The Rough Guides are publishers of guidebooks oriented toward the independent traveler, for more than 100 destinations throughout the world. The following excerpt, detailing the city's Belltown neighborhood and Seattle Center complex, is taken from the 300-page Rough Guide to Seattle,published by the Rough Guides/Penguin ($9.95).
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Just north of the city center -- and only a short walk or bus ride away from it -- is Belltown (also referred to as the Denny Regrade), which has a number of bohemian cafés and some of the city's best budget shopping and eating, as well as a distinctly lived-in, community vibe that's almost entirely absent from downtown. The progression of activity continues across Denny Way, as Belltown gives way to the Seattle Center, not so much a neighborhood as a large entertainment/cultural complex that offers a wealth of things to investigate, including state-of-the-art technology museums and venues for some of the city's best cultural and sports events. Towering tall over the grounds here is the Space Needle, for better or worse the visual symbol of Seattle.
Belltown, which starts just to the north of Pike Place Market and extends a mile in the same direction toward Seattle Center, is one of the city's more up-and-coming neighborhoods and the one that best embodies Seattle's casual blend of chic and avant-garde. Its renaissance in the last twenty years or so from decaying inner-city district has been remarkable -- and now, predictably, it's having to deal with planning struggles and overdevelopment. It's by far the most interesting part of the Denny Regrade, created when the site once occupied by Denny Hill was flattened in the early 1900s to allow the downtown business district to expand north. Shiny new condos stand shoulder-to-shoulder with funky brick flophouses; thrift stores and art galleries coexist with bars and pool halls that mostly cater to the locals. It's also the stomping grounds for a large transient population, which adds to the grittiness, a flavor unlikely to go away despite gentrification. It's a neighborhood that rises late, much of the action not getting underway until evening and lasting past midnight.
2nd Avenue and around
The core of Belltown is the five-block area of 2nd Avenue between Stewart and Battery, filled with cafés, bars, vintage clothing outlets, record stores, and offbeat galleries that cater to Seattle’s large student and artist communities. Many of the customers (and even proprietors) affect a slacker pose that belies the hard work they've put into reviving the neighborhood. As recently as the mid-1980s, some of the hip storefronts currently lining the sidewalks were boarded up, neglected by both business and city developers. Fifteen years or so later, it's one of the city's more vibrant sections, conducive to idle budget browsing by day and partying by night in the numerous restaurants and alternative clubs.
Belltown has been a focal point of Seattle's music and arts scene since the 1980s, offering local bands places to play original material (and local audiences affordable places to see them). Sub Pop Records, famous for its promotion of the grunge scene with early releases by Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden, began its operations on the edge of Belltown, where it still remains, occupying several floors of the Terminal Sales Building. Their tiny retail store, Sub Pop Mega Mart, was formerly around the corner, but has now moved to Pike Place Market (see p.000).
Integrating Belltown's underclass into the art world is the unusual Streetlife Art Gallery at 2301 2nd Ave (daily 11am-8pm), across the street from the Speakeasy, a sort of gallery-cum-social program. All the artists here are or were homeless, and the space provides them with basic necessities in addition to a venue for their art. What's on display is uneven, but at least it's an innovative approach to a gallery, encouraging visitors to both browse and talk with the artists, who are usually at work here.
The streets in the immediate vicinity of 2nd Avenue, although less densely populated by commercial ventures, also offer some interesting spots for milling around. A big buildup of chic eateries, even including a couple of hotels, on 1st Ave between Lenora and Vine has been underway since the late 1990s, making this the most upscale stretch of a neighborhood that is for the most part still pretty funky. Mixed-media establishments combining art, food, music, and more in the same locale remain a bit of a trademark throughout the community. Unconventional sculpture and 1950s furniture decorate many of the bars and eateries; underground rock and techno pound out of the clothing stores and galleries; and mild-mannered cafés turn into lively music venues at night. The most ingenious meld of different media can be found at Sit & Spin, 2219 4th Ave, a combination laundromat-café-performance space, easily identifiable by the Saturnesque globe above the entrance. Here you can do your wash, down some chow, view some local art, and catch some music on the same trip, all in the shadows of its large found-art sculptures, with vintage electrical coils running from the ceiling right down to the tables.
