Seattle’s Best
Karin Snelson -- School Library Journal, 1/12/2007
There’s nothing quite as lovely as Seattle in January. OK, so that’s not exactly true. It often rains buckets. (One T-shirt dryly states, “The rain in Spain falls mainly in Seattle.”) And it’s fairly cold that time of year—around 40 degrees–a better temperature for chilling oysters than for sightseeing. Still, this Pacific Northwest city is a rousing choice for ALA’s upcoming midwinter meeting and visitors will not be able to resist Seattle’s charms.
Located in the heart of downtown, on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Pike Street, is the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. That means that as conference-goers you’ll be within easy walking distance of restaurants, bars, shops, and even Pike Place Market and the waterfront. The front of which body of water, you may be asking? Seattle is located on the shores of Elliott Bay, part of the kelp-strewn, Orca-ridden, octopus-infested Puget Sound. In the city’s early days, all ships coming to Elliott Bay docked near today’s downtown area. You won’t find trading ships here anymore (the Port of Seattle is a bit farther south), but from downtown you can take a ferry ride or just stay shore side and contemplate the delights of alder-smoked salmon or why seagulls have those curious red dots on their beaks
Beautiful mountains surround the city, most notably the 14,410-foot Mount Rainier looms like a snowy warlord to the south. Even in January, there’s a chance that it will not be cloaked in mist. On an unpredictably sunny day you might even catch a glimpse of the majestic peaks of the Cascades to the east or the Olympics to the west. What’s a little precipitation, we ask? Seattle is a gorgeous town rain or shine and intrepid urban wanderers will have much to explore.
You should know up front that Seattle is not a taxi town. If you stand on the street and try to hail a cab New York-style, you could be there for hours. In short, if you need a cab, you should phone one—Yellow/Graytop Cab is (206) 622-6500 and Orange Cab is (206) 522-8800—or you can usually find taxis lined up outside of most major hotels including the Sheraton, ALA’s headquarters hotel, which is located next to the convention center at 1400 Sixth Avenue and Union Street.
The buses are free in the downtown area (bordered on the north by Battery Street, on the south by South Jackson Street, on the east by Sixth Avenue, and on the west by the waterfront), so you could also hop one going in the right direction. (As of this writing, the Monorail is out of service and the bus tunnel is closed.) You can find up-to-date bus information at transit.metrokc.gov or by calling (206) 553-3000 and pressing “0.” Honestly, if you can, just walk everywhere.
Pike Place Market—Not to Be Missed
The one place you won’t want to miss is Pike Place Market, a 10-minute walk from the convention center, famous for vendors who theatrically throw slippery fish, sometimes very talented street musicians, 200 artisans, and glorious fresh produce from 120 local farmers. The market, in business since 1907, is as ripe with history as it is old cheese. You can stroll through its labyrinthine stalls and underground shops day after day and see something new every time. You can’t miss the market as you walk down Pike from the convention center—there’s a giant red neon clock and a sign above its main entrance that says “Public Market” and the main street, called Pike Place, is still cobblestone. Regular market hours are Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
One morning you should sneak out before a meeting when the vendors are setting up, if only to experience the excitement of trucks unloading colorful goods of all shapes and sizes and to hear friendly market banter. You could even have coffee at the world’s first Starbucks. (Speaking of coffee, and one must here, you’ll find one of your best to-go cups downtown at Monorail Espresso, near Kenneth Cole on Pine Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It’s just a sidewalk storefront, but it’s very close to the convention center and the shots are double and artfully poured.)
You could, and arguably should, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at Pike Place Market, as it’s packed to the gills with inviting restaurants and eclectic food stands. Whatever you do, try Dungeness crab. If it comes to this, buy a cooked crab at the market (ask the vender to clean it), take it back to your hotel room, and crack the thing in your bathtub with a hair dryer. Here are a few warm and cozy, tried-and-true stops at the market, but as you walk you’ll find everything from Brazilian food to Vietnamese.
Le Panier
Le Panier is an aromatic French bakery on the corner of Stewart Street and Pike Place. Hours: Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (206) 441-3669.
The World’s First Starbucks
The first Starbucks opened in Pike Place Market in 1971 and moved to its current location on Pike Place in 1976. Behold the original racy mermaid logo. Hours: Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. (206) 448-8762.
DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine
Since 1946, DeLaurenti’s has been a lovely place to buy picnic food, as it offers 200 cheeses, Italian cured meats, and more than 1,800 wines that will go nicely with your bathtub crab. The southwest corner of First Avenue and Pike Street. Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (206) 622-0141.
