Seattle Washington
In Seattle’s compact Downtown, skyscrapers overlook Elliott Bay.
Pike Place Market, with its diverse restaurants and food stalls, attracts shoppers who want to buy local crafts and produce, as well as visit big-name stores like Nordstrom.
The Seattle Aquarium and a giant Ferris wheel are located on the busy Central Waterfront, while the Seattle Art Museum and the 1928 Paramount Theatre are located in the surrounding city.
The central business district of Seattle, Washington is known as downtown.
Due to its geographical location, which is hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by Elliott Bay, and on the south by reclaimed land that was once tidal flats, it is relatively compact compared to other city centers on the US West Coast.
It is bordered on the north by Denny Way, which is followed by Lower Queen Anne (also known as “Uptown”), Seattle Center, and South Lake Union; on the east by Interstate 5, which is followed by Capitol Hill to the northeast and the Central District to the east; on the south by S Dearborn Street, which is followed by Sodo; and on the west by Elliott Bay, which is part of Puget Sound.
Downtown Seattle’s main neighbourhoods include Belltown, Denny Triangle, the shopping center, the West Edge, the financial district, the government district, Pioneer Square, Chinatown, Japantown, Little Saigon, and the western flank of First Hill west of Broadway.
The Metropolitan Tract, which is owned by the University of Washington and operated as the university’s campus prior to 1895, is located near the heart of downtown.
Seattle’s financial and commercial maritime hub, as well as its nightlife and shopping district, is located downtown.
A monorail connects Westlake Center, a downtown shopping mall, to Seattle Center.
The Columbia Center in downtown Seattle has 76 floors, more than any other building west of the Mississippi River (although there are taller buildings in Texas and California).
Smith Tower, located in the Pioneer Square neighborhood, was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi.
The Washington Mutual Tower, Two Union Square, Nordstrom’s flagship store, Benaroya Hall, the Seattle Central Library designed by Rem Koolhaas, and the main building of the Seattle Art Museum (built 1991, enlarged 2007) with a main facade designed by Robert Venturi are among the other prominent structures.
Westlake Park, Freeway Park, and Victor Steinbrueck Park are among the city’s parks.
In April 1852, the Denny Party traveled across the then-named Duwamish Bay to a low-level marsh with a protected deep-water harbor, roughly in the city’s Pioneer Square area, after leaving ‘New York Alki.’ ‘Duwamps’ was the name given to this new frontier. In the late 1850s, what is now Downtown Seattle became the city’s primary residential outskirts. The commercial district was relocated to the city after the Great Seattle Fire. Beginning about 1876, some of the city’s hills in the downtown area were regraded.
With an estimated employee population of 243,995 in 2013, downtown Seattle is the largest employment center in the Puget Sound area, accounting for half of the city’s jobs and 21% of King County jobs. Amazon.com, Nordstrom, and Expeditors International are among the Fortune 500 firms with headquarters in Seattle.
While Seattle was built in the mid-nineteenth century and has a history dating back to the gold rush, it is a surprisingly modern metropolis with only around two dozen historic buildings within its borders.
What DT Seattle lacks in historical structures, it more than makes up for with skyscrapers, including one with a whopping 76 stories.
Seattle may be the birthplace of Starbucks, but there’s more to do in Downtown Seattle than sipping coffee. Downtown Seattle has a unique waterfront that serves both social and industrial purposes, facing out onto the vast expanse of Eliot Bay. While spinning on one of the US’s largest Ferris wheels, watch cargo ships being prepared, or walk along the pier and pause for a seafood feast before getting your palm read under the glassy-eyed gaze of shrunken heads.
Downtown Seattle can only be defined in one word: eclectic.