Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Curved around the shore of Elliott Bay, with Lake Washington behind and the snowy peak of Mount Rainier hovering faintly in the distance, SEATTLE has a magnificent setting. The insistently modern skyline of glass skyscrapers gleams across the bay, an emblem of three decades of aggressive urban renewal.
Seattle’s beginnings were inauspiciously muddy. Flooded out of its first location on the flat little peninsula of Alki Point, in the 1850s the town shifted to what’s now Pioneer Square, renaming itself after the Native American Chief Sealth (hence Seattle). This was soggy ground, and the small logging community built its houses on stilts. As the surrounding forest was gradually felled and the wood shipped out, Seattle grew slowly until the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 put it firmly on the national map. World War I boosted shipbuilding, and the city was soon a large industrial center. Trade unions, based around the shipworkers, grew strong, and the Industrial Workers of the World, or “Wobblies,” coordinated the US’s first general strike here on February 6, 1919.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the Boeing airline corporation was crucial to the city’s well being, booming during World War II and employing one in five of Seattle’s workforce by the 1960s. The prosperity that Boeing and more recent success stories such as Microsoft and internet shopping site Amazon.com have brought the city is obvious, reflected in a restored old center, a nationally acclaimed arts scene with vibrant movie and music industries, and a flood of coffee houses and excellent seafood restaurants. No longer overshadowed by the two big California metropolises, Seattle now regularly tops magazine surveys of desirable places to live, attracting migrants across the social and economic spectrum, which has led to both exponential growth and increasing traffic jams. As if to round out the turbulent decade, a February 2001 earthquake shook Seattle’s foundations, and reminded its resi dents that they’re just as prone to Pacific Rim tremors as their southern counterparts in the Golden State.
Despite the dizzying expansion, the city’s more established neighborhoods remain distinctive, and Seattle has a pleasantly down-to-earth ambience.
The City
Downtown Seattle’s main attractions are the busy stalls and cafés of Pike Place Market and the restored nineteenth-century Pioneer Square , lined with restaurants and taverns. A stroll along the more touristy waterfront Downtown Seattle’s main attractions are the busy stalls and cafés of Pike Place Market and the restored nineteenth-century Pioneer Square , lined with restaurants and taverns. A stroll along the more touristy waterfront lets you enjoy fabulous views of Elliott Bay. At the Seattle Center in the north, the Space Needle presides over cultural institutions and carnival rides, as well as the city’s latest draw, the Experience Music Project . Several outlying districts are often livelier than downtown: Capitol Hill ’s cafés and bars are the heart of the city’s hipster and gay scene, and the University District is a student area with inexpensive cafés and uptempo nightlife.
Arrival and Information
Flights land at Seattle/Tacoma’s Sea-Tac Airport (tel 206/431-4444, ), on Hwy-99 (the Pacific Highway) fourteen miles south of downtown. Outside, the Gray Line Airport Express bus ($8.50 one-way, $15 round-trip; tel 206/626-6088, ) leaves every twenty minutes for the 25-minute journey to various hotels downtown. ShuttleExpress (tel 206/622-1424 or 1-800/487-RIDE, ) offers door-to-door service for $18-30. Metro express city bus #194 ($1.10, peak hours $1.75) takes thirty minutes to reach downtown’s Transit Tunnel. A taxi to the city center costs $25-30.
The Amtrak station at Third Avenue and Jackson Street, just south of downtown, and the Greyhound bus terminal at Eighth Avenue and Stewart Street to the east, are both an easy bus ride from downtown. A couple of blocks towards downtown from Greyhound is the visitors bureau , on the Galleria level inside the Washington State Convention Center at Seventh Avenue and Pike Street (Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm, summer also Sat-Sun 10am-4pm; tel 206/461-5840, ). The main post office is downtown at Union Street and Third Avenue (Mon-Fri 8am-5.30pm; tel 1-800/275-8777; zip code 98101).
