Seattle’s Mystery Soda Machine Has Gone Missing | Hacker News Reader

Seattle’s Mystery Soda Machine Has Gone Missing

atlasobscura.com

69 pointsbcaulfield24 comments

Live right near it. Coin slot was totally broken and inoperable before it went missing. Sad times for the only original business left in Capitol Hill.

"No one knows who put it there. No one knows who stocks it."

Is that statement real? If you live near it, have you never seen a truck, car or person restocking it? Thanks :)

Capitol Hill Seattle blog posted a picture of people stocking it a while back: http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2014/05/spoiler-alert-myst.... But before 2014, it was mostly true, yes, there was no documentation on who was stocking it.

I guess it has become part of the myth of the machine - better not dig too much, as it is a much better story if there's some mystery attached.

For starters, assuming it is not powered off batteries/solar, someone provides power to it; they are unlikely to do so for free; a little bit of asking around would probably solve the 'mystery' right there.

It sounds very Wonka-esque

There was a little locksmith shop right by it. I thought I’d chime in with this totally unrelated fact :)

I have heard of people getting things other than sodas from it, such as little toys or trinkets, however I only got random sodas. I haven't seen anyone stocking it, or not that I remember. It kind of starts to blend in when you walk up John St every day. It was a well used & battered with the elements, dull looking soda machine.

Love urban mysteries like this.

In London we had the Hellraiser bus shelter. A few years ago a VHS of Hellraiser appeared on the roof of a bus shelter on Old Kent Road.

It sat there for a few years until suddenly a second copy appeared. Then another. Sometimes they all disappeared, only to return stronger and more numerous than ever.

We have such sights to show you...

Pictures:

https://now-here-this.timeout.com/2014/11/13/hellraiser-bus-...

I hope it’s just getting a cleaning/tune up. I got many fun flavors of Shasta back when I lived near it. Glad they made all the flavors mystery ones. Half the time it was out of stock.

When I was in Boy Scouts, the older scouts would always tell us there was a cola machine at the top of a local peak stocked with something called Inca Kola.

Of course, there was no such thing, but I was surprised to later learn that Inca Kola is real.

Why was there so much graffiti on it? I thought cap Hill was a good neighborhood.

It's probably a higher density neighborhood, which tends to means more assholes. I live in a nice neighborhood and constantly see new tags to point I want to start writing "sucks" under the persons name.

That’s not graffiti, that’s tagging.

tagging is graffiti but okay

Coming from someone who grew up in it, it’s two different things. Think of graff as art and tagging as throwing up your alias to get your name seen or mess up someone’s piece. But okay :)

The dictionary disagrees with your folk distinction.

The dictionary isn't a language gatekeeper, however.

Either way, good neighborhoods don't have rampant tagging or graffiti. So what's going on there?

People are smiling and enjoying themselves within the confines of rampant tagging and graffiti in Capital Hill. People are fighting to live there these days. One negative is we have a missing mystery soda machine in the neighborhood.

Portland would be a solid example of how distinguishing between the two is important. I wouldn't at all call it a bad area.

If by good neighborhood you mean people smoking meth in building entryways, gun standoffs with police, addicts breaking into cars, parks overrun with derelicts, and armed robbery, then sure.

http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2018/07/why-isnt-capitol-h...

Can confirm.

I live on Broadway at the north end before it turns into 10th and one night out my window I heard a homeless guy screaming "JUST FKING DO IT. KILL ME". I go to my window and a guy has a gun pointed against his forehead, presumably a drug dealer since he was asking for his money. This screaming went on for a good 15 minutes while the drug dealer repeatedly hit him.

I've seen theft happen everywhere, people on meth screaming all night, homeless people sleep on the sidewalk no matter what, people shooting up on your door steps, dead homeless people, etc.

The thing is I never felt really threatened by anyone, including the people who were extremely high on whatever cocktails they had in their systems. It seemed like everyone was really just trying to survive or to escape their terrible, hopeless reality.

I don't hate these people who are obviously under massive stress and have obviously nothing, but it's a very good look into the reality of what problems Seattle really has.

I wonder why your city government doesn't do something to help these people. Open shelters, mental health centers, etc. These people have issues, they shouldn't be left in the streets to be prey for drug dealers.

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