Pike Street is an east-west street in Seattle. It extends from
Pike Place above Seattle's saltwater waterfront at
Elliott Bay
Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s an ...
through
Downtown Seattle
Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...
, across
Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
to the freshwater shore of
Lake Washington
Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle.
It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...
at
Lake Washington Boulevard
Lake Washington Boulevard is a scenic, approximately , road through Seattle, Washington, that hugs Lake Washington for much of the route. There are views of the lake, small sections of rainforest, meadows, and views of the Cascade mountains. At ...
. A segment less than a block long exists at
Alaskan Way
Alaskan Way, originally Railroad Avenue, is a street in Seattle, Washington, that runs along the Elliott Bay waterfront from just north of S. Holgate Street in the Industrial District—south of which it becomes East Marginal Way S.— to Broad S ...
on Elliott Bay, connected to the rest of the street only by the pedestrian Pike Street Hillclimb; the bottom of the hillclimb under the
Alaskan Way Viaduct
The Alaskan Way Viaduct ("the viaduct" for short) was an elevated freeway in Seattle, Washington, United States, that carried a section of State Route 99 (SR 99). The double-decked freeway ran north–south along the city's waterfront for , ...
was the original shoreline of the city before major modification and construction of the
Seattle Seawall. It is included in the south-to-north mnemonic "Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest" for the
street layout of Seattle
The street layout of Seattle is based on a series of disjointed rectangular street grids. Most of Seattle and King County use a single street grid, oriented on true north. Near the center of the city, various land claims were platted in the 19t ...
.
History and culture
![Pike St from near 1st Ave, Seattle, Washington, ca 1891 (LAROCHE 28)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Pike_St_from_near_1st_Ave%2C_Seattle%2C_Washington%2C_ca_1891_%28LAROCHE_28%29.jpeg)
The street was one of the original named streets of Seattle in
Arthur A. Denny
Arthur Armstrong Denny (June 20, 1822 – January 9, 1899) was one of the founders of Seattle, Washington,, Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society (WSHS). Accessed online 8 March 2008. the acknowledged leader of the pioneer Den ...
's 1869 platting. It was named by him for John Pike, architect and builder of the
Washington Territorial University in what is now the
Metropolitan Tract of downtown Seattle. Until the early 20th century
Denny Regrade
The Denny Triangle is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, that stretches north of the central business district to the grounds of Seattle Center. Its generally flat terrain was originally a steep hill, taken down as part of a ...
leveled Denny Hill, it was the easiest way from the waterfront to Lake Union, and the main street of the north end of the city (boundaries now defined roughly by Downtown Seattle).
In 1872, Seattle's first railroad, Seattle Coal & Transportation Company, followed Pike Street to deliver
Newcastle, King County coal to Elliott Bay transshipped via Lake Washington and Lake Union. It lasted until 1878 when
Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad
The Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad (earlier Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad and Transportation Company) was a narrow gauge railroad and was the first proper railroad to serve Seattle, Washington, preceded only by horse-drawn rail vehicles an ...
built a direct line from the fields, around the lake and through Renton.
The Pike–Pine corridor on Capitol Hill was once the city's center for automobile sales. After this moved to the suburbs, rents declined and it became a hub for gay culture and Seattle's
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
scene. Gentrification the 21st century brought increasing property values.
Crime
''
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...
'' said, "For decades, the Pike-Pine corridor between First and Third avenues has been known for run-down buildings, parking lots prone to drug deals and heroin addicts ... effectively a dam separating
Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market is a public market in Seattle, Washington, United States. It opened on August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States. Overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront on Pu ...
and its 9 million annual visitors from the city's shopping and convention areas". In the 21st century, Second and Third Avenues between the same two streets has a similar reputation. The Seattle Business Association CEO said "drug dealers sort of own the real estate in that part of downtown" and the mayor called it "a dangerous open-air drug market" with 10,000 calls for police response in one year, according to the city and the FBI. The U.S. Department of Justice cited "what has become an open air drug market at Pike/Pine and Third Avenue in downtown Seattle" in 2015.