City Transportation
It’s best to get around either on foot or on the free downtown buses. Cross out of the free zone – bordered by Jackson and Battery streets, 6th Avenue, and the waterfront – and you pay as you get off; come back in and you pay as you enter. Single fares vary between $1 and $1.75, and tickets are valid for an hour. Day-passes ($2; bought from the driver) are available on weekends and holidays: ticket books (for 10 and 20 rides; $10 and $20) can be purchased from the Metro Customer Assistance Offices at the Metro Transit Tunnel, Westlake Station, Fifth Avenue and Vine Street (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm), or in the King Street Center, 201 S Jackson St (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm; call 24-Hour Rider Information tel 206/553-3000 or Bus-Time tel 206/287-8463 for automated schedule, ), and can be used on the overhead monorail ($1.25) between downtown and the Seattle Center, and on the waterfront streetcar ($1 off-peak, $1.75 peak).
Washington State ferries run to Bainbridge Island and Bremerton; tickets from Pier 52, Colman Dock (tel 206/464-6400, ). Gray Line (tel 206/626-5208) organizes guided half-day bus tours ($27), or three-hour boat tours ($33), which are also offered by other local operators, the best choice being Argosy’s Locks Cruise tour from Pier 57 (2 1/2 hrs, $30; tel 206/623-4252, ).
Eating
You won’t have to spend a fortune in Seattle’s elegant French restaurants to eat well: among the coffee shops of Capitol Hill, ethnic restaurants of the University district and, above all, Pike Place Market, there are many excellent choices. Seafood is the specialty, ranging from salmon and crab to trout and mussels to classic clam chowder.
Much social interaction in the city is fueled by coffee , and we list some of the best places to get the buzz. Along with being good spots to sip java, Seattle’s coffee houses host much of its social scene, and are inexpensive choices for whiling away the time. Corporate giant Starbucks started here in the early 1970s (in a still-extant location in the Pike Place Market), though you’re better off sampling a local brew that you can’t find in your hometown minimall. Other big names include Seattle’s Best Coffee, Tully’s and Torrefazione Italia , but if you want a true taste of the city, check out one of the 200-plus espresso carts scattered about town, each colorfully styled and uniquely designed.
Restaurants and cafés
Assaggio 2010 4th Ave, downtown tel 206/441-1399. A fine, mid-priced Italian joint, where you can consume a wide range of tasty, inventive pastas, as well as a good selection of pizzas and salads. Café Flora 2901 E Madison St,...
Assaggio 2010 4th Ave, downtown tel 206/441-1399. A fine, mid-priced Italian joint, where you can consume a wide range of tasty, inventive pastas, as well as a good selection of pizzas and salads.
Café Flora 2901 E Madison St, Capitol Hill tel 206/325-9100. Tasty, filling vegetarian restaurant strong on desserts, soups, and creative entrees like mashed potato tacos and wild mushroom curry.
Café Septieme 214 Broadway E, Capitol Hill tel 206/860-8858. A trendy, bustling European-style bistro. Sophisticated and imaginative homemade food, at moderate prices. Great desserts.
Campagne 86 Pine St tel 206/728-2800. Superb French provincial cooking near the market, with delicious foie gras and excellent desserts. A less expensive branch, Café Campagne , can be found downstairs at 1600 Post Alley, and is often packed with gourmands.
Copacabana 1520 Pike Place tel 206/622-6359. Inside the market, the fine South American dining here is highlighted by shrimp soup and corn pie. The always-popular balcony seating offers a good view of the crowds.
Crocodile Café 2200 2nd Ave tel 206/441-5611. Best known as Belltown’s prime nightlife haunt for alternative music and poetry readings, it is also a diner by day, serving the biggest breakfasts in town for about $7.
Dahlia Lounge 1904 4th Ave, downtown tel 206/682-4142. Beautifully presented, Asian-influenced seafood dishes, and the prices to match – dinner will cost around $50 per person.
Gravity Bar 415 Broadway E tel 206/325-7186. Described as a “fern bar on smart drugs,” this industrial-chic eatery is the last word in postmodern vegetarian cuisine, with familiar veggie staples and a whole range of novel juice drinks – highlighted by the pepper/garlic/citrus concoction called the “Liver Flush.”
Nikko 1900 5th Ave tel 206/322-4641. Sushi and barbequed dishes are the main attractions at this downtown Japanese restaurant, where you can save a few bucks by eating from the lunch buffets.
