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There is no other attraction in Seattle that shows so many different qualities of a city and its people. Anyone descending on the Market to stroll by innumerable stalls of seafood, fresh produce, crafts, and flower bouquets can feel the rapid pulse of a scene that’s all about hard work and hustle. Today, the Market is famous for its salmon-throwing fishmongers and street musicians who entertain tourists daily.

Elliott Bay Book Company

Fish-flinging fishmongers

Designed by Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, the imposing sandstone and limestone edifice houses an enviable permanent collection of about 23,000 pieces. The African collection inspires with traditional sculpture, masks, textiles, basketry, and decorative arts. In 1991, Seattle Art Museum acquired the John Hauberg Collection, one of the most prized examples of Northwest Coastal Native American art, comprising nearly 200 artifacts from British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, and Oregon.

If you happen to be near the Seattle Art Museum on First Avenue and need to get down to the waterfront, try the Harbor Steps. A street’s abrupt end has been turned into a wide-open stairway landscaped with water sculpture and planters. The steps are spacious and an ideal urban meeting place, located below a nouveau luxury apartment complex in the heart of an ever-changing downtown Seattle. Countless restaurant and nightlife options abound in the vicinity.

Straddling Interstate 5 in a miraculous feat of engineering, the Washington State Convention Center is located within easy walking distance of the city’s best shops, hotels, and restaurants. Marvel at the center’s 90-ft (27-m) wide glass canopy bridge that frames views to Elliott Bay and to the historic Pike-Pine neighborhood. Adjoining is Freeway Park, where blossoms delight visitors in spring and waterfalls mask the sounds of traffic flowing on all sides.

The sleek, three-tiered black skyscraper that dominates Seattle’s skyline might have been even taller, but for an order to reduce the ultimate height from the Federal Aviation Administration. To break a record for most floors in any one building, the builder kept the original 76 stories but reduced the ceiling heights to compensate. The 1985 building has an observation deck on the 73rd floor that offers panoramic views of Elliott Bay and Mount Rainier. (see Bank of America).

Find art galleries, intricate Victorian architecture, bookstores, and cafés in a constantly changing National Historic District. Pioneer Square’s 20-block neighborhood became Seattle’s commercial center during the boom years of logging, fishing, railroads, and Klondike Gold Rush economies. An exclusive 90-minute underground tour (see Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour) offers a lively look at the 19th-century storefronts that were periodically flooded by tides from Elliott Bay until street levels were raised. Key sights include the Smith Tower, Elliott Bay Book Co. and Café, and an art walk on the first Thursday night of each month.

Completed in 2004, the new downtown library is a work of art. Nearly 8,000 patrons per day benefit from more than 1.45 million books and reference materials, Internet access, spacious areas for children, and over 400 public computers. The art collection alone is worth $1 million.

In May 2004, Monorail services were suspended due to a fire on one of the original trains. Hopefully in the not-too-distant future you’ll be able to hop aboard once again to experience the future of mass transit from the perspective of engineers who built the elevated rail as an attraction for the 1962 World’s Fair. The Monorail travels speedily and nonstop for 1.2 miles (2 km) between Seattle Center and Westlake Center. (see Monorail & Monorail.

Pedestrians are welcomed with an explosion of shops, clubs, cafés, high-rise luxury condos, and fine restaurants. This upscale neighborhood was named in the 1970s after a pioneer, William M. Bell. In those days, Belltown attracted sailors on shore leave, artists seeking inexpensive loft spaces, and ragtag urban dwellers. But it was the dot.com boom of the 1990s that changed everything by engendering a commercial revival for the neighborhood. Remnants of old Belltown include a few well-preserved façades.

Sightseeing between Belltown and Pioneer Square is a piece of cake, thanks to the Bus Tunnel and the Ride Free Zone (see Metro Bus Tunnel). A 1.3-mile (2-km) long tunnel reserved for buses serves thousands of riders daily. If you choose not to walk, either hop on a street level bus within the Zone (checking in with the driver, of course) or look for entrances to the five stations of the Bus Tunnel.