The wild streets of Seattle.
Nov. 5th, 2008 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusAs promised... Obama victory celebration last night in the wild streets of Seattle.
People spontaneously poured into the streets last night. First about five hundred or so on Pike between 11th and Broadway, bouncing and yelling and chanting on the sidewalks. The Wild Rose was hopping. A group of young guys with a huge poster of Obama about half the size of a door danced down the sidewalk, chanting, "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
More and more people came. One block filled, then another, dancing and crowding around a huge Obama poster, and Obama/Biden banners, and American flags. A black guy got up on a van plastered with Obama stickers and everyone cheered. More people climbed onto the van and he shook a bottle of champagne and sprayed it over the crowd as everyone chanted, "Gobama! Gobama!"
The crowd grew to easily 700 people. A few cars still could get through, very, very slowly. They had their windows rolled down, hands out, high-fiving all the way down the crowd, honking their horns. A lone McCain supporter gave us the finger and was ignored. People banged on the cars. One little red car with a grinning girl in her 20s behind the wheel was brought to a standstill. A girl who looked maybe 18 wearing just running shorts and a T-shirt climbed on the hood, laid back, and flashed everyone. She seemed pretty drunk. More cheering.
People were up on the roofs watching the mayhem, and someone set off fireworks to more cheers. There was a horn that sounded like conch shell. I got up on a dumpster because now the crowd was at least a thousand people. I wanted to see it, but hopped down when the fireworks were set off directly over me. Several boomboxes were set up on the street. I whistled and cheered and high-fived whoever wanted to.
The crowd expanded down the street, blocking 10th Avenue, 11th Avenue, down Pike... and then filled the major intersection at Broadway. People were packed as tight as a rock concert in the center of Broadway, arms waving in the air. Tickertape fluttered. Police cars arrived to block off any further traffic, and fell back, and back, letting the crowd take the streets. The news choppers showed up and there were cameras set up at the gas station. Everywhere people held up their cell phone cameras.
One black officer stood up on the edge of patrol car with his cellphone held high, taking photos, a subtle smile on his face. He's the regular beat cop on this part of Capitol Hill. The center of the cheering mass of people on Broadway bounced, yelling, "Go 'Bama! Go'Bama!" and "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" Someone waved a huge American flag, and started started singing the star-spangled banner and the crowd took it up, throwing confetti, drinking and celebrating. I'm hard-pressed to guess how many people were there now. A group of several hundred had walked up from University of Washingon I learned from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scribbling_elf. Fifteen hundred to two thousand, I don't know, I've never seen so many outside a rock concert.
A silver Mercedes convertible inched its way, millimeter by millimeter, through the heart of the crowd, the top down, radio loud, playing something with the lyrics "bye, bye." The guy at the wheel was grinning, two women perched in the back waving like it was a parade. You could see the television screen inside the car was set to the election results. Celebrants piled on the back of the car, and I hopped on for a bit, using the car to navigate to the very heart of the throng, people wild and dancing around us. More ticker tape, orange and yellow and red, and it was going up. From the center I cut to the edge to where people recording it with cell phones, or watching and giving a nod of satisfaction as we threw our fists in the air and cheered. I picked up some ticker tape and tossed it in the air with a cheer. Newschoppers buzzed us.
A drummer led a group of people back up the street like a pied piper, while the main throng on Broadway shouted, "Yes we can! Yes we can!" A cluster of people started dancing to the drums (much better dancers than me, so I just clapped and hugged people).
Last night I said, "My neck hurts, my throat's sore from yelling, my arms are sore from the "Yes we can!" fists in the air, and I think I strained something jumping onto that garbage can. What a wonderful night."
Kiro Channel 7 video: apparently later on the crowd marched from Broadway to Pike Place in front of the Showbox, closing the streets downtown.
People spontaneously poured into the streets last night. First about five hundred or so on Pike between 11th and Broadway, bouncing and yelling and chanting on the sidewalks. The Wild Rose was hopping. A group of young guys with a huge poster of Obama about half the size of a door danced down the sidewalk, chanting, "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
More and more people came. One block filled, then another, dancing and crowding around a huge Obama poster, and Obama/Biden banners, and American flags. A black guy got up on a van plastered with Obama stickers and everyone cheered. More people climbed onto the van and he shook a bottle of champagne and sprayed it over the crowd as everyone chanted, "Gobama! Gobama!"
The crowd grew to easily 700 people. A few cars still could get through, very, very slowly. They had their windows rolled down, hands out, high-fiving all the way down the crowd, honking their horns. A lone McCain supporter gave us the finger and was ignored. People banged on the cars. One little red car with a grinning girl in her 20s behind the wheel was brought to a standstill. A girl who looked maybe 18 wearing just running shorts and a T-shirt climbed on the hood, laid back, and flashed everyone. She seemed pretty drunk. More cheering.
People were up on the roofs watching the mayhem, and someone set off fireworks to more cheers. There was a horn that sounded like conch shell. I got up on a dumpster because now the crowd was at least a thousand people. I wanted to see it, but hopped down when the fireworks were set off directly over me. Several boomboxes were set up on the street. I whistled and cheered and high-fived whoever wanted to.
The crowd expanded down the street, blocking 10th Avenue, 11th Avenue, down Pike... and then filled the major intersection at Broadway. People were packed as tight as a rock concert in the center of Broadway, arms waving in the air. Tickertape fluttered. Police cars arrived to block off any further traffic, and fell back, and back, letting the crowd take the streets. The news choppers showed up and there were cameras set up at the gas station. Everywhere people held up their cell phone cameras.
One black officer stood up on the edge of patrol car with his cellphone held high, taking photos, a subtle smile on his face. He's the regular beat cop on this part of Capitol Hill. The center of the cheering mass of people on Broadway bounced, yelling, "Go 'Bama! Go'Bama!" and "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" Someone waved a huge American flag, and started started singing the star-spangled banner and the crowd took it up, throwing confetti, drinking and celebrating. I'm hard-pressed to guess how many people were there now. A group of several hundred had walked up from University of Washingon I learned from
scribbling_elf. Fifteen hundred to two thousand, I don't know, I've never seen so many outside a rock concert. A silver Mercedes convertible inched its way, millimeter by millimeter, through the heart of the crowd, the top down, radio loud, playing something with the lyrics "bye, bye." The guy at the wheel was grinning, two women perched in the back waving like it was a parade. You could see the television screen inside the car was set to the election results. Celebrants piled on the back of the car, and I hopped on for a bit, using the car to navigate to the very heart of the throng, people wild and dancing around us. More ticker tape, orange and yellow and red, and it was going up. From the center I cut to the edge to where people recording it with cell phones, or watching and giving a nod of satisfaction as we threw our fists in the air and cheered. I picked up some ticker tape and tossed it in the air with a cheer. Newschoppers buzzed us.
A drummer led a group of people back up the street like a pied piper, while the main throng on Broadway shouted, "Yes we can! Yes we can!" A cluster of people started dancing to the drums (much better dancers than me, so I just clapped and hugged people).
Last night I said, "My neck hurts, my throat's sore from yelling, my arms are sore from the "Yes we can!" fists in the air, and I think I strained something jumping onto that garbage can. What a wonderful night."
Kiro Channel 7 video: apparently later on the crowd marched from Broadway to Pike Place in front of the Showbox, closing the streets downtown.
