Hidden inside the storefronts and in the long-ignored upper floors of downtown buildings, an unofficial network of business owners and artists toils to turn downtown's emptiness into something residents will value. Many of them say they want Bremerton to have a successful core, even though they may be the first to be driven out if success takes root and rents increase. For now, the city center has the appearance of a woman who longs to wear a new dress and shoes to the party, but is not invited to the ball across the water. The city's bodice is covered with vacant retail buildings. Traffic lights blink a noncommittal red at a trickle of cars coming through town.
Raccoons turn city streets into their playground at night.
It wasn't always this way. Bremerton saw its heyday in World War II, when some 32,500 civilians worked at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the city swelled to more than 80,000. But when the war ended, so did the boom. The people left, and so did the shops that served them. The final button popped off downtown's old party dress in 1985, when the Kitsap Mall opened and the last of the major downtown retailers moved to Silverdale.