Seattle keeps transforming itself
Seattle today: So many changes, and Knute Berger highlights the differences through comparisons to the past.
Chethan Shankar
Since we’ve got a year or two to go until the Mayan calendar runs out, there’s still a chance to think reflectively before the end of the world. There’s no denying that world has been changing, and so, too, our corner of it. Today’s Seattle is not the old Seattle that we knew.
I’ve been sifting through our civic storage unit and have come up with a list that documents the changes. January is a good time to make such lists, because we can see clearly where we’ve been and where we are. It’s up to you to determine where we’re going in 2011.
Old Seattle: Anyone out after 10 p.m. is up to no good. New Seattle: A 24-hour city.
Old Seattle: Free downtown street parking. New Seattle: Bikes rule!
Old Seattle: Dick’s, Dag’s and Herfy’s. New Seattle: The $12 burger at Luc.
Old Seattle: Deep-fried captain’s platter. New Seattle: Sustainable seafood.
Old Seattle: Dutch babies and Swedish pancakes. New Seattle: Designer cupcakes and doughnuts.
Old Seattle: Gai’s Bakery. New Seattle: Gay friendly.
Old Seattle: Saving the P-I. New Seattle: Saving the P-I globe,
Old Seattle: Hating The Seattle Times’ ridiculous editorials. New Seattle: Hating The Seattle Times’ monopoly on ridiculous editorials.
Old Seattle: Grumpy school nurses. New Seattle: Global health.
Old Seattle: Having a neighbor kid mow your lawn. New Seattle: Growing corn on your parking strip
Old Seattle: Pioneer Square. New Seattle: South Lake Union.
Old Seattle: Fighting over the downtown tunnel. New Seattle: Fighting over the waterfront tunnel.
Old Seattle: Designing the Space Needle on a napkin. New Seattle: Spending millions on a preliminary concept for a new waterfront park.
Old Seattle: Riding the waterfront streetcar. New Seattle: Riding the SLUT and light rail.
Old Seattle: Skirmishes between the city council and the mayor. New Seattle: All-out war between the city council and the mayor.
Old Seattle: Barrels of lutefisk. New Seattle: Ballard condos.
Old Seattle: Moving to Bellevue to escape diversity. New Seattle: Discovering Bellevue has more diversity
Old Seattle: Riding the Wild Mouse in the Fun Forest. New Seattle: Demanding green space at Seattle Center.
Old Seattle: Hydro drivers. New Seattle: Bike anarchists.
Old Seattle: Green Lake Aqua Follies. New Seattle: Sounders and the Storm.
Old Seattle: The dollhouse at the Museum of History & Industry. New Seattle: Eco mini-houses and backyard cottages.
Old Seattle: Vacant lots. New Seattle: Green roofs.
Old Seattle: The Rainier Club. New Seattle: The Cascade Bicycle Club.
Old Seattle: John Keister. New Seattle: Jon Stewart.
Old Seattle: TV weathermen cartooning. New Seattle: Cliff Mass blogging.
Old Seattle: Totem poles. New Seattle: Calder’s “Eagle” at Olympic Sculpture Park.
Old Seattle: J.P. and Gertrude. New Seattle: Dina Martina and Waxie Moon.
Old Seattle: Nordstrom moves to Frederick & Nelson. New Seattle: Elliott Bay Book Co. moves to Capitol Hill.
Old Seattle: Filling swamps creates new neighborhoods. New Seattle: Restoring wetlands creates salmon habitat.
Old Seattle: Fines for jaywalking. New Seattle: Fines for not recycling.
Old Seattle: Flushing the toilet into Lake Washington. New Seattle: Cleaning up toxins in the Duwamish River.
Old Seattle: Mariners, Seahawks and Sonics suck. New Seattle: Mariners, Seahawks and Huskies suck.
Old Seattle: Say “Seattle” and the chief will roll over in his grave. New Seattle: Say “Seattle” and people think “tiny island of liberal dysfunction.”
This article originally appeared in the December issue of Seattle Magazine.
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Comments:
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 7:45 a.m. Inappropriate
Very good list Knute! I'm sure we can all add to it.
But underlying all this old and new, are the phases that we have gone through to get where we are, for better or worse.
In the 60's and 70's we were a local community doing things for ourselves like cleaning up Lake Washington and Forward thrust Bond Issues.
In the 80's we looked outside our local boundaries and decided to go after national recognition, copying every design and redevelopment trend that was hot somewhere else. This was the beginning of turning out back on what made us unique.
