Yes, that really is Seattle. Yes, that really is a nice blue sky overhead. When the clouds part, and you can see Lake Washington and the Cascadia Mountains, including Mount Rainier, it's actually a beautiful city. It's just that it rains so much, such a sight isn't all that common.
Doing one of these Trip Guides for a brand-new team is always difficult. Fortunately, the Kraken play on the same location as the now-departed Seattle SuperSonics, which makes things a little easier.
Before You Go. Seattle is notorious for rain, and while this game will be indoors, you will have to spend quite a bit of time outdoors. Check the websites of the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for the weather forecast. Right now, they're predicting the high 40s for daylight on Saturday, and the high 30s for the evening. And they are predicting rain.
Seattle is in the Pacific Time Zone, 3 hours behind New York. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.
There is high-speed passenger ferry service from Seattle to the Canadian city of Victoria, the capital of the Province of British Columbia. But it takes 2 hours and 45 minutes, and costs a bundle: $184 round-trip. (The scenery in Washington State and British Columbia is spectacular, and this is clearly part of what you're paying for.) From there, you can easily get to Vancouver.
If you want to make this trip, you will have to give confirmation within 48 hours of booking. And it's a passenger-only ferry service: No cars allowed. If you'd like to make a side trip to Vancouver, you're better off driving or taking the train. But any way you go over the border, you should have your passport with you.
Tickets. Being a new team, attendance figures are meaningless. Presume that the novelty has not worn off, and that tickets will be difficult to obtain.
Lower Level tickets are $199 between the goals and $149 behind them. In the Upper Level, they're $105 throughout.
Getting There. It's 2,854 miles from Times Square to Pioneer Square in Seattle, and 2,844 miles from Prudential Center to the Climate Pledge Arena. In other words, if you're going, you're going to want to fly.
After all, even if you get someone to go with you, and you take turns, one drives while the other one sleeps, and you pack 2 days' worth of food, and you use the side of the Interstate as a toilet, and you don’t get pulled over for speeding, you'll still need over 2 full days to get there. One way.
But, for future reference, if you really, really want to drive... Get onto Interstate 80 West in New Jersey, and stay on that until it merges with Interstate 90 west of Cleveland, then stay on 90 through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, into Wisconsin, where it merges with Interstate 94. Although you could take I-90 almost all the way, I-94 is actually going to be faster. Stay on I-94 through Minnesota and North Dakota before re-merging with I-90 in Montana, taking it through Idaho and into Washington, getting off I-94 at Exit 2B.
Not counting rest stops, you should be in New Jersey for an hour and a half, Pennsylvania for 5:15, Ohio for 4 hours, Indiana for 2:30, Illinois for 2 hours, Wisconsin for 3:15, Minnesota for 4:30, North Dakota for 6 hours, Montana for a whopping 13 hours (or 3 times the time it takes to get from New York to Boston), Idaho for 1:15 and 6:45 in Washington. That’s 50 hours, and with rest stops, you're talking 3 full days.
That's still faster than Greyhound (70 hours, changing in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minneapolis and Missoula, $362 round-trip) and Amtrak (67 hours, changing in Chicago, $746 before booking sleeping arrangements). (Note that these prices were in place for a Yankees-Mariners series in August 2016, but were probably close to what they were in November 2007 or February 2008.)
On Amtrak, you would leave Penn Station on the Lake Shore Limited at 3:40 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, arrive at Union Station in Chicago at 10:12 AM Central Time on Thursday, and board the Empire Builder at 2:15 PM, and would reach King Street Station at 10:25 AM Pacific Time on Saturday.
After all, even if you get someone to go with you, and you take turns, one drives while the other one sleeps, and you pack 2 days' worth of food, and you use the side of the Interstate as a toilet, and you don’t get pulled over for speeding, you'll still need over 2 full days to get there. One way.
