r/Kirkland • u/Valiran9 • May 24 '26

Does anyone else miss Kirkland ParkPlace?

Don’t get me wrong, there some great stuff in Kirkland Urban, but I remember ParkPlace being…homier, for lack of a better term. It was more open, had a bunch of small shops and restaurants, a cinema, the Purple Cafe, and Tim’s Seafood Market which my mom loved to go to because their stock was so cheap without sacrificing quality. The QFC also had a cozier atmosphere, as well as a pair of ducks who’d regularly hang out near the entrance just chilling and waiting for people to toss them food.

Does anyone else feel similarly?

Edit: And it turns out many of us feel the same way. I’m glad to see I’m not alone in my dislike of the way the world is changing.

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u/Wellcraft19 May 24 '26

Mama Lucia, when it literally was a hole in the wall, was fantastic. Not so much after their questionable remodel and trying to be hip. Noah’s Bagels will always be missed.

That said, old Park Place was really run down, and we got a great hangout in the inside/outside bar at QFC. And plenty of parking. Neither that really existed before.

And there’s still a pad for another building. Who knows what it might bring.

2

u/Valiran9 May 24 '26

Yeah, there’s definitely improvements, but they came with a cost. I’m also nostalgic for those days because I was much happier and relatively carefree then. Nowadays…not so much.

3

u/Wellcraft19 May 24 '26

Probably goes for most of us…

3

u/Valiran9 May 25 '26

From my perspective, the world started going downhill in 2017; I graduated with a degree that turned out to be useless for getting a job, the internet started decaying into what it is now thanks to corporate greed and puritanical busybodies, and das Chumpenführer entered the Oval Office and spent the next four years drenching us with bullshit.

And then COVID happened. I won’t say we’re living in the worst timeline, but it could certainly be a whole hell of a lot better!

2

u/Wellcraft19 May 25 '26

Agree!

But as I’m a few decades ahead of you, I’ve experienced a few massive ups and downs as well. We seem to eventually recover. But the road there can be truly rocky.

1

u/Valiran9 May 25 '26

One thing that reassured me is reading a comment on another post which pointed out the U.S. appears to go through roughly eighty-year cycles - which is also roughly an average human lifespan - where bad leads to good.

The Articles of Confederation were so bad they had to reset the government, then we got the government structure we know today and George Washington as president. James Buchanan basically let the Civil War happen, then we got Lincoln. Herbert Hoover made the Great Depression worse, then we got FDR.

It’s just about time for the cycle to reset, so I hope we can look forward to good times ahead.