Aberdeen, Washington has a bit of an identity crisis. Town signs welcome you to the “Gateway to the Olympic Peninsula” and to the “Lumber Capitol of the World,” and one says to simply “Come as you are.” I never let an oddity pass, so I took note of it and discovered what is probably the most interesting thing about Aberdeen. The town was the former home of Kurt Cobain.
Casting about for points of interest, it quickly became apparent the city has a complicated relationship with its superstar native son. The “memoria” is there, it’s just…subdued and grudging. Grungy, even.
For example, there’s a rather large mural on the side of a downtown hardware store that features Nirvana-related imagery. The sign below it wastes one word on “Nirvana” and then quickly devolves into a list of local artists and civic organizations that support the mural. I’m sure Kurt would have hated the lack of teen spirit.
Somewhere downtown is a “Hollywood walk-of-fame” style star melted into a lonely sidewalk bearing Kurt Cobain’s name. I found one for a former gold medalist and another for an insurance salesman. The “fame” is apparently spread out around the downtown area, but I didn’t have the heart to walk past all the closed businesses to find his.
About a mile from downtown in a run down neighborhood, there’s a stunningly small patch of grass on a dead-end street set aside to honor Kurt’s memory. And yes, it’s along the muddy banks of the Wishkah. You can walk down under the bridge to see where Kurt slept on the banks, or listen to the otters fuss about your presence. We did both.
Unlike the city elders who don’t know what to do with the painful musings of a man who was clearly shaped by his time in the town, others find the only way to deal with both sadness and the affectations of bereaved fans is with humor.
Others don’t want to see anyone capitalize on Nirvana and wish that you’d just leave them the hell alone about it. I sympathize with the owners of the house nearest the park and their need to detail exactly how you should go away.
The other recommended points of interest include Kurt’s childhood home and the high school he dropped out of and where he later became a janitor. I mean, really? I’d rather knock on Phil’s door and ask him about that one time he shared a joint with Kurt than drive by the man’s former high school. Jan was solidly in agreement with me.
And lastly, there’s this…if you’re going to quote the man, then quote him.
The state of Kurt’s remembrance is perhaps a reflection of the town as a whole — shabby and unwilling to take a chance on the remarkable, even when the town doesn’t need to do anything more than let his memory shine. But he couldn’t shine while he was in Aberdeen, and nothing has changed since he’s passed.
Come as you are, indeed.
Wow. I gotta say that this is so sad; sort of a love-hate relationship with fame and infamy cloaked in plaid shirt.
It’s sad, especially when compared to our recent trip to Forks, WA. In Forks, they celebrated the whole connection to fame there without going overboard. Well, maybe the Twilight festival is overboard. But Aberdeen seems to only begrudgingly admit Kurt even came from the town.