Noodle Ranch 2228 2nd Ave, Belltown tel 206/728-0463. Affordable pan-Asian cuisine – in the $10 range – lures in hungry souls for the fine noodle dishes and scrumptious satays.
Piroshki 124 Broadway E, Capitol Hill tel 206/322-2820. Closet-sized eatery serving up some of the town’s best “piroshki”: scrumptious Russian pastries stuffed with all kinds of meat and veggies, and handmade by the owner.
Place Pigalle 81 Pike St, on the staircase behind the fish market tel 206/624-1756. Great seafood offerings – mussels, crab, sturgeon – with fine French cuisine make this small, one-time bar an excellent choice, despite the pricey fare.
Saigon Deli 4142 Brooklyn Ave NE, University District tel 206/634-2866. Tiny diner with scrumptious Vietnamese fare, most of it for under $6. A good option for take-out.
Wild Ginger 1400 Western Ave, downtown tel 206/623-4450. An extremely popular, well-designed, upscale restaurant with an extensive menu of fiery dishes from Southeast Asia, India and China.
Coffee houses
- Allegro* 4214 University Way tel 206/633-3030. One of the better spots to taste local brews around the University, where the other prime draws are internet access via three computer terminals (customers only) and watching the quasi-bohemian clientele strike intellectual poses.
Bauhaus Books & Coffee 301 E Pine St tel 206/625-1600. A Capitol Hill hangout for the dressed-in-black crowd with large tables, an artsy used-book section – focusing on art and architecture volumes – and good coffee.
Online Coffee Company 1720 E Olive Way tel 206/328-3731. Check your email here on Capitol Hill – large black monitors and stylish wooden desks set the tone for serious surfing. First 30 minutes free with a coffee purchase – otherwise $6 per hour.
Speakeasy Café 2304 2nd Ave tel 206/728-9770. A favorite Belltown hangout that offers more than just coffee (or tea, beer, salads and desserts), with a wide range of poetry readings, live music and movies.
Still Life in Fremont Coffeehouse 709 N 35th tel 206/547-9850. As expected in Seattle, the coffee is excellent; plus Still Life serves up great baked goods, hearty fritatta breakfasts, and lunch specials like corn tortilla pies.
Torrefazione Italia 320 Occidental Ave tel 206/624-5847. Excellent roast coffees and outdoor seating are the main draws at this Pioneer Square java house, part of one of the better regional chains.
Nightlife and Entertainment
Seattle’s nightlife doesn’t quite live up to the expectations aroused by the city’s musical notoriety, but it’s still compelling and not bad for a beer or two, either – like other West Coast cities, Seattle boasts an excellent selection of microbrewed beers. The Pike Pub & Brewery , 1415 First Ave, and Pyramid Brewery & Ale House , 1201 First Ave S, both make unique hand-crafted brews, and the Irish pubs Kells , 1916 Post Alley, and Tir na nog , 801 First Ave, serve fine pints of Guinness plus the usual selection of European ales. Note, though, that in the state of Washington taverns sell beer and wine but not spirits, while bars sell everything but must be attached to a restaurant. The tavern scene is most accessible, and touristy, in Pioneer Square , where lively establishments like Doc Maynard’s, Old Timer’s Café and the Central Saloon host jazz, reggae and blues bands. Look out for “joint cover nights” ($10 weekends/$5 weeknights), when you can get into about ten different live music venues. Although Seattle’s grunge heyday is long gone, there’s still a thriving music scene. The better-known bands play at the old, atmospheric Moore Theater downtown, 1932 Second Ave ( ), or the Seattle Center Arena .
As far as more refined entertainment goes, the Seattle Center ( ) is the base for most of the city’s cultural institutions: the Pacific Northwest Ballet (tel 206/441-2424, ) and the Seattle Opera (tel 206/389-7699, ) performed in the Opera House, which is closed for renovation until 2003 (re-opening as Marion Oliver McCall Hall). Until then, you can catch performances for both groups at the adjacent Mercer Arts Arena. The Seattle Symphony Orchestra has a new stylish home in the glass-walled Benaroya Concert Hall , 3rd and Union streets (tel 206/215-4747, ). Tickets tend to sell out in advance, but there are sometimes half-price tickets on the day of the performance for students and seniors.
