Everett Public Library and Tabby's Coffee

Established in 1894 and updated with population growth throughout its history, Everett Public Library is quite the unexpected jewel.  Unique in all ways of architectural design.  The library transcends convention by importing a progressive and local aesthetic.  The library molds into a modernizing city, while balancing a taste for historical identity.

Everett Public Library.  Est 1894 © Aaron Everly

The exterior of the library embraces post-modernism with a sprinkle of modernism.   The sharp angles and corners of its body slowly embrace the smooth bends and curves of the entry points of the building.  The doors of the library maintain some sort of magic as I open them into a time forgotten; they oddly remind me of something I’d see in a sepia colored photo.

The front of Everett Public Library © Aaron Everly

The library has a secure balcony © Aaron Everly

An entrance to the library.  I love the doors.  © Aaron Everly

Once inside, post-modernism gets slightly warped with modernism, then back again. I open the doors and observe the high ceilings, symmetrical stripes of windowpanes, low-hanging ceiling lamps, cream colored (potentially lead tainted) paint, and wooden wall paneling.  After this brief 20-foot journey into the past, which felt like an eternity, I embarked back into the present; finding myself at the computer lined information desk.  Beyond this point, post-modernism is the dominant fixture, with modernism peppered throughout.  

The cafe area.  Way better than any other cafe experience.  © Aaron Everly

The high ceilings and excellent provide an excellent study environment.  © Aaron Everly

Plenty of space for children to let their imaginations wander © Aaron Everly

Internet going up.  © Aaron Everly

There are plenty of areas to explore here.  © Aaron Everly

The work area with a nautical theme.  © Aaron Everly

The library keeps to holds on to their past and identity.  © Aaron Everly

The safe place for teens.  © Aaron Everly

The library has a lot of space for people with a variety of tastes and social preferences.  Here parents can find a children’s area for the kids to explore or a Dr. Seuss book to read.  Around the corner teens can find a safe, designated space for their tastes.  Slumbering society or recluses can find ample study or nap space, but privacy is limited and many people are watchful. There is a café section for people who like the aroma of the special bean, appreciate a social atmosphere, and who can find solace in a great book and even better cup of joe.  

Tabby’s Coffee is a new, local addition to the library.  They provide affordable, high quality coffee, baked items and cotton candy; who doesn’t love cotton candy?  The non-bitter, non-acidic coffee, rich in flavor notes brew is roasted by Mazza Coffee Co in Mukilteo, WA.  Two locals teaming up for a unique one cup, one location experience, providing a blast of cozy warmth and blanketing of perpetual joy.  This place is a cheaper option to hold a job interview, study for exams, observe local artists, or have a meetup.  Look out for local artist events presented by Tabby’s.  For December, they are showing the intuitive abstracts by our local artist Ru Otto.  So check it out while sipping on some java.

Excellent prices, coffee, and atmosphere.  © Aaron Everly

Decembers artist Ru Otto © Aaron Everly

Some of the work by Ru Otto looks impressive © Aaron Everly

Once you are here, specifically for those who drive, just be aware of the multiple parking options.  Parking is free to the public and is located under the library.  There’s no need to park in limited time spaces on the street or paid parking lots popularly placed close to the establishment.   Also, look out not to turn into or park at the apartment complex parking, conveniently called “Library Place”; turning in there could make turning out more complicated.

This is where to park, under the library.

Another parking option under the library © Aaron Everly

Do not try to park here while visiting the library. © Aaron Everly

85°C Bakery Cafe

The best things in life are discovered when your spouse deploys you for a favor.  Before today, I’ve never heard of the cafe 85°C.  Supposedly they’re a pretty big deal with over 1000 cafes worldwide and they are picking up steam here in the United States.  85°C is a Taiwanese brand chain café with over $22 billion in revenue last year, so yeah they’re doing pretty good.  In 2003, the brand was founded by Mr. Wu Cheng-Hsueh, who employed his passion about producing and delivering premium quality pastries and drinks for the masses.   I think they are doing a fantastic job, from what I experienced.

