Old-School Space Needle Paint Matches Seattle’s Needle-Drug Problem?

I was not yet born when the Space Needle opened in Seattle, as part of the 1962 World's Fair.  It was April 21st, 1962

Space Needle's retro paint makes it look like a giant hypodermic needle

As a youngster who was born in Bellevue in Nov. 1962, I visited the Needle many times before my family moved to Tri-Cities in 1966. And for a few years, we used to return there every summer to visit, probably until about 1971. I have been up to the observation deck 3-4 times.

As part of the 60th anniversary of one of the engineering marvels of the world, the City of Seattle has repainted the dome or top of the needle in what's called Galaxy Gold, the same approximate color it was given originally.

   But it looks like a giant needle--rather appropriate these days

I was looking at some recent news reports with pics of downtown Seattle, and I noticed the color on top of the structure had changed, so I did a little research. Indeed, it's been repainted its original color from 1962.

For a number of years now, Seattle has seen its homeless and drug issues explode, and now a number of observers, in and out of media, are commenting the Space Needle's color resembles the much smaller hypodermic and syringes seen scattered all over parts of the city.

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It's actually a very cool celebration, the website has stories of descendants of workers who did the original painting.  One of the workers who helped paint the dome Galaxy Gold, got the job because other contractors were afraid of heights and wouldn't go out on the scaffolding and ledges, so that guy got the job and the money.

But we can't help but notice that the hue of the gold this time, especially depending upon the lighting, makes it look like the little orange needles scattered all over the city.