SEATTLE — Maybe it has happened to you. Friends or relatives arrive in Seattle for a short visit. They want you to show them around.
You should know this town, right? I mean, you arrived here three years ago.
Of course, they ask about “Pikes Market,” the one where the fish get tossed.
Maybe they think grunge is still around, even though it’s been almost 33 years since Nirvana released “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
No worries. Here it is: a half-day driving tour of Seattle that lasts about six hours, with quick stops but plenty of photo ops. It even includes your suggestions. Thank you.
On this tour, you’ll get a sampling of the history, memorable sights and quirkiness that make this city special. Remember: This is a sampling.
And please: If you have a better half-day tour, send it to me. All I ask is that you actually drive and time it. I recommend using a navigation app.
I drove the routes myself and ended up trimming the original list considerably to keep it around six hours.
No. 1: The Space Needle Loop
We start at the Space Needle Loop, an actual ministreet encircling a fountain right below this 605-foot structural marvel. It was the symbol of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, and still dominates our skyline.
As your guests pose and point upward for pictures, explain how the Space Needle’s original design was done on a napkin, based on a TV tower in Stuttgart, Germany, that has a restaurant at the top.
Tell them it sits on a foundation made of 6,000 tons of concrete and steel. When built, it was touted as able to withstand gales of 200 miles an hour, and had twice the earthquake resistance required by code.
The Space Needle did just fine during the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake of Feb. 28, 2001. All that happened was that water sloshed out of toilets, according to Civil Engineering & Construction Review.
20 minutes to Stop No. 2: the Ballard Locks
Welcome to the country’s busiest locks, passing up to 50,000 vessels a year, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
If these locks didn’t exist, water levels at Lake Washington would equalize with Puget Sound, dropping up to 20 feet. Mansions with their docks on the lake would be left high and dry.
You can listen to patient lock attendants guide boaters as they tie up to side walls. It can get intimidating. Kayaks share space with huge yachts.
The other popular attraction at the locks is the fish ladder. The Corps says that from July to October, you can see various species of migrating salmon, although there are no guarantees.
The more you learn about salmon, the more bittersweet it is to watch the fish ladder.
“This is an animal that has to change its entire body process to go from fresh water into saltwater; spend three, four, five years in the ocean; and then come back, often to the same location it hatched, to spawn and die,” says Jason Mulvihill-Kuntz, of the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed Salmon Recovery Council.
Then, he says, these cold-water fish encounter such warm waters when passing the ladder that sometimes they turn around and return to marine water and try again.
Hanging around the fish ladder are seals waiting to rip apart the fish. For them, says Mulvihill-Kuntz, “It’s a buffet, gorging on the salmon. It can be a grisly scene.”
If you hear what sounds like a loud bang, that’s what it is: a firecrackerlike seal bomb thrown into the locks in the hopes of startling the pinnipeds away. They inevitably return.
The Corps says that in the summer months, plan on spending 40 minutes at the locks. There will be construction going on, plus the seasonal throng of tourists.
3 minutes to Stop No. 3: Pacific Fishermen Shipyard
In a changing Ballard, with condos and apartments sprouting, you can still see Ballard’s working-class roots at the Pacific Fishermen Shipyard, 5353 24th Ave. N.W.
Even from the street, looking through the gates, you get a feel for the gritty work done inside. Welding. Fabrication. Sandblasting.
Founded in 1946 by 400 Norwegian heritage fishermen as a co-op style shipyard, it is “one of the top repair hubs for Bering Sea fishing boats,” says the industry publication, Fishermen’s News.
Chris Johnson, general manager, says the shipyard typically is closed to the public. But, “If we see people peering through the gates and it’s safe to do so, I’ll talk to them.” And if you’re lucky, you could get a five- or 10-minute tour, he says.
10 minutes to Stop No. 4: Fremont’s Lenin statue
This is the eclectic neighborhood that touts itself as the “Center of the Universe.”
The bronze Lenin statue is 16 feet tall and weighs 7 tons. It arrived here in 1995, in a journey that began in a town dump in Slovakia after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Lenin now stands as kind of super-ironic kitschy art in a neighborhood that is home to indie shops, cafes and artist studios.
A few blocks east is the Fremont Troll, directly under the Aurora Bridge. It’s an 18-foot hulk made of chicken wire covered by reinforced concrete.
It was commissioned in 1990 by the Fremont Arts Council, which wanted to do something imaginative with what had become a garbage-filled dead-end street. Adventurous couples have gotten married there.