Center on Contemporary Art
Map 4, C5. Tues-Sat 11am-6pm,
www.cocaseattle.org;
$5.
Art of a more conventional sort -- barely -- is on view down the street at the Center on Contemporary Art, 65 Cedar St, whose small space is given over to constantly rotating exhibits of work that's more risqué than what you’ll see in the Seattle Art Museum's contemporary galleries. Nam June Paik, Survival Research Laboratories, and Lydia Lunch are some of the artists who received their first major exposure in the Northwest via CoCA exhibits.
A few blocks away, near the waterfront, you can stop into the Art Institute of Seattle's small free gallery space at 2323 Elliott (Mon-Thurs 8am-7pm, Fri 8am-4pm, Sat 9am-1pm), highlighting work in various media, including, but not limited to, pieces by AIS students and faculty. Just south of the building on Elliott Ave, you can cross the Bell Street Bridge for good views of the waterfront on the platforms of the Bell Street Pier (see p.000).
Near CoCA at the southeastern corner of Vine & Elliott is the Belltown P-Patch, a small community garden dotted with contemporary sculptures. The adjacent, semi-decrepit cottages are three of the eleven homes built here in 1916 -- the last remaining examples of the Denny Regrade neighborhood as it appeared during that time. These are planned to be retained and refurbished for as-yet-unspecified use by neighborhood groups in the future.
A lot at the southeastern corner of Western and Wall marks the former site of the 1908 “The Jell-O Mold Building,” which was decorated with a mosaic of vintage 1950s and 1960s Jell-O molds collected by friends from thrift stores throughout the country. Long an artsy location -- Jack Kerouac lived here while writing The Dharma Bums -- it was also the center of one of Seattle's most bitter planning battles. The building was used primarily by artists as live/work spaces, and also contained the popular, bohemian Cyclops restaurant, but in 1997 the tenants were served with eviction notices by the property owners. The structure was demolished and a much bigger residential-commercial one put in its place, much to the consternation of some Belltown citizens, who petitioned city authorities to save the building without success.
CoCA is also just down the road from an underpass embellished by one of Seattle's few bilingual English/Spanish signs warning against loitering, primarily directed toward illegal aliens who have used the spot to solicit low-paying manual day labor. It's a somber reminder that not all folks in Belltown can afford to spend their time and money on art and shopping.
Tilikum Place
As you approach the monorail and Seattle Center, Belltown begins to peter out, most dispiritingly at the unattractive, usually deserted Tilikum Place, near where 5th Avenue, Cedar, and Denny intersect. Here you'll find the forlorn statue of Chief Sealth, the Native American leader who befriended the white founding fathers of the city and managed to keep his people out of the Indian Wars in the region in the mid-1850s. The settlers decided to name their new home in the chief's honor, though with a bit of a twist, finding “Seattle” easier to pronounce. Today his likeness presides over a litter-strewn pool -- an unfortunate location for tribute to a man who has such an important place in the city's history.
Seattle Center
Spreading north of Denny Way, Seattle Center (www.seattlecenter.com) grew out of 1962’s World's Fair and has since been able to transform itself into an active cultural center, containing, among other things, the Pacific Science Center, Children's Museum, the Experience Music Project, and stages for opera, ballet, and theater. There's also the Key Arena, home of the city's pro basketball team (the Supersonics, or more commonly, “Sonics”) and minor- league hockey franchise (the Thunderbirds), a monorail, and a small amusement park. Seattle Center also hosts some of the Northwest's largest festivals, most notably the free Northwest Folklife Festival, around Memorial Day, which presents hundreds of performances; the bigger, more pop-oriented Bumbershoot Festival occurs around Labor Day, though it is not, unfortunately, free. First-time visitors will inevitably be drawn first to Seattle's most recognizable icon, the Space Needle.
The Space Needle
Map 4, D3. Observation deck open Mon-Thurs
9.30am-10.30pm,
Fri 9.30am-midnight, Sat 8am-midnight, Sun 8am-10.30pm, summer daily
8am-midnight,
www.spaceneedle.com; $9, $12 for two trips in 24 hours.
