This is one of the best places in the entire world…read more We just saw Edith Pageaud, classical guitarist, in the Great Hall as part of the guitar festival. Last year, we got to see an oud and vocal concert downstairs. It was a delight and a group of volunteers had set up an art station where my child could make buttons. These buttons are all still in our rotations. The library is beautiful and an extremely restful place to enjoy a hot tea around your performance.

Cool venue near downtown Seattle. I come here almost every year for a programming conference…read more Cool stage--it's a converted church! The pew seating is pretty neat.

This is a story of the Wittler Block/ Elliot House/Derig Hotel/Star Lodge /Cadillac Hotel. Designed…read moreand built by James W. Hetherington and Clements as part of the Wittler Block. The building was built in 1889 and was only one of two brick buildings built on Jackson Street after the Great Fire of 1889. The 3 story "Victorian Italianate" Building opened in 1890 as the Elliot House and was soon converted in 1891 into a 52 room hotel called "Derig Hotel" which lasted until 1904. For a very short time it was also known as the " Star Lodge ". Under new ownership in 1906, the name was changed to "Cadillac Hotel". The Cadillac Hotel was known as the workmen's hotel where 25 cents can get you a room for the night. Their business catered to the hard working loggers/fishermen's/railroad/shipyard workers. Over the years there has been many strange and unexplained phenomenon happening in the building . Strange sounds/ apparition walking the upper floors/ ghostly presence felt in the elevator and the cries of a mother and child. May all their souls rest in peace !!! The Historic Seattle Preservation Organization bought and restored the Cadillac Hotel after the building was serverly damaged in the Nisqually Earthquake in 2001.Today the building is no longer a hotel but home to the National Park Services Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park and remains one of Seattle's Historic Landmarks ! Thanks for reading ! Live/Love/Travel. !

Cool neighborhood you got here. I was staying across the 5 but I came up here every night. I'll…read moretell what I got to check out. The Pine Box Happy hour pizza was just OK, but the draft beer selection was great, I loved listening to the old-school punk, and the atmosphere was sui generis. Cool bartenders, too. I wish that I lived near a place like this. Donna's Great happy hour deals in this little bar. I could see coming back here. My friends in the area had never heard of Donna's. Stoup I got to drink a Jimothy beer! Bartender was nice. Very spacious, and I appreciated the food truck. Noodle Cart Thank you for the vegan options. Spicy peanut noodles with tofu, please! Yeah, that hit the spot. Elysian My cat is named Zephyrus, and I got to drink the Zephyrus Pilsner here! I think that she would approve. BTW, I used to be a brewer, so you can trust me. My colleague calls Seattle "Millennial Paradise". Well, I declare that Cap Hill is safe for Gen Xers as well. Thank you for your hospitality. "This Is Shangrila"

It was Tuesday morning and it had just rained. Dark clouds already passed through…read more Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam songs fit my mood. I walked along Broadway. The asphalt and sidewalks were damp. Metal hatch covers, slippery. The grass and trees were watered. It's about time. Coffee shops were open. Bars were closed. The streets were quiet. People were still sleeping or just waking up. I wanted to reminisce. Contemplate. Recharge. Dream. Find inspiration. It always works when I'm here. ----- Cookie cutter mixed-use developments have taken over Broadway. They lack character and personality. I love old buildings, Beaux-Arts style buildings. Sign up for a Seattle Architecture Foundation tour if you're interested in Craftsman, Queen Anne, and Tudor homes. They're hiding around the residential areas. Old money. Capitol Hill is a historically LGBTQ+ neighborhood. You'll see rainbow-painted sidewalks. Flags on windows and walls. Pride festivals are held here in the summer. Nightlife is quite the experience. "When I was 21, it was a very good year." ;) Makeup on. Nails done. High heels. Looking cute. Dancing, laughing, drinking, staying up late. How did I get home? Smartphones weren't mainstream yet...Thank you very much, Universe! The music scene. Macklemore and Sir Mix-a-Lot filmed their music videos up here. The Jimi Hendrix statue. Neumos. Kpop Nara. Spin Cycle. Live music in bars and lounges. Public art is sprinkled everywhere: Dance Steps, tile patterns along storefronts, murals on buildings. Portland has Powell's. We have Elliott Bay Bookstore Co., my favorite bookstore. The first Starbucks Reserve Roastery is here. I forget which street they're on--Shall we play the Pike or Pine game? :p I'd rather go to a local mom-and-pop coffee shop though. Plenty of restaurants to choose from. Seattle Central College students must be fed. Dick's and Tacos Chukis are my cheap eats. M2M and QFC are grocery stores off Broadway. Trader Joe's and Safeway are further out. Cal Anderson Park. The Waterworks fountain is here as well as a baseball field, a tennis court, and a basketball court. The Capitol Hill Farmers Market pops up just north of the park on Denny Way. Volunteer Park. It has the conservatory, an amphitheater, the Seattle Asian Art Museum, Isamu Noguchi's "Black Sun", The Water Tower, and a reservoir (love those sunsets). The park was named in commemoration of the volunteer soldiers of the Spanish-American War. Not sure if a name change is in the works but a controversial plaque was quietly removed in 2021. Lake View Cemetery is north of Volunteer Park. Pay your respects to Bruce and Brandon Lee. Kikisoblu (Princess Angeline), daughter of Chief Sealth, is here. John Nordstrom (Flagship store is off Pine between 5th & 6th. I love Nordy's!). Madame Lou Graham (Take Bill Speidel's Underground Tour if you want to learn more about her). The Denny Party. Doc Maynard. Thomas Mercer. Henry Yesler. Carson Boren. Do these names sound familiar to you? Yep, street names in Seattle. Transportation options include the Sound Transit light rail, the First Hill Streetcar, and Metro buses. I don't recommend driving here unless you absolutely have to. This is a high density area and not vehicle-friendly. You'll spend much of your time driving in circles trying to find a parking spot and when you do, you'll have to pay a pretty penny. I keep my head on a swivel. Earbuds out. On Capitol Hill you're dealing with bikes, scooters, vehicles, uneven sidewalks, buses, garbage, ambulance, construction, street cars, delivery trucks, escalators, stairs, dog poop. I've been yelled at, unprovoked, by druggies and homeless people so many times I can't even keep count. It's an unfortunate reality but I won't stop going to Capitol Hill though. The good outweighs the bad.