Seattle has numerous theaters ; the longest-established small company is the Seattle Repertory Company (tel 206/443-2222, ) at the Seattle Center. Next door, the Intiman Theater (tel 404/815-1888 or 206/269-1900, ) performs classics and premieres of innovative new works; On the Boards presents contemporary performances (tel 206/217-9888, ); and big-name musicals open at the Fifth Avenue Theatre (tel 206/625-1418, ) or the restored Paramount (tel 206/682-1414, ).
For a much larger-scaled event, Bumbershoot , the Seattle Arts Festival, hosts more than 2000 artists from around the world at 25 stages, exhibit halls and performance venues on Labor Day weekend ($40 four-day pass; ). In May, the Seattle International Film Festival ( ) centers on independent venues such as the Art Deco Egyptian , in the masonic temple at 801 E Pine St (tel 206/323-4978), and the Harvard Exit on 807 E Roy near Broadway in Capitol Hill (tel 206/323-8986). Seafair , held from late July to early August ( ), is Seattle’s answer to Mardi Gras, complete with pirates, parades and the gay-inspired “Unofficial Seafair Tacky Tourist Queen City Cruise” through the Ship Canal.
For what’s on listings throughout the year, Seattle Weekly , free from boxes on the streets and many cafés and stores, is good for reviews and theater, cinema and arts listings, as is the Friday edition of the Seattle Post Intelligencer . Free papers The Stranger and The Rocket provide excellent coverage of the regional music scene.
Bars and clubs
Alibi Room 85 Pike St tel 206/623-3180. Swank martini bar tucked in a dramatic alley behind the Pike Street Market. Excellent food in café-type rooms upstairs, DJs spinning tunes on the dance floor downstairs, and a good selection of film scripts in the library.
Comet Tavern 922 E Pike St, Capitol Hill tel 206/323-9853. The oldest bar on Capitol Hill, and a grunge institution, is not surprisingly a smoky dive and a bit of a rocker’s hangout with pool tables.
Doc Maynard’s Public House 610 1st Ave S tel 206/682-4649. Fun, restored 1890s Pioneer Square saloon popular with tourists and featuring live reggae, classic and alternative rock music.
Dutch Ned’s Saloon 201 1st Ave S tel 206/340-8859. The main draw of this friendly Pioneer Square bar is the Seattle Slam poetry night on Wednesdays ($3), when raucous locals come to cheer their favorite frantic wordsmiths.
Linda’s Tavern 707 E Pine St, Capitol Hill tel 206/325-1220. Immensely popular with musicians mainly for its jukebox stocked with classics and current indie rock acts. DJs also pop up several times a week.
Old Timer’s Tavern 620 1st Ave S tel 206/623-9800. Narrow and crowded tavern with nightly blues and jazz acts.
Tractor Tavern 5213 Ballard Ave NW tel 206/789-3599. A popular music joint in Ballard with great character and especially good microbrewed beers.
Music venues
Baltic Room 1207 Pine St E, Capitol Hill tel 206/625-4444. Stylish alternative music venue and jazz club, comprising three different sections, and selling beer, wine and cigars.
Breakroom 1325 E Madison St, Capitol Hill tel 206/860-5155. Regional alternative acts mixed with a few big names make this a solid offering on the local music scene.
Crocodile Café 2200 2nd Ave tel 206/441-5611. A hip alternative joint in Belltown promoting everything from rock to avant-garde jazz and spoken word. Also a good diner.
Jazz Alley 2033 6th Ave tel 206/441-9729. Best jazz spot in town, showcasing international jazz acts, as well as up-and-coming brilliants. Tickets start around $20.
OK Hotel Café 212 Alaskan Way S tel 206/621-7903. Once the mosher’s favorite, this lively venue near Pioneer Square mixes grunge with avant-garde and poetry. Good for local bands and new jazz.
Showbox 1426 1st Ave tel 206/628-3151. A good alternative choice for regional rock acts, and quite affordable compared to the bigger-name venues. Near the Pike Place Market.
