Fremont calls itself the center of the universe.

A presumptuous claim such as this would make anyone want to visit just to see if it lives up to the title. Whether or not it does is up to the individual, but there is no way around it: Fremont is certainly a unique community with its own sense of style, especially when it comes to art.

The Fremont Troll under the Aurora Bridge is a reflection of this individual style. According to the Fremont Chamber of Commerce Web site, the idea for the troll first emerged in 1989 when the Fremont Arts Council (FAC) was "approached about doing something more imaginative with the space under the Aurora Bridge other than letting it turn into an urban grotto and tire dump."

With the area becoming a local dumping ground — complete with rats — Art Brochet at Urban Relations in Fremont said that it was their hope to "rehabilitate it with art."

Once the suggestion was made, the FAC held a nationwide, juried competition for what would go under the bridge. Brochet said that out of the 40-plus proposals submitted, an artist selection panel originally narrowed the choices down to just three. The finalists were then given $500 to construct models that would be voted on by the community at the annual Fremont Fair in the summer of 1990.

The troll was not one of the original three finalists until it was suggested to Steve Badanes and his team by a member of the selection panel — Genevieve Vayda, to construct a model of their proposal: the troll. At the time, Badanes was a visiting professor at the UW and Vayda was a former student of his. The team was given permission to enter their model but no money to build it, but that did not seem to matter to voters.

"The troll was the runaway favorite," Brochet said. The design won in a vote that was six-to-one in its favor.

Badanes, now a Howard S. Wright Professor for the College of Architecture and Urban Planning here at the UW, used his knowledge as a practicing architect and as one of the founders of the Jersey Devil Design/Build architectural firm to lead the team in designing and building the troll. His three teammates were Donna Walter, Will Martin and Ross Whitehead. Both Martin and Whitehead were graduate students in architecture at the UW at the time.

Badanes said originally the troll was going to be built from wood and bark, but based on how easily those materials could deteriorate, the plan was quickly revised to use more durable materials. The team chose to construct the troll out of rebar steel, wire and two tons of ferro-concrete. The sculpture also includes an actual Volkswagen Bug to show the Fremont Troll's true size.

Throughout the building process, the team received a lot of help from the community. Those who were especially involved got their names on a plaque on display at the troll.

"From the moment the team got on site," Brochet said, "people were attracted to the project, dropping by to see what was happening and staying for hours to tie cement cloth to a rebar armature."

The project took seven weeks to complete, breaking ground in September 1990 and finishing by Thanksgiving of the same year. Though this may be the case, the troll's official birthday is on Halloween, and locally the holiday has been renamed Trolloween. Every year on this night, Badanes said 200 to 300 people dress up in costumes and partake in a pagan celebration put on by the FAC.

Kirby Lindsay, who is an iconologist for Fremont's History House, said the historical and mythological relationship between trolls and bridges might have been part of the reason the Fremont Troll was installed under the bridge.

She was right. Familiar with the story of the Billy Goats Gruff, Badanes came up with the idea for the troll under the bridge about fifteen seconds after arriving at the site. Lindsay said it seemed to be a prime location for a troll to "hunker down" alone with his "misanthropic mutterings."

Once the idea had formed and taken shape, the team researched everything they could about trolls. They focused on the details of troll anatomy, and whatever they did not know about troll anatomy they just covered with hair.

The real detail, Badanes said, is in the troll's fingers, which are very similar to human fingers.

He also said to pay close attention to the troll's very prominent nose because it was modeled after his own. When team members were examining their own anatomy as points of reference while building the troll, everyone's fingers were pretty much the same, but it was Badanes' nose in particular that stuck out from the rest (both literally and figuratively).

The team also researched a lot of behavioral information about trolls. They learned that trolls are normally peaceful unless they are angered, and that their worst enemies are development and pollution.

"That he decided to feast on a VW as a sample of the creatures that plagued him from above, before daylight turned him to stone, appears only natural," Lindsay said.

Badanes agreed, and said the troll crunching the VW bug shows he is "obviously annoyed."

"Some people say the car should have California license plates," he added, because at the time, so many people from California were moving up to the Seattle area and causing the price of houses to go up.

Although he may have been turned to stone, the Fremont troll does not appear to be completely immune to the Fremont community's charm. Years back, a Metro bus crashed through the bridge's railings and crashed on the ground below at the foot of the Troll. Immediately following the accident, a tear appeared on his face.

"I like to believe it is a sign that Fremont has once again worked its magic and has slowly melted the once-stony heart inside our beloved, but still largely anti-social creature," Lindsay said.

Before the troll was built, that particular area under the bridge had become riddled with crime in addition to becoming a dumping ground. Due to the nature of its ownership — a state highway on city land — nothing else that could be done with the area," said Lindsay. The Troll put a use to what had previously been a wasted piece of land, creating a destination for visitors to frequent and as a result deterring crime.

"The dark and emptiness of the location attracted crime," she said. "By installing art, and a very popular piece, crime eventually moved on to avoid the flood of visitors."

Badanes said the troll is a perfect example of the urban design statement of what can be done with "problematic space under a bridge."

Brochet said that when people visit the troll, they are so in awe of him that "they forget to turn around and look down the view corridor between the bridge arches."

That was what the goal of the project really was: "To tie the two sides of Bridge Park together, create a focal point in the neighborhood where residents would want to visit repeatedly and bring family and friends and to take advantage of the view corridor down the underside of the Aurora Bridge," Brochet said.

The public's initial reaction to the troll was extremely positive, and Badanes said it turned out better than he thought. However, when a local business used an image of the troll in some advertising materials, legal issues arose and the artists sued the business.

Lindsay said this left many people confused about which images of the troll were accepted and which were not.

"It caused a real shift away from the troll in much of the community," Lindsay said. "You don't want Uncle Ben taking a picture during his visit to Seattle, only to have him receive notice later that he owes royalties."

Badanes clarified that the artists hold the copyright for the troll's image, and it is only when people use it for commercial purposes without their permission that it becomes an issue.

"Like gatekeepers of the image," he said.

Despite this shift, however, the Fremont Troll has still attracted much attention. Many people will recognize him in the 1999 teen film, 10 Things I Hate About You, where Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Larisa Oleynik's characters are out on a date. Once the filmmakers received permission to shoot at the troll, Lindsay said they painted a fresh coat of gray on him and painted the car red. They also covered him in ivy. After filming, they removed the ivy, but left everything else.

"Members of the FAC complained," she said. "So they had to return, paint the car grey and cover the Fremont Troll once again in dust."

In 2005, the city of Seattle renamed the roadway leading away from the troll.

"For years, visitors as well as emergency vehicles got lost since the road still held its name before the bridge took cars 167 feet in the air to meet Queen Anne," said Lindsay. "Now it is officially 'Troll Way.'"

Reach reporter Samantha Pak at features@thedaily.washington.edu.