Flashed in Seattle

In 1976, 'The Worlds Fair' was being held in Spokane, Washington, and we happened to be passing through. It was really hot and I remember the fair wasn't very crowded, in fact, the fair was really boring. We looked around at some of the exhibits and then spent some time on the carnival rides, but for the most part The Worlds Fair was uneventful. However I couldn't leave without a souvenir and felt compelled to spend my savings on useless junk, so the item I decided on was an invisible dog leash. What this was is a plastic rope reinforced with a stiff wire and a dog harness attached to the end. Holding the stiff leash out and pretending to have a dog attached looked like you were being led around by an invisible poodle. This novelty toy was being sold by a bunch of carnie looking guys demonstrating the effect and teasing the crowds with the invisible dogs to make sales, I was suckered in and shelled out something like $6 for this item and proceeded to run around like an idiot thinking the invisible dog trick was amusing everyone around me. Ted and my Dad finally had to tell me to settle down and stop acting like a moron, that the invisible dog show wasn't entertaining anybody. Getting back to the car I discovered that the 5 foot steel reinforced leash was awkward and didn't fit in the car conveniently, so I was forced to fold the wire in half to make it fit in the way back and not be in the way of anybody. This put a permanent kink in the wire leash which was later impossible to smooth out, which destroyed the whole invisible dog illusion and essentially ruined my toy. I should've listened to Dad and Ted and bought the spring-loaded fly swatter rifle instead.

The following day we arrived in Seattle and decided to stop and take a look around. We couldn't help but notice the Space Needle, a Jetsons looking building with a revolving restaurant at the top and Mom and Ted wanted to go up in it. I don't think Dad was too keen on going up to the top because it cost a lot of money and he also might be forced to buy lunch at the revolving restaurant, which was also expected to be expensive. But Mom insisted and Dad had to let Mom have a say every one in a while to keep things in balance, but Dad was clearly irritated and impatient with the whole event. We took an elevator to the top and the elevator was operated by a young woman who gave us a spiel and explanation about the tower. At the top observation deck we got a spectacular view of the city of Seattle and got to run around the tower for a bit, and indeed the main level of the tower had a revolving floor which provided a 360 degree per hour view of the cityscape. It was interesting and fun to be able to stand between the stationary and moving sections of the floor, letting your feet spread apart until you couldn't stand up anymore, which was entertaining for us kids but annoying for the adults to watch. The spinning restaurant was merely an ordinary and over priced snack bar preying on tourists, so in order to get a seat in the restaurant to enjoy the revolving view Dad allowed us to have the obligatory ice cream treats and drinks, but no real food. We sat there for about 3/4 of a revolution and quickly got both bored and jittery from the ice cream, so we decided to mill around the observation decks some more.

While all of us were taking in the scenery, Mom noticed there was a man in a long coat walking around to various guests and tourists, and giving them a peek at his genitalia. Mom was somewhat amused and informed Dad and us kids to beware of the flasher. Fortunately the flasher didn't seem interested in little boys and focused his attention at the various women. He didn't even look like your stereotypical flasher with the raincoat and legs wearing sock garters, he was a regular looking young guy in a suit and tie, with his hands in his coat pockets strategically positioned to reveal his bits at any chosen moment. From then on we all kept the flasher in the corner of our eye and made it a point to avoid him, especially in the restrooms. However upon studying his approaches and technique, he never seemed to be getting any reactions from any of his victims, in fact everyone seemed to be ignoring him. This amused Mom even further and she joked to Dad that he must not be very impressive to the girls. Ted and I just observed his actions with perplexed and embarrassed horror.

This seemed like as good a time as any to make our exit and take the elevator back down. My sisters and Ted were still busy in the gift shop, so my Dad stayed behind with them to take a later elevator down while my Mom and I took the next available elevator. A group of us got in the elevator car while the young woman operator prepared to take us down, and at the last minute the flasher got on with us. Mom and I gave each other a nervous but amused glance as the flasher took position right in front of the lady elevator operator, the doors closed and we silently started down. He must have given the operator a flash because she reacted with a sarcastic and unenthusiastic "yeah, I know..." and proceeded to ignore him for the rest of the elevator ride, we suspected that he was a regular visitor to the Space Needle and the young lady operator was already intimately familiar with our flasher friend. At the ground level we all piled out of the elevator and went our own ways, the flasher walking off to the side. Mom and I observed him as he proceeded to zip himself back up and walk away disappointed and dejected.

All the stories I've ever heard about flashers and perverts always involved shocked reactions, screaming and police chases, this experience was nothing of the sort and rather unexciting. But from that time on whenever I think of or see the Seattle Space Needle, I always think of flashers.