Seattle

Extra time in Seattle? Where to go, what to do.

This is an ever-so-slightly version of the Seattle guide for business travelers we put together for CNBC.

Courtesy Visit Seattle,

Starbucks, Amazon, Costco Wholesale, Microsoft and many other major companies call the greater Seattle-area home.

So it’s no surprise that Visit Seattle reports that at times 25% of the city’s more than 14,000 downtown hotel rooms are filled with business travelers in town to take meetings and make deals.

If you’re in the Emerald City with a few spare hours after a meeting, these tips and ideas might help you make the most of your time in a city well-known for its caffeine-fueled culture, its seafood and its green spaces.

Downtown Seattle

Take a pre-meeting walk or run through the Seattle Art Museum’s 9-acre waterfront Olympic Sculpture Park (Admission: free; adjacent to Myrtle Edwards Park) and be rewarded with views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound while passing artwork by Richard Serra, Louise Nevelson, Alexander Calder and many others.

Or show up early at the historic Pike Place Market to stroll by fruit, vegetable, seafood and craft vendors setting up before the crowds arrive; especially during cruise season, which runs May through September. Guided tours and downloadable Market walking guides are available.

Starbucks’ first store opened in the Market in 1971 and you can grab a coffee, get a souvenir, and take a selfie at the 1st & Pike store that recreates the ground(s)-breaking first branch.

Better yet, skip the Starbucks (you can drink that at home) and pop into one of Seattle’s many independent coffee shops. Seattle Coffee Works (108 Pine Street), Victrola (3rd and Pine) and Storyville Coffee (1st & Pike; Top floor of the Corner Market bldg.) are all nearby.

For breakfast, grab a pastry at Le Panier, the Market’s French bakery. Or order a Dungeness Crab Omelet or Hangtown Fry with oysters at Lowell’s, a casual Market mainstay ($$) with a waterfront view that’s been “Almost Classy since 1957.”

Tip: Don’t miss the MarketFront public plaza, overlooking the newly revitalized downtown waterfront area. And be sure to bring along some quarters to view the odd and outsize shoes displayed behind sideshow-style curtains at the Giant Shoe Museum in the Market’s “down under” shopping area, next to Old Seattle Paperworks.

From the Market, head downhill (use the Pike Street HillClimb or take the elevators from the parking garage) to the Seattle waterfront, which is lined with restaurants, shops and attractions that include the Seattle Aquarium, the Seattle Great Wheel and the flying ride Wings Over Washington. An underground tunnel recently replaced a noisy double-decker freeway running along and above the waterfront and new park and public spaces are being developed in what is already a much quieter and far more pleasant part of the city to visit.

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop – photo Harriet Baskas

Tip: Tucked in among the waterfront shops selling mugs, magnets and Sleepless in Seattle nightshirts (still!) is the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop on Pier 54, which dates back to1899. Part souvenir store/part cabinet of wonder, the shop’s displays include natural history oddities and can’t-look-away objects that include shrunken heads, mummies and a four-legged chicken.

Want to see more traditional art?

Courtesy Visit Seattle

More than 200 works of public art dot Seattle’s downtown neighborhoods. This guide will lead you to them. The Seattle Public Library system’s 11-story glass and steel Central Library building (between 4th and 5th Avenues and Madison & Spring Streets) is a must-see stop for fans of architecture and, of course, books. Designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and LMN Architects, the building has a multi-floor “Book Spiral,” one all-red floor and great viewing spots from the 10th-floor reading room.

The Seattle Art Museum (Admission: $29.99, including all exhibits) has a permanent collection of more than 25,000 works of art. SAM is free the first Thursday of each month and many downtown hotels offer packages that include museum passes for special exhibitions.

Tip: Save your SAM ticket. Should you have extra time, your Seattle Art Museum ticket is good for entry (within a week) to the Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The museum reopens February 8 after a $56 million renovation.

Fun at the former fairgrounds

Courtesy Space Needle LLC

The site of the 1962 World’s Fair is now a 74-acre urban park known as Seattle Center. You can walk there from the downtown core, but it’s faster and more fun to take the 2-minute ride on the Seattle Center Monorail, another souvenir of the fair. Board at Westlake Center Mall (5th Avenue and Pine St.)