A few blocks away are the “Waiting for the Interurban” and J.P. Patches and Gertrude statues. We’ll skip J.P.; you’d have to explain the whole history of kids’ TV shows in Seattle.
“Waiting for the Interurban” (an electric trolley in the early 1900s) is possibly the most popular public sculpture in Seattle. Dedicated in 1978, it’s a life-size aluminum casting depicting five adults, a child-in-arms and a dog with a human face.
Initially derided as crude art, it is beloved by the locals, who sometimes decorate it with scarves and flowers, and pose with it for birthdays and special occasions. Go ahead; join the crowd.
5 minutes to Stop No. 5: Gas Works Park
For 50 years, until it was shut down in 1956, this location on the north shore of Lake Union turned coal and oil into gas for the city. It was known for its smoke-belching stacks and left a legacy of pollution.
With commanding views of the lake and downtown skyscrapers beyond it, it’s also a prime location for a public site.
The 21-acre park preserves many of the structures of the old gas plant and is great to explore. In the park is the 45-foot-high Great Mound (also known as Kite Hill) composed of toxic dirt, now covered by clay and topsoil.
6 minutes to Stop No. 6: Dick’s Drive-In
Every city has a food joint that is woven into its fabric. You might wonder what the big deal is about Dick’s Drive-In and its simple fare.
A classic 2019 photo shows Bill Gates in line in Wallingford, where the local chain started. He ordered a Deluxe (two 1/8-pound grilled patties, with melted cheese, lettuce, mayonnaise and pickle relish), a Coke and fries (“hand-cut fresh daily!”).
This is the place that brings misty memories of going there with high school friends or for some comfort food on a rainy night.
Back in your home city, if you ever meet a Seattleite, tell them about ordering a burger at Dick’s. You’ll have an instant friendship.
5 minutes to Stop No. 7: Archie McPhee
This is Seattle quirkiness at its unabashed quirkiest, proudly advertising itself as “bringing strange and amazing things to the world.” Its catalogs have been archived by the Smithsonian.
The store carries more than 2,000 novelty items. It has a Rubber Chicken Museum, displaying the world’s biggest, at 7 feet, made of metal pipe, plywood, chicken wire and fiberglass and sprayed with liquid rubber. It also claims to have the world’s smallest rubber chicken, at ¼-inch.
20 minutes to Stop No. 8: the Black Lives Matter mural
In June 2020, an eight-block radius here put Seattle in headlines around the world. The protest was a response to the murder of George Floyd by police the previous month in Minneapolis.
CHOP, which stood for Capitol Hill Organized Protest, had thousands of demonstrators facing off against police near the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct building. Police relinquished the building for three weeks.
Fox News was especially virulent in its coverage: “CRAZY TOWN. Seattle helpless as armed guards patrol anarchists’ ‘autonomous zone,’ shake down businesses: cops.”
These days, the only reminder of CHOP is a block-long mural, in 20-foot-high capital letters, spelling, “BLACK LIVES MATTER.” It’s painted in the middle of East Pine Street, right across from Cal Anderson Park, now a place for Frisbees and soccer games instead of protest encampments.
Angelina Villalobos, 43, “born and raised in Seattle,” painted in green the “A” in “Black.” She mixed her mother’s ashes in the original mural, since repainted.
She is proud of the mural. “I love Seattle with a passion,” she says.
10 minutes to Stop No. 9: Uwajimaya
The best-known Asian store in Seattle was founded by Fujimatsu Moriguchi and his wife, Sadako Moriguchi. In the 1920s in Tacoma, he delivered tofu, soy sauce and other staples, along with homemade fish cakes, from the back of his pickup to Japanese laborers in logging and fishing camps.
He and his wife were forcibly detained at the beginning of World War II. When they returned, they reopened in Seattle the Uwajimaya store that Sadako had run in Tacoma.
In one aisle of this flagship Chinatown International District store is the green tea flavored Kit Kat bar that’s popular in Japan. In another, Japanese rice crackers. In another, kiwano melons, a fruit with hornlike thorns and a distinctive tropical taste.
Walking around, you’ll see regulars mixing in with the tourists, who eventually head to the food court for items such as Japanese fish-shaped waffles.
“It’s an adventure, it’s nostalgia, it’s comfort,” says Denise Moriguchi, CEO of the company and granddaughter of the founders.
5 minutes to Stop No. 10: Alaskan Way
What used to be here was a double-decked, elevated concrete 2.2-mile viaduct that cut off the waterfront from downtown Seattle.
Its replacement is what you see now: a project the city calls “Transforming Seattle’s Waterfront.” Yes, it includes a park promenade along the water.