But, for future reference, if you really, really want to drive... Get onto Interstate 80 West in New Jersey, and stay on that until it merges with Interstate 90 west of Cleveland, then stay on 90 through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, into Wisconsin, where it merges with Interstate 94. Although you could take I-90 almost all the way, I-94 is actually going to be faster. Stay on I-94 through Minnesota and North Dakota before re-merging with I-90 in Montana, taking it through Idaho and into Washington, getting off I-94 at Exit 2B.
Not counting rest stops, you should be in New Jersey for an hour and a half, Pennsylvania for 5:15, Ohio for 4 hours, Indiana for 2:30, Illinois for 2 hours, Wisconsin for 3:15, Minnesota for 4:30, North Dakota for 6 hours, Montana for a whopping 13 hours (or 3 times the time it takes to get from New York to Boston), Idaho for 1:15 and 6:45 in Washington. That’s 50 hours, and with rest stops, you're talking 3 full days.
That's still faster than Greyhound (70 hours, changing in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minneapolis and Missoula, $362 round-trip) and Amtrak (67 hours, changing in Chicago, $746 before booking sleeping arrangements). (Note that these prices were in place for a Yankees-Mariners series in August 2016, but were probably close to what they were in November 2007 or February 2008.)
On Amtrak, you would leave Penn Station on the Lake Shore Limited at 3:40 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, arrive at Union Station in Chicago at 10:12 AM Central Time on Thursday, and board the Empire Builder at 2:15 PM, and would reach King Street Station at 10:25 AM Pacific Time on Saturday.
King Street Station is just to the north of the stadium complex, at S. King St. & 3rd Ave. S., and horns from the trains can sometimes be heard as the trains go down the east stands of CenturyLink Field and the right-field stands of Safeco. The Greyhound station is at 811 Stewart St. at 8th Ave., in the Central Business District, about halfway between the stadiums and the Seattle Center complex.
WARNING: This time, the Lake Shore Limited is sold out. And Greyhound says there's no routes available. So neither the train nor the bus is an option.
A round-trip flight from Newark to Seattle, if ordered now, could be had, although not nonstop, on United Airlines for under $600. Link Light Rail can get you out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), and the same system has Stadium Station to get to Safeco and CenturyLink Fields. The fare is $2.75.
Once In the City. Founded in 1853, and named for a Chief of the Duwamish Indians, Seattle is easily the biggest city in America's Northwest, with 737,000 people within the city limits and 4.4 million in its metropolitan area. Just as Charlotte is called the Queen City of the Southeast, and Cincinnati the Queen City of the Midwest, Seattle is known as the Queen City of the Northwest. All its greenery has also gotten it the tag the Emerald City. With Lake Washington, Puget Sound, and the Cascade mountain range nearby, including Mount Rainier, it may be, on those rare clear days, America's most beautiful metro area.
East-west street addresses increase from Puget Sound and the Alaskan Way on eastward. North-south addresses are separated by Yesler Way.
The Times is Seattle's only remaining daily print newspaper. The Post-Intelligencer is still in business, but in online form only. This is mainly due to the high cost of both paper and ink, and has doomed many newspapers completely, so Seattle is lucky to still, sort of, have 2 daily papers.
ZIP Codes in the State of Washington start with the digits 980 to 994. In Seattle proper, it's 980 and 981; and for the suburbs, 982, 983 and 984. The Area Code for Seattle is 206. Interstate 405 serves as Seattle's "beltway."
The Washington State House in Olympia
As a port city, Seattle has always been a home to job-seekers, both native-born and immigrant. As a result, there has frequently been trouble. There was a riot in 1886. In 1919, the leftist Industrial Workers of the World (a.k.a. the IWW or "Wobblies") led a 6-day general strike. There were anti-Filipino riots in Washington State in the Yakima Valley in 1927 and the Wenatchee Valley in 1928. In 1999, a meeting of the World Trade Organization was disrupted by leftist protestors.
