I like Seattle. I’m not sure if I could live there, or afford to live there, but I really enjoy visiting. I had a meeting this week and spent a couple of afternoons exploring the area by bike and foot –
Theater turned petstore
Seems like a nice place to live – Lake Union
Seattle
Burrito lovers dish towel
Smith Tower
Behold the fishermen
That’s good honey!
A relatively calm Pike Place Market
Le Panier goodies
Lake Union
Don’t Stop Eating Animals
Wake up people!
Fort Lawton Military Cemetery, near Discovery Park
West Point Lighthouse at Discovery Park
Wave sculptures at Ballard Locks
Snoqual
The view from the hotel roof
Seattle Space Needle
Space Needle
I found the most Seattle bookstore possible
Pike Place Market
Amazon Spheres
We Deserve Rent Control
The view from the hotel roof
The headstones of Bruce and Brandon Lee
View from Boren Park
Cinnamon roll and hot chocolate at Specialty’s Cafe
Guy approaching me on the street with a ragged bouquet of flowers: “Hey, buy some flowers for your wife?”
Me: “No, thanks. She’s 3,000 miles away.”
Guy: “That’s cool – I just pulled these out of a dumpster.”
Flowers at Pike Place
That was 10 years ago in Seattle. I talked to him for a while and he told me he used to be able to make a decent living as a street performer, but no one carries cash anymore, just cards. The florists usually destroy the flowers before dumping them, but sometimes he could salvage a few.
He’s just one of the Seattle characters I remember from my three months there in 2005. I had just left the soon-to-be-bankrupt Delta Air Lines and started work for a little software company in Pioneer Square, Seattle. I was going to be their first remote (non-Sales) employee, so they had me come out for three months of training to play it safe.
I flew home to Atlanta every other weekend to see my family. It’s one of those things we look back on and can’t believe we had the energy for it. But it set me up for an alternating dream-nightmare (usually dream) job for the past 10 years and I now only remember the fun parts of my 90 days in a strange land.
The company put me up in a cheap furnished apartment in Belltown, about a mile from the office. It was called Marvin Gardens, after the Monopoly square, and it has since been replaced by high-rise apartments. It was across the street from what the locals called “Crack Park” due to its history of drug deals. They were trying to turn it into a dog park. I met many of my neighbors when the fire alarm went off at 3am. They were interesting folks, but I guess we all are at that hour.
Space Needle reflection
Buses were free in the downtown area, but I preferred to walk the mile to and from work. I rotated through a different avenue each day and got to the point where I could time my pace to catch nearly every Walk signal at the crosswalks. I got to know some of the regulars on the streets: The Guy Who Yells At Traffic Lights, The Guy Who Yells At Trash Cans (my wife met him when she visited), and The Guy Who Yelled At Me, “Why. . .are you . . . so . . . BAAAAALD?!”
I survived on canned soup and yogurt from Rite Aid and Ralph’s, went to a couple of Seattle Symphony performances, saw Flight of the Conchords in concert, and visited every possible tourist spot at least twice.
I tipped a whole lot of street performers:
Accordion and guitar
Ragtime in Pike Place area, Seattle
Drummer by Macy’s
Singing some Bob Dylan
Jake and Annie – Slim Pickens
Johnny Hahn would like to impeach Bush through his lyrics
Joe Fulton of the Ballard Ave Jug Buskers
Bro. Willie and the Market Crew in front of Starbucks
One of the fun people hanging out at Pike Place Market
Street magician at Pike and Pine
Singing some Neil Young
Father and son street musicians
Weird puppet show at Seattle Center
Serious balloon hat at Pike Place Market
The Cat Whisperer’s Advice
Seatlle street performer on accordion
Street dancer near the mall in Seattle
The Seattle library was a frequent stop, mostly to get classical music cds from their huge collection.
Very French Bakery
I hosted a co-worker from India for a weekend in Seattle and took him to Specialty’s Cafe for [seriously the most amazing] cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, The Daily Dozen for powdered donuts, Grand Central Bakery for pastries, the Seattle Center for beignets, and Le Panier for an authentic pain au chocolat. I didn’t realize the theme until he remarked, “You really like sugar bread, don’t you?”
Cashew nut chicken, no stars!
Mae Phim Thai was a little restaurant not far from the office and we ate there at least 50% of the time for lunch. Their cashew nut chicken is pretty much the best thing ever. The servers got to know me as the guy who always ordered “zero stars” (no hot spice). Even zero stars got my armpits tingling, but it was a good hurt.
I knew it was time to head home when the Christmas decorations started going up on the buildings and I quit being able to see the Space Needle through the rain and fog.
The Space Needle in the winter
Seattleites are sensitive and defensive about their weather. If you complain about it, they’re likely to express gratitude that it keeps people (implied: people like you) away. I was there as more than a tourist but less than a local. I like the place. Better than Portland, anyway. 😉
Fun place to browse. Attended a Mary Roach reading here.
Starbucks original logo – Pike Place, Seattle
The Daily Dozen doughtnut shop – I visited 10 years later and the same woman was at the register and didn’t look any happier.
Watching the jellyfish
Pike Place Market at Christmas
Delta plane takes off — window at Sea-Tac airport
Smith Tower in the twilight
Metal penguin in the mall
A security guard ran out as I took this photo and told me it wasn’t allowed
Stone across the street from King Street Station, from Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Do Not Be Afraid of Overfeeding – Seagulls are Dainty Eaters. Ivar’s Fish Bar in Seattle
Public Market and sunset
View from my window
Siamang swinging
Downtown Seattle, from The Space Needle
This guy’s big. And ugly.
Fish portraits
Seattle Library
Feeding the seagulls Ivar’s french fries
Chief Seattle
Christopher Columbus
Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market
A rare view of Mount Rainier
Protestor
Norwegian Star in Elliott Bay, Seattle
Feeding the seagulls at Ivar’s
Girl feeds a fry to a seagull at Ivar’s
Seagulls looking for handouts at Ivar’s in Seattle
The devil’s bike rickshaw
Drumming up business for the Duck Tour, maybe?
Pike Place Fish Market monkfish
Great Gallery
The troll under the bridge – N. 36th Street at Troll Avenue N., under the north end of the George Washington Memorial Bridge (also known as the Aurora Bridge)
Pike Place Fish Market crabs
t-shirt shop for perverts in Pike Place Market, Seattle
Asparagus, etc.
Pike Place Fish Market
Sunset at Port of Seattle
Seattle’s oldest (and coolest) skyscraper, Smith Tower – the white one with the triangle roof
Ship in Elliott Bay, Seattle
Port of Seattle
Seal peers into my soul
Pioneer Square lamp post at night
Night view of Seattle
Space Needle reflection
Space Needle at dusk
Space Needle
Gulls and sunset over Elliott Bay, Seattle
Sunset
Pensive gull
Plant growing in a boat dock post – Seattle waterfront
Seagull with clam or something in beak
A foggy view of Smith Tower in Pioneer Square, Seattle