ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996 TAG: 9601110056
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: F-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SEATTLE
SOURCE: STEVE SILK THE HARTFORD COURANT
What could be more mournful than the dirge of a ferry whistle as it caroms off the glassy towers of downtown Seattle on a day, like most days, when the low-hanging sky is the color of dirty dishwater? It's a sad, sad sound, one you won't hear anywhere else on Earth.
But it's a noise that has its consolations. For starters, it means you're in Seattle. And what could be better than that?
This city clenched in the half-open claw of Puget Sound seems to have become, in recent years, the nation's sweetheart. It is the birthplace of a host of recent trends: microbrewed beers, grunge music, coffee in myriad forms, Windows 95. And on its green-necklaced doorstep you'll find some of the best sailing, hiking, skiing, mountaineering, canoeing and kayaking anywhere in the country.
It's hip, it's happening and everybody wants a piece of the action. Immigrants are pouring in from all over the West, from the East and even from the Far East. So are visitors, who can't resist the chance to experience the brawny, rough-hewn allure of a city poised on the planet's newest economic and cultural frontier - the Pacific Rim.
The so-called Emerald City and its diverse neighborhoods hold sway from a series of low, rounded hills rising gently from Puget Sound. Water virtually surrounds the city - there's Elliot Bay to the west, Lake Union to the north, Lake Washington to the east, the Duwamish River to the south and, of course, all the stuff that keeps falling out of the sky. Fishermen hook into salmon literally within the shadow of the city's high-rises.
The city's harbors have been its lifeblood since Seattle's founding. They helped rocket the city to prominence when gold was discovered in Alaska and Seattle became the chief port for outbound or returning goods and prospectors.
So almost any exploration of Seattle begins near the waterfront, within earshot of the city's omnipresent seagulls. Many a visitor, in fact, never gets far from it. This is the place to hop a ferry to Bainbridge Island (a 35-minute trip that offers superlative views of the city skyline and, in good weather, a knock-your-socks-off look at Mount Rainier, the snowcapped volcano that looms over the city with all the grandeur of Olympus).
There are boats leaving for British Columbia, boats bound to the San Juan Islands, to Indian-style salmon bakes on Blake Island, and to tour the harbor area itself. Most of the action unwinds between piers 48 and 70, where local landmarks include the Seattle Aquarium, an Omnidome theater and Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, where you can gaze on oddities such as Sylvester, the mummified remains of a man found in an Arizona desert; a stuffed platypus; old whalebones; and a woven conical hat reputedly worn by Chief Seatlh, for whom the city is named.
Farther north, along the shores of Lake Union, in a neighborhood made famous by the movie ``Sleepless in Seattle,'' posh houseboats are moored bumper to bumper in eternal watery gridlock. If the water proves irresistible, not far away is The Center for Wooden Boats, where you can rent a variety of watercraft. Just across the lake lies the bizarre Gas Works Park, a post-apocalyptic vision created by the rusting hulk of an old gas boiler house where gas was coaxed from coal in order to light the city.
Back near the Aquarium, you can scale the long stairway of the Pike Place Hillclimb to reach Pike Place Market, one of the most entertaining shopping centers anywhere. Much of the amusement is because of the fishmongers at Pike Place Fish, who sling whole fish, arm length and more, over the heads of customers.
``One sockeye - fillet it,'' yells a rubber-booted worker before hurling a fish 20 feet to the nearest counter. There, among mounds of dinner-plate-sized Dungeness crabs, the flying fish is caught with a snap and met by a comic chorus: ``One sockeye - fillet it.'' The pranksters here are not above rigging strings through the mounds of whole fish resting on mounds of chipped ice. Thus prepared, they can make the mouth of a salmon open and close, or make an ugly monkfish appear to leap from its icy bed. The stunt gets quite a response from unsuspecting customers.
That's just the start of Pike Place Market, whose nine historic acres are best explored simply by wandering through a warren of stalls selling local produce, bouquets of flowers, handcrafts, African sculpture, Whitey Ford baseball cards, collectibles, herbal concoctions and newspapers from Le Monde to the Jerusalem Post.
This is just the place to assemble ingredients for a picnic or, if you're lazy, to hit one of the many restaurants for anything from Northwest seafood or Bolivian fare to East African cuisine and Russian blintzes. Coffee? You can't turn around without seeing signs for espressos, lattes, Americanos - you name it.
Thus fortified, you might march off downhill to Pioneer Square, the heart of the city a century ago. Back then, this was the site of Henry Yesler's steam-powered sawmill, where trees cut in the surrounding hills were sawn into the boards that built Seattle. Yesler Way, one of the roads that spills into the square, was the original Skid Road (now familiarly known as Skid Row), so named because loggers used to skid their logs down it on their way to the mill.
Even today, the square (which is actually a triangle) has its raffish, seamy side, especially after dark, when legions of, shall we say, economically challenged substance abusers haunt the tree-lined streets.
But Pioneer Square, with its brick buildings and shady trees, is a more friendly place during the day, when tourists and locals stroll its side streets lined with quirky little shops, art galleries, intriguing restaurants, busy nightclubs and, of course, coffee bars. Many can't resist the chance to visit the Elliot Bay Book Company, a virtual temple to bibliophilia.
For most, though, Pioneer Square is not nearly as interesting as what lies beneath it. The city's signature tour, Seattle Underground, is an offbeat guided, 90-minute walk through subterranean passageways, buried buildings and other oddities that remain from the 1889 city, which was almost destroyed in a fire. The new city was built atop the old one, following a massive landfill project that left some of the old-time city streets as much as 32 feet underground.
For a more up-to-date look at Seattle, most folks wind their way to Seattle Center, 74 acres of fun for all ages. The center was built for the 1962 World's Fair, and the Jetson-esque Space Needle that rises 605 feet above this playground of museums and amusement rides affords a spectacular panorama of the city, Puget Sound and its surrounding mountains - the Olympics, and the Cascades, and, of course, Mount Rainier.
From here, you'll also get a glimpse of all the parts of Seattle you still haven't seen.
There's Capitol Hill, the city's answer to Greenwich Village, home to the leather-clad, pierced and tattooed set who wear their hair in chemistry-set colors. It's an amusing area to stroll through, with a United Nations' worth of ethnic restaurants. You can pause at the industrial-looking Gravity Bar to down a glass of wheatgrass juice or knock back a blender-whipped concoction of fruits and amino acids.
Or hit the University District, another mecca for ethnic restaurants, bookstores and movie houses.
Or Fremont, the local counterculture capital, with its clubs, cafes, restaurants, clothing shops and solstice celebrations.
Or visit the Washington Park Arboretum, for a look at just one of the city's many horticultural splendors.
Or, well, maybe it's just better to wait until next time, when that mournful blast from the ferries offshore will seem more like a welcoming hello.
LENGTH: Long : 144 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEVE SILK/HARTFORD COURANT. 1. A sailboat cruises alongby CNBthe Seattle shoreline. There's no escaping water in Seattle: The
Emerald City is surrounded by Elliot Bay to the west, Lake Union to
the north, Lake Washington to the east and the Duwamish River to the
south. 2. The indoor mall at Pike Place Market (left) is a popular
Seattle attraction, but watch out for flying fish. 3. SANDRA BROWN
KELLY. Seattle's Space Needle peers through "Volumetric Space
Frame" in Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill. The sculpture is by Doris
Chase, internationally known sculptor. 4. Seattle's "Hammering Man"
sculpture (above) welcomes visitors to the city's art museum.
Seattle has more than 300 permanently sited pieces of sculpture.
color.