By LEAH WEATHERSBY

For the Jet City Maven's fifth history issue, I'd like to note the passing of two important Seattle landmarks.

The first isn't a place that most Seattleites would recognize or attach any particular importance to - it's a rental house in Wallingford nestled immediately behind the shops and restaurants on N 45th between Corliss and Bagley avenues. It's easy to miss since its only street presence is a door that leads guests down a path around a Sudden Printing shop to the small yard and entrance to the kitchen.

While the specific renters have changed several times over the last decade, the house has been passed around the same group of friends for over nine years. When I first got to know the house in 1994, I was 20. I loved it. Certainly not for its 1970s decor or its hand-me-down furniture, but for its function as a social center.

Not only was it a comfortable place to hang out with friends and talk about politics, books, broken hearts and everything else, it was a house that could be counted on for the most memorable parties. It was a place to stay all night, wake up on the floor, and then head to the nearby Julia's restaurant for breakfast at 11 a.m. Even though I fell asleep in the middle of several keggers there (I'm a morning person, really), I always looked forward to them. But last month, the house's longest-running residents, Sharon and Rich, bought a place of their own and moved to Wedgwood. The house won't stay in the family, so to speak, because most of our friends have already become homeowners as well.

At the same time, another important piece of my high school and college memories passed into oblivion on June 30. The Annex Theatre, a fringe theater where I used to volunteer, moved out of its Belltown digs on Fourth Avenue between Stewart and Virginia to become a nomadic company. Apparently, Annex is getting out before the wrecking ball comes in.

Once again, the place was anything but fancy, but to me, everything from the shows (sometimes risque) to the indelible cigarette smell made it as exciting and glamorous to me as any of the nightlife Seattle has to offer.

But now both places are gone. No wonder getting older has such a bad rep.

Seattle is a city with plenty of well-known monuments and attractions like the Space Needle, the Troll and the Locks, just to name a few. But no matter where I live in the future, it'll always be places like The Annex and my friends' old Wallingford rental that bring a tear to my eye when look back on my early days here.

While the big "official" landmarks shape Seattle's character in the eyes of the world, it's the smaller, private landmarks we all have that make our little city a home.