Cool Landmark in Seattle, Washington…read more.. I've had "The Center of the Universe" bookmarked for a while. It's a good thing to look at the bookmarked items on the Yelp app once in a while. I totally forgot about this novel and unique piece of Public Art! I should have visited it when I saw the Troll and the blue Fremont Bridge yesterday... darn! Anyway... I parked across the street and got a good shot of this directional sign! As I drew closer, I saw places on the sign that I would like to see - such as Machu Piccu and Rio de Janeiro. Other interesting places include The North Pole and The Milky Way. What a fun tourist stop! Check it out when you have time! It's free, quick, and a good break from daily routine!

One of the few photo ops (like the Rocket, dinosaurs, the Troll, etc) in Fremont…read more I saw the sign. It opened up my eyes. Life is demanding without understanding. To reiterate, I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign. No one's gonna drag you up To get into the light where you belong But where do you belong? Now if you excuse me, all that she wants is another baby, and she's gone tomorrow, boy.

Ever get tired of seeing neat older buildings in once one-house neighborhoods razed and boring…read morecondos and townhouses replace them? Wonder why the City of Seattle does so little to protect them? You have not be familiar with it, but Historic Seattle shares your concern(s) and been saving buildings of historic/aesthetic value for some time now: (1) Queen Anne High School (now condos, but they saved the outside and preserved the integrity of the interior), (2) the oddly modernist Egan House (which I saw as part of a Historic Seattle-sponsored tour) above I-5, (3) Cadillac Hotel (now the Klondike Gold Rush Historical Museum run by the U.S. Parks Service), (4) Church of Christ (now Town Hall!), and (5) the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Both the Egan House and Good Shepherd Center are actually owned by HSP. Sometimes to save a historic building, HSP has had to actually move them! For example, it was instrumental in moving a group of 1890s-era workers' cottages from Chinatown to the Ballard Avenue Historic District. The beautiful Italianate house near Half Price Books on Capitol Hill, now an attorney's office, was originally at Pike and Boren. Washington Hall was one of the focus of its efforts (and was as of mid January 2009 was designated as a Historic Landmark by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board), thus hopefully being saved from the demolition ball. Currently the organization is trying to save bungalow courts on Capitol Hill from being razed. The non-profit organization is housed in the 102-year-old Dearborn House mansion on First Hill and sponsors tours and lectures throughout the year. There is a library in the basement that is open to the public (which I have not had the opportunity to visit). Late this month, an exhibition on the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Pacific Northwest at MOHAI will open. One of the major annual events its sponsors is the Bungalow Fair (the next one, in late September 2009, will offer a tour of Ravenna bungalows as well as a contemporary Arts and Crafts exhibition and related lectures at Town Hall). Other events include tours of notable houses ("tea and tour") in the area. I am not sure how large a membership base it has, but there are a number of volunteer openings, apparently, at this very active but not very well-known--to the general public--civic organization. http://www.historicseattle.org/default.aspx http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2009197262_historic100.html http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2008609127_pacificpbuilt11.html http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/landmark-theater/Content?oid=813227 http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/01/09/washington_hall_is_now_a_histo

Canton Alley is more than a dark grimy narrow Seattle alley, yes there are dumpsters and your…read moreoccasional delivery, but it's more than that. It's an International District landmark, bilingual street signs, and brick walls, adorned with origami cranes. Definitely more hygienic than Seattle's Gum wall, though smaller in size, it is as colorful, and interesting. Located near one of the best Chinese dim sum Seattle restaurants, Harbor City. As back alley goes, this one is a must see.

International Fountain was created for the Seattle World's Fair. Made of concrete and stainless…read moresteel. Sitting at what was the center of the fair. Among "The Boulevards of the World." Once the fair was over, popularity of this site overall dwindled. However, like all good things, this had a refresh. They did a rebuild in 95 where they made the fountain more user friendly and interactive. It was meant to be that way from the get go, but how it was initially designed did not really look like that. They took out the protruding nozzles and the rocks to make it look like the moon so that people could touch and play with it. Fitting, as this did replace a playground. I happened upon the place early morning and found it already had a multitude of people around it. Enjoying the weather. I took my pictures, which really did not do this justice. The fountain really wasn't magical at that point of the day.

This is an awesome fountain at the Seattle Center Park near…read morethe Space Needle. I was amazed at the water pressure and rhythm with musical accompaniment! Kids and adults were playing in it like it was a summer day. What's not to love about watching people have fun frolicking for free?!?

Historic Holyoke Building is located in downtown Seattle Washington. Construction was completed in…read more1890 and was said to be the first permanent building in downtown Seattle after the "Great Fire" of 1889. The building has five floors and is made of brick. Designed by architects (Thomas G. Bird & George W. Dornbach. The architectural design was " Victorian Commercial / with elements of Romanesque Elements". Holyoke Building was named after "Richard Holyoke" who made his fortune in the timber industry. The building was totally restored in 1975 and was listed on the "National Registry of Historic Places the following year (1976). Today very few such buildings remain standing outside of the Pioneer Square District with so much character and history ! Imbrace the future / Remember the past ! Thanks for reading ! Live/Love/Travel !