...that's the bar, not the shantytown.

I went there for Bar Exam in September—a week after John McCain said that "the fundamentals of our economy are still strong"—and while it was/will be a fun place, the name combined with $10 pitchers of Rainier combined with the beginnings of an actual latter-day Hooverville around there causes some cognitive dissonance. (There are free peanuts.) People live in campers under the West Seattle Bridge, people sleep under onramps to the viaduct, and, from observations made this past week on a bike ride around the neighborhood, a makeshift tent city has sprung up in the weeds along the railroad tracks on East Marginal Way. Can't we take care of our loonies and drug addicts better than this?

Anyhooverville, then there was a fire—accidental, started by an overheated ceiling fan. Now it appears Hooverville will rise again.

Photo courtesy of putative.