Mark Wirth, better known as Purple Mark, is a Seattle, Washington resident who has become locally known, especially around the Capitol Hill neighborhood where he lives, for his colorful attire and his equally colorful dyed hair and beard. [1] [2] [3] He has been quoted as saying, "So many people are against color, so many people are afraid to live." [3]
Purple Mark usually dresses and dyes his hair, beard and other hair on his body, such as on his eyebrows and arm-hair, in accord with the cycle of the seasons: blue and purple in the winter, then the weather warms up green, yellow, and orange, then red in the autumn before cycling back to his winter colors. [2] The process of applying the dye takes about four hours when he changes color, with two hours every two weeks for touch-up for "vibrancy." [1] He also attempts to eat and drink along a similar pattern of color. [2] By his own account, the name "Purple Mark" predates his colorful self-presentation, dating back to when he was hit by a purple streak of lightning on Mount Sneffels in Colorado at age 11. [2] He moved to Seattle in 1985.[ citation needed ] He has said he was first influenced to dye his hair by the wild styles he saw around Pike Place Market, but soon went well beyond the street fashion of the time to develop his unique look. [2] On another occasion he explained his rainbow tones as originally springing from observation of the sun's rays coming through his eyelids: "Your vision attempts to correct this color to white, and some hair had fallen across my eyes, so when I opened them, my hair appeared bright green. I thought to myself: 'I'm gonna do that.'" [1]
From 1994 to at least 2007, he worked in the Ballard neighborhood in what was basically an assembly line job at motor oil and fuel additives company Bardahl. [2] Most of his wardrobe is purchased second-hand or made by himself. [1] [4] He brings a variety of techniques to making his own outfits, ranging from dying human-hair wigs to metalsmithing, in which he has a degree. [4]
Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is made by combining magenta pigment with either cyan pigment, black pigment, or both. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purple is created by mixing red and blue light in order to create colors that appear similar to violet light.
Hair coloring, or hair dyeing, is the practice of changing the color of the hair on humans' heads. The main reasons for this are cosmetic: to cover gray or white hair, to alter hair to create a specific look, to change a color to suit preference or to restore the original hair color after it has been discolored by hairdressing processes or sun bleaching.
Capitol Hill is a densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is immediately east of Downtown Seattle and north of First Hill. The neighborhood is one of the city's most popular nightlife and entertainment districts and is home to a historic gay village and vibrant counterculture community.
The Stranger is an alternative biweekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, U.S. The paper's principal competitor is The Seattle Weekly, owned by Sound Publishing, Inc. It has a progressive orientation.
Grey or gray is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma and therefore no hue. It is the color of a cloud-covered sky, of ash, and of lead.
The Capitol Hill massacre was a mass murder committed by 28-year-old Kyle Aaron Huff in the southeast part of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. On the morning of March 25, 2006, Huff entered a rave after-party and opened fire, killing six and wounding two. He then killed himself as he was being confronted by police on the front porch of 2112 E. Republican Street.
Capitol Hill station is a light rail station in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The station is served by Sound Transit's Link light rail system and is located near the intersection of Broadway and East John Street. It is situated between the Westlake and University of Washington stations on the 1 Line. The station consists of an island platform approximately 65 feet (20 m) under street level, connected to three surface entrances via two mezzanines. It contains pieces of public art, including Mike Ross's sculpture Jet Kiss and two murals by cartoonist Ellen Forney.
The First Hill Streetcar, officially the First Hill Line, is a streetcar route in Seattle, Washington, United States, forming part of the modern Seattle Streetcar system. It travels 2.5 miles (4.0 km) between several neighborhoods in central Seattle, including the International District, First Hill, and Capitol Hill. The line has ten stops and runs primarily in mixed traffic on South Jackson Street and Broadway.
Blue hair does not naturally occur in human hair pigmentation, although the hair of some animals is described as blue.
There are numerous variations of the color purple, a sampling of which is shown below.
Pink Gorilla, LLC is a retro and imported video game retailer with three locations in Seattle, Washington. It was known as Pink Godzilla Games until 2009. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer considers it "Seattle's best" among such retailers.
Kimball Allen is an American writer, journalist, playwright, and actor. He is the author of two autobiographical one-man plays: Secrets of a Gay Mormon Felon (2012) and Be Happy Be Mormon (2014). The latter premiered at Theatre Row in Manhattan on September 24 and 27, 2014, as part of the United Solo Theatre Festival. From 2015 to 2017 he hosted the recurring Triple Threat w/ Kimball Allen, a 90-minute variety talk show at The Triple Door in Seattle.
Jet Kiss is a 2015 sculpture by American artist Mike Ross, installed at the Capitol Hill light rail station in Seattle, Washington. The 90-foot-long (27 m) sculpture consists of two decommissioned A-4 Skyhawk fighter jets that were sliced and arranged nose-to-nose; the piece is suspended above the station's platform level.
The Wildrose is a lesbian bar in Seattle, Washington. It is located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, and opened in 1985. It is the city's only lesbian bar. Business partners Shelley Brothers and Martha Manning, the current owners of The Wildrose, took over from the original founders in the early 2000s.
The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) or Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), originally Free Capitol Hill and occasionally the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP), was an unlawful occupation protest and self-declared autonomous zone in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The zone, originally covering two intersections at the corners of Cal Anderson Park and the roads leading up to them, was established on June 8, 2020, by people protesting the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The zone was cleared of occupants by police on July 1, 2020.
Unicorn is a bar and restaurant in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, in the United States.
Ristorante Machiavelli is an Italian restaurant on Seattle's Capitol Hill, in the U.S. state of Washington. Housed in the historic Booker Building (1912), the business bills itself as "a Capitol Hill tradition since 1988" and offers a menu with pizzas, pastas, and other traditional cuisine which has changed little in three decades. Often regarded as one of Seattle's best Italian restaurants and one of Capitol Hill's best dining options, Ristorante Machiavelli has garnered a positive reception and has been recognized for its gnocchi, veal, and lasagna, in particular.
Rione XIII is an Italian restaurant in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington.
Rancho Bravo Tacos was a small chain of Mexican restaurants in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. Owner Freddy Rivas started the business as a food truck in Kent in 2002, before relocating to Wallingford in 2007. The business also operated restaurants on Capitol Hill and in the University District. Serving cuisine such as tacos, nachos, burritos, tamales, and tortas, the business garnered a generally positive reception as an inexpensive and late night option for diners, with the tacos and burritos receiving the most praise.
Coastal Kitchen was a restaurant on Seattle's Capitol Hill, in the U.S. state of Washington. It closed in late February 2024.