Public square
Westlake Park Westlake Park can mean:
*Westlake Park (Seattle), a park in Seattle, Washington
* MacArthur Park, formerly Westlake Park, in Los Angeles, California
*Westlake Park (Houston)
Westlake Park is a office complex located in the Energy Corridor, Housto ...
between Pike and Pine Streets is a public square in the downtown retail area. The park and surrounding streets have been the site of the exercise of
free speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been ...
, marches and protests including the
1999 Seattle WTO protests
The 1999 Seattle WTO protests, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Seattle, were a series of protests surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, when members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened at the Washington State Con ...
,
Occupy Seattle
Occupy Seattle was a series of demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, United States in 2011 and 2012, that formed part of the wider Occupy movement taking place in numerous U.S. and world cities at that time. The demonstrations were particular ...
in 2011,
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...
annual protests since 2014, and
Women's March on Seattle
The Women's March on Seattle (stylized as the Womxn's March on Seattle) was the Seattle affiliate of the worldwide 2017 Women's March protest on January 21, 2017. Newspapers including ''The Seattle Times'' said it was Seattle's largest protest mar ...
in 2017.
[ The park contains a ]Speakers' Corner
A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, England. Historically there were a number of other areas design ...
.
Retail and tourism
5th Avenue and Pike is the heart of the Seattle downtown shopping district, the Pike–Pine retail corridor, which includes Westlake Center
Westlake Center is a four-story shopping center and 25-story office tower in downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The southern terminus of the Seattle Center Monorail, it is located across Pine Street from Westlake Park, between 4th and ...
and Pacific Place, both of which are on blocks touching Pike Street. Smaller notable retail establishments on the street include historic landmark
Coliseum Theater (the city's first movie theater) and Monorail Espresso (the world's first espresso cart, now in a permanent location), both downtown; and Elysian Brewing Company
The Elysian Brewing Company is an American brewery, owned by AB InBev, that operates two pubs and a taproom in Seattle.
History
Elysian was founded in 1995 by Dave Buhler, Joe Bisacca, and Dick Cantwell. Cantwell had been a homebrewer who gained ...
and Elliott Bay Books either on the street or on blocks bounded by the street on Capitol Hill. The original REI
Rei or REI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Rei, a story arc of the anime ''Higurashi When They Cry''
*Rei, a shapeshifting godlike dragon in the Australian webcomic series ''Vainglorious''
*Rei I, II and III, episodes of ''Neon Genesis Eva ...
store was also on a Capitol Hill block bounded by Pike and Pine until it relocated in the 1990s. The intersection of Pike and Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
on Capitol Hill is the south end of another business district represented by the Broadway Improvement Area, authorized by city ordinance.
The Washington State Convention Center
The Seattle Convention Center (SCC), formerly the Washington State Convention Center (WSCC), is a convention center in Seattle, Washington, United States. It consists of several exhibition halls and meeting rooms in buildings along Pike Stree ...
straddles Pike Street at 7th Avenue and the two sections are spanned by a skybridge crossing over Pike, the convention center's "signature element" but one that was controversial when built, due to its obstruction of views of Elliott Bay
Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s an ...
from Capitol Hill, and other architectural and public space considerations.
Gay culture
In the 21st century the street remains the "epicenter of Seattle's gay culture". According to one guide, Seattle's gay neighborhood is "centered on Pike Street between Belmont Avenue and 18th Avenue".
People street
Pike was an experimental "people street", or temporary pedestrian zone
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...
, in a city program begun in 2015. It was temporarily closed to automobile traffic and opened to exclusive pedestrian, business and community uses that included yoga classes, in-street cafe dining, arts and crafts fairs, a fashion show, and other activities. The program was repeated several times in 2016 and 2017.
References
Sources
* . Online selection from Karl Samson (2006), ''Frommer's Seattle 2006'' itle incremented annually each January Wiley, .
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External links
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{{Authority control
1869 establishments in Washington Territory
Streets in Seattle