View this email in your browser · Missed one? Visit the Archives

I really want to own and operate a mystery soda machine now. -- Dan

Seattle's Mystery Soda Machine

On the corner of John Street and 10th Avenue E in Seattle, Washington, you'll find Broadway Locksmith. They're located just off Capitol Hill and near Seattle University, so they're convenient if you're in the downtown Seattle area and in need of locksmithing services. And as seen on Google Streetview here, in front of it is a bus stop.

But a few years ago, the bus stop wasn't there. Something else was -- something that drew tourists with their quarters and dollar bills. The sidewalk in front of Broadway Locksmith was home to Seattle's Mystery Soda Machine, as seen pictured below.

The beaten-up vending machine was unlike any other. First, no one is quite sure who owned the machine -- or, at least, no one is admitting to being the operator. As the Seattle Times reported in 2015, "the identity of who owns the machine’s keys and is refilling it with stacks of random beverages is unknown, even to the employees of Broadway Locksmith, which lends electrical power and property to keep the mystery going." The owners of the locksmith denied any involvement (other than not unplugging the machine), with one employee telling the TImes that "whoever is restocking the machine must be doing it outside normal daytime hours, during early mornings or weekends, when people at the locksmith business aren’t around." The Times even asked city officials if anyone had filed a permit to operate a vending machine in the sidewalk, but "there were no permits on file for the machine."

And second -- and perhaps more importantly -- the machine was a bit of soda roulette. If you look carefully at the picture above, you'll notice that the six buttons are labeled in yellow. Those buttons read "Mystery?" if you look closely (click here, don't take my word for it) -- and if you bought a drink from the machine, you never knew what you were going to get. In fact, you may have never heard of some of the flavors before. The Times reported that on one trip, the machine vended "Mountain Dew White Out, pink lemonade Minute Maid, [and a] vintage-looking Dr Pepper." A Seattle blog listed "Lemon-Lime Slice, Mountain Dew Code Red, [and] Diet Hubba Bubba Bubblegum" among the once-served flavors. Another blog claims that the machine once had Pineapple, Grape, and Strawberry Fantas, as well as Hawaain Punch, Squirt, and Sierra Mist. You never quite knew what you were going to get, and that was part of the machine's appeal. The Coke Machine without Coke even developed its own little online following, with more than 30,000 fans following its Facebook page.

But alas, the dream machine is no longer. In June 2018, per a followup report in the Times, the machine disappeared, and whoever moved it left behind only a short note taped to a metal bar nearby, reading "went for a walk." The Facebook page featured a post echoing the sentiment, stating "going for a walk, need to find myself. Maybe take a shower even." According to Atlas Obscura, the machine resurfaced briefly in October of 2022 in a Seattle suburb, only to disappear again that December -- without even leaving a note this time.

Now I Know is supported by readers like you. Please consider becoming a patron by supporting the project on Patreon.

Click here to pledge your support. (If you do, in gratitude, you'll have an ad-free Now I Know experience going forward.)

Bonus fact: In 1999, Coke introduced a vending machine "equipped with thermometers, and when demand for a cold soda rose with the temperature, the price would rise too," according to the New York Times. That's a pretty good way to take advantage of increases in demand -- or, so Coke thought. Per the Times, consumers (and cola rival Pepsi) accused the company of price gouging and "Coke responded by running away from the heat-seeking vending machine as fast as possible."

From the Archives: The Mall Fish Machines: Caviar at the push of a button. In a shopping mall. From a vending machine. (And if I say so myself, the last line of this story is a really solid joke on my part.)

Like today's Now I Know? Share it with a friend -- just forward this email along.

And if someone forwarded this to you, consider signing up! Just click here.

Share

Forward

Archives · Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Now I Know LLC, All rights reserved.
You opted in, at http://NowIKnow.com via a contest, giveaway, or the like -- or you wouldn't get this email.

Now I Know is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Some images above via Wikipedia.

Now I Know's mailing address is:

Now I Know LLC

P.O. Box 536

Mt. Kisco, NY 10549-9998

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your email address or unsubscribe from this list

Now I Know: Seattle's Mystery Soda Machine

Seattle's Mystery Soda Machine

Older messages

Now I Know: When Astronauts Smuggled Mail into Space

Now I Know: The Original Turn Signals

Now I Know: How To Save a Sinking Church

Now I Know: How I Learned About the Lemon Race

Now I Know: America's Secret, Tasty World War II Weapon?

You Might Also Like

Closes 3/16 • Authors • Spring Into Reading Book Promo • Email Newsletter + FB Group Posts & More

You Can't Trust Email Open Rates.

The Phone Company That Hung Up On Its Customers (1)

🧙‍♂️ The EXACT Job Titles To Target (Based On Brand Size)

Why American Christianity has stopped declining

The Biocomputer That Blurs Biology, Tech, and The Matrix - AI of the week

• World Book Day Promo for Authors • Email Newsletter + Facebook Group Posts

If you're meeting with someone this week...

$30,000 Youth4Climate grant, USAID support festival pro bono resources, Interns at Fund for Peace

Food for Agile Thought #483: Leadership Blindspots, Tyranny of Incrementalism, Who Does Strategy?