In addition to free attractions, such as the International Fountain, Seattle Center offers time-pressed visitors a cluster of worthy activities to choose from, including the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), which will appeal to fans of music and science fiction, and the Pacific Science Center, which is ideal if your family is in tow. Artist Dale Chihuly’s creations and collections fill eight color-filled galleries at Chihuly Garden and Glass and spill into the adjacent Collections Café, which has Dungeness crab cakes and other Northwest fare on the menu and is a charming and convenient place to stop for lunch ($$).

Seattle’s 605-foot-tall Space Needle, another, now iconic space-age souvenir of the 1962 World’s Fair, is at Seattle Center too. The Space Needle has two recently renovated observation decks, including one with the world’s only revolving glass floor.

Tips:Chihuly Garden and Glass and the Space Needle are often crowded, but both offer discounts for visits during less crowded off-hours. The 902-foot-tall downtown Sky View Observatory is a less expensive, less crowded alternative to the Space Needle.

Courtesy State Hotel

Where to Stay:

Many business travelers land at Seattle’s large convention-friendly properties such as the Hyatt Regency (1260 guestrooms) and the Sheraton Grand Seattle (1236 guestrooms). Seattle also has a growing list of hip, boutique properties such as the 90-room State Hotel, with a rooftop terrace, wall of doorknobs and colorful multi-story mural and the Hotel Theodore where rooms and hallways are decorated with artifacts and images curated by Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry.

Where to eat

Seattle has an exciting and evolving dining and drinking scene, with many nationally known venues and chefs. Here are just a few to check out.

Start – or end – the evening with a cocktail at restaurateur Renee Erickson’s below-ground, curio-filled Deep Dive in the Amazon Spheres. The menu at this speakeasy-style bar includes upscale classic cocktails, rare spirits and creative concoctions with names such as Mixtape, Hans Solo, Curiosity Killed and Love through Space and Time.

There are excellent breweries. brewpubs and distilleries in many Seattle’s neighborhoods and a good selection right downtown, including Pike Place Brewing’s Pike Pub, Old Stove Brewing and Copperworks Distilling Co.

Move on to a downtown dinner at Loulay Kitchen & Bar in the Sheraton Grand Seattle (6th and Pike). The creation of Thierry Rautureau, “The Chef in The Hat,” Loulay’s menu favorites include French cuisine classics, crab fritters, seafood stew, sturgeon and cheeseburgers topped with duck egg or foie gras. ($$$).

Tip: If you haven’t quite mastered the art of dining out alone, make a reservation for Loulay’s balcony level table for one, which overlooks the busy restaurant and the kitchen.

To impress visitors, Brian McGowan, CEO of Greater Seattle Partners books dinner at “the legendary Canlis, whose view, cuisine and service are equally amazing.” The iconic fine-dining destination has views of Seattle, Lake Union and the Cascade mountain range and four course dinners for $135/person.

And what about the rain?

Yes, Seattle has a well-deserved reputation for being gray and drizzly. But the city’s annual average precipitation of 38.17” is less than Boston (43.13”), Houston (51.12”), Miami (59.61”) and New York (45.73”). More drizzles than downpours just give Seattle more days of moist and cloudy weather. 

Tip: You won’t see many locals carrying umbrellas. To blend in, pack a rain jacket, a cap and wear water-resistant shoes.

Seattle’s Space Needle gets a reboot

Seattle’s space-age inspired Space Needle marked a milestone in its $100 million makeover this week, with the unveiling of the first batch of specially-slanted clear glass benches on the outdoor Observation Deck at the 520-foot level.

The benches, dubbed “Skyrisers” are attached to some of the viewing deck’s newly-installed 11-foot tall glass windows and invite visitors to lean back and snap selfies that will make them appear to be floating out over the landscape.

Courtesy Space Needle LLC

Over the past year, while the Observation Deck remained open to the public, construction workers replaced the view-obstructing but structurally-necessary half wall and caging installed when the 605-foot-tall Space Needle was built – in just 400 days – as a centerpiece for the World’s Fair held in Seattle in 1962.

“We needed to update some of the aging mechanical and electrical systems in this 56-year-old building originally designed to look like a flying saucer on a stick,” said Karen Olson, chief marketing officer for Space Needle LLC, “And we figured, while we’re up there, let’s update the experience and expand the view.”

