Let's talk about downtown Seattle: Today So Far

Downtown Seattle was taking hits before the pandemic struck and exacerbated its challenges. Locals reflect on what downtown has to offer, and what it doesn't. Could the neighborhood be due for a comeback?

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for February 2, 2023.

I found myself downtown a couple days ago with some time to kill, so I opened my handy pinball map to see if there were any machines nearby. No luck. I mean, there were a few listed at Gameworks, but you have to buy one of those prepaid cards, so ... no. Consider that next door in Belltown, there are nearly 60 pinball machines within a few blocks of each other.

My pinball dilemma is just one issue — a very superficial and unique-to-me issue — facing downtown Seattle. But it speaks to a larger woe — downtown Seattle is suffering. Not just economically, but as Seattle Now puts it, it's having an "identity crisis."

"Family visits me and they're like, 'Oh you have a Cheesecake Factory,' and I'm like, 'We're not going to Cheesecake Factory mom, please,'" Millie told Seattle Now.

Millie lives downtown, but they note that there isn't much to do in the neighborhood, filled mostly with chain stores and restaurants. The local options that are around are pretty expensive.

"All the shops tend to be really kitschy or not really useful to me. The ones that I would go to before are all closed, like Barnes and Noble," Millie said.

"It's a food desert. There used to be a good grocery store on Third and Pike, but it closed a while back, so now it's just Target and PCC, and I don't make PCC money, so it's Target."

Millie's comments on Seattle Now had me thinking about my advice to visitors, who are usually seeking the unique, genuine Seattle that locals know. I don't think I've ever recommended that they visit downtown (outside of Emerald City Comic Con), especially if travelers are on a budget. I can already see the emails coming in, so let me clarify that while downtown has never had much to offer me, that doesn't mean it isn't important to the success of the city as a whole.

"Sure, you can get Pike Place Market out of the way, and MoPop is great," I've told visitors, listing off my best hits of Seattle. "But head over to Ballard for some great local bars and restaurants. Fremont has a troll, a rocket ship, antiques, and more. A walk on Alki Beach is worth it. Sunset at Golden Gardens. Georgetown preserves the spirit of Seattle that you wish the rest of the city could have held onto. The night life on Capitol Hill is a thing, and yes, folks really do eat at Dick's, not for the fries though, but if you don't want to wait in the lines, there is more than one location..."

Or I'd say something like, "Frasier lives in a Seattle with fine wine and sherry, and rare caviar. That's downtown. But if you want to know where regular ol' Martin Crane hangs out, follow me."

I understand that my above comments are like salt in the wound of downtown Seattle. The neighborhood has been hit pretty hard in recent years and pandemic switch ups exacerbated its challenges. Macy's left town in 2020. Sales at Nordstrom are in a slump. On my walk through downtown this week, there were a lot of vacant shops.

When Millie spoke with Seattle Now, they were exiting the Regal Meridian theater after watching a movie. Regal Meridian is slated to close in February. To be fair, this is largely the result of its parent company Cineworld declaring bankruptcy and in turn closing many of its movie theaters across the country. Still, Regal Meridian is a major theater with 16 screens. Talking with KUOW, local leaders have a few thoughts on the closure. One, that movie culture is evolving and many titles are going to streaming platforms sooner than later. And two, a theater will emerge in the place of Regal Meridian, but it likely will be an updated experience for modern times with fancier food. Read more here.

The trend of tech layoffs is another recent blow to downtown Seattle, specifically for the shops that depend on foot traffic from office workers. But the challenges facing these small businesses extend beyond that.

“I’m just surviving,” Leyla Farange, who owns Gyros Place, recently told KUOW's Joshua McNichols.

Farange said she hasn't depended on office traffic ever since pandemic shutdowns kept many workers at home. So the recent layoffs aren't hitting her shop as hard as the rise in business costs.

“And with not everybody coming to work every day, you don’t know how to prepare for that day," Farange said. "I don’t know who’s coming to work or not. So there is lots of waste.”