In the 90's, the international scene was our target further taking us away from our character-giving-featurs which took us 150 years to create.
And now, in the new century, we have lost our ability to see what we were or what was important. We adopted global ideals and have a citizenry that wasn't here 30-40 years ago, and has no memory of how we got to where we are.
Everything is up for grabs. Seattle is no longer a "city for all" but a "city for the wealthy and tourists". Our declining school age population is a clear casualty of this trend to move families to the surrounding smaller cities and beyond.
The lower income populations are hanging on by a thread, but mostly heading to South King County and Pierce county.
And the beat goes on!
One way to slow this down, it to educat the new population to what we were and how we got here. It should be a requirement when taking out a mortgage or signing a rental lease. A lecture series or on line course on social activism in Seattle!
After all, when you buy/rent into Seattle, one is investing in the character and future of the City. How else will we begin to create future leaders that understand Seattle's special history, activism and accomplishments as well as it's failures.
Otherwise, we are condemed to repeat our mistakes with ever greater loss of what we all came here for.
Arthur M. Skolnik FAIA
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 8:58 a.m. Inappropriate
Speaking of old Seattle, this reminded me of a Jean Godden column.
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 9:19 a.m. Inappropriate
"Discovering Bellevue has more diversity"
Than it used to?
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 9:22 a.m. Inappropriate
If John Keister is old Seattle, what does that make Bea Donovan?
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 9:24 a.m. Inappropriate
Seattle gets better every year. God I love this place.
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 9:36 a.m. Inappropriate
Old Seattle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones%27_Fantastic_Museum
New Seattle: http://thechildrensmuseum.org/
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 9:47 a.m. Inappropriate
I prefered the old seattle. It was friendlier and more polite.
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 11:09 a.m. Inappropriate
...and you also used to be able to float into Seafair on an inflatable raft with all the beer you could carry!
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 11:47 a.m. Inappropriate
Old Seattle 560,000 (100,000 kids in government school district); new Seattle 630,320 (46,000 kids in gov't school district). These numbers explain most of the Berger list details.
Posted Thu, Jan 27, 12:38 p.m. Inappropriate
While some of that is families moving to the suburbs, and Seattle being expensive....much is simply smaller families, including a much lower birth rate.
Posted Fri, Jan 28, 10 a.m. Inappropriate
Excellent piece Mossy. What you touch on is the transformation of this town in the 1990's from Seattle, WA to just Seattle. With the help of Microsoft, Starbucks, Wamu, Safeco and Sub Pop we, excitedly, took our place with the cities like San Francisco that could shed their state descriptors and emerge as an internationally recognized location.
In that unsteady process of trying to becoming an assured international urban local we went from desperately trying to attract major league sports teams to adapting an LA style, "could care less" regard for one of our sports institutions.
In the ten to fifteen years that followed we found ourselves grappling with the post Boeing, Wamu, Safeco identity crisis that in part fuels the desperation amongst old timers about the real or perceived loss of "friendly" old Seattle, WA.
And thus the current debate. Old Seattle - impatience with newcomers who aren't nice enough. New Seattle - impatience with those who can't effectively look to the future because they resist dealing with the present.
Posted Fri, Jan 28, 1:44 p.m. Inappropriate
cocktails42: No, than most neighborhoods in Seattle.
Posted Fri, Jan 28, 4:21 p.m. Inappropriate
True, Bellevue had the highest foreign-born percentage in Washington last I heard. Something like 1/3.
Posted Sat, Jan 29, 4:36 a.m. Inappropriate
Old Seattle: Never confronting a problem it couldn't further discuss.
New Seattle: Same as the Old Seattle.
Posted Sun, Jan 30, 5:07 p.m. Inappropriate
Why can't anyone over 50 envision something greater for Seattle than what we have (or had)?
Crosscut has too many articles praising the past and criticizing the current state of Seattle. Your CAP Initiative glory days of the 80's were anything but glorious. Glamorizing the Mad Men/Brady Bunch neighborhood design we inherited and encouraging the out-dated social norms we thankfully are shedding just makes you sound bitter and out of touch. Move to Bellingham or Tacoma if you want to live in Seattle 1980.
I moved here in 1982 at the age of six and now do not want my 2 year old daughter to grow up in a Seattle that doesn't make her feel safe as a pedestrian, doesn't allow her to bike to anywhere she needs to go, and doesn't provide her options for a quality education.
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