Seattle-based design firm Olson Kundig, the project architect, maintained the landmarked features of the building while significantly opening up the Observation Deck view with 48 floor-to-ceiling glass windows that are each 7 feet wide and 11 feet high.

The group also added direct viewing lines to the outside for everyone who steps off the elevator, a state-of-the art ADA lift that (finally) makes the outdoor deck fully accessible, an indoor café and the newly unveiled inclined glass “Skyrisers” that will make a trip to the top of the Space Needle super selfie-worthy.

While ten glass benches were unveiled this week in time for Memorial Day visitors, Space Needle officials say all 24 of the Observation Deck’s planned Skyrisers should be installed by the end of June.

Next phase: World’s first rotating glass floor

When the Space Needle opened at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962, it featured a rotating restaurant on the 500-foot level, just below the Observation Deck, that operated on turntable powered first by a 1 horsepower and, later, a 1.5 horsepower motor. (While novel, it wasn’t the world’s first rotating restaurant. That honor goes to a restaurant that operated in the Ala Moana shopping mall in Hawaii.)

Over the years there have been three different restaurant concepts in the rotating space and, when the current makeover is completed, there will be a fourth.

In the meantime, construction workers have built a grand, open circular staircase to connect the two decks and replaced the original rotating floor on the lower-deck with a 37-ton glass floor that is being billed as the world’s only rotating glass floor (in a building open to visitors).

Inspired by the (non-rotating) glass floor the Eiffel Tower opened in 2014 on its 1st floor, 187 feet above the ground and by the glass floors at Chicago’s Willis Tower and the Grand Canyon Skywalk, the rotating glass floor at the Space Needle will offer visitors a view down at the fountain, the green spaces and museums on the 74-acre Seattle Center grounds. The mechanics of the new turntable, now powered by a series of 12 motors, will also be visible through the see-floor flooring.

Space Needle officials expect the rotating glass floor (and wine bar) on the lower deck to be ready for visitors by the July 4th weekend. Details about the new restaurant concept to occupy the space are expected to be announced this fall.

Planning a visit

Admission: Entry costs for the Space Needle usually shift (up) to summer pricing on the Memorial Day weekend, but because the makeover is not fully complete on the upper deck, off-season/preview pricing of $26 for adults, $22 for seniors (65+) and $17 for kids (ages 5-12) is still in effect.

Around July 4, when both the upper deck (with the open-air observation area) and the lower deck (with the rotating glass floor) are open, admission prices will go up to $29 for adults; $24 for seniors and $22 for kids.

Discounted admission may be available with bundled attraction passes or some auto club and other organization memberships.

When to go:  More than 1.3 million people visit the Space Needle each year, and lines can be especially long during the busy summer tourist season. The attraction is likely to get even more popular now that the Observation Deck renovations are nearing completion and once the rotating glass floor feature opens.

Consider purchasing a timed entry ticket online and visiting first thing in the morning (the Observation Deck opens at 9 a.m. Monday to Thursday and at 8 a.m. Friday through Sunday) or at the end of the evening: closing time is 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 12 a.m. Friday to Sunday, with the last entry 30 minutes prior to closing.

To get a unique view of the iconic 650-foot-tall Space Needle, plan a visit to the Sky View Observatory on the 73rd floor of the Columbia Tower, in downtown Seattle. At nearly 1000 feet, the observatory is the tallest public viewing area in the Pacific Northwest.

(My story about the reboot of the Seattle Space Needle first appeared on USA TODAY).

 

New exhibit at Sea-Tac Airport honors the Berlin Airlift

An exhibit honoring the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift opens today at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with a ceremony honoring four Washington State veterans who participated in the airlift.

(A view of the “Friends Always” exhibition at a stop in Delaware. Photo: German Embassy)

The traveling exhibit “The Berlin Airlift – A Legacy of Friendship” commemorates what many agree is one of the greatest humanitarian efforts of all time, when U.S. and Allied forces saved more than two million men, women and children in Berlin during a Soviet Union blockade beginning in 1948.

More than 60 photo panels will be on display through December 31st next to the Airport Office Building elevators on the south end of the Seattle airport ticketing Level. After that, the exhibit moves over to Seattle’s Museum of Flight and, later in January, to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Meyers. To learn more about the exhibition and find out if it will be on display at an airport or museum near you, check the dedicated “Friends Always” page