Big Daddy’s Drive In building, Butt’s Tobacco, what was once a temporary library and some parking lots off Auburn Way South are history.
And with Groat Brothers, Inc. recent completion of demolition, the ball is now in the hands of the Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation Department, which is already landscaping sites to prepare the way for the anticipated new entrance into Les Gove Park.
“We have cleared the site of four of the buildings. The one left is the Herr building, which the parks department will use for storage,” said Daryl Faber, director of Parks, Arts & Rec. “We are really excited. This has been a vision of the City for years.”
Faber added that the seeding, planting and earthwork should be completed in the fall, with the expectation that everything will be ready by KidsDay 2017.
The City was able to salvage specific components of Big Daddy’s landmark carport, to keep the blue poles under Big Daddy’s canopy, the radios attached to those poles and the roofing structure above that. Ultimately, the plan is to turn the site into a commemorative drive-in for car shows and the like.
But Faber said the metal on the iconic Big Daddy’s sign was so corroded that not much can be done with the sign.
Although the overall plan for Les Gove Park is loose and flexible at this stage, a number of key strategies are likely to guide what eventually happens there.
One strategy calls for a series of design changes to set the park apart from Auburn Way South and 12th Street, to “make it pop,” starting with a vegetated edge that runs down the block past the Auburn Youth Resources complex and expands closer to the Auburn Library and 12th Street South.
Related suggestions call for a mural on the wall of the Auburn Youth Resources building, overlaid with project art and public announcements, and for reimagining the old Big Daddy’s restaurant property to allow the greenness of the park to reach all the way to Auburn Way South.
Another principle calls for “Constructing the Crescent.” That is, having arrived at the park by car, foot, bus or bike, the main circulation route is the reimagined Deal’s Way, which creates an intuitive, direct pedestrian connection between the parking, all areas and buildings of the campus and the nearby neighborhoods. Indeed, when H Street has been completed, extending H Street along the west side of the museum to Auburn Way South, the park will close to automobiles.
The plan makes the main pathway through the park “special” with interesting paving elements and rhythmic lighting. The main connections between buildings, gathering areas and parking are lit at night with glowing down lights to avoid light pollution affecting homes to the east.
