GLAMNORTHWEST: M for Museum, My Memories of the Experience Music Project/MoPop/Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle Over The Last 25 Years

Disclaimer if reading on mobile-the photos aren’t laid out the same as on desktop view :)

In the year 2000, not only did I graduate high school, but I got my first full time job. I was part of the team that opened Washington State’s first Best Buy (Tukwila). I started as a cashier but quickly was promoted to Wireless Sales after the management understood my talent (the full circle irony of my current job is not lost here).

I won’t go too much into that gig because this post isn’t about that, but in the year 2000, most people did not have a mobile phone. I did. In fact, I ended up with like three and a two way pager that I still have. I tell this detail with the MoPop post because it was at that job that I was invited to the grand opening of the newest Seattle landmark, the Experience Music Project.

Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft with Bill Gates and owner of the Seattle Seahawks opened it on a day which doesn’t seem to be documented online anywhere.

MTV was in its total prime at that moment and Total Request Live (TRL) was ELITE programming. The host was Carson Daly who now does the pop news and such on The Today Show (NBC). Any Millenial/GenX would agree that everyone who’s anyone religiously watched that show. It was our TikTok. Music Videos were at the height of their prime and music never sounded better.

Somehow, some way-I was invited (I was the only Best Buy employee invited?!) to this party that THE Carson Daly hosted. I remember that party like it was yesterday; so many questions went through my head: why am I here? How did I get this access?!

It was in the middle of Carson’s speech welcoming us to the venue that for some reason, he threw ME the TRL bucket hat. WHAT?! WHY?! I kept that bad boy forever-I wonder if it is somewhere at my parent’s house….I’d rock the S out of that thing today! I remember it being like a brownish tan, but that is irrelevant. OMG I JUST REMEMBERED MORE OF THAT NIGHT! I was always going places I shouldn’t (sorry, I have learned better now)…and I ended up behind the curtain with Carson and his then girlfriend Tara Reid (from the American Pie movies). That was then….let the record state that I don’t sneak into places anymore.

Of course I don’t have photos of that night-I wonder if they are in an archive somewhere, I’d love to see them! There isn’t anything online about that night because it was a time where not even MySpace existed-there was no social media. We weren’t even carrying disposable or digital cameras; we just lived. We “experienced the music” in the project haha. What a time to be alive.

In its first 16 years, the EMP was host to many cultural exhibits regarding music and science fiction. The guitars were there, the big LED wall was major for that time in technology, and Seattle grunge was key in the music scene. Fun fact, my mom taught Kurt Cobain and the Melvins at Montesano Junior/Senior High in 1981 while pregnant with me. I used to have a yearbook with him in it, but, like many notable items of mine, it vanished shortly after high school. I remember wanting to donate it to this museum. Bummer it “disappeared”.

The next memory of the museum I have is when the Seattle Seahawks were going to New York for Super Bowl XLVIII back in 2014. The museum hosted a 12th flag signing. I remember driving all the way up from Olympia to sign that bad boy (I ran an account called the 12thWomen and pretended I was part of their social media team and went to all their events that year). I have a photo of it on my old iPad that isn’t connected to iCloud and I believe the flag is still hung at the VMAC (Seahaks Headquarters). I am super embarrassed I signed it and did all that and then went on to work for them for 3.25 seasons….However, there was magic that year and I’ll never forget them flying that flag over MetLife Stadium before the game. Oh well! Great content story, right?

In 2016, they had a Seahawks exhibit. I snuck in…

Nov 2016

The name of the EMP changed a few times to Experience Music Project, Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (or EMP|SFM), and later EMP Museum. In 2016, that is when they decided to name it the Museum of Pop Culture aka MoPop. The museum has incorporated many artistic endeavors over the years aside from music such as science fiction, movies, video games, and even fashion.

Nov 2017

In 2016 when I was working for the Seattle Seahawks, they hosted a corporate event in the same place that initial party was held back in 2000. It was freshly named MoPop from EMP and I was filled with memories of that opening night party while also filled with joy representing my favorite birds-man, I loved that job. I got to do the same event the following year.

NYE 2018

EMF NYE 2018

In 2018 it was New Year’s Eve and I got to borrow my first P100D for work…for some reason I drove to the Needle and parked in front of the building (someone yelled EMF at me haha). This is not relevant but hey, my memories, right?

I got to go as a chaperone for a summer program in 2023. This was the first time I actually got to go through the exhibits (normally I just sneak into the Seahawks lair). The kids LOVED the video game room and I loved the sound proof rooms where I got to Kurt Out and pretend smash guitars. We went through the hip hop exhibit and movie fantasy and even took a picture of the ACTUAL Terminator Arm. I wish when we had gone that the Tron exhibit was open…for brave souls they also had a horror exhibit-I can’t hang so I skipped it.

Terminator Exhibit August 2023

More Terminator Exhibit August 2023

Anyways, I love this place. I am considering membership (only $79 per year) because of the constantly rotating exhibits. Now that I am in my 40s, I am obsessed with learning. Right now they have an Asian Comics exhibit on top of their regular stuff. Last exhibit was fashion and I am bummed I missed it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my memories of the EMP (just like Safeco Field and the CLink, I stay calling them their OG Seattle names). Below is my social media post for that day in August of 2023.

Thank you to the Tahoma School District, Seattle Center, Seattle Seahawks, Paul Allen Family, Carson Daly, Nirvana, and Museum of Pop Culture for the memories and experiences over the last 25 years.

Aug 2023