But, says David B. Williams, who writes the Street Smart Naturalist newsletter, “It’s still very much a transportation corridor. It’s not a tourist corridor.”
At its widest point, Alaskan Way is 111 feet wide with eight lanes. Some people can’t make it across with one green light and have to stop in the median to wait for the next one.
The project is scheduled to be completed in 2025. This summer, you’ll still see construction and orange traffic cones.
5 minutes to Stop No. 11: Belltown and grunge history
In the alley behind 2322 Second Ave., location of The Rendezvous & Jewelbox Theater, look for a metal dog looking down at you. This used to be a metal works shop called Black Dog Forge, which also housed a practice room where, in their early days, Pearl Jam and other bands practiced.
The graffiti-laden wall and parade of garbage cans make a perfect grunge photo op.
2 minutes to Stop No. 12: Pike Place Market
This is arguably the city’s best-known landmark.
Over the years, there have been periodic calls to make the street through it pedestrian-only. You can drop off visitors at the First Avenue entrance, and they can walk through the market so you pick them up a few blocks north on First.
They can catch a quick glimpse of the Pike Place Fish Market and its crew tossing fish purchased by customers before wrapping it.
They can pass by the crowds lining up outside what’s touted as the original Starbucks location (it’s actually the second location; the original was in a building a block away that was demolished).
Of course, you can just drive through the market. Be prepared for crowds in the street not paying attention to vehicles, combined with the occasional glare.
5 minutes to Stop No. 13: Pioneer Square
Pioneer Square is Seattle’s original downtown. This once was the heart of the city.
Across the street, on the sidewalk, there is a historical sign that includes a photo of the business that was at that sandwich location in 1897: Cooper & Levy, “pioneer outfitters.”
The old photo shows men sitting atop bags of goods that included flour, dried beef, boots and everything else needed to head out to the Klondike Gold Rush.
In a July 16, 1922, story in The Seattle Daily Times, Isaac Cooper talked about those frantic days: “The streets were jammed day and night … There came here the helplessly inefficient, the men who never had held a space or pick, who lacked physical stamina and moral courage.”
15 minutes to Stop No. 14: Alki Beach
Have your navigation app guide you from Jimmy John’s to the nearby Highway 99 entrance. As you drive south, to your right, you’ll see rows of cranes, and then more cranes as you drive on the West Seattle Bridge overlooking Harbor Island. The 25 cranes include some monster-size ones that are 316 feet tall with a 240-foot outreach.
Seattle has been a gateway to Southeast Asia since Aug. 31, 1896, when thousands greeted the arrival in Elliott Bay of the Japanese trade steamship Miike Maru.
Once you get to Salty’s on Alki Beach, a restaurant on the 1900 block of Harbor Avenue Southwest, look for parking. You’ll spot people taking photos of the truly magnificent view across the water of downtown Seattle.
If you want a view from higher up, a couple minutes away is Hamilton Viewpoint Park, 1120 California Way S.W. Even the locals still take it all in awe.
As you drive along the waterfront, sandwiched between condo and apartment buildings, you’ll see older bungalows that give this drive its charm.
The Alki “Flower Houses” are two early 1910s-era homes that sit side-by-side on the 1400 block of Alki Avenue Southwest. They have become part of the neighborhood lore.
Beginning in June and into the summer months, they are covered top to bottom with hundreds of flowers. Pansies, marigolds, fuchsias, begonias and numerous other varieties are planted in flower boxes and containers.
They are owned by Randie Stone, a schoolteacher turned real estate agent who lives in one of the bungalows. She began her flower project in 1999. Having been raised in Hawaii, she says, “I grew up with flowers. Flowers are beautiful.”
Let’s finish up at the corner of 63rd Avenue Southwest and Alki Avenue Southwest, where along the waterfront there is a 20-foot granite monument.
It’s called “the Birthplace of Seattle” and marks the landing on Nov. 13, 1851, of what’s been called “the Denny Party.”
It was cold, miserable and rainy that fall day nearly 173 years ago.
A crowd of Native people led by the tribal leader settlers would come to call Chief Seattle “looked on with a mixture of curiosity and sympathy — and perhaps foreboding …,” according to a HistoryLink article.
One witness to the 22 men, women and children who arrived said the women “were crying every one of ‘em, and their sun bonnets with the starch took out of them went flip flap, flip flap, as they rowed ashore, and the last glimpse I had of them was the women standing under the trees with their wet bonnets all lopping over their eyes and their aprons to their eyes.’”
Fall and winter in Seattle. The Big Dark.
Really, for our summertime visitors, there’s no need to dwell on those other few months, is there?