In 2020, despite restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Seattle was the site of a demonstration calling for the city to become a "Cop-Free Zone," following multiple accusation of police brutality, there and all over America.
The complex includes the city's trademark, the Space Needle. Also there is Memorial Stadium, a high school football stadium built in 1946. It used to host the old North American Soccer League version of the Sounders, and now hosts the women's soccer team, the Seattle Reign. On June 24, 1975, it hosted a game between the national teams of the U.S. and Poland, ending in a draw.
The old Coliseum
For our purposes, the most important building in this complex is the arena. The old Seattle Center Coliseum was built on the site in 1962, 3 blocks west and 2 blocks north of the Space Needle, and the expansion Sonics moved in for the 1967-68 season. It was also home to a pair of minor-league hockey teams: The Seattle Totems from 1964 to 1975, and the Seattle Thunderbirds from 1989 to 1994. And Seattle University played basketball there from 1964 to 1980.
The Beatles performed at the old Coliseum on August 21, 1964, and did 2 shows there on their final tour on August 25, 1966. Elvis Presley, who filmed It Happened At the World's Fair at Seattle Center in 1962, sang at the Coliseum on November 12, 1970; April 29, 1973 (2 shows); and April 26, 1976.
It was demolished, and rebuilt while the Sonics played the 1994-95 season at the Tacoma Dome. The KeyArena, with KeyBank owning the naming rights, was home of the Sonics until they moved to Oklahoma City in 2008, the WNBA's Seattle Storm until 2018, the Seattle U. basketball team until 2018, and the Thunderbirds from 1994 to 2008.
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The KeyArena
In an attempt to lure the NBA back, and the NHL into Seattle for the 1st time (the Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Seattle Metropolitans went out of business in 1924, and the World Hockey Association never put a team in Seattle, either), a plan was announced to rebuild the arena again. On October 19, 2021, the Climate Pledge Arena opened with a charity concert by Seattle-area bands Foo Fighters and Death Cab for Cutie.
The Kraken debuted on October 12, losing 4-3 away to the Vegas Golden Knights. They got their 1st win 2 days later, 4-3 away to the Nashville Predators. The Devils beat them 4-2 at the Prudential Center on October 19. On October 26, they played their 1st home game, and raised a banner honoring the Metropolitans' 1917 achievement of being the 1st U.S.-based team to win the Stanley Cup. Appropriately, the opponent was the team the Metros beat in those Finals: The Montreal Canadiens. The Kraken won, 5-1. The Seattle U. Redhawks moved in immediately, and the Storm will begin play there next Summer.
The Arena's official address is 305 Harrison Street. Parking is $25. Since the arena is north of downtown, most fans are likely to enter from the south. The rink court is laid out north-to-south. The Kraken shoot twice toward the south end.
The northwest corner has Uptown Kitchen, which includes seafood like fish & chips and clam chowder; and La Choza, a Mexican food stand. The northeast corner has Grill 206, with burgers, hot dogs and fries; and Ceres, with roasted nuts. The southeast corner has Seven Hills Grill, named for the 7 hills of Rome, and featuring pizza and Italian sausages; and a gluten-free food stand. The southwest corner has World's Fare, featuring what it calls "global street food." In addition, there are what the arena calls "general concession stands" all over.
Team History Displays. As the saying from English soccer goes, they ain't got no history. They did raise a banner in honor of the 1917 Stanley Cup-winning Seattle Metropolitans, along with a Number 32 banner, for the 32,000 fans who placed deposits for tickets for the NHL's 32nd franchise.
The Metropolitans won the Championship of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) in 1917, 1918, 1920, 1922 and 1924, but there are no banners for those titles. There are banners for the Sonics, including for their 1979 NBA Championship; and for the Storm, WNBA Champions: 2004, 2010, 2018 and 2020.
Stuff. The Huddle, the main team store, is in the southwest corner of the arena, behind Section 118. Kraken and Storm items are available there.
