Seven things you didn’t know about Seattle

Sure, tons of Seattle’s tourist sights (Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, the Space Needle, waterfront, and Great Wheel) are located downtown, and there is plenty to be said for convenience. That said, only around 10% of Seattlites live downtown, so venturing into the surrounding neighborhoods can give you a broader sense of local life in the Pacific northwest. Try the college vibes of the University District, a waterfront walk in West Seattle, or a bite at one of the international restaurants stretching from Chinatown to the Central District.  

Seattle’s version of Lady Liberty isn’t quite as tall as her New York City counterpart, but the waterfront views come with no lines or tickets required. The six-foot-tall statue — donated by the Boy Scouts of America in the 1950s — stands on on Alki Beach in West Seattle, the area where European settlers first landed on the indigenous territory of the local Duwamish tribe. Stop by the free Loghouse Museum, a few blocks inland, for rotating exhibits on local history. 

One beloved piece of public art in the quirky neighborhood of Fremont is tucked underneath the Aurora Bridge. The Fremont Troll took up residence under the bridge in 1989 and has been posing for selfies with a Volkswagen beetle in his hand ever since. He isn’t the only odd sculptural character in the area. An unusual statue of Vladimir Lenin in Fremont  and sculpted people Waiting for the Interurban are often decorated with T-shirts, scarves, and festive symbols of local events. 

Seattle is probably most associated with the grunge music of the 1990s (think Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden), but another guitar god is memorialized throughout the city. Jimi Hendrix grew up around Seattle’s Central District, where a park next to the Northwest African American Museum now bears his name. A bronze statue of Hendrix, portrayed on his knees and mid-guitar riff, sits on Broadway street near Cal Anderson Park downtown. Visitors can also find a Hendrix memorial at the Woodland Park Zoo and exhibits in the Museum of Pop Culture. The music legend’s grave and memorial is at Greenwood Memorial Park in the city of Renton, about a half-hour drive southeast of Seattle.  

Seattle is one of the largest centers of glass art outside of Murano, Italy. Local glass artist Dale Chihuly is a household name around here, with a dedicated sculpture garden near the base of the Space Needle and a Bridge of Glass in the city of Tacoma to the south. To see this delicate art in action, Avalon Glassworks in West Seattle does occasional live demonstrations, or visitors can try their own hands at blowing glass at the Seattle Glassblowing Studio.

The gum wall in downtown Seattle’s Post Alley is definitely not the most sanitary tourist site, but it does make a colorful photo backdrop. Legend says that the wall was born out of boredom in 1990, when someone waiting for an improv comedy show stuck a piece of gum and a penny to the wall. Decades later, the entire wall is covered in gum (though the coins have since disappeared). Apparently, it only takes one person to start a local landmark. 

The artsy-meets-industrial neighborhood of Georgetown, a 10-minute drive south of downtown, hosts an unusual shopping experience. Local artists, craftspeople, and bakers sell their creations on the weekends out of a collection of vintage trailers at the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall. Second Saturday Art Attack events also tend to draw an eclectic crowd to the surrounding streets.