Avenues generally run north-south; in greater downtown, they run northwest-southeast. Ways, drives, places, boulevards, etc. can run in any direction.
Downtown’s not the only place where the city’s geography inspired digressions from an orderly street grid. Just about every part of town has them. These walks routinely cross the city’s directional prefix and suffix zones (NW, N., NE, etc.). Don’t worry about it.
Central downtown’s streets were given alliterative pairs of names for easier remembering—Jefferson and James, Columbia and Cherry, Marion and Madison, Spring and Seneca, University and Union, and Pike and Pine. These are expressed in an old-time local phrase, “Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest.”
CONNECTING THE WALKS
This walk starts one block southwest of Walk 2, and it ends near Walks 3, 4, and 7. At Railroad and Occidental you’re one block north of Walk 12. At 2nd and Jackson you’re three blocks west and one block north of Walk 11.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Doubletree Arctic Club Hotel doubletree.hilton.com, 700 3rd Ave., 206-340-0340
Smith Tower smithtower.com, 506 2nd Ave., 206-622-4004
Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour undergroundtour.com, 608 1st Ave., 206-682-4646
Pioneer Square seattle.gov/parks, 1st Ave. and Yesler Way
Qwest Field qwestfield.com, 800 Occidental Ave. S., 206-682-2900
King Street Station seattle.gov/transportation/kingstreet.htm, 303 S. Jackson St., 206-382-4125
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park nps.gov/klse, 319 2nd Ave. S., 206-220-4240
Occidental Park seattle.gov/parks, Occidental Ave. S. and S. Washington St.
Waterfall Garden Park 219 2nd Ave. S.
Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum seametropolicemuseum.org, 317 3rd Ave. S., 206-748-9991
ROUTE SUMMARY
| 1. | Start at the Doubletree Arctic Club Hotel, 700 3rd Ave. Walk southeast on 3rd. | |
| 2. | Turn southwest on Cherry St. | |
| 3. | Turn southeast on 2nd Ave. | |
| 4. | Turn west on Yesler Way to Pioneer Square. | |
| 5. | Turn south on 1st Ave. S. | |
| 6. | Turn southeast on Railroad Way S. to Qwest Field. | |
| 7. | Turn north on Occidental Ave. S. | |
| 8. | Turn east on S. King St. | |
| 9. | Turn north on 2nd Ave. S. | |
| 10. | Turn west on S. Jackson St. | |
| 11. | Turn north through Occidental Mall and Occidental Park. | |
| 12. | Turn east on S. Main St. | |
| 13. | Turn north on 3rd Ave S. | |
| 14. | Turn west on S. Washington St. | |
| 15. | Turn northwest on Alaskan Way S. | |
| 16. | Turn east on Yesler, back to 1st Ave. |
Terra-cotta walrus heads at the Doubletree Arctic Club Hotel
2 DOWNTOWN: THE RETAIL CORE AND FINANCIAL DISTRICT: SKYSCRAPERS AND SHOPPING
BOUNDARIES: 9th Ave., Pine St., 3rd Ave., and James St.
DISTANCE: 2 miles
DIFFICULTY: Moderate (one uphill block)
PARKING: Limited metered street parking; pay lots and garages include Pacific Place Garage (6th Ave. north of Pine St).
PUBLIC TRANSIT: Seattle Transit Tunnel Convention Place Station, 9th Ave. and Pine Street; Metro routes #10, 11, 14, 43, and 49 serve Pike and Pine streets.
Seattle is blessed to have an active, dynamic downtown that never succumbed to the urban decay faced by other cities around the United States. It might not be a 24-hour place, but it’s at least a 16-hour place. And it’s devoted to more than the mere making and spending of money. It offers a wide range of live and filmed entertainments. It has a major art museum and many private galleries. It has occasional peekaboo views of the Elliott Bay waterfront and the Olympic Mountains. And as you’re about to see, it sports an array of architectural styles, from 1920s deco whimsy to postmodern color play and angularity.
| • | Start at the Paramount Theater, on the southeast corner of 9th Ave. and Pine St. Seattle’s master theater designer B. Marcus Priteca helped create this sumptuous 1928 film-and-vaudeville palace, with a handsome brick exterior and a Versailles-inspired interior. The blue vertical sign outside is a 2009 copy of the original. Looking northwest on 9th, you can see the rooftop Gothic neon announcing the 1926-built Camlin Hotel, now part of a time-share circuit. |
| • |
Go southwest on Pine. At the southeast corner of 8th and Pine, the cylindrical Tower 801 apartment building houses a retro-modern Caffe Ladro coffeehouse at its base. Kitty-corner from there, the Paramount Hotel’s Dragonfish bar offers happy hour sushi bites and a wall of silent pachinko machines. At 7th, midcentury-esque
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