There aren't yet any books about the Kraken. This coming November 1 will see the publication of Rising From the Deep: The Seattle Kraken, a Tenacious Push for Expansion, and the Emerald City's Sports Revival. Presumably, it will also touch on the recent rise, and the even more recent fall, of the Seahawks; the loss of the Sonics; and the success of the Storm.
There aren't yet any books about the Kraken. This coming November 1 will see the publication of Rising From the Deep: The Seattle Kraken, a Tenacious Push for Expansion, and the Emerald City's Sports Revival. Presumably, it will also touch on the recent rise, and the even more recent fall, of the Seahawks; the loss of the Sonics; and the success of the Storm.
During the Game. The Kraken have no rivals, yet. Maybe the San Jose Sharks will be the rivals. Maybe the Vancouver Canucks will be. Maybe the Vegas Golden Knights. But it won't be the New Jersey Devils. Wearing Devils gear in Seattle, including inside Climate Pledge Arena, will not endanger your safety.
The Sonics hold auditions for National Anthem singers, instead of having a regular. Their mascot is a husky (which matches the team name of the nearby University of Seattle), named Davy Jones.
So what's a "Kraken"? It's a sea monster from mythology, familiar to some of us from the recent remake of the Greek mythology tale Clash of the Titans, in which Zeus (Liam Neeson) yells, "Release the Kraken!" Lots of people loved that, forgetting that, in the movie, the Kraken lost.
After the Game. Seattle Center is not an especially high-crime area, and Sonic do not tend to get violent. You might get a little bit of verbal if you're wearing Knick or Net gear, but it won't get any worse than that.
To the northwest of the Arena, on Republican Street, in the Queen Anne neighborhood, are a few bars known for serving Sonics fans after games. Taylor Oyster Bars at 124, Agave Cocina at 100, and Dick's Drive-In at 500 Queen Anne Avenue North.
Two bars are usually identified with Mariners and Seahawks games, but they're 2 miles southeast of the Arena. Sluggers, formerly known as Sneakers (or "Sneaks" for short), is at 538 1st Avenue South, at the northwest corner of CenturyLink Field. A little further up, at 419 Occidental Avenue South, is F.X. McRory's. Pike Place Market is about halfway between, about a mile southeast, and may still be open after Kraken games.
As for New York-friendly bars, while there are Yankee Fans everywhere, I couldn't find anything specific on the Internet. I've been told that Buckley's in Queen Anne is good for football Giants fans. It is at 232 1st Avenue West, at Thomas Street, 3 blocks west and 1 block south from the Arena.
If you visit during the European soccer season, which will soon be upon us, the leading "football pub" in the Pacific Northwest is The George and Dragon Pub, 206 N. 36th Street, 5 miles north of downtown. Bus 40.
Sidelights. Aside from the Climate Pledge rena and the Safeco/CenturyLink complex, Seattle doesn't have a lot of sports sites worth mentioning. But these should be mentioned:
* Safeco Field, Lumen Field and site of Kingdome. The Mariners new ballpark is at 1516 First Avenue South. It is in a neighborhood called SoDo, for "South of Downtown."
In case you're wondering, Safeco is an insurance company, and CenturyLink is a telecommunications outfit, which bought similar company Qwest. It has been selected by the U.S. Soccer Federation as a finalist to be one of the host venues for the 2026 World Cup. (UPDATE: It was approved by FIFA as a venue.) And the naming rights to Safeco Field ran out in 2018, and it was renamed T-Mobile Park.
CenturyLink was built on the site of the Kingdome, home to the Seahawks from 1976 to 1999, the Mariners from 1977 to 1999, the old Sounders from 1976 to 1984, and the Sonics for some home games from 1978 to 1984.
The Kingdome hosted the Final Four in 1984 (Georgetown over Houston), 1989 (Michigan over Seton Hall), and 1995 (UCLA over Arkansas). It also hosted 3 U.S. soccer team matches: A win, a loss, and a draw.