Best of Seattle
Pike Place Market
This regenerated market holds Seattle’s liveliest assortment of stalls and street entertainers.
Space Needle
Bypass the generic fare in the Seattle Center and head straight to the top of the Space Needle, the city’s most distinctive landmark, offering the kind of panoramas you’d expect.
Capitol Hill
The city’s counter-cultural heart – Capitol Hill – has gone a tad mainstream, but it’s still the hub for hip bars, gay clubs and alternative clothing and music shops.
Underground Tour
Discover Seattle’s sleazy history on the famous Underground Tour, visiting the subterranean passages below Pioneer Square where speakeasies and burlesques thrived in the early twentieth century.
Seattle Coffee houses
It’s Seattle, so you know you’ve got to drink coffee!
Fremont
As funky a Seattle neighborhood as you’ll find, Fremont’s highlights include tours of the renowned Redhook Brewery, wacky street art and an eighteen-foot troll.
Explore Seattle
Bainbridge and Vachon Island
For a brief escape from Seattle, the half-hour ferry ride across Elliott Bay to Bainbridge Island provides a relaxing, scenic experience. Washington State Ferries leave from Pier 52 ($4.50 round-trip for foot passengers; $8 round-trip per car and driver, or $10 during peak periods; hourly – avoid rush hours; tel 206/464-6400) for the 35-minute journey, docking in the town of BAINBRIDGE ISLAND (formerly Winslow), which is small and charming but provides little reason to linger. This green and rural island, occupying less than fifty square miles, is mostly private land, but if you want to pitch a tent, there’s camping at the far end in Fay Bainbridge State Park ($12; tel 206/842-3931). Otherwise, accommodation is limited to B&Bs , details of which can be obtained from the visitor center at 590 Winslow Way E (tel 206/842-3700, ). The Streamliner Diner , 397 Winslow Way (tel 206/842-8595), with its huge breakfasts and sandwiches, is the best place to eat in the daytime.
Nine daily Washington State Ferries from Seattle and West Seattle also make the short trip to pleasant, bicycle-friendly Vashon Island . Ferries from downtown Seattle’s Pier 50 are passenger-only ($5.50), while West Seattle trips are also for vehicles (car and driver $10 round-trip, or $13 during peak hours; passengers $2.90 round-trip). A few beaches lie along the coast of this island, where the community of VASHON is little more than a hamlet. The AYH Ranch Hostel at 12119 SW Cove Rd (tel 206/463-2592, ; up to $35/$35-50), six miles from the Seattle-Vashon ferry dock at the north end of the island, is in an amiable wooded spot and features log cabins, covered wagons or tepees as accommodation. Phone ahead to make a reservation and arrange a free pickup at the jetty. There are also a number of good B&Bs , among them Artist’s Studio Loft , 16592 91st Ave SW (tel 206/463-2583, ; $100-130), and the Swallow’s Nest Guest Cottages , 6030 SW 248th St (tel 206/463-2646, ; $100-130). Good places to eat are Emily’s Café , 17530 Vashon Hwy SW, an espresso bar and bakery with good vegetarian meals, Casa Bonita , 17623 100th Ave SW, offering solid Mexican fare, and Rock Island Pub & Pizza , 17322 Vashon Hwy SW, which has gourmet pizzas and microbrews.
Ballard and Ship Canal
The “U” District and Seattle’s other northern neighborhoods are sliced off from the rest of town by water; the Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Lake Union with the sea to the west and Lake Washington to the east. Near the mouth of the canal, a procession of boats passes through the Chittenden Locks (bus #17 from downtown), where migrating salmon and trout negotiate a fish ladder laid out with viewing windows, through which you can see enormous fish leaping up (late summer season for salmon, fall and early winter for trout).
