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publisher's desk
Seattle Mail Drop Adventures
Lost in the mail. Please note that our mailing address has changed. Sweet memories. My first mail drop in Seattle was at 1463 East Republican, PMB #178 on Capitol Hill. I eventually "sold" it to the folks who took over a progressive newspaper I helped start, The Washington Free Press, and that's still their address. Sometimes I miss that old mail drop. Then I had another Capitol Hill box at 1122 E. Pike. I chose to have my box there for reasons I still consider valid: because Jim Hogshire - king of Seattle's 1990's underground literary scene - got his mail there, and I thought Jim was cool. The place was run by leather fetishists, and we referred to it as the "Tom of Finland PO Boxes." Please google "Tom of Finland" to understand the experience more fully. Exhilarating years flew past, full of joy and learning, and I found myself using a box at Al Croft's Sound Mail Services at 2318 2nd Avenue. Please see Belltown Messenger #15, "Art and Commerce in Belltown's Glory Days: Al Croft of Sound Mail Services Talks About the Rendezvous and Other Notorious Nightspots." That building got new owners, who turned it into a sleek bistro called "Karma" and sent my reliable, workmanlike mailbox to the landfill. Undaunted, I opened PO Box 61370 at USPS #111 on 5th Avenue because I liked the proprietor, an ancient Korean or perhaps Chinese man named Sebastian who had just moved his mailing service over from Second Avenue and Cedar after being displaced by a deli. He called me "young man" and was always interested in my publishing activities. Then one day he disappeared, and the place went right downhill. The new USPS #111 folks provided consistently terrible service, the likes of which you'd expect from third world countries, communists, Europe. I continually got mail from other PO Boxes (that's how I met "Compassionate Choices of Washington," at PO Box 61369: we kept getting each other's mail. See their story on page 8 of this issue). In the past 2 years I have had checks go missing, checks expected before Christmas not arriving 'til well into the new year, manhandled, spindled and crumpled checks, and weeks-late credit card statements(!). And I must apologize to Carmen, the accountant at Pacific Publishing Company. Several times I blamed her for late or missing checks, until I realized it wasn't her fault. It was USPS #111!! Well, I am older now, with life experience. My mail drop is now at Elaine's Dance Studio, at 2306 4th Avenue 98121. Elaine is a Messenger co-founder, and a friend. I hope it's the last mail-drop I ever have for awhile. Since you were asking: if you need a reliable PO Box, or any kind of service like photocopies or FedEx, try The Home Office Supply Co., Inc. at 2606 2nd Avenue (206-448-2655). Matt Hale ran it for 15 years, then some guy named Mohammed (no relation), and now it's run by super-friendly Bali Khan. "Everybody loved Matt; I love that guy," Bali told me. "Since I took over from Mohammed, and with Matt's help, people are coming back." UPDATE! 03-31-2008 Wow! So I go to USPS #111 to drop off my key today, at 9:35 (they open at 9:30), and they aren't open. I come back again, not open. When I return later in the day and get my last batch of mail from PO Box 61370, I get an invoice from them. Sweet timing! Of course, there's no dollar amount written on the invoice. Another detail overlooked by the people I never have to deal with again! I will sleep well tonight. - Alex |
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