Seattle Underground Tour
Hilarious Historic Tour Under Seattle's Sidewalks
Seattle, "the emerald city", has restored Pioneer square so that it is a delight of open spaces and marvelous old buildings. However, the area is the original "skid row" named after an area where logs were skidded down to the waterfront to be milled and shipped. And under the modernistic sculptures, cobbled streets, and colorful buildings lurks a dark underground maze, a hidden warren from Seattle's seamy past.
Pioneer Square
Seattle's Pioneer Square, today a popular tourist destination of cobbled streets and trendy shops, is a story in itself. After a fire in 1889 razed most of downtown, rebuilding was rapid. When the town fathers solved a long-standing drainage problem by raising the streets, the so-called solution left the ground floor of adjacent buildings well below street level. For a time, stairways kept customer traffic flowing, but later gangways were built to doors cut onto the second floor and the stairs were no longer used. After a time the lower levels were simply sealed over. And, eventually, forgotten.
Bill Speidel as Indiana Jones
By 1954, according to the official Underground Tour website, the existence of "passageways beneath the city" was little more an urban legend. Local newspaperman and colorful character Bill Speidel, as part of a program to have Pioneer Square designated a historical site, also poked into the hidden history below the sidewaks. "The city's birthplace lay virtually undisturbed, like the ruins of Pompeii, for nearly two-thirds of a century, before it occurred to anyone that it might be a good idea to preserve it. "
Speidel organized a petition that preserved the region. In the process, he wound up creating and conducting the first tours of the Seattle underground in 1965. True to his 'colorful character' image, he regaled his tour customers with tales from Seattle's history. Thanks to his newspaper background, some may even have been at least partly true.
The Underground Cafe
The cafe is actually next to the tour ticket office on First Ave. The tour starts here with a twenty-minute history of the area (summarized above) and a chance to use the toilets (the ones underground, the guide regrets, are not functional). Bill's tall tale tradition is carried on and visitors are warned that some places in the tour will smell bad, and the others will smell worse.
Start at Doc Maynard's Public House
The tour proper starts at Doc Maynard's, a restored 1890s pub. In more recent times, it's become a trendy blues bar for twenty-somethings...perhaps the same type of crowd that frequented it in the 1890s, with honky-tonk instead of blues.
A Walk Through Pioneer Square
From there, the tour wanders along the sidewalks of the historic district, where the guides continue their patter. Then it's down into areas which have been unoccupied since 1907, when they were closed due to a rat problem. Something about a bubonic plague outbreak. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe today. Just watch out for rats. And spiders. And cockroaches. (Guide humor).
Underground in Seattle
Crumbling brick, decaying wood, rusting iron, and flaking plaster are the chief elements of decore, with the occasional streak of moss as a highlight. No surprise, given the age of the surroundings. The run-down look is carefully enhanced with strategically displayed junque such as old tools, for the antique fans.
There are some interesting items - a flowered toilet (the guide explains Seattle's sewage problems and the ebb and flow of Puget Sound's tides...), an old bank, intricate iron scrollwork, tiled signs. Dioramas and displays supplement the spiel. Period machinery such as a still remind visitors of the wilder days when brothels, gambling halls, and drinking dens flourished in the underground.
Rogues Gallery
The tour finishes at The Rogues Gallery, a gift shop where the visitor is encouraged to acquire souvenirs, including Bill Seidel's books.
Making the Underground Tour Safer
As the tour has gained popularity (and as city administrators studied risk management), the underground structures have been modified somewhat. Staircases have been strengthened, walkways built, guardrails installed. The underground structures have been refurbished and made more visually appealing.
Call it 'grunge chic'. Call it humorous history. Call it fun.
Underground Bank, Vault Door on Right
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Downtown Seattle, the Space Needle
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Door and Windows Once at Ground Level in Seattle
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