The Fremont Troll

The Fremont Troll lives under the north end of the Aurora Bridge (officially the George Washington Bridge) in Fremont - Seattle's quirkiest neighborhood! He is 18 feet tall, weighs 2 tons, and is made of concrete.

Trolls are big ugly creatures, with eyes as big as saucers, who live in caves or under bridges. Traditionally, they like to eat people and billy goats - remember the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff? The Fremont Troll's tastes evidently gravitate toward cars as he clutches an old Volkswagen beetle in his left hand. The beetle originally contained a time capsule of Elvis memorabilia and sported a California license plate. When the license plate was stolen, the time capsule was removed. The troll's one eye is a shiny hubcap.

Where to find the troll:

He sits under the north end of the Aurora Bridge (not the Fremont Bridge) at N. 36th Ave. Don't forget to turn around and look the other way to see the view of Lake Union!

A Movie Star!

Well, maybe not a star! But he does make an appearance in a well-known movie filmed in Seattle called "10 Things I Hate About You".

Some friends and I on the Troll

The story of the troll:

Back in 1989, the Fremont Arts Council was asked to come up with something for the space under the bridge which was becoming a dumping ground. A national competition was held to solicit ideas. The local community voted on models from five finalists, and the design for a giant troll submitted by a team of four Seattle artists - Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead - won by a large margin. The team built the sculpture with time, money, materials, and supplies donated by the Fremont community, and a grant from the Seattle Neighborhood Matching Funds Program. Truly a community project!