Skip to main content

SEATTLE

I've been to Seattle about half a dozen times, the most recent six years ago.  Read my four postings (1, 23, and 4).  The highlight was Chihuly Garden and Glass.

About Seattle:
  • The area was inhabited by the Duwamish 4000 years before the Europeans came, led by George Vancouver of Great Britain in 1792.
  • An American, Arthur Denny, arrived on a ship in 1851 and founded the city.  Named after Chief Seattle, leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.
  • Like Rome, the city is built on seven hills.  Well, maybe 12.
  • The city is 41% by area water.
  • Seattle is cloudy 201 days out of the year, with 93 partly cloudy.  It has a well-earned reputation for rain, but only drizzles, for New York Ciity, Miami and Houston have more actual rainfall/year.
  • Logging was the first major industry.
  • The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed the central business district.
  • Became the gateway to Alaska during Klondike Rush between 1896-9.
  • American Messenger Company was founded in 1907 by 19-year old James Casey, who borrowed a $100 from a friend.  Now known as UPS.  Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer also were established here during this period.
  • The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909 became the campus of the University of Washington.
  • Shipbuilding boomed during World War I.
  • The Great Depression into the 1930's resulted in violence, labor strife and homelessness.  The Asian Pacific population especially suffered.
  • World War II established Boeing aircraft manufacturing
  • The Century 21 Expo of 1962, also known as the Seattle World's Fair, with the Space Needle, restored some prosperity.
  • City has had a history of boom-and-bust cycles, but beginning in 1979, Microsoft set up shop here, then Amazon in 1994, followed by a stream of software, internet and biotechnology companies.
  • The 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle, with Tom Hanks, brought attention, as did the television sitcom Frazier.
  • The dot-com boom caused frenzy until 2001, when the bubble burst.
  • That year also saw the 6.8 magnitude Nisqually earthquake.  Seattle is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire.  There was a 9 magnitude earthquake in 1700.
  • A bigger threat is the Cascadia subduction zone, with a 9.0 quake expected in the future.
  • The population was 188 in 1860, 80,671 in 1900, 237,194 in 1910 and 755,000 or so today.
  • 62% White, 16% Asian, 7% Hispanic and 7% Black.  Was 92% White in 1960.
  • Median income for a family is about $130,656.
  • Has 54,200 millionaires and 11 billionaires.
  • 8000 homeless people.
  • There is three block area next to Pike's Market we were told to avoid because of crime.  Did not know that when we had lunch today right in that area.
  • Professional sport teams cover the NFL, MLB, NHL MLS, WNBA and MLR.
  • One of the most socially liberal cities in the U.S.  80% Democrats.
  • Has 20 sister cities, including Bergen, Kobe and Reykjavik.
Yesterday, on to Pike's Market and lunch with friends.  A few photos.

Greeted by my Blue-bar Pigeon.
Fish market.
Salmon tossing.
Lots of flowers.
Cabbage.
Carrots.
Zucchini plant.
Kohlrabi plant.
Bronze pig.
Psychedelic booth.
Long lines to get into Starbucks.
Blue-bar pigeon continued to lead the way.
Another bird.
A new part of Pike's Market that just opened the other day.
Looking the other way, the Norwegian Jewel, about where our Encore will be berthed on Sunday.
Went to lunch at Urara,
My sashimi and unagi don, miso soup and Rainier Beer.
Steve and Debbie had Champons.
Eventually back to our hotel and Executive Club for sunset.
Tomorrow, the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass.

-

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo.  We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings  We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo.  So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines.  We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station.  This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site.   It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance.  This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of  ten of those already waiting to enter.  However...

THE BULLET TRAIN

Japan had the first bullet train more than 60 years ago.  It was 10October1964, when the opening ceremony was held in Tokyo in anticipation of Japan's first-ever Olympic Games, which began that day. The  Shinkansen,  meaning  new mainline , with a separate track, arrived when normal train traffic had reached the limit for carrying passengers and freight.   A train trip between Osaka and Tokyo dropped from 6 hours and 40 minutes to 4 hours, shortened to 3 hours and 10 minutes by 1964, and is now 2 hours and 30 minutes.  From the Shin-Osaka Station to the Shin-Yokohama Station only takes a little more than 2 hours. In 1964 the track was 320 miles long.  Today, it's up to 1484 miles.  The original itinerary incorporating Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka now carries 159 million passengers/year.  In this 6 decade period, more than 10 billion passengers have been safely handled.  CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT NOT ONE PASSENGER HAS YET BEEN KILLED IN A DERA...