Redfin’s San Francisco blog had a wonderful post “Palo Alto: In Praise of Garages”, enumerating several noteworthy garages in the Bay Area. They noted both the garages of young Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard and another noteworthy garage, the place where Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs started their “Homebrew Computer Club.” This enterprise later became Apple.

I couldn’t think of any famous garages here in Seattle, unless you counted
Kurt Cobain’s, whose life ended in his garage.

Cobain Garage
HappyDeathInc.

Nirvana was arguably Seattle’s greatest garage band, though
not its only famous one.

Nirvana (photo source unknown)

Today, February 20th, would have been Kurt’s 40th birthday. He was born in 1967 in Aberdeen, WA.

The garage was torn down by Courtney, shortly after his death, perhaps because she couldn’t stand looking at it or maybe to avoid it becoming a shrine.

Courtney sold the house in 1997 for $2,895,000. The listing agent had a brokers Open House, and the curious were able to wander about for clues to the previous owners existence. The garage had been torn down by then, a fence put up around the property and a bench erected in Viretta Park, that has had to substitute for a shrine. Courtney had contacted Lake View Cemetery (where Bruce Lee is buried) and Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton (where Jimi is buried) but both cemetery owners were concerned about security. Cobain was cremated; the cremains are kept in an undisclosed private location. His family has yet to approve of any official memorial site.

Zillow has the home listed
with a ZESTIMATEâ„¢ of $5,861,884.00. Which is probably about right.

Kurt Cobain Seattle Home
www.Flickr.com

This Saturday, February 24th, would have been Kurt and Courtney’s wedding anniversary. They were married 2/24/92 in Hawaii.

Angelo Bruscas in his PI blog,
Seattle@Nite writes of the 12th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death in an entry entitled “Nirvana at Nite”. The 13th anniversary is coming up April 8th.

The home where Nirvana played its first gig was on the auction block for sale last year.

This is not the first Cobain home lost .……Courtney Love lost both her New York home and a historic home in Olympia she bought for Kurt’s sister Kim.


Cobain listing on Ebay

The other members of Nirvana were Dave Grohl, who went on to front Foo Fighters and lives on the East Coast.

Krist Novoselic’s ties are deeper in the Northwest, and he spends time in Seattle and in his home Southwest Washington he shares with his wife, local clothing designer Darbury Stendaru, who had a studio on 1st Avenue, but now only does trunk shows. They also celebrate their wedding anniversary this month (2/27).

In 1995, Novoselic founded JAMPAC (Joint Artists and Music Promotions Political Action Committee), an organization that advocated on behalf of Washington state’s music community. Novoselic’s work with JAMPAC helped Seattle club owners find ways to host all-ages shows, and was instrumental in helping to overturn the (anti-)Teen Dance Ordinance. And sometimes making music and making a statement go hand in hand, as when Novoselic, Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil, and drummer Gina Mainwal backed Jello Biafra as the “No W.T.O. Combo” at a show performed during the World Trade Organization conference held in Seattle in 1999.

There have been other musical endeavors since Nirvana, as well as new causes. Novoselic is a strong supporter of electoral reform, an issue he writes about extensively on his website Fix Our United States.

Of Grunge and Government

He’s also published several books, including
Of Grunge & Government: Let’s Fix This Broken Democracy!

Instant runoff voting: speaking to voter needs
By Krist Novoselic (Seattle Times)

Krist Novoselic

IRV, a better way, by Krist Novoselic, The Nation

Guide to Pacific Northwest Bands, garage or otherwise

Photos of Kurt Cobain’s Seattle house on Flickr

A walking tour of Kurt Cobain’s Aberdeen

33 things you should know about Nirvana — Blender

Cobain unofficial memorial at Viretta Park

Sad reminder of Kurt Cobain’s legacy
- Cobain/Love house sold in foreclosure

Kurt Cobain: Seven Years Later –
a Reflection by Clark Humphrey on HistoryLink.org

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