of her,' said Mike Semandiris, whose family has owned a chili parlor around the corner for more than 70 years. 'But she didn’t give a damn about preserving old Ballard. The lady just wanted to live in her house.' Ms. Macefield was 86 when she died in June of pancreatic cancer. Six months later, her 108-year-old bungalow is cloaked by what will soon become an LA Fitness club and a Trader Joe’s, set to open next year. Inside, bed sheets are still on the living room sofa where Ms. Macefield slept when she could no longer climb the stairs. Ceramic cows ornament the top of every appliance. A few copies of 'The Little House,' the children’s tale by Virginia Lee Burton of a country cabin swallowed by sprawling development, are in one corner. People she did not know would drop them off. In a bookcase in a dark hallway there is another book, not well known like the others. In fact, it is unclear whether anyone other than its author has ever read 'Where Yesterday Began.' Ms. Macefield paid to have her novel published in 1994, under the pen name Domilini. It is set against the backdrop of post-World War I Europe. An introductory page begins, 'This story is for all those who have ever loved -- truly, deeply, irrevocably -- and in the thrust of disaster. For some, love simply dies -- and one moves on. But for a few, love is as lasting as the ages -- despite the impossibilities, the separation, the insured loneliness.' The book is 1,138 pages long, not counting the musical references, from Scottish folk songs to a 1915 work by the English composer Albert W. Ketelbey, and a 16-page glossary of the French, German and Italian phrases sprinkled throughout. 'I think it was kind of a love story,' said Mr. Peck, the longtime friend. 'I never did read it.'

A fascinating back story emerges, complete with potential probate drama. My solution: the city takes it over, nominates it a historic site and turns it into a two story cubic paperweight made out of a suitable clear polymer or such. You know--like varathane.

The Little House In Ballard

y2karl — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 05:29:44 -0800

Edith Macefield is stubborn. Man, is she stubborn. That's what her mother told her when she was a little girl back in the 1920s. It's a characteristic that has followed her all her life. Now that unrelenting stubbornness has won the 86-year-old woman admirers throughout Ballard. Macefield refused to sell her little old house where she has lived since 1966 to developers, forcing them to build an entire five-story project, which includes a grocery store, fitness club and parking garage, around her. She was offered $1 million to leave. She turned it down flat.

Old Ballard's new hero
Newsfilter, local interest filter, too, but, oh, man, it lifts the spirits. Her's is the last house on the block, the one in which she grew up, the one her mother died in. She is going to be surrounded by five storys of shopping mall but she isn't moving. It's like The Little House come to life. And bonus points: Mike's Chili Parlor, the other hold out on the same block, is the bomb. So you get two Old Lost Seattle treasures in one post.

The South Bank Show

ClanvidHorse — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:09:21 -0800

The South Bank Show is the longest running arts show on television. Melvyn Bragg has presented an eclectic mix of televisual joy since 1978. SBS has presented in-depth portraits of many different types of artists during this time, covering a huge range of topics. From high art to low art, classical music to pop music, canonical literature to airport blockbusters it has offered some of the most insightful and enjoyable arts programming around. Much youtubery awaits inside Here's are some great episodes for your delectation. Iggy and the Stooges (1,2,3,4,5). J.G. Ballard (1,2,3). Woody Allen (1,2,3,4,5,6). Steve Reich (1,2,3,4,5,6). Sonic Youth (1,2,3). Enjoy!

Martha Ballard's Diary

thomas j wise — Sat, 12 Jun 2004 15:45:15 -0800

Martha Ballard's Diary Includes a transcription of the diary (written between 1785-1812), images of the original MS, and a number of contextual documents and photographs, plus many other things. (Those of you who enjoy old diaries should bear in mind that one of the greatest diarists of them all, Samuel Pepys, has a blog.)