It was functional, and that's about it. It was demolished, and that was best for everyone from sports fans to architecture fans.
The Kingdome. It served its purpose, getting Seattle
into MLB and the NFL, and was thankfully replaced.
* Sick's Stadium. The Pacific Coast League team, known for most of its history as the Seattle Rainiers, played 2½ miles southeast of Safeco, first at Dugdale Field (1913-1932) and then at Sick’s Stadium (1938-68 and 1972-76, built by Rainiers' owner Emil Sick). The Seattle Pilots also played at Sick's, but lasted only one year, 1969, before being moved to Milwaukee to become the Brewers, and are now chiefly remembered for ex-Yankee pitcher Jim Bouton’s diary of that season, Ball Four.
Elvis Presley sang at Sick's on September 1, 1957 (since it had more seats than any indoor facility in town). Supposedly, Hendrix, then 15, was there. A few days prior, Floyd Patterson defended the heavyweight title there by knocking out fellow 1956 Olympic Gold Medalist Pete Rademacher.
Demolished in 1979 after the construction of the Kingdome (whose inadequacies were very different but no less glaring), the site of Sick's Stadium is now occupied by a Lowe's store. 2700 Rainier Avenue South, bounded also by McClellan & Bayview Sts. & Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Mount Baker station on the Link light rail system.
* Husky Stadium. The home of the University of Washington football, the largest stadium in the Pacific Northwest (including Canada) is right on Lake Washington, and is one of the nicest-looking stadiums in college football. A rare feature in major college football is that fans can dock right outside and tailgate by boat. (The only others at which this is possible: Neyland Stadium at the University of Tennessee, and Heinz Field for University of Pittsburgh games.)
It opened in 1920, making it the oldest stadium in the Pacific-12 Conference. The Seahawks played a few home games here in 1994, after some tiles fell from the Kingdome roof, and played their games here in 2000 and 2001 between the demolition of the Kingdome and the opening of what's now CenturyLink Field. In 1923, it was the site of the last public speech given by President Warren G. Harding before his death in a San Francisco hotel.
Sadly, The Wave was invented here in 1981, by university yell leader (think male cheerleader) Robb Weller, later one of Mary Hart's co-hosts on Entertainment Tonight.
A major renovation was recently completed, necessary due to age and the moisture from being on the water and in Seattle's rainy climate. Pretty much everything but the north stand of the east-pointing horseshoe was demolished and replaced. The Huskies played the 2012 season at CenturyLink, and moved into the revamped, 70,138-seat Husky Stadium for the 2013 season. Rutgers University will play its 1st game of the 2016 football game against Washington here, on Saturday, September 3.
3800 Montlake Blvd. NE, at Pacific St. Bus 545 to Montlake & Lake Washington Blvd., then walk half a mile across Montlake Cut, a canal that connects Lake Washington with Lake Union. Or, Bus 511 to 45th St. & 7th Ave., then Bus 44 to Pacific & Montlake, outside UW Medical Center, then walk a quarter of a mile.
* Edmundson Pavilion. Adjacent to Husky Stadium, at 3870 Montlake, is Alaska Airlines Arena at Clarence S. "Hec" Edmundson Pavilion, the home of "U-Dub" basketball since 1927. Hec was the school's longtime basketball and track coach, and "Hec Ed" hosted the NCAA Final Four in 1949 (Kentucky over Oklahoma A&M, the school now known as Oklahoma State) and 1952 (Kansas over St. John's). It has also hosted the State of Washington's high school basketball finals.
UW has been to the Final Four only once, in 1953, although they've won the regular-season title in the league now called the Pac-12 11 times, including 2012; and the Conference Tournament 3 times, most recently in 2011. Washington State, across the State in Pullman, reached the Championship Game in 1941, but hasn't been back to the Final Four since.