Behind the locks is Salmon Bay, with Fisherman’s Terminal on its south side, crowded with Seattle’s fishing fleet and stalls selling freshly caught fish. On the northern side of Salmon Bay, blue-collar BALLARD (reached by several buses from downtown) is undergoing gentrification and the historic Old Town, on Ballard Avenue, is now home to galleries, bars and restaurants. The heritage of the Scandinavian fishermen who settled in Ballard in the late nineteenth-century is celebrated at the Nordic Heritage Museum , 3014 NW 67th St (Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; $5; ), offering memorabilia and folk art associated with their long journey from the Old World through Ellis Island and eventually to the West Coast. The only other site of interest in the area lies further east, on the north shore of Lake Union, where Gasworks Park provides an unexpected delight. A former gas plant turned postmodern park, children now play on grassy hills that were once slag heaps and decaying, graffiti-covered machines offer surreal evidence of the site’s previous industrial incarnation.
Belltown
The resurgently chic Belltown area (also referred to as the Denny Regrade) has left its grunge legacy behind and is now choked with bohemian cafés, vintage clothing stores, used record shops and alternative galleries. Belltown casually blends the swank and avant-garde, beginning just to the north of Pike Street Market and extending one mile in the same direction towards the Seattle Center, with the heart of Belltown being the five-block area of Second Avenue between Stewart and Battery. Godfathers of the neighborhood, Sub Pop Records , famous for promotion of the early 1990s grunge scene with releases by Nirvana, Mudhoney and Soundgarden, began its operations on the edge of Belltown, where it still occupies several floors of the Terminal Sales Building. You can get the best sense of the local bohemian scene, though, at the Center on Contemporary Art , 65 Cedar St (Tues-Sat 11am-6pm; $5; ), which focuses on edgy regional works with a satirical flair.
Capitol Hill
A fifteen-minute bus ride to the top of a steep hill east of downtown takes you to Capitol Hill , the city’s alternative center since young gays, hippies and assorted radicals moved in during the 1960s and 1970s. Today it exemplifies the city’s diverse lifestyles and, despite a fair bit of gentrification driving up the rents, remains a good choice for munching on ethnic food, listening to old LPs, and hitting the club scene. The shops and cafés around Broadway are abuzz with neo-bohemian activity and are littered throughout with storefront coffee vendors and espresso carts. East of Broadway from Twelfth to about Ninth avenues, the Pike/Pine Corridor is filled with all-night coffee houses, live music venues and some of Seattle’s best nightspots.
By contrast, the northern end of the district features mansions built on Gold Rush fortunes that sit sedately around Volunteer Park (named after Spanish-American War veterans). Here you’ll find the 1912 Conservatory ’s hothouses, home to flowers, shrubs and orchids from jungle, desert and rainforest landscapes (daily 10am-4pm, summer closes at 7pm; free), as well as the old Water Tower that provides a free, sweeping view of Seattle through wire mesh. In the same area, the Seattle Asian Art Museum , 1400 E Prospect St (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm, Thurs closes at 9pm; $3, free first Thurs of month; ), boasts a 7000-piece collection of ceramics, jade and snuff bottles from Japan, China, Korea and Southeast Asia. Ten blocks east, Washington Park stretches to the north, encompassing the University of Washington Arboretum , a lush showcase for indigenous Puget Sound vege-tation, with plenty of charming footpaths and different varieties of regional trees. At the south end of the park, the immaculately landscaped Japanese Gardens flash banks of pink flowers beside neat little pools with exotically colored carp (March-Nov daily 10am-dusk; $2.50).
Fremont
North of downtown Seattle across Lake Union, Fremont is a consciously hip, mostly white middle-class area, with a spate of used bookshops and artsy cafés. The hub is the stretch of Fremont Avenue N that runs, beginning at the Fremont Bridge, from N 34th to N 37th streets, where the Fremont Sunday Market (April-Nov 10am-5pm) fills up a parking lot with produce stalls and a flea market. In summer, the neighborhood hosts the Fremont Outdoor Cinema ( ), which projects classic films against a building wall on Saturdays at dusk, with live music and entertainment before all shows. A big attraction in Fremont’s industrial section is the Trolleyman Pub housed in the historic Redhook Brewery building, 3400 Phinney Ave N, where beer is no longer brewed on site, but where you can still order a pint or taste a few samples to find your match. Additionally, fans of public art should check out the curious local sculptures , the best of the bunch being the Fremont Troll lurking under the Aurora Bridge at 36th Street and Aurora Avenue.