The Pink Door
A fun, slightly kitschy, rosy-hued Italian restaurant and bar on 1919 Post Alley, the alley behind Pike Place between Stewart and Virginia. Order the antipasto plate with the olive tapenade. Hours: Monday to Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. (206) 443-3241.
Jack’s Fish Spot
If you want a quick-and-dirty seafood fix, find this indoor-outdoor seafood bar on Pike Place and order the chunky cioppino or a Dungeness crab cocktail and perch on a stool at the metal counters. Seafood Bar Hours: Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (206) 467-0514.
The Alibi Room
A casual bohemian hideaway for lunch, drinks, or dinner with exposed brick walls, dim lighting, and partial Puget Sound views. Head toward the Market, then go down the cobblestone road left of the bronze pig, right of the newsstand. It’s in a mysterious alley. Hours: Daily, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. (206) 623-3180.
Café Campagne
Think cozy French: pâté de campagne, croque-monsieur, cassoulet, and red wine. This is the more rustic version of the fancy Campagne upstairs, located on Post Alley and Pine Street. Hours: Saturday and Sunday brunch from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday to Friday lunch from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday to Thursday dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday dinner from 5:30 to 11 p.m. (206) 728-2233.
If you go down the steps to the right of the bronze pig at Pike Place Market, you can work your way slowly to the waterfront, either by staircase or by elevator. The waterfront is where you’ll find the Seattle Aquarium (under construction but open), many souvenir shops, seafood restaurants, and harbor cruises. A ferry ride is a fine way to see views of the city skyline by day or night. From Washington State Ferry Terminal at Pier 52 (Colman Dock), take the Bainbridge Island ferry, 35 minutes each way. (You do have to get off the boat upon arrival, but you can get right back on again.) Call (206) 464-6400 for more information. Also, harbor tours depart from Pier 56. Call Argosy Cruises at (206) 623-1445 or investigate these tours at www.argosycruises.com.
Need seafood on your waterfront journey? Then be sure to try…
Anthony’s Bell Street Diner and Fish Bar
Head for the waterfront’s Pier 66 (turn right on Alaskan Way as you face the water) for two casual seafood dining options with views of Elliott Bay and beyond. 2201 Alaskan Way. Hours: Lunch is daily (11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; dinner is Monday to Thursday, 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. (206) 448-6688
O, pioneer! Art galleries, bookstores
As you amble back along the waterfront, it’s not too much farther south to Pioneer Square, one of the oldest parts of Seattle. Here among the abundant art galleries and blues bars you can still get a glimpse of Seattle’s frontier days—it’s easy to imagine the carriages, saloons, and gold diggers of the historic Northwest. Signs hanging outside the brick buildings read ROOMS 75¢ or COFFEE 5¢. Warning: These signs no longer represent today’s prices. Purple skylights in the sidewalk hint at the forgotten city beneath, buried when Seattle was rebuilt to a more tide-friendly elevation after the Great Fire of 1889. A couple of Pioneer Square highlights:
Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour
This strange and often hilarious guided 90-minute walking tour starts at Doc Maynard’s, a restored 1890s saloon, and takes visitors below sidewalks and streets through Seattle’s abandoned underground city. Be prepared for rubble and lively historical anecdotes. 608 First Avenue. Call (206) 682-4646 for tour times or go to www.undergroundtour.com.
Elliott Bay Book Company
This beautiful, family-owned, decades-old independent bookstore is one of the Northwest’s best. Exposed brick walls and cedar shelves form a delightful mecca for browsers of both new and used books, complete with a café downstairs. First Avenue and South Main Street. Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (206) 624-6600.
A ringing endorsement for Belltown
If you’re into fine food, you must spend some time eating in Belltown, a neighborhood just north of downtown and a reasonable walk or very short cab ride from the convention center. Belltown, part of Seattle’s upscale condo explosion, is bursting with tantalizing eateries and popular watering holes. Dozens of choices abound here, but here are two favorites of locals and visitors alike:
Saito’s Japanese Café and Bar
Fresh, fresh, fresh. Sit at the sushi bar and ask for the specials. Hours: Lunch is Tuesday to Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner is Tuesday to Saturday, 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. The sushi bar’s open until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. 2120 2nd Avenue (between Blanchard and Lenora near the Crocodile Café). (206) 728-1333.
Palace Kitchen
This is chef Tom Douglas’s lush, festive, and always-lively restaurant under the Monorail with a central horseshoe-shaped bar, Italian chandeliers, velvet drapes, and excellent food. Nightly rotisserie specials. 2030 Fifth Avenue, at Fifth and Lenora. Dinner served daily, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; cocktails until 2 a.m. (206) 448-2001.