On May 12, 2014, The New York Times printed a story that shows NBA fandom by ZIP Code, according to Facebook likes. With the loss of the Sonics, Seattle fans not only refused to accept their former heroes as Oklahoma City Thunder (Thunders? Thunderers? Thundermen?), but also refused to accept the next-closest team, their former arch-rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, 171 miles away, as their new team. They seem to divide their fandom 4 ways, none of which should surprise you: The Chicago Bulls, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. But if Seattle should ever get another team, these fans would certainly get behind the new Sonics.
* Tacoma Dome. The Sonics used this building during the 1994-95 season, as the Seattle Center Coliseum was demolished and the KeyArena put up in its place. Opening in 1983, it seats 17,100, and its most common use has been for minor-league hockey and concerts. 2727 East D Street, about 32 miles south of downtown Seattle. It can be reached from downtown Seattle by Bus 590, 592, 594 or 595, and it would take about 45 minutes.
The night Elvis sang at Sick's Stadium, September 1, 1957, he gave an afternoon concert in Tacoma, at the Lincoln Bowl, the football stadium of Lincoln High School. 707 S. 37th Street. The day before, he sang across the State, at Memorial Stadium in Spokane. He returned to Spokane to sing at their Coliseum on April 28, 1973 and April 27, 1976.
The Spokane Coliseum, at Boone Street and Howard Avenue, seated 5,400, lasted from 1954 to 1995, and was replaced by the 12,200-seat Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, across the street. It's home to minor-league hockey's Spokane Chiefs. 720 W. Mallon Avenue. Spokane is 280 miles east of Seattle.
* Seattle Ice Arena. The Seattle Metropolitans played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1915 to the league's folding in 1926, and won 5 league championships: 1917, 1919, 1920, 1922 and 1924. In 1917, they defeated the National Hockey Association champion Montreal Canadiens, and became the 1st American team to win the Stanley Cup. This would be Seattle's only world title in any sport for 62 years.
They played at the Seattle Ice Arena, which seated only 4,000 people, and was demolished in 1963. The IBM Building, a typically tacky piece of 1960s architecture, now stands on the site. 1200 Fifth Avenue at University Avenue, downtown.
If Seattle ever got a new NBA team, it would rank 17th among NBA metro areas in population. It would also rank 17th in the NHL. The closest NHL team is the Vancouver Canucks, 144 miles away. According to an article in the January 8, 2016 edition of Business Insider, the Canucks are the most popular NHL team in the State of Washington.
* Museums. In addition to the KeyArena, the Seattle Center Complex features the city's tradmark, the 605-foot Space Needle. Admission is $22, less than the cost of the Empire State Building, and it's open 'til 11:00 PM, with great views of the region's natural splendor.
Seattle Center also has the Pacific Science Center (think of it the Northwest's version of the American Museum of Natural History and its Hayden Planetarium), the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (not sure why Seattle was chosen as the Hall's location, although the city is a major aerospace center).
Aside from the Pacific Science Center and the Science Fiction Museum, Seattle isn't a big museum city, although the Seattle Art Museum, at 1300 1st Avenue at University Street, might be worth a visit.
The State of Washington has never produced a President, so there's no Presidential Library. Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson ran for the Democratic nomination in 1972 and 1976, but didn't get particularly close. The State's never produced a Vice President, either. Thomas S. Foley served a District centered on Spokane in Congress from 1965 to 1995, and was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995.
At 967 feet high, Columbia Center, a.k.a. The Black Tower, is the tallest building in the Northwest, and, for the moment, the tallest building in North America west of the Rocky Mountains except for the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles. (A building going up in San Francisco, and another in Los Angeles, are both expected to top the Black Tower in 2017.)
Aside from Seattle Center and its Space Needle, and the stadiums, Seattle's best-known structure is the Pike Place Market. Think of it as their version of the South Street Seaport and Fulton Fish Market. (Or Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market, Baltimore's Harborplace, or Boston's Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall.) It includes the 1st-ever Starbucks store, which is still open. Downtown, 85 Pike Street at Western Avenue.
