Comments on: Flickr Tour of Seattle Underground

Flickr Tour of Seattle Underground

jonson — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 10:54:34 -0800

In 1899, the core of downtown Seattle burned to the ground. While the shops quickly rebuilt & re-opened, the city itself took the opportunity to rebuild the streets some 36 feet higher than they previously had been (ostensibly to combat water pressure/sea level issues), meaning that pedestrians climbed ladders to go between street level and building entrances. Eventually, the city laid down sidewalks up on the new street level, and the underground city was all but forgotten. Today, via a building in Pioneer Square, you can still tour what remains of the abandoned underground, looking up at the people above through the opaque glass sidewalk.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:06:30 -0800

As featured in The Night Strangler (1973)^ On a side note: It really stinks down there, but the tour guides are usually pretty funny.

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:08:29 -0800

The fire was in 1889, not 1899.

By: schmedeman

schmedeman — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:10:43 -0800

Yeah, I remember this from the Night Strangler too! Never knew whether it had any basis in reality.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:11:33 -0800

"Despite the massive destruction of property, nobody died in the fire, although there were a few fatalities during the cleanup process." Heh.

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:13:37 -0800

Some more photos and perspective on what changed. And who started it.

By: Funmonkey1

Funmonkey1 — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:26:58 -0800

oh man I miss some Pioneer Square boozing and fun. Not to mention, even back in 1994 the underground tours were pretty fantastic. What ever happened to Triangle Billiards?

By: gomichild

gomichild — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:47:00 -0800

Ooo very cool. I love all this underground city kind of stuff.

By: Drunken_munky

Drunken_munky — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:05:50 -0800

EAT MORE SALMON

By: ramix

ramix — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:14:18 -0800

Oh wow... I never knew about that. Thanks for a great post. I'll check it out the next time i'm in Seattle.

By: chudmonkey

chudmonkey — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:23:11 -0800

I took the tour about a year ago this month. It didn't smell too bad down there to me, and the tour was really informative about the town in general, not just the underground bits. Highly, highly recommended.

By: nomisxid

nomisxid — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:25:19 -0800

They do a night version of the underground tour where they focus on the adult side of old seattle, as well.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:26:43 -0800

Yeah, the smell isn't too bad in the summer.

By: concreteforest

concreteforest — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:40:44 -0800

This book is sold in the gift shop and flogged somewhat during the tour - at least the one I went on. It's an entertaining read about the founding and history of Seattle. I don't know much about the Seattle underground, but a little further North, Victoria may or may not have tunnels, but it sure has some wacky inhabitants. If you happen to stop by Vancouver on the way to Seattle this museum is worth a visit. Meanwhile, the rest of the province is riddled with old and better-forgotten mines. When I was living in Nanaimo, there was an urban legend of a fellow having his basement collapse into a 250 deep mine shaft. Considering they dug all the way out to Newcastle Island (look about 1/2 way down the page) in the bay, I'm wouldn't be surprised if it's true. If you decide to try and visit either underground tunnels or abandoned mines on your own - be very careful. You can easily die. Maybe you should just bike to one instead.

By: wumpus

wumpus — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:40:50 -0800

TeLLers Cage... and SEATTLE written in all different font sizes. Why do many of the featured signs look like a child made them? did most sign makers not have hand eye coordination, or is it an attempt by the tourism industry to make it seem more rustic, somehow?

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:46:18 -0800

Damn, jonson-- you sure love the Seattle Underground.

By: Crabby Appleton

Crabby Appleton — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:47:20 -0800

I didn't realize that the people of Seattle have x-ray vision.

By: jonson

jonson — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:54:34 -0800

Damn, jonson-- you sure love the Seattle Underground. I really do. I love the off the beaten path aspect of major cities, as well as visible artifacts of the history of a city. When I first mentioned the Underground, Flickr didn't yet exist; it occurred to me to go scrounging around for pix, and a post was born.

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:55:52 -0800

I, too, enjoy the Seattle Underground. Good post.

By: wumpus

wumpus — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:56:27 -0800

concreteforest, I'm from Victoria... Locals of Victoria are very imaginative when it comes to the tunnels. It seems as soon as one of those forum members finds a tunnel entrance, their cameras stop working, and by the time anyone else gets around to confirming it, the entrance has been mysteriously walled up. I'm pretty sure local Victorians just smoke too much pot.

By: scrump

scrump — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:01:33 -0800

As a side note, Terry Pratchett explicitly references this aspect of Seattle in The Truth. Also:

[this is good]

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:09:15 -0800

concreteforest, not to detract from your worthwhile warning, but the four people who died in you e"easily" link were above ground, in a shed.

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:09:22 -0800

I did the tour. The actual stuff underground was not that interesting, basically being a bunch of basements. However, the history lesson was great.

By: Sloben

Sloben — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:10:54 -0800

I took the tour a couple years ago and it was surprisingly entertaining. I really liked the sense of humor which I wasn't expecting from a historical tour.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:16:08 -0800

Thanks. This is one of my favorite aspects of the city. Before the last earthquake the Underground was a little more thrilling. The guides are always entertaining. Ask them about the Whore houses and Madams that essentially funded building Seattle. Great stuff.

By: togdon

togdon — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:26:24 -0800

Seattle's neighbor to the south has its own under ground. Sticking with the general theme of the relationship ours was always only for seedy purposes.