The most prominent relic of the World's Fair is the Space Needle. Rising 607 feet to support saucer-shaped floors near the summit, it was built to symbolize the future, though now it looks like nothing more than a refugee from the set of a vintage sci-fi film. Whether it's high on your agenda or not, you're bound to see it throughout your stay in Seattle, peeking through the skyline for miles around in all directions, and serving as a useful orientation beacon.
The 43-second elevator ride to the panoramic observation deck is a pricey but obligatory experience for the first-time visitor to Seattle, much like a trip to the top of the Washington Monument or Statue of Liberty. Any cynicism sparked by the mobs of tourists and overpriced admission tends to melt upon arrival at the top, as the panoramic view of the surrounding region is indeed impressive, taking in Lake Washington, Lake Union, the downtown skyline, Puget Sound, the radio towers on top of the elegant Queen Anne neighborhood just to the north, and the more distant mountain chains, including Mt. Rainier -- if visibility is good, of course. To maximize your experience, timing is crucial; if you're in town during one of the city's frequent rainy and overcast spells, it's worth rearranging your plans to ascend the Needle on short notice if and when the skies clear.
Below the observation deck, the elevator also stops at two fairly mediocre revolving restaurants. A better, though still overpriced alternative is the modest, non-rotating Top of the Needle bar/lounge on the observation deck. Repeat visitors might consider coming here at night to gaze at a dramatically different vista, though it's missing the most interesting nighttime feature of the Seattle skyline: the Needle itself, which lights up after dark. Whichever you choose, solitude is not an option, with more than 4000 visitors passing through daily.
The Pacific Science Center
Map 4, C3. Mid-June-Labor Day daily 10am-6pm;
rest of year Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 10am-6pm, www.pacsciorg; $7.50,
$12 for museum plus IMAX film or laser matinee.
The Puget Sound abounds in good family-oriented attractions, but none combines entertainment and education as effectively as the Pacific Science Center, southwest of the foot of the Needle. Comprising five large interconnected buildings, its emphasis is firmly upon hands-on interactive exhibits, some computer-oriented, but most requiring no technogeek know-how. Much of this is quite innovative and a great deal more fun than the standard science museum, allowing you to play tic-tac-toe against a ten-foot robot, ride a “gravity bicycle,” or move a two-ton granite ball suspended on water in the courtyard's large water works space. As is appropriate in the land that spawned Microsoft, the Tech Zone offers up-to-the-minute computer activities that, for example, allow you to create your own animations or musical compositions. The virtual reality exhibits are the most exciting, like the basketball court that has you going one-on-one with an on-screen opponent (and real-life bleachers for spectators to cheer you on), or the virtual reality helmet that simulates hang gliding through a city, though you can expect long lines at these. Kids will be especially drawn to the oversized exhibits, like the 22-foot starship with a circular slide and the nine robotic models of moving (and roaring) dinosaurs.
The range of activities here is impossible to exhaust within one visit -- and unless you're accompanied by children under thirteen, you likely won't want to stay the whole day. Low-energy types may want to try the health-oriented Body Works exhibits in building 2, which let you measure your grip strength, peripheral vision, sense of smell, and other traits in a highly tactile manner that's more akin to operating pinball machines than getting tested at the doctor's office. A good final stop for unwinding is the newly added Tropical Butterfly House, in which a rotating assortment of exotic butterflies from around the globe roam freely, allowing close looks as you walk through on a garden path.
The Experience Music Project
Sept-May Sun-Thurs 10am-6pm, Fri-Sat 10am-11pm,
summer daily 9am-11pm, www.emplive.com; $19.95. Artist's Journey
exhibit
also open, without access to the rest of the museum, Sept-May
Sun-Thurs
6-11pm, Fri-Sat 11pm-1.30am: $7.50.