The TV show Northern Exposure was filmed in the State of Washington, and Twin Peaks was both filmed and set there: The former in Roslyn (hence, Roslyn's Cafe), about 85 miles southeast of downtown Seattle; the latter in North Bend, about 30 miles east. The science-fiction series Dark Angel, which vaulted Jessica Alba and NCIS' Michael Weatherly to stardom, was set in a dystopian future Seattle, but was filmed in Vancouver. So was The X-Files. So was Millennium. So is Kyle XY. So is Smallville, but that isn't meant to be Seattle.
While Frasier was set in Seattle, and Grey's Anatomy still is, there were hardly any location shots. The same is true for Here Come the Brides, The 4400 and iCarly.
The most obvious film made and set in Seattle is Sleepless in Seattle, and the city was home to Matthew Broderick's and Ally Sheedy's characters in WarGames (in which Broderick's computer hacking has much greater consequences than it would 3 years later in the Chicago-based Ferris Bueller's Day Off).
Singles came along in 1992, at the height of grunge and the rise of Starbucks, which helped make Seattle the hippest city in the country in the years of George Bush the father and Bill Clinton's 1st term -- or, as Jason Alexander put it shortly thereafter on Seinfeld, "It's the pesto of cities." It also reminded us of how good an actor Matt Dillon is, how gorgeous Kyra Sedgwick is, and that Bridget Fonda (daughter of Peter, niece of Jane and granddaughter of Henry) and Campbell Scott (son of George C. and Colleen Dewhurst) were worthy of their genes.
There's also been It Happened at the World's Fair (Elvis playing a visitor to the 1962 Fair), McQ
(John Wayne as a present-day cop in one of his last films, in 1974), The Parallax View, Stakeout, Black Widow, The Fabulous Baker Boys, My Own Private Idaho, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, The Crush, Harry and the Hendersons, 10 Things I Hate About You and Agent Cody Banks. An Officer and a Gentleman was filmed at the naval base in nearby Bremerton.
*
* Tacoma Dome. The Sonics used this building during the 1994-95 season, as the Seattle Center Coliseum was demolished and the KeyArena put up in its place. Opening in 1983, it seats 17,100, and its most common use has been for minor-league hockey and concerts. 2727 East D Street, about 32 miles south of downtown Seattle. It can be reached from downtown Seattle by Bus 590, 592, 594 or 595, and it would take about 45 minutes.
Tacoma is also the home of Cheney Stadium, home of the Tacoma Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League, named for the former PCL team, the Seattle Rainiers. (UPDATE: It later became the home of OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League. Formerly known as the Seattle Reign, they are now owned by Olympique Lyonnaise of French soccer.) 2502 S. Tyler Street.
The Spokane Coliseum, at Boone Street and Howard Avenue, seated 5,400, lasted from 1954 to 1995, and was replaced by the 12,200-seat Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, across the street. It's home to minor-league hockey's Spokane Chiefs. 720 W. Mallon Avenue. Spokane is 280 miles east of Seattle.
* Seattle Ice Arena. The Seattle Metropolitans played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1915 to the league's folding in 1926, and won 5 league championships: 1917, 1919, 1920, 1922 and 1924. In 1917, they defeated the National Hockey Association champion Montreal Canadiens, and became the 1st American team to win the Stanley Cup. This would be Seattle's only world title in any sport for 62 years.
They played at the Seattle Ice Arena, which seated only 4,000 people, and was demolished in 1963. The IBM Building, a typically tacky piece of 1960s architecture, now stands on the site. 1200 Fifth Avenue at University Avenue, downtown.
There was also a hockey team named the Seattle Seahawks, competing in the North West Hockey League from 1933 to 1936, winning its championship in 1936; and then in the Pacific Coast Hockey League until 1941. Frank Foyston, who starred for the Metropolitans, was their 1st coach and their 1st general manager.