Check out Joshua's takeaways from downtown here.

"(Office workers) buy lunches, they go to the bars after work," Seattle Times business reporter Paul Roberts told Seattle Now. "When you have a ton of people, office workers and tourists in town, they tend to outnumber the people who are struggling with homelessness or the people peddling stolen goods on Third Avenue. They were still there (before), they just didn't stand out as much."

Roberts notes that when Amazon chose to set up its headquarters in downtown Seattle many years ago, it was a big deal. Other tech companies like Microsoft set up shop in the suburbs.

"Amazon said, 'No, let's do downtown,'" Roberts said. "That really set a trend and made people think, 'That's what downtowns can be.'"

Fast forward to today, and Seattle has a glass castle it calls South Lake Union. But the castle is largely empty these days with workers going remote and hybrid.

It's important to note that Seattle's tourist attractions continue to draw crowds, from cruise ship passengers to Pike Place and more. When I'm giving advice to Seattle, before they can see Hat and Boots Park, journey to the Center of the Universe, go see the Sound Garden, or explore Discovery Park, they're probably starting at a downtown attraction or hotel.

A lot of factors are hitting downtown Seattle. Anecdotally, a lack of business diversity, resources for local residents, an absence of local customers and imported office workers. Downtown is just one corner of the city, but it's a major player, if not the core economic engine for the region. Whether or not it's part of your Seattle experience, it remains important and influential for the success of the city as a whole.

"A lot of people care about this downtown," Jon Scholes, with the Downtown Seattle Association, told Seattle Now. "I think the public generally, voters in Seattle, from the research we've done, (feel) that for the city to be healthy, downtown has got to be healthy."

An evolving work culture, rising costs of living, an online marketplace, and more have left neighborhood quieter these days. Some argue that downtown Seattle is apt for a rebound. Check out Seattle Now's full segment on the state of downtown Seattle here.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

People waited hours hoping to get one last bite of pizza at Northlake Tavern & Pizza House at the edge of the University District this week. After nearly 70 years, Northlake Tavern and Pizza House — known for pizzas that easily weighed six pounds — has closed its doors. (Juan Pablo Chiquiza / KUOW)

DID YOU KNOW?

OK, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties cause it's cold out there! And it looks like it's going to stay that way for a while longer (depending on who you ask). A large crowd gathered in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, this morning to experience the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather. The famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil emerged and saw his shadow, scientifically indicating that there will be six more weeks of winter weather.

The tradition that draws thousands to Gobbler's Knob each year to freeze their butts off waiting to worship a rat is 137 years old. Apparently, before meteorologists, groundhogs were the go-to method of predicting the weather. Oh how far we've come. Punxsutawney Phil first got the gig in 1887 (though he didn't get his official name until 1961), but this tradition is actually an evolution of others going way back to the old days of Germany. A previous tradition called candlemas (which grew out of the Celtic holiday Imbolc) marked the middle of winter. Folks would light candles on this day. In Germany, however, folks would also watch to see if a hedgehog saw its shadow in order to predict the length of winter. In the mid-1800s, there was a mass migration of Germans to the United States, and they brought a lot of traditions with them that have since been woven into American life (such as a lot of Christmas practices). It's easy to see how a hedgehog would be traded out for the North American groundhog. NPR has more on this history here.

While Punxsutawney Phil gets most of the attention (which is odd since he only has about a 40% accuracy rate), he's not the only furry prognosticator in the business of weather. Stumptown Fil at the Oregon Zoo also predicted six more weeks of winter this morning. Staten Island Chuck disagrees with his animal colleagues and predicted an early spring. Wiarton Willie over in Ontario also predicted an early spring.

Sadly, Quebec’s Fred la Marmotte passed away in hibernation before he was slated to perform his Groundhog's Day duties. Fred lived a long life and died at the old age of 9. RIP. A local child was called upon to stand in for Fred. The little brat predicted six more weeks of winter!

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