Near the base of the Space Needle is the Experience Music Project, the only large museum in the world devoted to rock and roll and popular music, with the exception of Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Whether you're a rock aficionado or a more casual fan, there are enough fascinating videos, instruments, and relics to keep you entertained for days; if you're not a music buff, it's still worth a visit for its groundbreaking use of state-of-the-art interactive technology that's both user-friendly and fun. While it's true that some of the gaudier wings seem more suited for an amusement park than a cultural institution, it does manage to serve the needs of both the reverent rock fanatic and those looking for nothing more than a fun family outing. If you go, it's worth setting the better chunk of the day, or even the entire day, aside for your visit, both to have enough time to explore the huge space, and to get your money's worth out of the very expensive admission price.
Largely funded by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen, EMP (as it's commonly known by locals) was originally intended as a museum for Seattle native Jimi Hendrix before Allen and the Hendrix estate had a falling out about unspecified matters. The final product still includes a fair amount of Hendrix memorabilia, but its focus has become much broader, with interactive exhibits drawing from a collection of nearly 80,000 rock and pop artifacts. The controversial design by world-famous architect Frank Gehry -- whose credits include the Guggenheim Museum in Spain, and the Temporary Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles -- has not one single right angle in its swooping and dipping contortions of stainless steel and painted aluminum. Each of its 21,000 shingles has a different shape and size; the shapes and the purple, silver, gold, red, and blue colors were inspired by those found on electric guitars. It was also constructed to allow the monorail to travel through its southern edge for a few seconds, as you'll see when you're standing in line for the Artist's Journey exhibit.
When you start your visit on Level 2, be sure to go immediately to the tables at the right of the entrance and pick up the bulky Museum Exhibit Guide (referred to as "MEG" within the museum), essentially a shoulder bag with headphones and a handheld device that's something like an oversized VCR remote control unit. By pointing that device at photos, paraphernilia, and instruments, you'll be able to hear music clips and narration on the headphones that supply a wealth of background info on each object, as well as displaying some basic text information on the device's small screen. As a nice touch, the narration is provided not by anonymous voiceover actors, but by music critics and actual musicians -- you may get to hear Robbie Robertson of the Band talk about Bob Dylan, for instance, or Vernon Reid of Living Colour discuss Jimi Hendrix. Much as you do when you use the Internet, you can also bookmark some items for further investigation, or jump to other items in the exhibit by pressing links (there are even a few seconds of "loading" time to make it seem even more as if you're scanning the Web). You might feel like a geek by walking around for hours on end with the contraption, and it is theoretically possible to visit without using it, but you'd be missing out on most of what the museum has to offer. Even if you think of yourself as a tech wiz, it's worth getting the staff's brief instructional talk on how to use the gizmo to insure that your tour proceeds smoothly.
As for what might be referred to in this context as the museum's "content," it might be a tad too heavy on displays of old records, posters, and magazines, but does contain some eye-catching items, such as Bo Diddley's trademark square guitar, the rainbow tunic worn by rap star Queen Latifah, the hilarious package of "grunge gunk" hair gel (actually marketed with the slogan "alternative hair styling mud") in the grunge case, and the turntables used by Grandmaster Flash to DJ in the early 1980s. There's also much terrific video footage throughout (although you'll have to stand right under the monitors to hear it clearly), whether of stars like Eric Clapton or less obvious clips such as Bo Diddley tearing it up on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Kingsmen doing the garage rock classic "Louie Louie," and blueswoman Big Mama Thornton roaring through "Hound Dog" in a man's suit. Although the coverage is tilted toward big-name artists, it does cover a good many lesser-known but important and influential figures. While the spread of genres examined in-depth is not perfect (there's little on 1960s British Invasion bands and girl groups, for example), many styles do have corners of their own, and some of the slack will be taken up by temporary exhibits.