* Museums. In addition to the KeyArena, the Seattle Center Complex features the city's tradmark, the 605-foot Space Needle. Admission is $22, less than the cost of the Empire State Building, and it's open 'til 11:00 PM, with great views of the region's natural splendor.
Seattle Center also has the Pacific Science Center (think of it the Northwest's version of the American Museum of Natural History and its Hayden Planetarium), the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (not sure why Seattle was chosen as the Hall's location, although the city is a major aerospace center).
Aside from the Pacific Science Center and the Science Fiction Museum, Seattle isn't a big museum city, although the Seattle Art Museum, at 1300 1st Avenue at University Street, might be worth a visit.
The State of Washington has never produced a President, so there's no Presidential Library. Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson ran for the Democratic nomination in 1972 and 1976, but didn't get particularly close. The State's never produced a Vice President, either. Thomas S. Foley served a District centered on Spokane in Congress from 1965 to 1995, and was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995.
At 967 feet high, Columbia Center, a.k.a. The Black Tower, is the tallest building in the Northwest, and, for the moment, the tallest building in North America west of the Rocky Mountains except for the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles. (A building going up in San Francisco, and another in Los Angeles, are both expected to top the Black Tower in 2017.)
Aside from Seattle Center and its Space Needle, and the stadiums, Seattle's best-known structure is the Pike Place Market. Think of it as their version of the South Street Seaport and Fulton Fish Market. (Or Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market, Baltimore's Harborplace, or Boston's Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall.) It includes the 1st-ever Starbucks store, which is still open. Downtown, 85 Pike Street at Western Avenue.
The TV show Northern Exposure was filmed in the State of Washington, and Twin Peaks was both filmed and set there: The former in Roslyn (hence, Roslyn's Cafe), about 85 miles southeast of downtown Seattle; the latter in North Bend, about 30 miles east. The science-fiction series Dark Angel, which vaulted Jessica Alba and NCIS' Michael Weatherly to stardom, was set in a dystopian future Seattle, but was filmed in Vancouver. So was The X-Files. So was Millennium. So is Kyle XY. So is Smallville, but that isn't meant to be Seattle.
While Frasier was set in Seattle, and Grey's Anatomy still is, there were hardly any location shots. The same is true for Here Come the Brides, The 4400 and iCarly.
The most obvious film made and set in Seattle is Sleepless in Seattle, and the city was home to Matthew Broderick's and Ally Sheedy's characters in WarGames (in which Broderick's computer hacking has much greater consequences than it would 3 years later in the Chicago-based Ferris Bueller's Day Off).
Singles came along in 1992, at the height of grunge and the rise of Starbucks, which helped make Seattle the hippest city in the country in the years of George Bush the father and Bill Clinton's 1st term -- or, as Jason Alexander put it shortly thereafter on Seinfeld, "It's the pesto of cities." It also reminded us of how good an actor Matt Dillon is, how gorgeous Kyra Sedgwick is, and that Bridget Fonda (daughter of Peter, niece of Jane and granddaughter of Henry) and Campbell Scott (son of George C. and Colleen Dewhurst) were worthy of their genes.
There's also been It Happened at the World's Fair (Elvis playing a visitor to the 1962 Fair), McQ
(John Wayne as a present-day cop in one of his last films, in 1974), The Parallax View, Stakeout, Black Widow, The Fabulous Baker Boys, My Own Private Idaho, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, The Crush, Harry and the Hendersons, 10 Things I Hate About You and Agent Cody Banks. An Officer and a Gentleman was filmed at the naval base in nearby Bremerton.
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So, if you can afford it, it might been nice to go on out and join your fellow Devils fans in watching your team play the Kraken in Seattle. Who knows, maybe, one day, Knicks or Nets vs. Sonics will be available again.
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