Walking Seattle. Clark Humphrey
1001 1st Ave., 206-624-4442
ROUTE SUMMARY
| 1. | Start at the southwest side of 1st Ave., south of Virginia St. Continue along 1st to Pike St. | |
| 2. | Take a right into the market, then immediately take another right into the Corner Market. | |
| 3. | Go northwest through the Corner Market and adjacent buildings, through to Post Alley. | |
| 4. | Take Post Alley northwest for three blocks, back to Virginia. | |
| 5. | Go southwest on Virginia to Pike Place itself. Stroll along Pike Place’s east side back to Pike St. and the Main Arcade. | |
| 6. | Walk northwest along the Main Arcade, which leads directly into the North Arcade. | |
| 7. | Turn around at the North Arcade’s end. Take the ramp down to the Down Under shops. | |
| 8. | At the southern end of the Down Under arcade, climb the stairs back to the south end of the Main Arcade. Take a right-left dogleg into the Economy Market Atrium. | |
| 9. | Go through the South Arcade building to 1st Ave. and Union St. | |
| 10. | Return to 1st and walk southeast to Yesler Way. |
High stalls at the Pike Place Market
5 BELLTOWN AND SEATTLE CENTER: ALL YESTERDAY’S TOMORROWS
BOUNDARIES: 5th Ave., Virginia St., Warren Ave. N., and Mercer St.
DISTANCE: 4 miles, in two segments
DIFFICULTY: Easy (all flat or slight inclines)
PARKING: Metered street parking; pay lots along Denny Way east of Broad St.
PUBLIC TRANSIT: Metro routes #3, 4, 8, 16, 19, 24, and 33 stop near this walk’s start.
In 1962, local civic leaders mounted the Century 21 Exposition, a world’s fair celebrating what our world was supposed to have become by now. While we don’t yet have domed cities or flying cars, we’ve kept the fair’s grounds as a place for theater, opera, sports, science exhibits, and festivals. It all occurs under the watchful gaze and wasp-waisted stance of the Space Needle, one of the world’s most recognizable icons. Seattle’s prime symbol also looks over Belltown and the Denny Regrade, neighborhoods long overlooked by many. Where the fair’s monorail once passed above car lots, printing plants, and nondescript commercial buildings, residential towers now scrape the sky and fashionable restaurants and boutiques beckon.
| • | Start at Tilikum Place Park at the triangle of 5th Ave., Cedar St., and Denny Way. You’re near what was the northern end of Denny Hill. The steep hill rose more than 100 feet, impeding the city’s northern growth in the horse-and-wagon days. It was removed in three massive regrades from 1906 to 1929. |
| Since 1912, cobblestoned Tilikum Place has been home to a statue of the city’s namesake, Chief Seattle (also spelled “Sealth” and “Si’ahl” in the imprecise transliteration of his Lushootseed language). His arm is outstretched to welcome the first white settlers—not necessarily to lead them to the 5 Point Cafe (a lovingly preserved 24-hour dive diner and bar). | |
| • | Turn southeast along 5th Ave. You’re underneath the bulky concrete track of the Monorail, created to bring World’s Fair visitors to the downtown core. At Wall St., the 1948 Post-Intelligencer building, a full-block slab of Truman-era concrete, is now gussied up for office tenants. On 5th’s northeast side between Bell and Blanchard, a bizarre mural advertises the “Wexley School for Girls.” It’s really an ad agency with a retro name and kitschy decor (rubber chickens hang inside its front windows). Across the street is the Seattle Glassblowing Studio, where you can buy decorative glass art and watch it being made. |
| Beyond 5th and Blanchard St., Top Pot Doughnuts occupies a stunning glass-fronted midcentury building. At Virginia St. looms the twin-cylindered Westin Hotel. The formerly Seattle-based chain has been at this location since 1928. The current towers were built in 1969 and 1982. | |
| • | Turn southwest along Virginia. Across from the Westin, the Icon Grill serves upscale comfort food under a ceiling crammed with Chihuly-style glass art. Behind it lies Escala, one of the most grandiose of our late-2000s condo megaprojects. Virginia and 4th is ground zero for celebrity restaurateur Tom Douglas, with his creations Lola, Dahlia Lounge, Dahlia Bakery, and Serious Pie. A neon caricature of Douglas holding a wriggling fish stands outside Dahlia. Sub Pop, the record label that turned “grunge” into a worldwide craze, has its offices in that building. |
| • | Turn northwest along 4th. The 1963 Cinerama theater at Lenora St. is a plain box on the outside, but a streamlined movie palace inside. On the same block is Yuki’s Diffusion hair salon, run by Yuki Ohno. (You might have heard of his kid, skating champ Apolo Anton Ohno.) Beyond Bell St., the Two Bells Bar and Grill is a Repeal-era tavern serving art shows and thick burgers. |
| • | Turn southwest at 4th and Battery. The handsome, brick-clad Fire Station #2 is the oldest in the city still operating. Kitty-corner from there, the black-glassed Fourth and Battery Building is Belltown’s earliest “new” office tower (built in 1974). Two blocks away at 2nd Ave., Buckley’s sports bar inhabits an art deco gem that had been MGM’s regional office. This stretch of 2nd is Film Row, a onetime hotbed of distribution offices, film vaults, and theater-supply companies. |
| • | Turn southeast along 2nd. City Hostel Seattle, next to Buckley’s, was originally the William Tell Hotel, where studio sales reps (and at least a few movie stars) stayed while visiting Film Row. Across 2nd, Suyama Space is a big, rustic art space in the back of an architectural office. Next to that, the Rendezvous restaurant and lounge was originally a theater design and building company; its exquisite Jewel Box Theatre was that company’s showroom. Next to that, RKO’s old Film Row office is the Roq La Rue gallery, specializing in pop surrealism. |
| • | At 2nd and Bell St., Mama’s Mexican Kitchen has served Cal-Mex feasts and Elvis-dominated kitsch since 1974. It starts a block of hip drinking and music spots. The Crocodile, one of Seattle’s top rock clubs for two decades, stands at the block’s other end at 2nd and Blanchard. One block away at 2nd and Lenora, the facade of the 1914 Crystal Pool now clothes a condo tower’s base. |
| A block away at Virginia St., the Moore Theatre, a magnificent 1907 vaudeville palace, still hosts touring concerts and shows. Its ground-floor storefronts include the boutiques Fancy (jewelry and metal decorative pieces) and Schmancy (quirky toys and collectibles). Turn southwest along Virginia to 1st Ave. and the Terminal Sales Building (Walk 4). | |
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Turn northwest along 1st for 11 blocks to enjoy Seattle’s prime see-and-be-seen |