Level 2 is highlighted by the Hendrix Gallery, which might not be a museum in itself, but traces his career in satisfying detail from his days as a sideman with the Isley Brothers to his short-lived psychedelic funk group Bands of Gypsies. Check especially the notebooks with his handwritten drafts of "Belly Button Window" and "Voodoo Chile," containing different lyrics than were used in the famous recorded versions. On the same floor, the Guitar Gallery displays dozens of acoustic and electric guitar and bass models, such as the intriguing 1933 Dobro all-electric (which has two tiny speakers actually built into the body itself) and the 1957 Gibson "Flying V"-shaped guitar, used by such ace pickers as Lonnie Mack and Albert King. Use the MEG for audio clips illustrating the different guitar sounds and the stories behind their invention; some great footage of virtuosos like Jeff Beck, country wiz Merle Travis, and underrated swing jazz player Mary Osborne plays on the room's large video screen. Level 2 is completed by the "Northwest Passage" exhibit, tracing Northwest rock from instrumental guitar pioneers the Ventures through grunge, with an entire case devoted to the region's rock anthem, "Louie Louie."
Go up to Level 3 for exhibits on New Orleans R&B, punk, rap, the influence of country music on the birth of rock, as well as temporary installations that have highlighted legends such as Janis Joplin. Standouts include raw footage of pre-punk instigators the New York Dolls, a reprint of a super-brief and under-ambitious promo letter for Nirvana's Nevermind("we firmly believe that Nirvana has every opportunity to become one of the top bands of the '90s" understates the record label executive), and a chance to hear Bill Haley's 1952 single "Rock the Joint," the prototype for his much more famous "Rock Around the Clock," which became the first big rock'n'roll smash three years later. Kids will most likely be drawn to the large Sound Lab across the way, which enables them (and adults) to play around on electric guitars, basses, keyboards, drums, and DJ turntables, with real-person instruction from staff or interactive instruction from computer screens; there' are rooms for jamming, a chance to mix on a professional console, and an entire corner for effects pedals alone. Back on Level 2, Artist's Journey is a surreal yet fun mixture of amusement park ride and music, as a motion platform simulates roller-coaster like sensations in tandem with video clips and special effects. The specific music highlighted will vary according to when you visit, but you may, for instance, be sucked into a psychedelic vortex of movement and sound that spits you out at an all-star funk block party with performances by George Clinton, James Brown, and Bootsy Collins, specifically contributed for the film.
In addition to its chief exhibits, EMP usually has special events of some sort going on every day, including talks or movies in the JBL Theater on Level 1, live performances in various sections of the building, workshops, and demonstrations. Although it's most crowded on summer weekends, that's also when you're most likely to catch the best such events, since more of them are scheduled on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday than on the other days of the week, and since the museum's opening hours are much longer than they are at other times of the year. If you want your visit to coincide with something especially to your liking, it's worth checking their website for details of their upcoming schedule. Whenever you visit, be prepared for long lines at the most popular exhibits, particularly the Hendrix Gallery (which can only accommodate a limited number of visitors at once), the Sound Lab, and Artist's Journey, although you can roam through the majority of the museum's displays without any waiting.
The Monorail, Center House, and the rest of Seattle Center
Also near the Space Needle is the monorail (Map 4, D3?G6), which provides convenient transportation to and from downtown for $1.25 (Mon-Fri 7.30am-11pm, Sat-Sun 9am-1lpm, with trains running every 10 minutes or so). If you're riding it for the novelty, one trip is all you’ll need. The journey lasts a mere two minutes before it deposits you in the middle of the Westlake shopping center. Near the monorail is the modest Fun Forest amusement park, offering a few standard whirly rides, bumper cars, and the like.
Just west of the monorail is the Center House (Map 4, C3), a good place to gather maps and information for the rest of the Center. There’s an information booth on the ground floor and a small ethnic food court too, plus lots of open space designed for kids to burn off excess energy. A better alternative is to take them to the fine Seattle Children's Museum (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 10am-6pm, www.thechildrensmuseum.org; $4, children $5.50) in the same building. The emphasis is again on activities that encourage direct participation, some with interactive computers, including global cultural villages and a wilderness exhibit, all scaled down to make things easy for those under four feet tall. Most children gravitate toward the artificial mountain forest that lets them crawl through logs or simulate a rock climb. The Discovery Bay section has exhibits especially geared for kids aged two-and-a-half or younger, some of which can be quite challenging. Those herding a group can try the “If I Had a Hammer” construction zone, which has kids collaborate on building an eight-by-eleven-foot home, and for which reservations are recommended (441-1768).