85°C Bakery Cafe in Lynnwood, WA © Aaron Everly

85°C offers a wide range of drinks from smooth 85° coffees, flavorful teas, refreshing smoothies, and some delicious boba.  To satisfy your sweet tooth, they have 50 varieties of pastries.  Besides the cakes that they neatly display, you can find other perfected pastry items such as Taiwanese style, Danish style, Japanese style, and European style.  They pretty much want to overwhelm you with choices so you will not leave without buying at least one item.  They all look so good!

Cakes and so much more. © Aaron Everly

Pick your pastries, just use the tongs! © Aaron Everly

For the 85°C café in Lynnwood, WA I was immediately impressed.  This store was very clean and well lit, with the perfect balance of natural and artificial light for those perfect selfies or social media pictures. The presentation of the items were done thoughtfully and the spacing of each pastry subtly enhanced my desire to try each one.  The pastries were moist, maintained a well-balanced flavor, and had an appetizing appearance, which is rare for the average price of  $1.50 for each item.  Such a reasonable price range!

These items cost around $11.  Such a good deal! © Aaron Everly

Why should you come here?  They do everything right.  The ambience, cleanliness, and product are designed and maintained with care.  Remember, high value, low cost to the customer…most businesses dream of accomplishing this and 85°C has obviously done it.  Looking forward to them getting bigger.

Which one to eat first? © Aaron Everly

Funko Headquarters

Ten months in Georgia, away from our charming state and specifically Snohomish County was extremely taxing on my moral.  Yes, life in Georgia doesn’t match the raw, unrestrained natural beauty, or family friendly allure that our state offers.  We are in fact blessed to be living in a location that offers so much economic, social, and natural wealth beyond anything the east can imagine.  I love this place.

One of a few important events that I missed while deployed was the mid-2017 grand opening of the new Funko Headquarters in Everett, WA.  Now if you don’t know what Funko is, that’s fine, because you’ve been living out of the cool-loop and not everyone can be cool.  Funko primarily produces stationary and bobble-head vinyl popular-culture character figures, known as POP!.  These figures range from Darth Vader, Huckleberry Hound, and Batman (the POP! universe is much larger than the few named characters}.  They also produce popular-culture t-shirts, lanyards, cups, and flare to match your personality.  The figures can be found on the Funko’s site, Amazon, Walgreens, Target, comic book conventions, and wherever pop-culture items are sold.

Funko Headquarters with POP! icons lining the exterior.

I’m still fairly new to the POP! community.  I learned about Funko when I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2015-2016.  My boss at the time had a cool habit of buying POP! figures for his employees in an attempt to match their personality as he saw them.  He bought me the Black Knight from The Monty Python and The Holy Grail, because he said, “you don’t quit” and possibly because of my stubborn ways.  

Black Knight POP! from The Monty Python

I appreciated the gesture no matter the intention.  When he got me this character my curiosity led me to he back of the package, because I thought it to be interesting what region of our country would create such a cool and reasonably priced item, that’s where I saw Everett, WA and at that moment my love affair with Funko started.  I just love all things local and am proud of local business that make it big.  At that point I made it a goal of mine to visit their headquarters when I had the opportunity.

Entrance to Funko Headquarters

The City of Everett became an instant winner with Funko Headquarters opening there.  The shop immediately enhances the tourism appeal of the city, which surrounding shops and dinning can benefit from.  The headquarters itself offers 17,00 square feet of awe, sectioned, and themed from the Harry Potter to Batman to Star Wars.  One area of the store that I thought was a great addition and idea, was the section dedicated to customers building their own POP.  In this section people can choose from a Funko Freddy or monster head, mixing and matching an assortment of body parts, headgear, and accessories along the way.  It’s really a great way to get creative and enjoy the Funko experience.

Anime and geek section.  

Funko's original character section

The DC Funko experience.

Star Wars is always fun

Darth Vader calling out orders 

The POP! Factory.  Build your own POP.