Museum of Flight
The biggest of Seattle’s museums, the Museum of Flight , a twenty-minute bus ride (#174) south of downtown at 9404 E Marginal Way (daily 10am-5pm, until 9pm on Thurs; $9.50, kids $5; ), is partly housed in the magnificently restored 1909 “Red Barn” that was the original Boeing manufacturing plant. Displays of 54 airplanes lead from ancient prototypes to the Wright Brothers, from the growth of Boeing to a gallery hung with twenty full-sized aircraft and a replica of John Glenn’s 1962 Mercury space capsule. One unmistakable highlight is the chance to sit in the cockpit of an SR-71 Blackbird, the type of spy plane once used to fly 80,000 feet above the jungles of Vietnam.
Pike Place Market and the Waterfront
Pike Place Market is the oldest continuous working public market in the US. Farmers first brought their produce to the market in 1907, lowering food prices by selling straight from the barrow. The market prospered during the Depression, but by the 1960s it was shabby and neglected, and the authorities decided to flatten the area altogether. Following vigorous protests, Seattlites voted overwhelmingly to preserve this as the affordable domain of the elderly and poor. The restoration has been highly successful: the whole place, stretched over several city blocks, bustles with energy, and a real attempt has been made to keep it true to its roots, even though upscale restaurants are beginning to creep in and sanitize away all the former seediness. Still, there’s plenty to enjoy, with street entertainers playing to busy crowds, the aroma of coffee drifting from cafés, and stalls offering piles of lobsters, crabs, salmon, vegetables, fruit and flowers. Further into the long market building, handmade jewelry, woodcarvings and silk-screen prints are on sale, while small shops close by stock a massive range of ethnic foods.
Also nearby, the Seattle Art Museum at 100 University Street and First Avenue (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm, Thurs open until 9pm; $7 ticket includes entry to the Seattle Asian Arts Museum on Capitol Hill; free first Thurs of month; ) occupies a Robert Venturi-designed building – noteworthy for its giant engraved letters – and features international touring exhibitions and eclectic collections of African, Pacific and Native American work, with a more limited selection of modern art. Outside the main entrance is the 48ft ” Hammering Man ,” a kinetic sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky, which has become the museum’s enigmatic emblem.
Stairs in the market lead down to the steep staircase of the Pike Place Hillclimb , and to the waterfront below. Almost opposite the Hillclimb, Pier 59 , an old wooden jetty that once served tall ships, now houses the underwater viewing dome of the Seattle Aquarium (daily 10am-5pm; summer closes at 7pm; $9, kids $6.25; ). A combined ticket also admits you to the 3-D Omnidome next door (daily shows starting 10am; $7; combined ticket $13; tel 206/622-1869 for program info; ), where 70mm films on the huge curved screen include the always-popular Eruption of Mount St Helens . On Pier 54 to the south, the most famous of the waterfront’s fish-and-chip stands, Ivar’s Acres of Clams , has its own special stop (“Clam Central Station”) on the restored vintage waterfront streetcar ($1, peak hours $1.75). Colman Dock at Pier 52 is the terminal for Washington State Ferries.
Pioneer Square and around
A few blocks inland from the ferry terminal, the Pioneer Square area, Seattle’s oldest district, was nearly destroyed in the 1960s, but has since been renovated, with bookshops and galleries adding a veneer of sophistication to the old red-brick, wrought iron and shady trees. Things get more raucous at night, when rock music booms out from assorted taverns and panhandlers become more aggressive.
By far the most interesting way to find out about the city’s seamy past is on a 90-minute Underground Tour from Doc Maynard’s tavern, 610 First Ave ($9, kids $5; tel 206/682-4646, ). After a disastrous fire in 1889, this area was rebuilt with the street level raised by one story, so what used to be the ground-level floors of its brick buildings are now underground, linked by subterranean passageways. A couple of blocks north from Doc Maynard’s , at 117 S Main St, the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (daily 9am-5pm; free; ) is not a park, but a small museum celebrating the days when, thanks to a formidable campaign to promote Seattle as the gateway to Alaskan gold, prospectors streamed in and traders (and con artists) made their fortunes. The dog population fared less well as many a hapless mutt was harnessed to a sledge so that gold-seekers could practice “mushing” up and down Seattle’s streets before facing Alaskan snow (see Jack London’s novel The Call of the Wild ). Just as interesting, the nearby cobblestoned square of Occidental Park , between Main and Washington streets at Occidental, holds four totem poles carved with mythical creatures from Northwest Native American legends. Two blocks northeast, on the edge of Pioneer Square, the 1914 white-terracotta Smith Tower was the city’s first skyscraper, as well as its longtime visual icon – until the Space Needle appeared in the 1960s to become the city’s main postcard symbol.
