We climbed the Smith Tower to take in the view of the city. Definitely cheaper than the Space Needle which Matthew said was overrated and a rip off ($19/adult vs $7.50 for probably not more than a 15 minute visit... which one would you choose?).
Smith Tower was Seattle's first skyscraper which opened in 1914.
We stopped at the 35th floor which was the the Chinese room furnished in genuine teakwood which was handcrafted and imported from China.
It had a beautiful panoramic of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains. We were able to see Mt. Rainier, Puget Sound and all the amazing buildings of Seattle.
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| Willie and Sandy enjoying the views |
Afterwards we explored the Underground City.
Did you know that this current city of Seattle lies on top of their old version of the city? A fascinating story really, of how this modern day city of Seattle came about. And of course being the true educator that I am... I will educate you on the History of Seattle.
In the 1870's, the first settlers did the best they could in developing the land of Seattle. Land was plentiful along with timber. But the land was plentiful in low tide. When high tide came the land disappeared and what was left was.... mud. So the settlers built their dwellings on wooden stilts.
They even used timber to make their sewer 'pipes'. Not quite the engineers of this day and age but like I said, they did the best they could. Until 1889.
The Great Seattle Fire. In a nutshell, the fire was started by a kid who overturned a pot of burning glue in a cabinet shop which spread to the paint shop upstairs and a new shop next door which so happened to have received a huge shipment of whiskey.
So the fire spread. Many volunteer fire workers tried to squelch the fire with their water hoses but there was no water... because the fire had burnt down all of the pipes which were made out of wood. You get the picture? Anyway the fire grew and grew and eventually destroyed over 35 blocks worth of buildings. Amazingly no one was killed. Lucky huh?
Well the people had to rebuild but they could not rebuild the same way they did before. (Obviously!) They had to raise the whole city pretty much but the city and business owners disagreed on how to do it. Plus everything needed money to be done. And a lot of it!! So the city paid to raise the street. The businesses, who owned their land, remained where they were.
So visualize the street level one floor above the businesses. Crazy picture huh?
For a few years, they had ladders for people to climb up and down from the street level to the businesses. The phrase "watch your step" takes on new meaning here. If you don't watch where you walk.. you could die from taking one step down... way down.
After a few years, the businesses felt that this was not working out and eventually converted their first floor to be their 'basement' and created their second floor to be their 'first' floor.
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| Heading to the original 'first' level of the building. |
As we toured three buildings' 'first floors', it was amazing to see the original floor covered up and abandoned. The purple circular lighting on some sidewalk corners which we originally thought were decorative sidewalks were really the skylights for the underground level. Crazy weird!
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| On top of the street we see everyday in Seattle |
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| Under the same purple dots now underground used as 'sky lighting' for the underground |
The tour was thoroughly interesting and we were able to see and understand the cool and unique history of Seattle.
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| Walking the underground |
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| Original door |
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| Arched entryways |
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| Stairways underground |
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| Original sign for the building |
Another building we entered on Yesler Way.
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| We entered in the brown door with the green columns. |
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| Standing in front of the original 'second' story of the building. |
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| Our tour guide pointing to where we were standing (see previous picture) on the original painting of the building. |
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| You can see the original windows from the first floor. |
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| Old street sign |
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| New street sign |
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| Original 'bathroom' with pull down flusher; a Thomas Crapper toilet |
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| A nicer version of Thomas Crapper's toilet |
Next Up... Pike's Place