While there's a lot to do in Seattle Center if you have a specific event or destination in mind, it's not a prime hangout spot. The lone exception is the International Fountain near Center House (Map 4, C2), which folks splash through to cool off on hot days while pop tunes from around the world blare through its sound system; African drummers pound out rhythms in the surrounding grassy area on weekends. In April 1994, thousands of fans gathered in the open spaces near the fountain and the Space Needle to hold candlelight vigils for local icon Kurt Cobain (see box, p.000), shortly after the Nirvana leader committed suicide in his Seattle home. It was here that Cobain's widow, Hole singer Courtney Love, read (on a taped message) some of Cobain's suicide note, before inciting the crowd to chant “Asshole!” -- surely one of the strangest moments in pop culture's recent history.
Queen Anne
Seattle Center is at the foot of the steep hill that marks Queen Anne, one of Seattle's leafiest and most desirable residential neighborhoods. The elegant homes built here by affluent Seattleites when the area was first settled in the late nineteenth century are pretty much gone, though the architecture still stands out for its somewhat English feel. There's not much to explore, save for a small commercial strip along Queen Anne Avenue between West Galer and West McGraw streets, but a walk up to the peak of Queen Anne Hill, just a dozen blocks or so blocks north from Seattle Center, rewards you with some great downtown views, especially from the tiny park that marks Kerry Viewpoint, at 2nd Avenue West and Highland Drive, one of Seattle's prime spots for sunset watching. At the crest of the hill are the 500-foot television towers that make this neighborhood easy to locate from miles around.
Bordering Queen Anne and the northeastern part of Seattle Center, the overlooked Wright Exhibition Space at 407 Dexter Ave N (Fri only 11.30am-2pm or by appointment: &264-8200; admission free) has three rooms of contemporary art on rotating display from the collection of Virginia & Bagley Wright. Though the selections on view vary -- they change substantially about once a year, and a small number of pieces usually change on an ongoing basis -- they sometimes include rarely seen works by major artists such as Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Koons, Claes Oldenburg, and Eric Fischl.
Art Access:
Artist profiles, exhibit reviews, and local venues.
City of
Seattle: Comprehensive visitor information site, sponsored by the
city,
with links to most everything related to the city.
1st
Seattle Hotels: A directory of Seattle hotels, including
information
on booking and room availabiilty.
HistoryLink:
On-line encyclopedia of Seattle & King County history, with more
than
1500 searchable essays, as well as links to related sites.
Riderlink:
Information on every type of transportation option in the greater
Seattle
area.
San Juan
Island Chamber of Commerce: Guide to activities, sights, and
lodgings on San Juan Island, with links to similar sites covering the
other
islands in the San Juan archipelago.
Seattle
Center:
Calendar of the many cultural, theatrical, and sporting events
held in Seattle Center year-round.
Seattle
Dpt. of Parks & Recreation: Info on all of the city's parks and
the athletic and recreational activities they offer.
Seattle-King
County Visitor's Bureau: Basic information about Seattle and the
surrounding
area, including numerous accommodation listings.
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer:
Site of one of the two main dailies, with a searchable archive of
articles from the past few years including features on neighborhoods
(Neighbors)
and sights outside town (Getaways).
Seattle
Times: Today's news, along with stories from the past several years
in a searchable database.
Seattle
Weekly: Along with the Stranger,one of the city's two
alternative
weeklies, this one with comprehensive events listings and features of
local
interest.
Sidewalk
Seattle: As brought to you by Microsoft, a good place to find
nightlife
and entertainment listings.
The Stranger:
The city’s other alternative weekly ,with a good online events
calendar,
from avant-garde theater to dance clubs.
Washington
State Parks & Recreation Commission: Maps and descriptions of
state
parks throughout Washington, including many in the Seattle/Puget Sound
region.
To buy The Rough Guide to Seattle:
The Rough Guide to Seattleis widely available at both independent booksellers and chain bookstores throughout North America, as well as many such outlets overseas. To order on-line via amazon.com, click on the book cover below.
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