mathieuj10's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Seattle, Washington

Hammering Man

This working class sculpture pounds his hammer all the livelong day.
Seattle, Washington

Lenin Statue of Fremont

Statue of Lenin, from Cold War era Czechoslovakia, now in a neighborhood of Seattle.
Seattle, Washington

Center of the Universe Sign

Residents of Fremont in Seattle have considered it the center of the universe since the 1970s.
Seattle, Washington

Bop Street Records

A vinyl-lover's Shangri-La.
Seattle, Washington

Fremont Bridge

From a neon Rapunzel to a bike traffic meter to a street fair color scheme, the most opened drawbridge in the US is a veritable art gallery.
Seattle, Washington

Freeway Park

The first park built over a freeway is a brutalist masterwork.
Seattle, Washington

Kubota Garden

This semi-secret garden in south Seattle emulates a traditional Japanese garden using the plants of the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle, Washington

Fremont Troll

A giant Troll lurks under one of Seattle's oldest bridges.
Washington, D.C.

Riggs Bank

The bank that helped fund the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Alaska met its downfall after helping Augusto Pinochet launder money.
Washington, D.C.

The Preamble in License Plates

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution written entirely from vanity license plates hangs in the Smithsonian museum.
Washington, D.C.

Capitol Bollards

The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.
Washington, D.C.

Federal Reserve Tennis Court

The only tennis court that falls under the jurisdiction of the central bank.
Washington, D.C.

Organization of American States Building

The grand marble structure next to the White House is Andrew Carnegie's temple to Pan-American diplomacy.
Washington, D.C.

White House Helipad

Disks are rolled out onto the south lawn to absorb the impact of Marine One's wheels like giant coffee coasters.
Washington, D.C.

Washington Monument Marble Stripe

Look closely and you’ll notice that the color changes a third of the way up the tower.
Washington, D.C.

Senate Corncob Capitals

Corn-inthian columns with a uniquely American take on neoclassical architecture.
Washington, D.C.

Rayburn House Office Building

One critic described it as "middle Mussolini, early Ramses, and late Neiman-Marcus." Another called it an architectural "natural disaster."
Washington, D.C.

Inaugural Parade Center Line

A line of blue paint marks the route of the inaugural parade.
Washington, D.C.

The Lockkeeper's House

A derelict bit of infrastructure from the canal that once ran through D.C. is landlocked in the heart of the city.
Washington, D.C.

Man Controlling Trade

A muscular Art Deco monument represents the struggle between regulators and unbridled markets.
Washington, D.C.

D.C. War Memorial

An overlooked memorial honoring the local Washington residents who died in World War I.
Washington, D.C.

Potomac Park Flood Levee

This mysterious structure by the Washington Monument is a flood barrier designed to protect the White House against rising waters.
Washington, D.C.

Watergate Gas Station

This seemingly out-of-place gas station by the Watergate hotel was once described as the most expensive gas station in the world.
Washington, D.C.

Washington Monument Access Hatch

Daredevil repair workers can worm their way out the access hatch, loop ropes over the apex and rappel down the monument.