Viretta Park (aka Kurt Cobain Park)

Viretta Park (aka Kurt Cobain Park) + Feud with Howard Schultz and Obama visit

Neighborhood/Type:  Denny Blaine

Address: 151 Lake Washington Blvd E, Seattle, WA 98112

Just like our Green Lake Park blog post, the more we delved into Viretta Park’s history, the more interesting it became.  Viretta Park was named after the daughter-in-law of Seattle pioneer, Arthur Denny.

 

• Kurt Cobain

1994 is when Viretta Park was really put on the map because the park sits right next to Kurt Cobain(lead singer of Nirvana) and Courtney Love(lead singer of Hole)’s former house.  They moved into this house in January of 1994. According to Zillow the house sold for $1,485,000.  The home was built in 1901 and although you can’t see the house from the street on Lake Washington Blvd, you can see the top floor from Viretta Park.

Unfortunately, Kurt Cobain took his own life while in the house on April 8, 1994. The last place he was seen alive was Linda’s Tavern in Capitol Hill. Once word spread of his death, grieving fans gathered at Viretta Park for an impromptu vigil. There’s a bench located right next to the house, that mourners left messages and mementos on.

 

Most visitors to the park today, don’t realize that the original bench was removed put up for auction and appears to have been sold for $1500. The replacement benches which visitors continue to write on is located on the same exact spot as the original.

Aftermath: Kurt Cobain took his life in the gardener’s house on the premises.  Courtney Love ended up tearing it down. She also had the City of Seattle remove a tree in Viretta Park because people would climb it to get a glimpse of the property. In 1997 the house was sold. According to Zillow’s records the house was sold for $289,500, which I find hard to believe because the house is now estimated to be worth over $7 million dollars!

There’s also been talk of putting a Kurt Cobain memorial in the park, which has been opposed by the neighbors residing there and the Parks Chief.

NOTE: I did a little more research and found the data on Zillow is incorrect. It was sold for $2,895,000, not $289,500. Still a pretty good appreciation-over $4 million!

• Howard Schultz vs Viretta Park

Prior to Kurt Cobain’s suicide, Viretta Park was best known for the feud between Howard Schultz(Starbucks founder and former CEO / former Seattle Supersonics Owner) and his neighbors and the Seattle Parks And Recreation Department.

According to this article in the Seattle Times, in 1991 the Schultz’s purchased their home directly south of Viretta Park. The property had no access to the street, so a legal deal was struck to build access to the property through Viretta Park. Even though the access was obtained legally many years before, there was an outcry due to the driveway through the Viretta Park being landscaped in such as way that the it appeared more to be an entrance to the property than to the park.  The Viretta Park Meeting to discuss the issue seems to have gotten pretty heated according to the Seattle Times article:

Take, for instance, the experience that Shirley Feliciano cited. The Madison Park resident recalled that on Sunday she and a friend parked their car in the driveway and were accosted by the Schultzes, telling her in angry tones to move her car.

“They were ballistic,” she said after the meeting. “They didn’t need to get out (of the driveway). They just wanted me out because they wanted me out. That (public) property was theirs.”

But then there’s the experience of the Schultzes. For them, hate mail and anonymous phone calls have become commonplace. 

The President Comes Calling:  On May 9, 2012, crowds of people, TV cameras, and reporters filled Viretta Park to watch the motorcade of SUVs, police motorcycles, a fire truck, and ambulance that accompanied President Barack Obama (b. 1961) and his staff as it passed on Lake Washington Boulevard before entering the driveway of a private home across the street from the park. Bruce and Anne Blume were hosting the president at a $35,000 per couple fundraising event in their waterfront home.