Funko Freddy on the assembly line

Build your own POP

There are so many options at the POP! Factory

Funko Freddy head

Monster head

There are so many POPs and the Funko universe is impressively larger than the store, I think there is room for expansion.   It looks like people stay inside the store for about an hour and Funko needs to find a way to keep people inside longer, but how do they accomplish this?  I think this brand has an opportunity for building more, like a rollercoaster or two inside the store.  There is also potential for serving food, snacks, or drinks on the property.  They could just buy surrounding buildings and design a way to connect their main building to other buildings, each building having its own awesome theme.  The potential is limitless and I’m sure the brains at Funko have already thought of this.

Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America

Main entrance of the Jinja

The view from across the street in the parking area. Parking is plentiful and at no cost.  The entrance that you see there is called a “Torii” or gate.  A torii is pretty much a gateway from our world into the spiritual and is a marker for sacred ground.  The location is remote and surrounded by 17 acres of forested terrain and the Pilchuck River zigzagging through the center.  The entire area is called a “Jinja” or Shinto Shrine.

Entrance marker to shrine

This marker is present upon passing through the entrance torii.  It translates to…Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America.

Trail leading to shrines

This is the common access trial leading to the other shrines within the Jinja.  Remember that each God or Spirit has their own shrine dedicated to them.

Cleansing station

Before entering the major shrine (shrine name), individuals must cleanse themselves.  This involves washing hands, by scooping water with the water scooper and pouring it over each hand, but not over the water source.  A great tutorial can be found here.

Komainu is your friend

This stone beast is called a “Komainu”.  Its a lion like guardian at the entrance of the shrine.  Their purpose is to ward off evil spirits, not collect coins in their mouths.  You don’t get good luck by giving them your money, their purpose has already been determined.  A good explanation can be found here.

Ke-n or Offering

This is “Ken”.  No not the guy who owns the shrine.  Ken means “offering” and it rests at the entrance of the first shrine upon entering.

Main shrine

This is the first shrine.  It looks intimidating, but I promise its not that bad.  I remember my first experience walking though.  I was tense and didn’t know what to do, so I watched people do it before me and as soon as you know, it became just another thing.

Pray for what you want

Prayer process

So you walk up to the steps, toss in a quarter (or any coin that you have handy), shake the bell to a jingle, bow, clap, and make a wish.  You don’t have to tell people what you wished for, but my wife makes me tell her anyways.

Peace On Earth

This is a post right outside the first shrine and something that we all would wish for.

All tied up

Shrine number two.  See those papers tied along the line to the right.  All those knots are people’s fortunes.  If someone gets a fortune that they dislike or aren’t comfortable with, they tie them up along that line.

Need a fortune boost?

This station requires an extra purchase of a decorated wooden plank designed to be hung from the hanging station, which is displayed. 

Tengu

This legendary creature is called a “Tengu”.  Within Japanese folklore, they have wings and are skilled warriors so approach with humility.

The almighty shapeshifter

In their earlier days, Tengu took the form of a bird.  Today in most locations the Tengu has made use of its shapeshifting abilities and taken on more human features.  In addition, Tengu can talk without moving their mouth.  So don’t frig-out if this happens, it’s completely normal.

Grain and Farm

The third shrine (not necessarily in the order that I’ve noted).  This shrine is dedicated to the Goddess of grain and farm.

O-Inari-San

O-Inari-San the fox is very popular in Japan.  He is a messenger of the Goddess of grains and farms, which he stands at the site of her shrine.  Notice the scroll in his mouth.

Shopping for a fortune

Fortune time.  After people have visited all shrines, they usually jump in line to purchase a fortune, but there is no written rule on that.

Many options

Staff are patient and understand that some people will not understand the process.  They are always willing to explain, so don’t feel rushed that people are waiting.  The shrine has a kind culture.

Numbered fortune inside

This box has numbered fortunes inside.  People will pay first, pick up the box and give it a good shake, then flip it until a numbered stick falls out.  From there, one of the staff will take the number and bring out the corresponding fortune.  There it is.  

For more information, please visit the Tsubaki Grand Shrine website or Facebook page.
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