Celebrate 45 years of Green Lake PCC

PCC is celebrating 45 years in Green Lake! Join in for a tasting fair, a block party and other festivities.

Events highlight the Green Lake Aurora PCC (Green Lake Village opened in 2014), with its deep community roots that include trees and flowers, a tiled public mural, eco-friendly finishes and what store director Tyler Goslin calls “that co-op feel.”

PCC’s first foray into the north Seattle neighborhood was actually a half-mile south of the current location. In 1980 the co-op opened what was then its third store, taking over a small existing market on Fremont Avenue in a residential neighborhood. The new store featured “extensive lines of natural and organic items (bulk and packaged),” according to Sound Consumer articles, plus a “unique feature” in an outlet for the Meat Shop co-operative, the only way PCC shoppers could then buy beef.

Those 1980s customers were asked to walk, bus, or bike to the store if possible — and, if they must drive, to park far away if the small lot was full, to avoid bothering neighbors. Residents asked PCC to limit how many people could shop at the store, according to Sound Consumer articles at the time. Ultimately members from seven surrounding zip codes were asked to “transfer” to Green Lake from the existing Ravenna and Kirkland stores, at a time when only members could shop at the co-op.

Before long a community bulletin board went up outside the store, a sign proudly advertised the Puget Consumers Co-op (PCC’s name at the time), and the store offered classes like a two-hour session designed for people “who find themselves both thrilled and overwhelmed by the variety of foods at the co-op.”

Fast-forward 16 years, and the co-op had outgrown what an executive called that “dear little store.” It moved to Green Lake Aurora, with a retail area more than twice the size of the original market at 11,000 square feet. (A mezzanine and classroom added 2,000 square-feet more.) A newspaper article at the time called Green Lake Aurora the prototype for future PCC stores (though in fairness another paper had said the same thing about the Fremont PCC two years earlier), designed by NBBJ architects, with a “town square” produce stand as its centerpiece. Green Lake was a better showcase for the concept given its square shape, said Lori Ross, PCC’s longtime director of store design, who worked on both the Fremont and Green Lake stores.

All staff members moved from the original location to Aurora Avenue — including Peter Shipley, assistant store coordinator at the time, who is still working there today.

“The co-op’s changed a lot, but it’s still a good place to work and shop,” he said recently.

The Aurora store featured whimsical upside-down colanders and oversized graters as light fixtures, still hanging today over the produce and cheese sections. The upstairs space used for classes at the time was built with a focus on sustainability — energy-efficient equipment, reclaimed chairs, low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint, environmentally-friendly marmoleum flooring. It was referred to as the “Eco-Classroom,” Ross noted, because “many of those things — so common today — were quite new to the general public.”

A Green Lake mural

Features included a colorful tiled mural by Steve Roache, whose work is also at the Port Authority and B.F. Day Elementary School, with tiles created by community members, marking families, businesses, and sometimes just inspiring words and art.

A close look now reveals details like names on leaf-shaped tiles, a vivid blue dove sporting a peace sign and daisies, and a dedication “to all those who live, work, and play in the community of Green Lake.”

Roache, who began his mural career with the “10,000 Tiles for Tashkent” program with Seattle’s sister city in Uzbekistan, recalled recently that PCC’s mural was built around a theme of nature. “That’s why there’s a vine growing, winding its way along the wall with vegetables hanging from it.” There are robust squashes, hummingbirds in flight, and bright leaves. “It was a group effort,” with people of all ages from the community contributing and a core group of 6 to 8 volunteers trained to help through the entire project. All the pieces were glazed and fired at Roache’s studio, in Fremont at the time and now on Vashon Island.

Some hidden little-known details: The ladybugs on the wall represent stars, forming a constellation, Roache said. A still- blank spot in the mural was originally meant to hold a sundial similar to those on the University of Washington campus. (Roache thinks he still has the fabricated metal piece.)

Walls frequently get targeted by graffiti, he noted, and he’s been happy to see the Green Lake mural regularly cleaned and the wall repainted. “I’m really happy it’s held up so well.”

“What I like about that mural is, it’s a highly congested, car-oriented (location), and you have this little moment of nature weaving through the building.”

Similar sentiments came from the unlikely other end of the building — the parking lot.

A garden parking lot

A literal groundbreaking came there care of Seattle Tilth, Seattle Youth Garden Works, and PCC volunteers who broke through “gravel, asphalt and compacted dirt” to create an organic urban garden in and edging the lot.

Carl Elliott of Tilth, later locally famed for his gardening advice on public radio, recently told Sound Consumer the PCC lot was a chance to share information about “how to turn something as ‘anti-garden’ as a parking lot into a little oasis, minimizing the effects of the asphalt and cars.” (It wasn’t easy, and was the first and last such effort for the nonprofit.)

While the plantings have been tamed somewhat, they’re still maintained by the store, with blooming daffodils and hellebores in the spring, daphne shrubs and dramatic dragon lilies and evergreen oak.

Many shoppers come from the surrounding neighborhood, or from commuters — but the store’s location by the lake, one of the city’s most popular parks, means business might rise or fall depending on the beauty of the weather. While it’s now one of PCC’s smaller stores, shoppers “are very vested and loyal and have been shopping here for a long time,” giving it a community feeling, Goslin said. Even the store’s mailman is a member and frequent shopper.

“If (customers) see something they don’t like, they don’t just go to another store… they come in and say “What’s going on with this?” he said. Added deli manager Derek Ainsa, “I feel like there’s a level of comfort here for both our shoppers and our employees.”

It brings to mind the “heartfelt thank you” that members and staff received 45 years ago in Sound Consumer. In capital letters, the newsletter announced “Your commitment, concern and quality of work have enabled the cooperative movement to grow, and in so doing, enrich all our lives.