By: dblock

dblock — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:43:05 -0800

This is the biggest scam on earth - whoever invented the "underground" tour is brilliant (and a millionnaire). I lived in the Prudential building, 114 Alaskan Way, right in the middle of the tour. They take rats out of the undergrounds every day around 7am. Then they send tourists back in.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:46:37 -0800

So which part is the scam? That they take the rats out?

By: pracowity

pracowity — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:49:01 -0800

That they let the tourists out?

By: diddlegnome

diddlegnome — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:56:06 -0800

The Seattle regrading in the early 20th century was another amazing public works project. It was done, according to this National Park Service article, to level the steep hills that were blocking the city's expansion. Scroll to the bottom to see an incredible photo that illustrates the scope of the regrading. Downtown Seattle is still very hilly, BTW. The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce did an article about it that includes a great, but small, photo. Seattle Times article on regrading. I took the tour about 30 years ago, and like caddis, I enjoyed the historical info better than the actual underground stuff. If the tour's a scam, it's just continuing the tradition started by the city's founders, according to the guide, who did indeed make frequent references to "Sons of the Profits," the book concreteforest referred to.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 14:10:43 -0800

Wow, I love this stuff. Great post (give that man his $30 already!).

By: lhauser

lhauser — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 14:16:22 -0800

The reason "Sons of the Profits" is so closely tied to the Seattle underground tour is that Bill Spiedel, who wrote the book, also founded the underground tour (and is therefore the major source of the amusing and informative tour information). It's interesting to contrast Speidel's book with Murray Morgan's Skid Road. It's been years since I read either, but my impression was that Murray was much "straighter" (he was a journalist and amateur historian; my wife took his Washington State History class in the 70s at Tacoma Community College) and Speidel was much more irreverent. They tell the same story from two completely different points of view.

By: Tube

Tube — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 14:28:29 -0800

I took the tour when I first moved to Seattle in 1987. I really don't remember much except for two things; the tour guide asked who was a "local" and I sheepishly acknowledged that I was, and that the place was uniformly filthy. For tourists, I would recommend Boeing Surplus over the Seattle Underground in a heartbeat.

By: mattoly

mattoly — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 14:43:43 -0800

No more triangle billiards. No more Fenix Underground, either. It closed up shop last month. I work in Pioneer Square, and every day I see these tours go by. If you walk out of the front door of my office building, either way you go you'll walk over the sidewalk/skylights. There are many other fun things to do in Pioneer Square. But I recommend bringing me beers. I'm at 101 Yesler Way, suite 600, middle office.

By: concreteforest

concreteforest — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:04:34 -0800

concreteforest, not to detract from your worthwhile warning, but the four people who died in your "easily" link were above ground, in a shed. Yes I know - I chose that example to show the sometimes unique dangers of exploring an industrial area, even if it seems undisturbed. These guys died in a shed that wasn't even underground in a mine that was regularly visited.

By: forrest

forrest — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:33:42 -0800

I didn't realize that the people of Seattle have x-ray vision. C'mon, Crabby -- don't be so opaque.

By: keswick

keswick — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:46:45 -0800

diddlegnome: holy shit!

By: Crabby Appleton

Crabby Appleton — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 16:16:52 -0800

Sorry, forrest, I thought it was at least translucent.

By: baylink

baylink — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 19:28:47 -0800

So why can't they do that in new Orleans?

By: Slarty Bartfast

Slarty Bartfast — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 21:48:16 -0800

Something else that's fun and underground near Seattle. The 2.3 mile tunnel at Snoqualmie Pass is bikable or hikable and it's entirely straight and pitch black. For an hour, you walk in a straight line, towards a tiny, tiny point of light that slowly gets larger until you're on the other side of the mountain.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 21:57:59 -0800

Sacramento has a similar story.

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 22:47:59 -0800

I took this tour when I was in Seattle. The tour itself was pretty cool, but the tour guide was AWFUL. Seriously, she was like the worst 80s stand-up comedian that you can imagine. I just wanted to be like, "Shut up or tell me the history, but for gods sake, NO MORE JOKES!" Really, it was that bad. I've heard that the other tour guide is much better. (To her credit, I think she had to draw it out a bit because the tour itself is pretty short)

By: blueberry

blueberry — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 22:59:57 -0800

And speaking of tunnels... "After 40 years' burrowing, Mole Man of Hackney is ordered to stop" (via The Guardian)

By: black8

black8 — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:59:07 -0800

Well, if you're interested in even more NW history, check out Stewart Holbrook's Wildmen, Wobblies and Whistle Punks...

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 21:56:38 -0800

I propose some sort of Seattle Undeground MeFi Meetup, although I have no real idea how to accomplish this.

By: djwudi

djwudi — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 09:38:46 -0800

And suddenly I understand why my shot of the Teller's Cage has had so many views. Heh. Thanks for the link! Personally, I'm a big fan of the Underground tour. I tend to go on it about once a year, whenever I find someone who hasn't gone on the tour yet. To me, it's a fun and pleasantly irreverent look at some of the odder parts of Seattle history, and I've not yet gotten quite the same collection of information twice. The basics are the same, sure, but each tour guide (and there are far more than just two) seems to focus on different bits of detail and trivia that they like to point out.