Shopping!

So the neighborhood I live in is prone to older apartment buildings. There's lots of classic brick boxes, huge old homes that were converted to apartments and condos, and other interesting buildings. 

One of these got even more interesting a few months back. It's a large, old multi-unit apartment building that sits on the hill between my condo and the library, and is also on along the path I typically take when I walk home. For a long time the lower unit I walked past was a studio  apartment occupied by a guy that looked like a refugee from the Great Gatsby. He'd stand outside his door, smoking cigars in a very natty suite and, frequently, a straw hat. 

But then the apartment disappeared; not the building, just the one apartment. The building is now now I'm guessing twenty-some apartments and one very small retail outlet: The Nevertold Casket Co. 

I'm not sure if it's the same guy from the apartment running the shop, but the two or three times I've been there it's been a couple behind the counter dressed like refugees from Sherlock Holmes (the original, not the contemporary update). Or given what they sell, maybe I should say refugees from an Edgar Allen Poe story, as what this place sells, in short, is death. In addition to the aforementioned casket (kid-sized and useful for storing Halloween candy, very cheery), they also have a wide range of stuffed animals (taxidermy, not plush), dead animals embedded in plastic, dead animal skeletons, old photos taken of dead people, various preserved body parts, late 1800s medical devices, and, well, most anything that might come to mind when you think about death. 

It's an interesting space to spend a few minutes, and I have to say, the stuffed peacock is pretty impressive. 

So if you're ever in the market for some lovely death-related tchotchkes, I recommend a visit to The Nevertold Casket Co. on Seattle's Capitol Hill.