Top Pot Doughnuts
Food critic Jane Stern calls Seattle-born Top Pot doughnuts the best in the world. This coffee shop-bakery with a “vintage aesthetic” cooks up old-fashioned cake doughnuts and roasts and grinds coffee here as well. Needless to say, it smells good. 2124 Fifth Avenue at Lenora. Hours: Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (206) 728-1966.
Scary amphibious adventures (and other must-sees)
Anyone with extra time outside of the conference could go on to explore the International District or any of Seattle’s other vibrant and unique neighborhoods. The most obvious and dorky city tour option is to take a ride on the amphibious vehicle known as “the Ducks.” For 90 quack- and song-filled minutes, awkward World War II vehicles roll through downtown, Pike Place Market, historic Pioneer Square, and Fremont (a funky Seattle neighborhood), before splashing into Lake Union for a view of the city skyline, yachts, and houseboats. Call (206) 441-DUCK or visit www.ridetheducksofseattle.com. For more Seattle tours, investigate this intriguing list of choices: www.visitseattle.org/visitors/tours/cityTours.asp. Other Seattle must-sees include:
The Seattle Public Library (Central)
Explore Rem Koolhaas’s 2004 architectural marvel and decide for yourself whether you consider Seattle’s new library a “religious experience” or a “lunar module from hell.” 1000 Fourth Avenue (between Spring and Madison). Hours: Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. (206) 386-4636.
The SeattleArt Museum
The Seattle Art Museum is closed until May 2007. Do not try to go there; you will see nothing. The Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill is open, however, with a special Buddhist art tour on January 20. The official grand opening celebration of the Olympic Sculpture Park at the north end of the waterfront (with major works by artists such as Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois, Roy McMakin, and Richard Serra) is on January 20 and 21. This phone number–(206) 654-3100—or this link (www.seattleartmuseum.org)—will answer all of your questions about any of the above.
Bodies: An Exhibition
If you grow weary of your colleagues and begin to wonder what’s really going on inside human beings, walk across the street from the convention center to 800 Pike, host site for Bodies: An Exhibition. This remarkable, somewhat controversial exhibition features 21 whole-body specimens (and more than 260 organs) that have been preserved through an innovative process. For more information, visit www.bodiesstore.com. Hours: Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (206) 344-5200
The Space Needle
The 607-foot Space Needle, built for the 1962 World’s Fair in the Seattle Center and originally called the Space Cage, looks like a Jetsons fuel station. A 41-second elevator ride ($14) zooms you up to the observation deck for a potentially fine view of the city and beyond. As you might expect, there’s a revolving restaurant at the top. Hours: Sunday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m.www.spaceneedle.com (206) 905-2100 (You can catch a 16/Northgate bus here from Third and Pike.)
Westlake Center
While this isn’t exactly a Glamorous Destination, Westlake Center has a food court on the third level of this specialty shopping mall three blocks from the convention center, for those who need bubble tea, Thai, burgers, and pizza all at once. (It happens.) 400 Pine Street. Hours: Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. www.westlakecenter.com. (This is also the part of downtown where you’ll find the big department stores like the flagship Nordstrom and Macy’s.)
The Museum of Flight
South of downtown perches the Museum of Flight, one of the largest air and space museums in the world. A Leonardo DaVinci exhibit will be here until January 28, 2007. As the Web site states, “This exceptional international exhibition features more than 50 interactive and static machines, full-size reproductions of his paintings and amazing interpretive insight into his character.” 9404 East Marginal Way South (Exit 158 off of I-5). (Take Bus 174 from downtown Seattle.) Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. www.museumofflight.org. (206) 764-5720.
For more information about Seattle, you’ll find the Seattle King County Convention and Visitors Bureau at the convention center on Seventh and Pike, street level. Its Web site is satisfyingly up-to-date and thorough if you feel like doing some preconference homework: www.visitseattle.org/visitors. Or, call (206) 461-5840.
As is the case with every host city, there’s much more to see in Seattle than your conference-dominated visit will allow, but the main piece of advice to absorb here (after “Try Dungeness crab!”) is, “Step AWAY from the convention center.” The conference is so close to so many non-Cheesecake Factory–type places that it’s almost criminal to not to venture out, even if it is raining. Enjoy!
Karin Snelson is a Seattle freelance writer and formerly an ALA Notable Children’s Book member (2005 and 2006) and children’s book editor at Amazon.com. In case you didn’t notice, she likes eating Dungeness crab.
