Seattle, the Emerald City

Seattle, Washington, is often called the Emerald City, or the Jewel of the Pacific Northwest. Like a beautiful jewel in an expensive ring, Seattle is in an exquisite setting: it is surrounded by green hills and the water of Puget Sound.

An Enterprising Town

At first, Seattle's circumstances did not seem too promising. Although Seattle had an excellent port, it was far from the rest of the United States. But Seattleites were enterprising: They were determined that Seattle would one day be another New York and were willing to work to make their city great. They took whatever opportunities came their way. For example, in the mid-nineteenth century, San Francisco burned down six times in less than two years. Each time, San Francisco rebuilt with wood from Seattle.

Seattleites with faith in their city were rewarded at the end of the century. The railroad finally reached Seattle, linking it to the rest of the country. Then, one day in 1897, a ship pulled into Seattle with news that gold had been discovered in Alaska. The thousands who went to Alaska left from, and came back to, Seattle. Seattle became wealthy as a result of the gold rush.

In the early part of the twentieth century, a man who wanted to make airplanes started a company in Seattle. For lack of work, the company often made furniture in its early days. Now, however, The Boeing Company has more orders for planes than it can handle.

Visiting Seattle

If you visit Seattle, you can tour a Boeing factory where jumbo jets are assembled. The building is so large that, if conditions are not properly controlled, rain clouds can form near the roof!

To see Seattle as it used to be, take an "underground tour" at Pioneer Square. After a fire in the late nineteenth century, businesses were in a hurry to reopen. So the street level was raised and new stores were built. Under the new street, the old stores remained. You can still explore these stores.

To do real shopping, however, you might want to visit Pike Place Farmer's Market, the oldest open-air market in the United States. The market, which overlooks the water, has buildings that are on stilts and twist here and there. The market is also one of Seattle's liveliest places; everyone shops there. In the 1970s there was a proposal to tear down the market and put up high-rise apartments. The people of Seattle rejected this idea.

Seattle has strong ties to Asia, as is apparent from its International District (ID). Many of the people living in this neighborhood are from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other countries of Asia. The ID has Chinese and Japanese restaurants, a huge Japanese supermarket, an Asian-American museum, and a park named Kobe, after Seattle's Japanese sister city.

Seattle's harbor has ferries that will take you around Puget Sound. Many people actually use the ferries to commute each day to Seattle. If you have time, you can take a ferry to the beautiful city of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada. Or you can travel through the San Juan Islands, in the northern part of the sound. There are 172 islands!

A Livable City

Not surprisingly, Seattle has often been called America's most livable city. It's a large city, with plenty of jobs and excitement; yet it also has a small-town atmosphere, with friendly people. It has fine theaters, and yet it also has water and mountains.

Seattleites no longer wish their city were more like New York. Ironically, it is in danger of becoming so.

Limits to Growth?

In the 1980s, the word spread that Seattle was the place to live. People began moving to Seattle - from the East Coast, from the Midwest, and especially from California. They wanted to get away from traffic, crowds, pollution, and crime.

Soon Seattle's prices increased dramatically. Crowds, pollution, and crime also increased. The new slogan in Seattle became "Have a nice day - somewhere else." Instead of defending their city when outsiders complained about its rain, Seattleites began to exaggerate about how much rain there was.

How can a city handle growth? This is the question Seattle must now deal with.

Randee Falk: Spotlight on the USA; Oxford University Press, 1993, page 137 ff.