A few blocks south of Pioneer Square, football fans can check out a Seahawks game at Washington State Public Stadium (tel 1-888/635-4295, ), while baseball enthusiasts can visit Safeco Field , further south at First Avenue and S Atlantic Street, to take in a Seattle Mariners game (tel 206/622-HITS, ).
Seattle Center
The Seattle Center ( ) dates from the 1962 World’s Fair, whose theme was “Century 21” (hence the rather outdated architecture and spindly, 600ft flying-saucer-tipped Space Needle tower). Since then the 74-acre complex has become a sort of culture park, staging major sporting events, concerts and festivals, as well as a longstanding site for ancient-looking carnival rides aimed at the pre-teen set. Amid this strange hodgepodge stands the Pacific Science Center, Seattle Opera (closed until 2003), Children’s Museum, Experience Music Project, and various theaters. The Center is best reached by the monorail , which runs from the third floor of Westlake Center at Fifth Avenue and Pine Street downtown ($1.25 one-way; ) and drops you close to the Space Needle , the Space Age-modernist city icon, which is most appealing at night when it’s lit up. The panoramic view from the observation deck, where there’s a bar, is unmatched (daily 8am-midnight; $11; kids $5; ).
Southwest of the needle, the Pacific Science Center (daily 10am-5pm, weekends and summer open until 6pm; $8; ) is easily recognizable by its modernist white arches and shallow, stagnant “lake.” The hands-on adventure park is full of science-related exhibits for children, and includes a planetarium and IMAX theater. Nearby lies the Frank Gehry-designed Experience Music Project (daily 9am-9pm, weekends open until 11pm; $19.95; ), a giant burst of colored metal made of sweeping aluminum curves – into which the monorail passes – that opened in June 2000. Inside is an 80,000-piece strong collection of rock memorabilia divided up into exhibits on different phases of popular music history, along with a gallery-shrine to the original Seattle guitar-god, Jimi Hendrix. As much an interior amusement park as a bona fide museum (check out the Sound Lab, where you can bang on drums and keyboards to your heart’s delight), the “EMP” never loses the sense of freewheeling pleasure associated with 1960s rock and pop.
University District
Across Union Bay from the park, the University District , or the “U” District, is a busy hodgepodge of coffee houses, cinemas, and clothes, book and record stores catering to the University of Washington’s 35,000 students. The area centers on University Way, known as ” The Ave ,” and is lined with inexpensive ethnic restaurants and the cavernous University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE. Although the sidewalks are always bustling, the area lacks the late-opening clubs and music venues of nearby Capitol Hill.
On campus, the Henry Art Gallery , 15th Avenue and NE 41st Street (Tues-Sun 11am-5pm, Thurs closes at 8pm; $6, free Thurs 5-8pm and for any student with ID; ), houses American and European paintings and photography from the last two centuries, and hosts rotating contemporary exhibitions focusing on regional art in all forms. The Burke Memorial Museum , 17th Avenue and NE 45th Street (daily 10am-5pm, Thurs closes at 8pm; $5.50; ), presents exhibits on the natural and cultural history of the Pacific Rim and displays selections from its huge collection of 2.75 million fossils and Ice Age skeletons, including the remains of a 12,000-year-old sloth.
Copyright Rough Guides Ltd as trustee for its authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved.The Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd.For Hot Seattle Travel Booking Information check:
Seattle Travel Deals
Seattle Travel Packages
Seattle Travel Package Deals
Seattle Hotels
Seattle Hotel Packages
Seattle Accomodation
Seattle Car Rentals
Seattle Lat Minute Deals
Seattle Flights+Hotels+Cars
Seattle Bargain Travel Deals