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Destination: Fremont
Destination: Capitol Hill
Destination: Belltown
Start with Fremont, a quirky neighborhood northwest of the Lake Union Ship
Canal, on the other side of Queen Anne Hill from downtown. Fremont is sometimes
like a world unto itself -- in fact, it declared independence from Seattle
proper back in 1994:
Also, in case you hadn't heard, Fremont is the Center of the Universe. Honest.
There's even a signpost at Fremont Avenue and North 34th Street marking the
exact spot around which the cosmos revolves.
It's just one of several, um, intriguing pieces of public art for which the
neighborhood is known. Just a couple of blocks away, underneath the Aurora
Avenue Bridge at North 36th Street is the Fremont Troll. Built bylocal artisans
in 1991, it's a larger-than-life sculpture of a giant eating an actual
Volkswagen Beetle.
Over at 36th and Evanston, is an authentic, Soviet-era
statue of Lenin, rescued
from destruction in Eastern Europe when the U.S.S.R. fell. Also nearby is the Fremont
rocket ship, a neon-festooned landmark built from the remains of an old launch
vehicle.
The most famous, by far, is ""Waiting for the Interurban," a tableaux of six aluminum
commuters (and one human-faced dog) waiting patiently for a commuter train that
stopped running decades ago. What makes it special, though, are the thematic
decorations with which local residents adorn the statues throughout the year. On
a summer day, they may sport Hawaiian shirts and parasols; at Christmastime,
it'll be wreaths and Santa hats; during the University of Washington's
homecoming, it'll be purple and gold Husky paraphernalia.
Besides the artwork and the nexus of reality, Fremont also boasts a number of
clubs, restaurants, shops, galleries and a Sunday outdoor market where artisans
and farmers hawk their wares.
Directly east of downtown, up the steep grade, is Capitol Hill. One businessman
calls it "the living room of Seattle."
A Seattle Post-Intelligencer profile of the neighborhood described it thusly:
"Capitol Hill is a giggly friend with spiked hair and a pierced navel. She
traces bronze dance steps on sidewalks and tempts you to buy retro clothes from
her shop windows.
Capitol Hill is a hangout for the hip, and a hopping, 24-hour neighborhood rich
with clubs, shops and, um, interesting people. Most of the action centers around
Broadway, the main drag; specifically, the stretch between Seattle Central
Community College on the south and Harvard Street on the north.
Branch out a little further to the north, and you'll reach Lakeview Cemetery,
one of the city's historic graveyards. It's the final resting place for martial-
arts star Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon. Their graves have drawn pilgrims from
around the world.
Belltown is the northwest sector of downtown Seattle, lying between the Pike
Place Market and the Seattle Center. This is the center of the city's club and
nightlife scene, home to establishments such as the Crocodile Cafe (2200 Second
Ave.), Jazz Alley (2033 6th Ave.), The Downunder (2407 First Ave.), the Tiki
god-strewn Lava Lounge (2226 Second Ave.) and, of course, Sit and Spin (2219
Fourth Ave.), offspring of a forbidden tryst between a bar, alternative music
stage and laundromat.
And there's the Speakeasy Cafe, Seattle's original Internet cafe, whose lounge
is also a well-known venue for nearly famous and soon-to-be-famous local bands.
Sometimes the most offbeat locations can be tucked away inside an otherwise
conventional neighborhood.
If you're looking for a unique gift to take back home, Seattle has many
distinctively local (and distinctively offbeat) retailers. Among the most
venerable is Archie McPhee's in Fremont at 3510 Stone Way N. Its stock of off-
kilter knick-knacks and toys includes everything from rubber creepy-crawlies to
boxing-nun puppets.
Closer to the convention grounds, there's Ruby Montana's Pinto Pony in Pioneer
Square at 603 Second Avenue. This establishment deals in kitschy memorabilia
from earlier decades.
Gargoyle Statuary in the University District (4550 University Way N.E.) deals in
all manner of stone grotesqueries, ranging in size from business card holders to
massive centerpieces for the unconventional landscaper.
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There's more to Seattle than lakes, lattes and lutefisk. Call it Fringe Seattle,
not quite underground but still a bit off the mainstream, a mile or two left of
center. This isn't the Seattle most tourists get to see, but it gets closer to
the heart and soul of this Northwest city than the bland urban malls of
downtown.