We went to Pike Place Market - along with thousands of other people. Throngs of people have been there each time we've visited the market.
This nine acre market has been operating over 100 years. From the market's website: "home to more than 200 year-round commercial businesses; 190 craftspeople and approximately 100 farmers who rent table space by the day; 240 street performers and musicians; and more than 300 apartment units, most of which provide housing for low-income elderly people. "The Market," as the locals affectionately say, attracts 10 million visitors a year, making it one of Washington state's most frequently visited destinations."
This is the store you see on television - they do throw the fish
The flower stalls are filled with gorgeous colors
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This is a tourist spot in an alley under Pike Place Market.
It is an eyesore? Is it gross? Or is it a tourist attraction?
According to several websites, patrons waiting to get into a theater on Post Alley started sticking gum to the wall back in 1993. Theater workers scraped the gum off the walls a number of times. Then they gave up. Around 1999 Pike Place Market officials declared the spot a tourist attraction. Now there was no need to try to clean it up! It’s the second “germiest” tourist attraction in the world, the Blarney Stone in Ireland is #1
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After exploring Pike Place Market and the Gum Wall, we walked to Magic Mouse Toys in Pioneer Square. Not only was this a great toy store but it also was a good place to see an example of a store from before and after the raising of Seattle’s streets. One of the clerks gave us a tour of the lower level of the store, the original first floor but now the basement level. The store now occupies two levels.
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On our ride the ducks tour we went past the Gas Works Park. This site is an example of turning an eyesore into an asset. The former gasification plant was closed down in 1956. The abandoned site became an eyesore. The city of Seattle purchased the site and proceeded to tear down the buildings to create a park. Part way through the demolition process someone convinced the powers-that-be that the ruins could be turned into an attraction at the park.
There were so many contaminants in the ground that grass wouldn't grow. More and more soil was brought in - while they were hauling soil, they decided to dump soil on some of the rubble (adding more rubble for more height) and created an artificial hill.
"Adapting a toxic industrial site into a public park, while maintaining the once environmentally-offending infrastructure as part of the design, was a new and challenging idea back in the early 1970s when Gas Works Park was a concept in search of community consensus." More here.
Our grandson took us to this park years ago when we visited him while he was a student at the University of Washington. Little did we know at that time that we'd be calling the Seattle area home. He said it's a great place for watching 4th of July fireworks.
The Gum Wall, above, is another eyesore that was turned into a tourist attraction.
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